Monstrosities are creatures that do not fit any other type; they are not natural, but they are not undead and mostly do not originate outside the Material Plane and the Transitive Planes.[1] Rather, they are typically the living products of magical experimentation or curses.[2]
There are countless battles against monstrosities, but this history will cover broader and especially notable historical events involving monstrosities.
Before the Founding[]
Krakens are ancient creatures who were once guided by the titans until Exandria was claimed by the gods.[13]
Age of Arcanum and the Calamity[]
Official art of gloomstalkers over Ghor Dranas, by Clara.[art 6]
When the Betrayer Gods created Ghor Dranas at the beginning of the Calamity, gloomstalkers could be seen flying over the city, and were used as mounts by followers of these deities and other evil individuals. Several centuries after the Divergence, these creatures could still be found in Xhorhas.[14]
Before the Spider Queen's drow soldiers even saw battle, the Stormlord impaled her against a cliffside with one heave of his thunderspear,[15] and she was banished to the Abyss.[16] The suddenly leaderless drow were driven from the surface world,[15] and the Spider Queen's silvery blood pooled in the dark caverns beneath the surface of the world. In the years that followed, her most devoted drow servants discovered the blood and drank of it deeply, granting them power and gradually twisting themselves into driders. The driders grew in number, but the blood began to run out, tormenting the driders and causing them to wander the Underdark seeking hidden pools of the blood.[17]
Another race of monstrosities that fuses humanoid at the hip to a beast body, the centaurs, also dates their origins to the Calamity. While many elves survived the Calamity by retreating to the Feywild, the Horselords of Laphithas stayed on the Material Plane and fought the Ruiner alongside the Arch Heart. According to legend, when the Arch Heart stabbed the Ruiner through the eye, the resulting burst of magic slew the elves and merged their bodies with those of their horses. Out of gratitude for their loyalty, the Arch Heart resurrected them so they could live as the first centaurs.[17]
Aeorian hunters were created to be biological weapons capable of fighting angels, fiends, fey, and even the gods themselves. Through arcane experimentation on beasts and humanoids, both captive and volunteers, the hunters were given abilities to resist and fight against Aeor's enemies. Several centuries after Aeor's fall, a number of hunters still lived within the fallen city's ruins.[18]
Halas Lutagran kept an astral dreadnought chained and blinded, with a lever controlling the opening and closing of its mouth, so that he could use the capacious demiplane within as a ritual chamber.[19] It was in that demiplane that he was trapped for centuries.
Era of Reclamation before Campaign One[]
Prior to 811 PD, the last generation of waveriders of Vesrah discovered that krakens are the true source of lodestones, which they need to contain the rift to the Elemental Plane of Water and to keep the city afloat.[20] Around this time, one kraken named Ulugrah made the vicinity of the rift their home, which increased lethal outcomes of the expeditions seeking lodestones.[21] Many waveriders or Ashari completing their Aramenté were tasked to collect them, but few returned.[22]
According to Uvenda, Vilya reached the Water Ashari tribe in 806 or 807 PD for her final part of the Aramenté.[23]. With the help of her traveling companions, she set out to retrieving several lodestones from within the Elemental Plane of Water. However, the kraken killed all of her companions in the process,[24] with Vilya miraculously escaping through another rift leading to Rumblecusp.
Campaign One: Vox Machina[]
When Vox Machina proved their competence to join the Slayer's Take, Vanessa Cyndrial showed them the way below the guildhall in Vasselheim. There lay a sealed chamber with a ziggurat-like platform in the center, a place devoted to the Knowing Mistress.[25] The keeper of this holy place, a sphinx named Osysa, greeted Vox Machina, accepted them into the Slayer's Take, and gave them each the brand of the guild.
When Vox Machina returned to the Slayer's Take to ask for aid against the Chroma Conclave, Vanessa again brought them, along with Kashaw Vesh and Zahra Hydris, before Osysa. Osysa became possessed, a blue light overtaking her, and informed them of the existence of the Vestiges of the Divergence, "relics wielded when the gods walked and fought alongside their creations."[26] She offered that her mate, who resided "south of the Frostweald," would be able to aid them further in seeking the Vestiges, but indicated that it was in her nature to challenge them by not giving any further information on his whereabouts.
When Vex'ahlia asked about Vecna, Osysa reprimanded her for mentioning that name within her temple to Ioun. After Vex and Percival explained what they knew of Vecna, Osysa scried on Whitestone and noted that the ziggurats were not of Vecna's construction, but rather that he stole them. Osysa's attention turned to another remote event: the destruction of Draconia at the hands of the Chroma Conclave.[27]
Fan art of Kamaljiori challeging Vox Machina in the Cavern of Axiom, by Lap Pun Cheung.[art 7]
Vox Machina traveled to the Cavern of Axiom and found their way to Osysa's mate. Once they proved themselves in a dangerous trial to learn his name, Kamaljiori shared the names and locations of the Vestiges he knew about, and then presented one of them to Vox Machina: Mythcarver, a longsword that once belonged to the legendary bard known as the White Duke.[28]
During the battle at Fort Daxio, the fire giant general Ordis rode in on an ember roc.[29] After Ordis dismounted, the ember roc actively joined the battle but was collectively struck down by Pike and Grog.[30]
Vilya's daughter, Keyleth, arrived at Vesrah with her friends to complete the Aramenté herself, and received a task similar to that of her predecessor: retrieve three lodestones without killing Ulugrah.[31] They ended up fighting it anyway, an intense battle in which the kraken had the upper hand and managed to hold off the adventurers (even killing Vax'ildan, albeit only temporarily, as well as swallowing Grog Strongjaw multiple times). However, Vox Machina managed to pass the test, escaping the Elemental Plane of Water (though not all at once or by the same means) and leaving Ulugrah alive, although with several severed tentacles.[32]
In order to become Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt, Vex'ahlia had to meditate, calling upon Pelor at the Sun Tree for a vision of the creature she needed to slay. She had a vision of a large, gray, six-eyed creature, and tracked it down to the woods outside of Whitestone, where she slew it with the help of Trinket. She brought back the hand as a trophy, and Percy was able to identify the creature as a gray render.[33] During the following year, after discovering the gray render's only offspring, Vex'ahlia tried (and failed) to befriend it before the young monstrosity moved to the south. Despite not wanting to kill it as well, the new Grand Mistress made sure that her hunters were vigilant in case the gray render returned and/or became a threat to anyone's safety.[34]
↑Official art of an ember roc, by Elisa Serio from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn pg. 238. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
Swavain Basilisk on D&D Beyond.[art 2]
