Dusty Pages - Chaos Beasts

Chaos beasts, also known as "the Unbelonging" by the gods and their worshippers, and as "the First Ones" are the collateral result of creation. They oppose the gods.

Origin
Before all things were in the Middle World, or Midgard, there was an endless storm, shrouded in darkness, with the skies touching seas that burned and froze at the same time. There were no shores to the oceans, no laws to govern that fire should burn and water should soak. There were beings that existed in those conditions. Gigantic serpents that swam in the burning seas, beings of wonder and shade, things that belong in bad dreams. And when order was given to the world, they were pushed back, left to linger at the edge of Midgard, watching creation with jealous and hateful eyes, or, sometimes, thrown off of the world, to the roots of the world tree, where they joined Nidhogg the dragon and other great horrors in their mindless war against that which Is.

For a visual example, imagine what happens when you add dishwasher soap into a pot full of oil. You see how the oil parts from the soap, gathering up in neat little shapes?

It's just like that.

Nature
Chaos beasts come in many shapes and sizes. Some are sentient, intelligent, or capable of taking the human form. Others are animalistic, violent and bestial. The only thing they all have in common is a visceral, biological dislike for creation and, in turn, an instinctive or conscious drive towards destroying it. They all appreciate chaos and disorder. Some of them - the more intelligent ones - enjoy music and dance, as much as they enjoy frenzy, mayhem and madness.

Chaos beasts have varying levels of power. Some are mighty enough to warp reality but by wishing it. Others merely are formidable on their size. No chaos beast is puny, because they are simply hazardous to the world around them by nature.

Some chaos beasts are sources of magic. Invoking them can be a boon for a mage who wants a sudden boost in magic, but is considered reckless and dangerous. Magic drawn for chaos beasts can be highly destructive, often going out of control. It can, more dangerously, invoke their presence.

Places affected by their power lose their bearing in order: the laws of physics relax and magic stops behaving appropriately.

Chaos beasts have very specific weaknesses. Some powerful spells invoking divine power can contain a few of them, but they are usually beaten with arbitrary, and often complicated methods.

Chaos Beasts cannot have a proper name. They can be described, but even men cannot define them. When a chaos beast accepts a name - through its own volition and willingness to have one, in the first place - then it may be named. It immediately ceases to be as one and is turned into a being within creation, and its power greatly dwindled.

War with the Gods
At the beginning of creation, the beings of chaos rebelled against, well, creation. This was called "The War of the Unbelonging" by all the gods, except for the god of war, who called it "The Great Whine of Boohoo."

They took on the gods in a massive conflict, outnumbering them easily. However, gods designed durable soldiers to aid them in their cause: the first humans. Humans had a unique advantage on Chaos Beasts, as they found good reason to despise man, a being that, contrary to them, shaped chaos with order, organizing time into years to count and days to measure, and taming the land and animals around them. These specially powerful humans were decisive in beating them.

To this day, not counting offspring and minor beasts, only six out of the major chaos beasts remain.

The Six
The Shapeless

The oldest of the beasts. It struggles and resists even taking a physical shape, remaining in formless shadow. It is by far the most vast and powerful, as well as the hungriest, but also the most patient. It exists in no particular place but in the dark, and feeds on those who fear it. Every few years, someone vanishes into thin air one dark night, or a child's bed is found empty in the morning: so does it take its small, trickling toll on creation.

There are few spells drawn from it. They are usually dark enchantments that it allows mortals to cast, simply as it takes whichever unfortunate victim of the spell as an additional snack.

The Raging Tempest

It appears a storm of sickly brown in the sky. A storm like no other, but one that any witness would describe as bearing death, not rain. Its appearance begets hurricanes, tornadoes, and destruction regardless of the region it disgraces with its presence. Its true form is indiscernible, as it hides above the layer of clouds that gathers under it.

Powerful wind magic can be drawn from it. Some say that abusing these spells will cause the Raging Tempest to start flying towards the caster. At which point, its sigyl appears branded on the caster's body, and it becomes a matter of hours or days before it manifests.

The Unfathomable Depth

A being that waits in the depths of the ocean, and - often correctly - the reason for many legends about sea serpents. It changes ocean currents and brings tragic weather changes on a whim. Some say it is the leviathan, or the jourmungandr - the world snake. Others say it's better to not even start imagining what it looks like, as some poor soul might actually get the right idea.

Magic drawn from the Depth will bring forth mighty water spells, but at the cost of nightmares and visions plaguing the caster.

The Star that Should Not Be

Born when the gods placed stars in the sky to guide men. And so the skies birthed a star of their own, cruel and red, that appears bright at night and enchants humans below. Cruelly, it enjoys granting the wishes of those who look upon it, twisting them to wreck destruction and suffering below. It can descend upon people, taking a pleasant shape before them.

Because the Star needs someone to wish upon it to cast its web of lies, it grants apparently benevolent magical gifts to those who wish it, in increasing boons. However, in very short notice - and inevitably - the price of these spells manifests in dire and ironicconsequences.

The Mother of all Monsters

She who births all that is atrocious. Her first son was also her husband - mighty Typhoon - whom the gods only banished by dropping a mountain on it. She has no specific interest in ending creation, but rather, favors her kin and brood over the beings that inhabit it, detesting the animals the gods made, and making men the favorite meal of her children.

Magic cannot be drawn from her, as she despises men.

The Enemy of Man

The youngest beast, born at the end of the war of the unbelonging. Made by the others with great power and cunning, and with a single purpose: to undermine the precious creation of the gods that was mankind. Like so, it can understand people, assimilating into them and slowly, carefully manipulating them into ruin.

Magic drawn from it is highly destructive, and must be used with enmity towards other living beings - therefor excluding white magic. The greatest black magic spell in the world of Dusty Pages - capable of decimating a mountain - is drawn from him. Its use has been forsaken to such a point that the name and enchantment to cast it has been, generally, wiped so nobody can use it.