Visit Product Page:
Mythos:
The far flung volcanic peaks of the Andes are home to one of the most sinister mythical creatures imagineable. The dreaded Cherufe make their homes in the infernal magma pits of active volcanos. They are wicked beings who care little for the lives of nearby humans. In fact, those few Cherufe who do encounter humans treat them as livestock. Unless furnished with habitual human sacrifices, Cherufe will cause their volcanic homes to erupt and rain destruction down upon any nearby human villages. And like many mythical creatures, the Cherufe prefer their sacrifices to be beautiful maidens. After their sacrificial feast, Cherufe continue to display their disdain for human life by playing ball-games with the burned out skulls of their victims, sometimes ejecting the skulls or rounded rocks high into the air, to crash down around the rim of their volcano. The exact form of the Cherufe is debated. Some believe that they are purely incorporeal, a wraith or spirit with power over magma and eruptions, while others believe them to be mighty beasts, akin to the dragons of Eurasia. More recent thinkers have proposed that the Cherufe is in fact a mundane animal which has evolved over the millenia to inhabit the super hot vents of volcanos, much like the confirmed creatures which inhabit deep sea vents. Or, the Cherufe might represent an alien colony from an extrasolar torch world or a civilization that escaped the destruction of an ancient planet that orbited beyond Mercury, or fled the Venusian resurfacing event and the end of the planet's vulcanism. If so, their reputed ability to ignite volcanos may be the work of alien technology, and their disdain for primitive humans may be an artifact of their extraterrestrial nature and more advanced civilization.
Alt Names: Magmalien, Magman/Magmaid, Therman, Vulcanoid, Hephaestean, Cthonian, Lava Lurker, Infernodon
The far flung volcanic peaks of the Andes are home to one of the most sinister mythical creatures imagineable. The dreaded Cherufe make their homes in the infernal magma pits of active volcanos. They are wicked beings who care little for the lives of nearby humans. In fact, those few Cherufe who do encounter humans treat them as livestock. Unless furnished with habitual human sacrifices, Cherufe will cause their volcanic homes to erupt and rain destruction down upon any nearby human villages. And like many mythical creatures, the Cherufe prefer their sacrifices to be beautiful maidens. After their sacrificial feast, Cherufe continue to display their disdain for human life by playing ball-games with the burned out skulls of their victims, sometimes ejecting the skulls or rounded rocks high into the air, to crash down around the rim of their volcano. The exact form of the Cherufe is debated. Some believe that they are purely incorporeal, a wraith or spirit with power over magma and eruptions, while others believe them to be mighty beasts, akin to the dragons of Eurasia. More recent thinkers have proposed that the Cherufe is in fact a mundane animal which has evolved over the millenia to inhabit the super hot vents of volcanos, much like the confirmed creatures which inhabit deep sea vents. Or, the Cherufe might represent an alien colony from an extrasolar torch world or a civilization that escaped the destruction of an ancient planet that orbited beyond Mercury, or fled the Venusian resurfacing event and the end of the planet's vulcanism. If so, their reputed ability to ignite volcanos may be the work of alien technology, and their disdain for primitive humans may be an artifact of their extraterrestrial nature and more advanced civilization.
Alt Names: Magmalien, Magman/Magmaid, Therman, Vulcanoid, Hephaestean, Cthonian, Lava Lurker, Infernodon
Insight:
When I started planning the Cherufe, I really didn't think that making a magma-creature with the Acheron Series guidelines would even work. But after leaving it on my to-do list for a while, I finally got the urge to try something challenging and I am incredibly pleased with how they turned out. While a lot of creatures on the Acheron Series list are mythical beasts that I've loved since childhood, I first heard about the Cherufe when I was looking up new mythical creatures for Acheron Series specifically. As a fire-themed creature, a New World creature, and potentially sci-fi creature, the Cherufe adds some desired balance to the roster. Cherufe come from Mapuche mythology, and if you like gods and creatures and want to discover something new, I definitely recommend looking the Mapuche beliefs for some lesser known but very cool legends. You hear about made-up tribes sacrificing people to volcanoes in pulp adventure stories all the time, so it was cool to find a real-world example of it in the Cherufe.
When I started planning the Cherufe, I really didn't think that making a magma-creature with the Acheron Series guidelines would even work. But after leaving it on my to-do list for a while, I finally got the urge to try something challenging and I am incredibly pleased with how they turned out. While a lot of creatures on the Acheron Series list are mythical beasts that I've loved since childhood, I first heard about the Cherufe when I was looking up new mythical creatures for Acheron Series specifically. As a fire-themed creature, a New World creature, and potentially sci-fi creature, the Cherufe adds some desired balance to the roster. Cherufe come from Mapuche mythology, and if you like gods and creatures and want to discover something new, I definitely recommend looking the Mapuche beliefs for some lesser known but very cool legends. You hear about made-up tribes sacrificing people to volcanoes in pulp adventure stories all the time, so it was cool to find a real-world example of it in the Cherufe.