[Oh, The Village. The last M. Night Shamalyan movie I liked. This makes a double feature with the curucu of “monsters that are just guys in costumes in their source material”. These are actually based on a monster I statted up way back in undergrad. That version was fey. This version is a sakhil, because PFRPG’s obsession with thematic outsiders has extended to “what if there were embodiments of specific fears and phobias?” Which fits perfectly into The Village’s MO.]
Sakhil, Lanak This red-robed humanoid has a mane
of quills growing from its neck and shoulders, long curved claws and a face
like an emaciated beast.
All
sakhils represent the many types of fear that haunt mortal minds, and lanaks
represent the fear of punishment, especially earned punishment. Lanaks seek out
those that have broken the law or taboo, the more arbitrary and senseless the
better, and punish them with terrible wounds and mental trauma. A lanak
typically leaves its victims alive, the better to savor their fear and the fear
of others who may be tempted to transgress.
Of the
sakhils, lanaks are the most likely to be found in the cities of mortals, where
they prey on the criminal element and free-thinkers alike. The more isolated or
authoritarian the community, the more likely a lanak will call it a home, and
particularly repressive societies attract entire cabals of lanaks to reinforce
the cruelest of social norms. In especially wicked communities, the leaders may
even call a lanak intentionally, deputizing the creature to act as secret
police with full sanction of its higher-ups.
In
combat, lanaks delight in the terror and disruption of their enemies. Friends
turn on each other with lethal violence, people become unhealthily attached to
each other, and suicidal violence is attempted when a mortal dares to oppose a
lanak’s hunt. Their supernatural knowledge of their favored community’s laws
and ethos allows them to treat many of their enemies as favored enemies, even
for so small a crime as littering or breaking curfew.
A lanak
would stand more than six feet tall if it stood upright, but they typically
walk with hunched postures. Different lanaks have faces resembling those of different
beasts—bear, wolf and boar-like visages are the most common, but a resemblance
to any animal is possible.
Lanaks were once common in Munab, during the occupation of the city-states by the Kingdom of Kown-Dam. In the modern day, they are very common in Senksen, thriving in the oppressive atmosphere created under the umbral dragons.
Shores of Swords 