Noctipedes

Noctipedes were a form of mutated giant carnivorous millipede with some limited but dangeous and instinctive dark arcane powers, which emerged from the Dark Domains on Magicians' End during the Age of Shadows.   Despite the similarity of the name, Nocipedes have nothing to do with the realm of Noctaliya. It is thought that Verdarian magicians from the Dark Domains may have deliberately bred native and relatively harmless local species, mutating them to create this horrifying pest that they were able to unleash on the human continents only after the Hylacon Gates were weakened by the Dark Domain Frenzy of 3596 APC. In any case there are no known records of the creatures until early in the Age of Shadows.   Noctipedes hunted in packs, emerging from the shadows at night and drawn by the dreams of human victims which seemed to attract them like moths are drawn to the light. They possessed sharp teeth with a venomous bite and had a particularly horrifying power to induce a form of hysterical paralysis through some dark arcane thread linked to their victim's dreams.   Terrified victims would wake from nightmares to find that they were frozen in place, unable to move or even to scream out for help, as the noctipedes moved in to eat them alive.   Fortunately, relatively uncommon, a number of simple defence charms were produced to ward against noctipedes and by the second half of the fifth millenium APC as the knowledge of how to apply these spread, it was only the unwary or foolish who were caught by them.   They are currently believed to be extinct, as there have been no reports of attacks since the end of the age of the Limit Protectorate, but many households still maintain their ritual protection against noctipedes even to this day, since the memory of the horror caused by them has never faded away.


Cover image: Noctipedes Hunting by DMFW with Leonardo AI

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