Creatures
Some of the allegorical creatures you may meet in the King and the Castle tales…
Botherlings – less dire than Mindlurkers, these immaterial creatures simply cause unhappiness or annoyance; include Gloomy Birds, Woebegones, Worrybugs, Irks, and Flummoxes
- Flummoxes – lumbering beasts that can cause perplexity – especially if they plop down in front of your carriage
- Gloomy Birds – lugubrious, vulture-like creatures that seem to bring dark clouds wherever they go
- Irks – obnoxious, lemur-like creatures that stoke a person’s irritability
- Woebegones – long, sad, floppy creatures with long, sad, floppy ears; can easily dampen spirits and lead to melancholy
- Worrybugs – fluttering, jittery insects that cause anxiety
Drakes – savage, shape-shifting underlings of the Adversary; appear as dark or blood-red dragons
Havoc-Wreakers – giant monsters that personify disasters, and can cause real-world damage (category includes Woes, Tribulations, Mishanters, Jeopardies, Calamities, Menaces, Hazards, Whirlwings, Misfortunes, Perils, Disasters, Afflictions…)
Mindlurkers – psychogenic monsters that prey on a person’s thoughts and feelings; include Dreads, Guilt Hounds, Shadecasters, Heartwringers, Vexings, and Forebodings
- Dreads – dark monsters that personify fear; some appear as hulking, hairy beasts with toothy snouts, while others are smaller, scuttling creatures. Types of Dreads: Niggling, Fearsome, Nightmare, Lurking, Shadowy, Figmental, Looming, Paralyzing, Dire, Rampant, Nebulous, Mythical, Nettlesome, Creeping…
- Forebodings – ominous, portentous monsters that never come into full view; may appear in clouds of fog, with ominous glinting eyes
- Guilt Hounds – wolf-like monsters that follow transgressors with haunting howls and cruel teeth
- Heartwringers – terrifying, dark, long-clawed monsters that cause extreme heartpain; usually appear when a person is in despair
- Shadecasters – shadowy, cloaked figures of depression
- Vexwings – fierce, bat-like monsters that bring dire anxiety with their flapping wings and claws (worse than Worrybugs)
Tribulations – an umbrella term for both intangle monsters such as Mindlurkers and Botherlings, and personified disasters known as Havoc-Wreakers