Ghouls

The Nocturnal Plague

Written by David_Ulph

Also known as Drones, Ghouls form the backbone an entire Ghoul Swarm which can develop, appear and plague anywhere in Elgerlia, the Untamed Lands, and even many parts of Sanaros.

Somewhat resembling small Humans, though extremely bestial and hunched over, crawling and bounding on all fours like an animal rather than running or walking. The skin of a Ghoul is pale and thin, resembling a decaying corpse, with protruding dark veins creating a pattern across the body. Their faces seem familiar, just with a lack of a protruding nose and absence of lips which cause the beast to bare their fang like teeth at all times. Other physical descriptions depict Ghouls as being completely hairless, with light reflecting off their large glassy yellow-tinted eyes designed for nocturnal hunting. Their teeth and claws are extremely sharp in order to cut through the bone and muscle of a body dead or alive.

Typically regarded as being vile creatures, Ghouls stalk the wilderness under the cover of night in large packs of around 15 individuals in order to incapacitate their prey. As a scavenger and carnivorous beast, Ghouls will hunt, kill and eat any other living creature but will generally only target already decaying corpses or easily incapacitated mammals. Easy to kill individually, in larger packs close to the

Swarm's nest Ghouls are often the most dangerous thing travellers come across no matter where in the known world of Terralba you travel.

As scavengers which noticeably prefer rotting carcasses and carrion to fresh kills, a Ghoul Swarm will always be not far away from the epicentre of a war or conflict. After a battle has concluded and the victor moves on, ravenous packs of these Ghouls are infamous for descending on the dead or near dead to feast. Because of this, a savvy commander will always try to get their men as far away from a battle site as soon as possible, to prevent further casualties when night falls and the Ghouls descend.

While not a hive minded species, Ghouls do operate in Swarms very much like a hive of wasps, bees or ants, with each low-intelligence individual of the Swarm working together for the survival of the Swarm especially with such a low personal life span amongst Ghouls. A Swarm will congregate in a Ghoul Nest, which will usually be a deep cave either extremely remote or well-hidden. The cave network will be extended by the residing Ghouls to shape a labyrinthine pattern designed to disorientate any threats to the nest, with the deepest part of the cave holding the eggs of gestating Ghouls and the highly protected Ghoul Matron.

Ghast

The warrior class of the Ghoul Swarm, Ghasts are larger, stronger and more ferocious than their more numerous parent species. Ghasts are rarely encountered outside of nests, deep within caves, as they devote their entire short life to protecting their Matron and their eggs. A Ghast also shows more intelligence than the bestial scavengers of average Ghouls, using cunning to protect the nest at all costs and inspiring the Ghouls to follow their commands in protection of the Matron. With the intelligence

comes a primitive level of communication, speaking in coughing guttural noises to craft a language with little more development than a cat's meow or dog's howl.

A Ghast will move and hold itself differently to a Ghoul as well, using their stronger and more muscular hind legs to stand their full height of an extra foot over Ghouls. As their physiology does not allow them to walk like human-like beings, they will instead leap along the rocky terrain of the nests.

Ghoul Matron

The Ghoul Matron - also known as the Mother Ghoul or Ghoul Queen - is the centre of a Swarm's way of life. The only biologically female Ghoul in the Swarm, the Matron will be regarded as the mother of most - if not all - Ghouls in the Swarm. Her entire purpose in an extended life of 4 years, is to reproduce with her spawn to prolong the Swarm's existence.

The carrion and decayed flesh that the Ghoul Drones feed on will be stored in their bodies until they reach the nest again, where that which isn't digested to keep themselves alive, is regurgitated to feed the Matron. The Matron sits in the deepest parts of the nest, too bloated from carrion to move and spends the

days purely producing eggs to keep the Swarm alive and grow like a disease.

As the most intelligent being in the Swarm, if the nest is breached at any time, a Ghast will convey the information to their Matron who will begin to produce a secondary Ghoul Matron. This secondary Matron will be a live birth, instead of the eggs a Matron is naturally able to produce, and will instinctively attempt to escape the nest one way or another to begin another Swarm away from where there is danger. This means when local peasantry or nobility wish to eradicate the Ghoul Swarm plaguing their area, efficiency and speed is needed to ensure the secondary Matron doesn't escape to spread it's blight further into the lands.

Scientific Name

Homo-Anthophila

Origin/Ancestry

Dwarfash

Lifespan

4 months

Average Height

4' (1.2 metres)

Not as scary as they look, but you have to be careful of those poisoned claws. I could never work out whether they were really undead or not either. Not that it's too important, you can kill them easily enough with cold steel, no need for magic spells or fancy swings.

— Unknown Monster Hunter

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These feral, nocturnal beasts inhabit (or more accurately, plague) Terralba. They live in damp, fetid places or underground lairs, and only emerge from their nests at night when they swarm in packs to bring down prey. Ghouls are carnivorous and not at all picky; they will feast on dead, rotting flesh and innards, or one another if the situation calls for it. They do not speak, but are clever creatures and their attacks make use of numbers to ensure a foe is overwhelmed.

— Imperial Scholar in "The Nocturnal Plague"