When Fear Becomes Real - Blog Posts
The Hunt (7/15) “Ringing Bell”
This is a creature of the Hunt, but it is not something that hunts, but instead feeds on predators, turning their fear against them. This creature is categorized by its ability to mimic the appearance and noises of a lamb and can be found anywhere livestock are common. This creature does not often feed on human fear and actually primarily feeds on the fear of predators like hawks, wolfs, mountain lions, or coyotes. Its main tactic is to lure predators in. It stands in open fields and mimics the cries of a lost, injured lamb. Once a predator is close enough, it changes tactics and chase down the predator, capturing and killing them, feasting on their body. However, just because it usually feeds on the fear of animals, does not mean it doesn’t go after human hunters as well. Legends are often told between farmers of hearing the cries of a lamb with the soft ringing of a bell off in the distance. They warn of never following the noise because you either come back afraid or in a body bag. Poachers usually fall into the later. Anything that hunts it becomes fair game.
The hunter becomes the hunted.
The Spiral (6/15) “Laughing Dog”
I’m finally restarting this series and starting strong with this spiral good (bad) boy! I’m much happier with my creature design now.
The Laughing Dog is a creature of the spiral that finds its home in old, winding buildings. Its laugh can be heard for miles and is alluring to the curious. Once within the building, its laugh can be heard echoing through the hallways but its main hunting tactic? It’s stretching body. Its midsection can stretch VERY FAR, making it appear as though there are multiple creatures you can see peaking around corners. If you come up on its tail, you turn to run and are suddenly faced with its mouth. You can’t escape it. As soon as you look into its mouth, you are paralyzed with fear and that’s when it devours you.
The Corruption (5/15) “Plague Bringer”
The Corruption (5/15) “Plague Bringer”
The Plague Bringer is one of the oldest of the fear creatures. It is a wandering creature, roaming between continents. Unlike the other fear creatures, the Plague Bringer’s body ultimately decays and dies but it finds a new host through the spores that leak from its body. This is how it can travel between continents as a host can be infected months before its bloom. Its spores have been known to infect plenty of crop, spreading mass hysteria and causing the deaths of millions. During the times its strongest (during plagues and pandemics), its spores can be used to turn victims into zombies. Its strength grows as illness spreads.
The End (4/15) “Dead Poet”
The End (4/15) “Dead Poet”
The Dead Poet is a passive creature in the world of these entities. It does not need to hunt, death comes for all. However, it is often attracted to funerals and spends its time in cemeteries, feeding on the fear from mourning families as they are forced to confront mortality in a very tangible sense. It can also feed on the lingering fear clinging to the bodies as they are buried though this is not nearly enough to satisfy it. It gets its name as those who have encountered it report hearing whispers of past eulogies of loved ones or ones for themselves. The closer the creature is, the stronger the connection to the eulogy (ie. far away is eulogy of distant relative and quiet), too close and that is when you hear the one of your own death. Staying too close to the creature forces you to age and you can feel your body growing weaker. It will approach but will not chase.
The Vast (3/15) “The Neverland”
The Vast (3/15) “Neverland”
The Neverland is a creature which never touches the ground, having stayed in the sky for its entire being, though this does not mean it doesn’t come close to the ground as that is how it gets its victims. The Neverland uses its strong legs and massive talons to snatch up victims when they walk alone. It does not eat them right away, instead tossing and dropping them through the air, devouring their fear before they devour the flesh. It was also known for dive-bombing small planes, ski lifts and gondolas, anything small that moves through the air. When no hunting, it flies among the clouds, the distance from the ground and general silhouette allowing it to disguise itself as a bird. It is likely you have seen the creature but were lucky enough to not walk alone.
The Buried (2/15) “Cave Dweller”
The Buried (2/15) Cave Dweller
This is the second design in creating creatures for the 15 fears. This is a creature that lives in cave systems deep within desert mountains. This range is known to be “haunted”, often attracting brave spelunkers. They are lured in with howls and erie calls only to be eaten by the thing that winds itself through tight spaces. It relies on “trap” hunting, luring its prey into spaces it can’t escape before eating it. It is constantly hungry despite not being able to starve.
The Eye (part 1/15) Be Ņ̴̢̰͍̜̬̠̬̭͙̲̿̆̅̈́͗̕̚ô̶̟̗̗̠̞̲͕͛́̆̆t̸̀̇̿̈́̃͒ͅ Afraid
The Eye (part 1/15) “Be N̷͖̟̈́́̓͒͘̚̕͜ǫ̴̢̦͍̠̪̥̪̰̰́̀̂̃͐̒̔͊̾̈́̽͆̿͂͠t̶̢̧̬̰͎̦̯͇͚̣̥̯̰̠̥̗̯͙̝́͌̽̎̓͗̐͒͋͛̏͒̈́̑̐̚̚͜͜͠͠ Afraid”
This is the first design of the long term project I have to design creatures for the 15 fears (yes, I’m including The Extinction). I wanted to start with the eye as it was my favorite. For this, I was inspired by biblically accurate angels and, of course, the classic line of “Be Not Afraid”. I imagine the Eye as something to dance the line between terrifying and absolutely ethereal. It behaves somewhat passively; doing little to actually go on a hunt. Looking into the eyes on its face or its crown will force you to relive awful memories, allowing it to feed.
If you would like to follow this project, follow the tag “When Fear Becomes Real” from the tags below. That is what I’m going to call this project!