THE
MYSTRAN
SPIRIT |
The creature of legend known as the Mystran instills fear within any who know of even an inkling of the creature's power. The Mystran is like a living shadow, a spirit-like consciousness of unknown form. It is malevolent and dreadful, and also highly intelligent. The Mystran exists to sow chaos and despair among the living and, it is said, it often uses other mortal races in its nefarious plots of destruction. The Mystran is considered by some to be one of the most dangerous and evil creatures in all of Caelereth as it is said that it not only cannot die by any known means, but it also has the power to bend mortal minds to its will and thus can create entire legions of minions at its beck and call.
Appearance.
The Mystran possesses no
known familiar form. From the records and lore obtained from the Third Sarvonian
War, the Mystran is a powerful spirit-like consciousness from the shadowy
Netherworld, a place of existence far removed from the mortal world. The
Netherworld is supposedly a place of utter darkness and chaos, according to many
scholars, and thus it is often assumed that the Mystran is also a creature that
possesses similar attributes. As a spirit, it has no known physical form and is
so dark that it appears as a living shadow. Some accounts say that the Mystran
absorbs all light around it and to gaze upon a Mystran would be akin to staring
into a nothingness darker than night itself. Scholarly opinion differs on
whether a Mystran can take any kind of physical form. It is believed that in
some orcen and dark elven lore, in an attempt to
"humanize" a Mystran, the creature is drawn
and described as something akin to a black ghost with vaguely discernible head,
arms and legs. This, of course, is by no means a proven and accurate description
as most demonologists quickly dismiss any attempt to try to give the Mystran any
kind of form.
Special Abilities.
The power of a Mystran can not be understated. They have a powerful means of
mental attack and have been known to fully turn their victim's fear to their
advantage. The creatures feast on fear. The creature's oppressive presence
instills dread and despair in its victims. Even the
orcs of northern Caaehl'heroth have dreadful myths of the Mystran telling of
how the spirit can possess a living host once the victim is reduced to nothing
more than a quivering mass of flesh and take the victim's mind as its own. The
tales go on to say that once a victim is taken, the person's vision clouds over
and their conscience slowly slips away until they are but an empty shell devoid
of any mental or emotional capacity.
It is theorized that a priest can heal a victim possessed of a Mystran by using
divine magic to drive out the spirit from the mind. However, the healed person
will most likely retain permanent damage from the possession. Once possessed, it
is thought that the victim begins to lose their mental capacity immediately with
no hope of a full restoration. When the person they possess is killed, or a
healer manages to separate the body from the possessing force, the shadow of the
Mystran will leave the body and search immediately for a new victim. This is
also the reason why healing people from a Mystran's possession can be very
dangerous for the healer himself.
Many myths say that the Mystran cannot be killed by any known means. Physical
weapons of steel cannot harm it, as the
creature is insubstantial, and a weapon
strike would simply pass through it. Elemental
magic is not known to have any affect on a Mystran, although no recent tales
exist of a mage pitting their skills against such a dreadful beast.
Perhaps the only method of truly battling such a terrible creature is to show it
no fear at all. Common lore says that a Mystran feasts on its victims fear and
despair in order to reduce the mind to something malleable and ready for
possession. Some scholars theorize that if one shows a Mystran no fear, then one
takes away their only means of dominion and the Mystran will flee to instill
terror upon another poor soul.
Territory.
Mystrans are thought to be able to exist almost anywhere. They can travel
quickly and do not tire. It is theorized that they have spread from their
original summoning location of northern Caaehl'heroth and now exist in all
corners of the world.
One theory, put forth by the
Volkek-Oshra demonologist Vekarn Kha'mal, is that the Mystran must remain
relatively close by to their place of origin, the
Netherworld. One of the only known
areas of Netherworld influence is the
peninsula of Caaehl'heroth in Northern
Sarvonia. It is there, within the mists surrounding the tower of
Osthemangar, that the Mystran is most powerful. Should the spirit travel too far
from the mists, they grow weaker, albeit they would still be considerably
powerful.
This theory is further strengthened when one considers the beginning of the
Third Sarvonian War. The orcen armies were
strong then they descended south but ultimately lost the war. Perhaps the
Mystran's influence waned the farther the orcs
went and thus their powerful possession all but flickered out. Regardless, it is
impossible to gain any definite locations of Mystran influence, but considering
their power, there is no place on Caelereth
that would not be within the Mystran's reach.
Habitat/Behaviour.
The Mystran is an unfathomable creature and no one truly knows what the Mystran
thinks or feels. Lore suggests that the Mystran is primarily a spirit that feeds
upon the negative emotions of a living host. Thus, a Mystran possession is one
of the most feared things with which to suffer. Most all of Mystran lore give
the creature a nefarious, malevolent demeanor whose cunning and intellect knows
no bounds and whose sole purpose is to make the living suffer.
The Mystran can live almost anywhere, it is said, but some scholars have
theorized that the Mystran inhabits dark, shadowy areas and places known to be
evil. Haunted graveyards, battlefields, marshes and swamps as well as forests
are all rumoured to be suitable Mystran grounds.
