"Burst through the clouds and rain down terror and nightmares through the lands, my dear...Those mortals shall know your power..."
Through the Veil
Wrought from the heavens and summoned upon the Material Plane by the Curse of the Night, the ethereal aelurus bring haunting visions to those who witness them. Whether a fleeting glance, or when charged upon, the aelurus will only ever cause an internal struggle with the mind of its victims, a constant to and fro of power and balance.
by Theiket (via MidJourney)
The Foggiest Minds
Though the path through the skies seems unnavigable, there is one day of the year that the path is clear and free for creatures to project through, the Harrowed Eve.
The aelurus are sent by a creature named the Curse of the Night, though no one knows quite what this Curse is. They are not the only creatures who project forth through the Veil, but they are the most numerous, and the most vicious.
When an ethereal aelurus encounters a mortal, they roar and produce echoes of the mortals darkest fears and secrets that dance across the mind of the mortal, as well as their eyes. These echoes, if the aelurus chooses to stay close to the mortal, will eventually drive them insane, causing them to lash out at the empty air, wail hysterically, and even wander aimlessly until they eventually succumb to the environment or starvation.
Wrought From The Curse
Ethereal aelurus are generally seen as large, glowing, transparent predatory cats, whether that form be pantherine or leonine is usually something that is determined by the mortal that it is preying upon, and aelurus have been known to switch their visages from moment to moment.
During any encounter with an aelurus, should a mortal manage to close their eyes, the aelurus will immediately pounce onto their prey, forcing the mortal mind to shatter and become subservient to the aelurus. Should the mortal stare down the aelurus, there is a chance that the aelurus will howl and bring more of its kind to aid its actions, all the while moving ever closer to its target.
There has never been a single incident where someone has survived being the prey of an aelurus, and on the Harrowed Eve, there are many who simply do not venture outdoors for fear of their own lives. The few people who do choose to risk going outdoors during the Harrowed Eve either fall prey to the aelurus or the less fatal creatures that project out from the Veil of Stars alongside them.
The Death Of Mortals
There has been one recorded incident of an aelurus being killed, though the precise nature of how it was killed is unknown, it is known that the body of the aelurus simply fell into nothingness after it took the fatal wound. Once the aelurus was killed and the body no longer present, the other creatures all seemed to return to the Veil, as if rallying for the return of a fallen ally.
Content | 3
This things definitely sound nasty. I like that there summoned by something called "Curse of the Night". Is the lightning tiger that creature, or one of the forms of the Aelurus? This is maybe me being nit-picky, but how do they know one died when no one knows what happened? In some ways, it almost sounds too overpowered to be known about. But that's nightmare creatures from another plane for ya!
Technique | 3
Good word choice and I love the flavor of the Aelurus themselves. It would have been nice for a few things about the creature to be more clear though. What all do they know about it? It would have added an extra sheen of realism to it.
Style | 4
I love the custom CSS on this world. As well I thougthe the picture choice was perfect. Though like I said, I wondered if that was the dad or the kid monster. More sidebar please! This is always a great space for interesting info about the monster and callbacks to anything else I might need to know.
Overall | 10
A nice and cohesive article that features a real scary monster. Two if you count the Curse of the Night. My only real dig with it was the sense that it was that dangerous yet also mysteriously confirmed killed.
Tikal's Grading Criteria
Content: What is the substance of the article like? Did it draw me in? Did it explain what I needed to know to understand it? Proper formatting to induce reading is included.
Technique: The actual technique of the writing. How well written is it? Extra points for style. English as a Second Language is taken into consideration
Style: How well did you use the World Anvil features and BBCode to layout your world. Does it give me a feel for your world and its context?
Every article starts up with at least one point and scales upward as I read. There's no real maximum, however, the more I read your work the sharper the curve will be.