Transcendent Terror

We were sent to fight it... but we do not remember anything after we entered the town. But since I can talk with you I can only guess we won. But I think I'm going to retire. The dreams are killing me.

Adventurer on a post-subjugation interrogation

One of the few most powerful and terrifying creatures of Pentagram, and a ever remaining blight and danger to everything good - or even sane - in the world of the living. The overall number of Transcendent Terrors is believed to be very small, probably single digit, however trying to find out details in that matter - or any other - is extremely hard.
Ultimately the forces of the Pentagram are a manifestation of collective 'unknowledge' and, thus, madness, on an elemental level existing outside mortal cognitive abilities. The war prosecuted against it by forces of Imperium of Karadia and its multiple subsidiary organization, states and religions is waged mostly by means of knowledge, as finding out and codyfing informations equals causes their physical (and metaphysical) weakness.
The most powerful servants of gods of Pentagram are Aberrants and Greater Aberrants, terrifying and mind-warping beings that are pure manifested madness. They tend to act through proxies though, as while simply seeing them is enough to break and warp most minds, it is also their Achilles's heel.
While most of beings would fall to their eldritch corruption, there are also those whose psyche would prove stronger than their influence. Even the most powerful Greater Aberrants can fell to mere mortals, especially one backed by gods (as proven in the most painful way by Nythrathril). All they need is to win in an unspoken contest of minds and be able to name what they see - even in their minds, as 'knowing' is a deadly blow against a manifested 'unknowing'. Thus they act through other means, tempting and breaking people into their mortal servants, spreading terrifying artifacts and incomprehensible books supposed to deepen their secrecy and so on.
No gods have as many servile daemons as four Enigmas of the Pentagram (besides Locust, but that's an exception). For a simple reason. Fallen Aberrants change into completely new breed of servile daemons, as 'being known' anchors them into a midstate between knowing and unknowing, paradoxical on its most basic level and thus capable of existing only in the Dark. Where are no paradoxes, only conflicting truths.
This makes them into daemons, still 'unknown' enough to spread corruption and break minds but no longer being able to fall further. As other daemons they can only be banished or bound, forever spreading misery and fear.
There is however a particular brand of such daemons that remains unknown enough to be barely different from Aberrants... but capable of walking amids mortals at will. Beings so terrifying that they stand out even among the most terrifying beings of Pandaemonium. They are called Transcendent Terrors (as they were popularly believed to originate from Terrors, an already terrifying brand of servile daemons).

Basic Information

Anatomy

There are no descriptions of Transcendent Terrors in existence, for a simple reason. Their appearance is so terrifying and mindwarping that only people with mind resistance to influence of Pentagram of about 8.75 on Ptasznik-Rückemann scale can see them and do not fall insane immediately. This means that barely 1 at circa 14 715 people have minds strong enough to fight them.
What is more, even those with resistance 8.75 and higher will not remember the fight even if they win. Appearance of Transcendent Terrors is supposedly tailored in the way that would cause permanent mind damage even to mentally strongest people simply by being remembered. Even when their influence is resisted and they are defeated, some sort of mental self defense mechanism purges dangerous memories to avoid longterm damage. This selective amnesia sometimes borders on completely mindwipe, changing even those that trumphed over this creatures into drooling cretins.
Several attempts of discovering details about them were made, mostly based on one of two different methods. First was recovering purged memories, which however was soon proven to always lead to madness or corruption, as even the recovered memories were devastating for the minds of those who saw them. It led, however, to some successes in terms of treatment for those aflicted with too general memory purge.
Second was trying to assess their physical capabilities via dissection of mortals killed by them. It however gave inconclusive results, ranging from being a mass of small creatures (with thousand upon thousands small teeth) to entire adventuring parties or buildings supposedly stomped on by the Transcendent Terrors.

Biological Traits

The Hunter... THE HUNTER IS COMING!

Adventurer inflicted with the scream of Transcendent Terror,
while lying down on the ground in fetal position.

