Kharisiri
White-faced men who sucked the fat of innocent farmers and their families in the Peruvian highlands. While the historical information seems to be mostly fanciful folklore, these accounts gained credence when placed alongside contemporary stories of murder and mutilation in the same locales.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Converting Humans into Kharisiri
If a kharisiri wishes to convert a victim, it needs to have one of the larvae created by the Father of Maggots in its abdomen. A kharisiri can only carry one such larva at a time, and needs to return to the pyramid to swallow another once it has disgorged its passenger. The kharisiri do not feed on someone they wish to convert. Instead, the kharisiri attempts to lock lips with the victim, holding them in place while the larva passes from them to the victim’s throat. The victim is usually so incapacitated by the pain caused by the larva’s caustic slime that they lose consciousness or become delirious (Extreme CON roll to remain lucid). If the investigators examine a recently infected host, a successful Spot Hidden roll reveals something moving around inside their abdomen. If the host’s torso is bare, this roll gains a bonus die. If examining the host’s abdomen with their hands, no roll is necessary to feel something gelatinous moving under the skin, although feeling this provokes a Sanity roll (0/1D2). Once the larva is in place, it converts its new host into a kharisiri over the course of the next 12 hours. For the first hour after infection, the victim may be saved from this fate by removing the larva. This may involve a Hard First Aid roll to induce sufficient vomiting to drive the larva out or a Medicine roll to remove it surgically. If the larva is removed after the first hour but before the transformation is complete, the victim takes 1D6 damage for every additional hour that has passed. Victims who are fully transformed into kharisiri retain their memories and personalities, but are now consumed by hunger and the urge to attend to their new god. Investigators who undergo this process lose all their remaining Sanity points and become non-player characters.Dietary Needs and Habits
When feeding, the monstrous nature of the kharisiri manifests. Their mouths distend, thrusting out into a disc shape larger than a human hand. The insides of their puckered lips are covered with small, hook-like barbs that attach to the skin of their victims, locking them in place, usually on the target’s torso. Once they have done so, their tongue transforms into a bony lancet, tearing a hole in their victim’s flesh. The strong arms of the kharisiri hold the victim in place while they vomit caustic chemicals into this hole, dissolving the victim’s body fat, which the kharisiri then sucks into their own body; this toxic bile has the side effect of destroying muscle tissue, making the resulting corpse appear even more wasted. The process takes several minutes. The husk that is left behind is thoroughly emaciated, looking like little more than a skeleton wrapped in loose skin. The wound left by a kharisiri’s mouth is a bloody, torn circle, around 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
PERUVIAN VAMPIRE NAMES
The mythology of the “kharisiri” (meaning to “cut with a knife or razor”) is known in the Andes region of South America and also in Bolivia. Another common name given to these pale-faced fat-sucking vampires is “pishtaku” or “pishtaco,” which stem from the Quechua “pishtay,” translating as “to cut into pieces” (i.e. slaughter). In southern Peru and other areas, the creatures are known as “ñakaq” meaning “to butcher.”
Geographic Distribution
Discovered by
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