The Point Of This Painting Is Mostly That Anyone Who Tags My Creepy Angel Beings As Gender Are Extremely

Lacencu

Something a little different, I tried to make a monster inspired by an art! Here it is!

The illustration below is by one of my favorite artists, Abigail Larson. Enjoy, please!

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Lacencu

Lacencu (la-SEN-koo) combine traits of centaurs, succubi, and lamia, but their origins are murky. Lacencu might be related to all three of these species, or none. To date, investigations have proved inconclusive; it doesn’t seem like the lacencu remember their ancestors well, nor do they care. Rumors abound, but their most popular origin story involves a tribe of centaurs trapped underground, never to see the sun again. Ill-suited to the endless caves, these centaurs made pacts with various eldritch powers for survival. Over time, fiendish influence and the Underdark’s unusual conditions molded the centaurs into lacencu, charming but paranoid masters of enchantment.

Observers are shocked at the lacencu’s agility; their ponderous centaur-like physiology doesn’t look suited to climbing or flying, yet the lacencu do both with elegance. The lacencu seem to dance about the rocks, switching between hopping like mountain goats, climbing with their arms, clawed wings, and prehensile tails, and flapping short distances with fluid ease.

The lacencu are typically friendly, and they love to hear stories of the surface world. But the lacencu know their numbers are small compared to other Underdark races; lending some credence to the “lost centaurs” theory, they fear extinction, and know danger lurks around every corner in the Underdark. So the moment a visitor displays any violent, duplicitous, or otherwise untoward behavior, the lacencu employ their innate magic to turn these visitors away, back into the darkness of the underground. If magic manipulation fails, or if the lacencu fear this enemy will come back with a vengeance, they’ll take up arms as a tribe and slay the interloper.

Despite their embedded fear of extinction, most sentient residents of the Underdark have no quarrel with the lacencu – except the drow. Lancencu raid drow outposts and city outskirts for supplies, artifacts, weapons, and fashions. The lacencu pick on the drow partly out of necessity; out of all their Underdark neighbors, drow are the closest in body type (from the waist up) compared to the stout duergar, the diminutive svirfneblin, or hulking quaggoths. Most items made with drow in mind, the lacencu can use too.

Lacencu

Large monstrosity (sapient), typically neutral good

Armor Class 13

Hit Points 78 (12d10 + 12)

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft., fly 50 ft.

STR 14(+2) DEX 16(+3) CON 13(+1) INT 15(+2) WIS 16(+3) CHA 17(+3)

Saving Throws WIS +5, CHA +5

Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +4, Nature +4, Insight +5, Perception +5, Survival +5, Persuasion +5

Damage Resistances psychic

Senses Alignment Sense, Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 15

Languages Infernal, Sylvan, telepathy 100 ft. (only works with other lacencu), Undercommon

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Proficiency Bonus +2

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Innate Spellcasting. The lacencu’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components.

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts

3/day each: scrying, suggestion

1/day each: geas, sleep

Flyby. The lacencu doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.

Actions

Multiattack. The lacencu can make multiple attacks: either 1 each with hooves and spear, or 1 hooves and 2 wings.

Clawed Wings. Melee Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., 1 target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage.

Hooves. Melee Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., 1 target. Hit: 11 (2d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage. Lacencu can also attack backwards with their hooves by bucking.

Poisoned Spear. Melee or Ranged Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., thrown 20/60 ft., 1 target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) piercing damage plus 6 (2d6) poison damage.

Charm. One humanoid the lacencu can see within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be magically charmed for 1 day. The charmed target obeys the lacencu’s verbal or telepathic commands. If the target suffers any harm or receives a suicidal command, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success. If the target successfully saves against the effect, or if the effect on it ends, the target is immune to this particular lacencu’s Charm for the next 24 hours.

The lacencu can have only one target charmed at a time. If it charms another, the effect on the previous target ends.

Bonus Actions

Aura Reading. Detect magic and detect thoughts are bonus actions for lacencu.

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DESIGN NOTES

Yes, I came up with the name by remixing the syllables of centaur, succubus, and lamia.

Took me way too long to realize I should give these folks darkvision and a climbing speed, since they live in the Underdark, and there’s stuff in the flavor text about how they climb good.

All rights reserved  by Milan Štěpán

The Skeleton flower, whose petals turn from white to translucent when it rains.

The Skeleton flower (Diphylleia grayi) is a white woodland blossom flower with large, umbrella-like leaves that grows in moist, colder climates and wooded mountainsides and they are found in Japan, China and the Appalachian Mountains in the US. Indeed, the white petals turn glass-like when they get wet due to their loose cell struture and not because the pigments are being washed out. When it rains, water fills up the cells in the petals, hence turning clear. However, when the petals dry out, they turn back to their original white color. There's no conclusive research as to whether this characteristic is beneficial or a bad thing for these beautiful flowers.

📷 Unknown (credit to owner)

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

apples trees in winter snow

File this under “super obvious yet I always seem to forget it.”

Seraph, fresco from the Ferapontov Monastery, 1495-1496.

Small fantasy worldbuilding elements you might want to think about:

A currency that isn’t gold-standard/having gold be as valuable as tin

A currency that runs entirely on a perishable resource, like cocoa beans

A clock that isn’t 24-hours

More or less than four seasons/seasons other than the ones we know

Fantastical weather patterns like irregular cloud formations, iridescent rain

Multiple moons/no moon

Planetary rings

A northern lights effect, but near the equator

Roads that aren’t brown or grey/black, like San Juan’s blue bricks

Jewelry beyond precious gems and metals

Marriage signifiers other than wedding bands

The husband taking the wife's name / newlyweds inventing a new surname upon marriage

No concept of virginity or bastardry

More than 2 genders/no concept of gender

Monotheism, but not creationism

Gods that don’t look like people

Domesticated pets that aren’t re-skinned dogs and cats

Some normalized supernatural element that has nothing to do with the plot

Magical communication that isn’t Fantasy Zoom

“Books” that aren’t bound or scrolls

A nonverbal means of communicating, like sign language

A race of people who are obligate carnivores/ vegetarians/ vegans/ pescatarians (not religious, biological imperative)

I’ve done about half of these myself in one WIP or another and a little detail here or there goes a long way in reminding the audience that this isn’t Kansas anymore.

writing tip: searching "[place of origin]ish names" will get you a lot of stuff and nonsense made up by baby bloggers.

searching "[place] census [year]" will get you lists of real names of real people who lived in that place.

tell me something nice