"The Worm Man"
"Don't you know what happens to bad little boys and girls who play in the caves? They get found by the Worm Man. He changes the walls and tricks little children deeper and deeper. When he finally gets you into his lair he puts one of his worms in you and makes you his slave."
Summary
A story told to children to prevent them from delving into dangerous places such as caves, forests, or mountains, "The Worm Man" is a grim tale prevalent across each Mirisian province. In each version of the story, the titular Worm Man will lure lost or unattended children deeper into whichever dangerous place in which he lives. Different versions exist depicting the man as either a skinless, mass of worms in the shape of a man or an pale skinned adult male who emerges from the earth.
In each telling, the creature is a powerful magical being capable of altering landscapes or weather in order to push the children deeper unwillingly into his lair. In tellings where the Worm Man is a mass of worms the creature wishes to take the children's skin to become more human. The versions where the man comes from the earth, the being will force the children to eat one of his many worms to control them as a slave.
Each style is intended to frighten children from entering whatever their community deems dangerous for children.
Historical Basis
In ancient cultural myths that predate the first age there exists a quasi-immortal man who once betrayed all humans and made a pact with evil beings. Prehistoric murals depict a human shape surrounded by depictions of worms or snakes that chase fleeing onlookers. Historians believe a cultural memory of this being still exists giving each society their own version of the story of the "Worm Man".
In 811 ER Ambrose François, Karladron Hart, and Chrysanthemum Ostander encounter a being in the Sun-Dural Mountains north of Rosara who proclaimed to be a warlock named Dalibor. While the mage would go on to explain his identity as an immortal being incapable of true death he would also present aspects tying him to the "Worm Man" myth. These aspects include an apparent telepathic power to control any variety of worms and said worms that would spill from his open wounds.
Dalibor would go on to show himself as the primary co-conspirator in Ogorian's plans to upheave the world.
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