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Mythos:
The Vanara were a race of human-ape-monkey hybrid primates who lived in the wild jungles of Dandaka. They built an impressive capital city inside a forest cave, and lived off the land in harmony with nature. They are most famous for assisting the Avatar, Rama, in his war against the Rakshasa who had terrorized earth, heaven and hell. They went to battle weilding boulders and tree trunks as their weapons, and fought fearsomely against their supernatural adversaries. For the most part, the Vanara retained a simple child-like or animal-like innocence. When the Vanara hero, Hanuman, infiltrated the palace of the Demon King Ravanna, he had been warned that its many luxuries were so tempting that people who saw them would become supernaturally distracted and forget themselves, but because of he was a simple monkey, they had no effect. Only the sight of Ravanna's extensive harem was enough to give Hanuman pause in his mission, but ultimately, his devotion to Rama was more powerful. Eventually, as humankind conquered the wilderness, the Vanara were left without lands to call their own, and either died off or integrated themselves into the shadows of society.
In the Middle Kingdom, a similar race known simply as monkey demons or magic monkeys found themselves on the opposite side of heaven's wrath. They were led by Sun Wukong, a magical monkey who had hatched from a stone, as though it were an egg. Sun Wukong became obsessed with the pursuit of immortality, and eventually angered the gods who tried to exterminate him and his monkey followers. Sun Wukong fought so ferociously that he held off the armies of heaven singlehandedly, until eventually the Buddha himself was bothered by the commotion and put a stop to Sun Wukong's rampage. Scholars suspect that Hanuman's Vanara and Sun Wukong's monkey demons share a similar ancestry.
Alternate Identity: Satori
In the unsettled mountaints of Yamato, there lives a curious yokai known as the Satori. It is a man-sized monkey gifted with powerful psychic abilities. Smaller or weaker Satori will easily sense the busy minds of humans and avoid them, but other Satori actively hunt down humans that wander into their domain. When they hear the thoughts of a human, Satori repeat them out loud like a parrot. Satori hunt down humans not to feast on their flesh, but on their psychic presence, leaving their victims as brain-dead husks. When a Satori prefers to avoid confrontation, they sneak up on travelers in their sleep and steal their breath, causing them to die shortly afterward. As primates, Satori are close enough to humans that they sometimes take a liking to attractive specimens and capture men or women to keep as pets, trophies or slaves. Because Satori rely so heavily on their psychic senses, they are incredibly fearful of anything unexpected. Masters of Zen can empty their minds and thus defeat the Satori, or strong psychic thoughts can overwhelm or overpower them.
Alternate Identity: Agropelter
One of the New World's least known but most deadly Fearsome Critters is the tree-dwelling Agropelter. It is monkey-like, perhaps a smaller relative of the sasquatch, but far more aggressive. When an Agropelter sees a human in its forest, it grabs a nearby branch and hurls it at the unsuspecting explorer. Their arms are like bullwhips, and they can easily launch their projectiles with deadly velocity. The Agropelter's natural prey are birds like woodpeckers, which they can snatch out of the air with their impressive arms. In the frontier days, Agropelters inhabited every conifer forests from the East Coast to the shining West, but as loggers decimated their habitat, they have become increasingly endangered, and may already be extinct.
The Vanara were a race of human-ape-monkey hybrid primates who lived in the wild jungles of Dandaka. They built an impressive capital city inside a forest cave, and lived off the land in harmony with nature. They are most famous for assisting the Avatar, Rama, in his war against the Rakshasa who had terrorized earth, heaven and hell. They went to battle weilding boulders and tree trunks as their weapons, and fought fearsomely against their supernatural adversaries. For the most part, the Vanara retained a simple child-like or animal-like innocence. When the Vanara hero, Hanuman, infiltrated the palace of the Demon King Ravanna, he had been warned that its many luxuries were so tempting that people who saw them would become supernaturally distracted and forget themselves, but because of he was a simple monkey, they had no effect. Only the sight of Ravanna's extensive harem was enough to give Hanuman pause in his mission, but ultimately, his devotion to Rama was more powerful. Eventually, as humankind conquered the wilderness, the Vanara were left without lands to call their own, and either died off or integrated themselves into the shadows of society.
In the Middle Kingdom, a similar race known simply as monkey demons or magic monkeys found themselves on the opposite side of heaven's wrath. They were led by Sun Wukong, a magical monkey who had hatched from a stone, as though it were an egg. Sun Wukong became obsessed with the pursuit of immortality, and eventually angered the gods who tried to exterminate him and his monkey followers. Sun Wukong fought so ferociously that he held off the armies of heaven singlehandedly, until eventually the Buddha himself was bothered by the commotion and put a stop to Sun Wukong's rampage. Scholars suspect that Hanuman's Vanara and Sun Wukong's monkey demons share a similar ancestry.
