Kudlaka
And lo, thereupon the stone stood a hideous beast, a writhing mass of darkness and shadow made form. It spoke as though a voice on the wind. 'Come hither, come hither, and you shall be unmade.'For much of history, the beings now known as kudlaka have widely been regarded as myths and legends from old storybooks as a proper sighting has not been recorded and documented for over two thousand years. Mentions of these beasts seem to only exist in ancient stories and religious texts, but the widespread descriptions of tall, winged figures formed of moving shadow found across the globe have lead many scribes to posit that the kudlaka may in fact be an ancient species of fey which has long since disappeared from the known world. Durranian and Ivskian scholars now commonly posit that kudlaka are an extinct species of ur-fey entirely distinct from the Nymph. Whereas nymphs are most often associated with forces of creation, many ancient descriptions of kudlaka describe them as a force of supernatural destruction and regression; this is particularly true in the oldest texts now considered sacred in the Sakkahrati relgion, wherein such beings are referred to as daēva (a term now rendered as dhaeva and appropriated for the use of a species of synthetic undead crafted by Eshkafti scholars). The particular usage of terminology generally translated into Durranian as "unmaking" as a separate force from "destroy" and similar connotations is considered to be of significant importance, as it suggests a more supernatural inclination towards regressive devolution than a simple monstrous force of destruction. To the Sakkahrati, the daēva was a force of corrupting temptation more than blatantly evil death or decay. The qlippot present in religious traditions of north-eastern Arekahs are described similarly, as beings of false idolatry which would drag their followers to a realm of impurity. Other depictions of similar entities invoke more traditionally monstrous beings, however. The rakshasa present in western Kardan religions, for instance, are often referred to as "man-eaters" (nri-chaksha, kravyad) which could fly into a state of rabid bestial frenzy at the smell of human flesh and shred their prey to ribbons with sets of great fangs and claws.
Basic Information
Anatomy
As no proper documentation of these creatures exist, their true forms cannot be known to modern scholars. From what can be gathered from historical records, however, they appear to have been somewhere between six to ten feet in height with solid glowing eyes of orange or white and colorless gray or black skin. They were often described as having large bat-like wings, as well, and forms compared to smoke, shadows, or water which would shift nearly at random with an unworldly ebb and flow. One particular description from Southern Karda compares their billowing forms to the tentacles of a jellyfish.
Alternatively, such descriptions may have been metaphorical personifications rather than literal descriptions. Were these creatures to have truly been an extant species of ur-fey, then they may have possessed no single physical form.
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