Another theory is that the Mystran is simply a creature born from the
dimensional rift that was created when the Deep Winds Gate was opened. Some
researchers say that perhaps when the mists flowed free from the
Netherworlds along with the monsters,
the Mystran was simply a unintended side-effect of the collision of the Nether
Void with the mortal world. Perhaps the creature is simply a lost presence
seeking to survive in this world. Its presence, known to instill fear, is not
its true purpose, but an unintended one. There is no true way to measure the
affects of the Netherworld on mortal
minds and bodies. There are some mysteries that cannot truly be solved.
Diet.
The Mystran is a spirit and requires no physical supplement. However, popular
lore suggests that the creature instead feasts on negative emotions such as
fear, anger, hatred, and despair. The spirit is attracted to willing, chaotic
minds with which to possess and grows strong upon the negative spiritual energy.
Thus, the Mystran is always in search of someone to terrorize and possess.
Mating.
One interesting theory put forth by the demonologist Vekarn Kha'mal is that the
Mystran reproduces only from within the borders of the mysterious mist that
surrounds the tower of Osthemangar. The typical belief is that the mist is an
area of the Netherworld where the
Mystrans are born and live before venturing out into the world to sow chaos. If
this is true, then Kha'mal theorizes that the creature enters the mist for a
period of time to gain strength and perhaps use the power it has gained from its
victims to create another Mystran.
Another theory is that once the portal was opened in 298 b.S., a finite number
of Mystrans emerged along with the mist and that they cannot reproduce. Whether
or not the portal is still open is a mystery. No one known has ventured into the
Deep Winds Portal to verify its state of activity. However, some scholars have
said that the portal was closed soon after the defeat of the dark forces during
the Third Sarvonian War and the number of Mystrans in the mortal world were all
that were left. That number could be as many as a few to perhaps in the
thousands. One cannot be sure as to the exact number of the creatures in
existence today.
Usages.
There are no known usages for a dark, evil creature bent on the spiritual
domination of other living beings. No one can control a Mystran, let alone make
use of its powers.
Myth/Lore.
It is told that some years just before the Sarvonian Dawn, a nameless dark elf
quietly made his way from the vicinity of the
Ancythrian Sea into the
Northlands. He was strong in the
ways of dark magicks, and he was proud too and thought himself born to rule.
Drawing aside the mists that cover time, he saw that the time was near for the
Dark Lord to arise. Believing himself to be the one best suited to be Lieutenant
to Coór's eternal minion to come, he delved
deep into ancient mysteries, and finally opened a long forbidden portal to a
shadowy realm in a distant world. This forgotten portal is located at
Osthemangar, the infamous orcish fortress, which
lies in the Plain of Ehelvin at the gigantic peninsula of Caaehl'heroth. This
doorway to the void is called the Deep Wind's Portal and it is the same portal
where Coór'Melór was going to be resurrected 80 years later. In the year 298
b.S. the dark elf summoned insubstantial creatures of strange hungers and
brought them through the portal before it closed. So did the Mystran enter
Sarvonian lands. The power of these
creatures should soon unite many rivaling orcish
tribes.
Ten years after he had summoned them, in 288 b.S., the dark elven mage's
Mystranish helpers turned on him, driving him finally mad. He leapt from a high
precipice to his death. The orcs, thus no longer
unified by the dark spirits, began to fight themselves, saving the
humans south of
Carmalad from their depredations of the
Sarvonian Dawn. The Mystrans dispersed. Ever and anon, Mystrans would begin
again to gather orcs and
trolls around them. Many times an
orcish stronghold would put up a fiendish
resistance to attack, showing unheard-of cunning - of which very often the
guidance of a Mystran is responsible.
The Mystran is often linked to the mysterious floating lights known as the
Granther Willow's Lantern. Often
mistaken for the wisps, it has to be emphasized that the
Mystrans are by no means themselves creatures of the light, but consist of pure,
utter darkness, obviously magically transformed
in order to come to being. However, Mystrans often are present at locations
where the mysterious wisps can be encountered like at
swamps or haunted battlefields. Like the wisps, who are
often declared as semi-beings who have no real substance, they are seemingly
deathless. They affect the minds of those they concentrate on, bringing
confusion, desire to follow them, anger, insanity or any other emotion they
desire. In combination with the relatively harmless wisps
who in fact don't take advantage of humans,
the attack of a lurking Mystran may be deadly, at least for the soul of the
victim. Wisps hover as half-seen lights and mists in the
darkness at the edge of vision and it is said that they sometimes lure travelers
deep into trackless wastes, only to let the Mystrans descend upon them.
There are thought to be some orcen clans among
the
Volkek-Oshra who
revel in the dark powers and worship the creatures of the
Netherworld. Chief among these clans is
the Traag'vok (lit. "Dark Blood") who it is said offer living sacrifices to
appease the Mystran. According to some of the more friendlier orcs of the Heaths
of Eph'denn, the Traag'vok clan live among the north Cartash Woods near the
dreaded Mists of Osthemangar where the Mystran is said to live. Even among some
of the orcen clans, the Traag'vok is considered
a bloodthirsty, depraved group of dark worshipers with which the other clans
leave well enough alone to their twisted rituals.
Researchers. The most famous researcher of the Mystran is the
Osther-Oc demonologist Vekarn
Kha'mal. Not only has he studied the lore of the Mystran, but also he has
written extensively on Granther Willow's Lantern, or the
"will'o'wisp". He takes an interest in all things
supernatural and the Mystrans are perhaps his most famous research subject.
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