Alternate Identity: Satori
In the unsettled mountaints of Yamato, there lives a curious yokai known as the Satori. It is a man-sized monkey gifted with powerful psychic abilities. Smaller or weaker Satori will easily sense the busy minds of humans and avoid them, but other Satori actively hunt down humans that wander into their domain. When they hear the thoughts of a human, Satori repeat them out loud like a parrot. Satori hunt down humans not to feast on their flesh, but on their psychic presence, leaving their victims as brain-dead husks. When a Satori prefers to avoid confrontation, they sneak up on travelers in their sleep and steal their breath, causing them to die shortly afterward. As primates, Satori are close enough to humans that they sometimes take a liking to attractive specimens and capture men or women to keep as pets, trophies or slaves. Because Satori rely so heavily on their psychic senses, they are incredibly fearful of anything unexpected. Masters of Zen can empty their minds and thus defeat the Satori, or strong psychic thoughts can overwhelm or overpower them.
Alternate Identity: Agropelter
One of the New World's least known but most deadly Fearsome Critters is the tree-dwelling Agropelter. It is monkey-like, perhaps a smaller relative of the sasquatch, but far more aggressive. When an Agropelter sees a human in its forest, it grabs a nearby branch and hurls it at the unsuspecting explorer. Their arms are like bullwhips, and they can easily launch their projectiles with deadly velocity. The Agropelter's natural prey are birds like woodpeckers, which they can snatch out of the air with their impressive arms. In the frontier days, Agropelters inhabited every conifer forests from the East Coast to the shining West, but as loggers decimated their habitat, they have become increasingly endangered, and may already be extinct.
Insight:
At the moment, there are 3 mythical monkey races that I absolutely adore, but so far, I haven't thought of any visual difference between them. At some point, I might, but for now, all of them are mushed together as a single monkey race.
Vanara come from my all time favorite mythical epic, the Ramayana. I'm hesitant to call it "mythical" because it is an active religion that people believe, so please understand that when I say "mythical" I just mean that it's a tale of gods and demons (and nukes and spaceships, seriously check it out) not that anything about it is untrue. Hanuman, the main Vanara in the tail, is much beloved and I absolutely love him too. And as luck would have it, my second favorite mythical epic, The Journey West, features a Bizarro World opposite version of Hanuman, Sun Wukong. Ethnologists are unclear on exactly how, but it's widely believed that Sun Wukong and his monkey followers are related in some way to Hanuman and the Vanara. The Journey West is also great, but incredibly long, so I recommend it, but I don't recommend trying to read the entire thing.
My description of the Satori actually combines aspects of a similar yokai, the Yamachichi. Yamachichi are the ones that steal people's breath while they sleep, while Satori do most of the rest of it. If you've heard the name Satori in your favorite anime, it's because the word means "enlightenment", which refers to the monkey demon's psychic powers, or the method of defeating them through zen. Japanese people do not name their kids after brain sucking monkey demon creatures.
I love America's Fearsome Critters, and the Agropelter might be my favorite. A lot of drawings of Agropelters have tentacle like arms. I think some people take the line "arms like bullwhips" completely literally, while others take it as a metaphorical description of their strength and speed. I like this idea, but unfortunately, it's not something that fits into the Acheron Series rig. I wonder if the Agropelter is a legit cryptid. Their supposed range is probably too far north for monkeys, but they might be a species of bear or raccoon with an "ape-like face". The Agropelter's behavior isn't particularly weird either, squirrels will chuck nuts and twigs, and monkeys and birds chuck dookie at intruders. A large arboreal species would also be very susceptible to habitat destruction, so it's also likely to be rare, if not extinct.
At the moment, there are 3 mythical monkey races that I absolutely adore, but so far, I haven't thought of any visual difference between them. At some point, I might, but for now, all of them are mushed together as a single monkey race.
Vanara come from my all time favorite mythical epic, the Ramayana. I'm hesitant to call it "mythical" because it is an active religion that people believe, so please understand that when I say "mythical" I just mean that it's a tale of gods and demons (and nukes and spaceships, seriously check it out) not that anything about it is untrue. Hanuman, the main Vanara in the tail, is much beloved and I absolutely love him too. And as luck would have it, my second favorite mythical epic, The Journey West, features a Bizarro World opposite version of Hanuman, Sun Wukong. Ethnologists are unclear on exactly how, but it's widely believed that Sun Wukong and his monkey followers are related in some way to Hanuman and the Vanara. The Journey West is also great, but incredibly long, so I recommend it, but I don't recommend trying to read the entire thing.
My description of the Satori actually combines aspects of a similar yokai, the Yamachichi. Yamachichi are the ones that steal people's breath while they sleep, while Satori do most of the rest of it. If you've heard the name Satori in your favorite anime, it's because the word means "enlightenment", which refers to the monkey demon's psychic powers, or the method of defeating them through zen. Japanese people do not name their kids after brain sucking monkey demon creatures.
I love America's Fearsome Critters, and the Agropelter might be my favorite. A lot of drawings of Agropelters have tentacle like arms. I think some people take the line "arms like bullwhips" completely literally, while others take it as a metaphorical description of their strength and speed. I like this idea, but unfortunately, it's not something that fits into the Acheron Series rig. I wonder if the Agropelter is a legit cryptid. Their supposed range is probably too far north for monkeys, but they might be a species of bear or raccoon with an "ape-like face". The Agropelter's behavior isn't particularly weird either, squirrels will chuck nuts and twigs, and monkeys and birds chuck dookie at intruders. A large arboreal species would also be very susceptible to habitat destruction, so it's also likely to be rare, if not extinct.