A possibly interesting 'quirk' is several accounts of 'insanely terrible bloodcurding screams', reported by those that were send on subjugation missions against them but ultimately failed to locate their targets. Or survived the ensuing encounter with their sanity and memories more or less intact. This 'screams' were supposedly terrifying beyond comprehension, sometimes able to crash or at least noticingly lower sanity.
What is most interesting isn't that this screams suggest that it (to some extend) possess mouth. It is that it 'works' only on members of species that in some way hail from central plains of Arzia, for example humans of imperial origin and elves. This lead to a particularly interesting - and haunting - theory, that suggest Transcendent Terrors impersonate some sort of primordial and long forgotten predator. One that supposedly roamed Arzia in unknown primordial age, fearsome to the point of imprinting fear of it via some sort of rudimentary genetic memory.
Those of other origin are much less affected, still considering the scream terrifying, but without sanity break and the supernatural fear it causes. It should be also noted that considering the insidious nature of Pentagram this, too, can be yet another ruse to make Transcendent Terrors appear even more fearsome and terrifying.

Ecology and Habitats

Transcendent Terrors sometimes (very rarely, at best once a century or something like that) target outlying cities, where next to a single or two inhabitants are actually capable of seeing them without going irrevocably mad. Other than that they are presumed to live inside Pandaemonium within the Dark.

Dietary Needs and Habits

It is unknown if they have any deeper reason for their omnicidal behaviour, however extensive research of places that were 'visited' by them managed to give several interesting informations about their exact course of actions while attacking.
It is believed that first warnings of incoming Transcendent Terror manifestation are a sudden spike in general anxiety and fear of unspecified 'things in the dark' combined with simultaneous supression of local wild daemons. The latter is obvious - they might be able to shield part of population (especially those closely connected to them like nymphs), thus they have to be taken out of the equation as soon as possible.
The former, however, isn't exactly explained, and thus there are many theories. The most terrifying is the one that suggests that at this point Transcendent Terror is already fully manifested, however he remains hidden (with only individuals naturally more capable of magick detection being able to notice some of its 'tendrils' preparing its open coming out). It culls the population from those naturally more resistant by subtly influencing the supposedly 'natural' murders and suicides and generally infesting local Reality with its darkness.
There are even some that suggest that sometimes such hidden actions last for years or even centuries, with Transcendent Terrors actually responsible for supposedly 'cursed' areas with prolonged history of general misery and terror. If such is the truth, the exact trigger for their direct manifestation is even more of a mystery - especially as it can all be a ruse, with assaults simply occuring on random to confuse those wishing to target this daemon.
When the preparations - or lack of them - are ready, it manifests openly, causing madness in around 90% of inhabitants instantly, simply by being near them (unless you have at least 5.20 in Ptasznik-Rückemann, you will go mad by being close to them without seeing anything). Some manage to flee at least temporarily, but are sooner or later hunted by an ensuing daemonic incursion into Reality, with Pandaemonium daemons relentlessly purging remaining inhabitants.
After that, the area is changed into a temporary domain of Pentagram in Light. Sooner or later it is taken down by adventurers, Chosen of other gods and Gods or forces of Imperium of Karadia, however Transcendent Terror itself is rarely encountered. It simply serves as a more of a scarecrow, since the sheer chance of encountering it means that Imperium needs to search through the prepared relief forces to find individuals possesing sufficiently strong psyche to be able to engage it in combat.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Next to unknown. It is believed that like many (if not most) Pandaemonium daemons (and Terrors, their younger cousins) they are able to see the world around them through an unspecified sixth sense making them impossible to blind or in any way avoid detection without at least being a Chosen of some god particularly connected to stealth.

ITCS

Name: Transcendent Terror
Sentient: Unknown.
Type: Daemon
Category: Servile Daemon
Grade: Orichalcum X

Traits

Movements: Unknown
Dangers: Sanity Damage [Extreme], Unknown.
Perception: Pandaemonium Sixth Sense
Magic: Unknown.
Poison: Unknown.
Quirks: Unknown.

Defenses

Armour:Unknown
Magic Resistance: Unknown, presumed very high.
Magic Shield: Unknown, presumed very strong.
Sanity Resistance: N/A.
Willpower: N/A.
Other: Presumed no.

Loot

Skin: None.
Bone: None.
Food: Definitely none.
Alchemical Ingredients: Essence of Transcendent Terror.
Aether: None.
Other: None.

Appearance

Shapeshifting: Unknown.
Posture: Unknown.
Lifespan: Infinites.
Height: Unknown.
Lenght: Unknown.
Weight: Unknown.

Others

Tamable: No.
Rarity: Extremely Rare.
Occurence: Very Rare.
Environment: Unknown.
Ferocity: Omnicidal.
Created by: Pandaemonium