Cordulegaster
Cordulegasters are outsiders resembling dragonfly nymphs native to the River Styx.1
Appearance
A cordulegaster resembles a monstrous dragonfly nymph covered in a russet exoskeleton mimicking rock formations in the River Styx. Jagged spikes cover the cordulegaster's exoskeleton and run down its tail, making it dangerous to hold or eat. A secondary set of mandibles is nestled in the cordulegaster's mouth and normally covered by its prehensile inner jaw, which extends forward to pull in prey when it hunts. Cordulegasters can grow up to 12 feet long, 7 feet tall, and 2,000 pounds.1
History
Cordulegasters are suspected to have been created by either Charon to keep trespassers from crossing the River Styx without paying Charon's toll, or from Trelmarixian's experiments on tortured souls in the Weeping Tower.1
Ecology
Originally from Abaddon, cordulegasters primarily inhabit the River Styx, serving the ecological niche of semi-aquatic ambush predators like crocodiles in the Universe. They have also spread via the Styx to shallow, slow-moving waters, like the Bile Sluice and Plaguemere in Abaddon or Stygia in Hell (despite the lack of daemons there). They often assist hydrodaemons and piscodaemons in harvesting souls, and their bite is infused with the memory erasure of the River Styx.1
Variants
Many cordulegaster populations have adapted to the conditions of their environment:1
- the borderlands cordulegaster, whose anatomy constantly shifts due to the influence of the Maelstrom
- the planar swamp cordulegaster, which inhabits swamps such as the Plaguemere and can no longer erase foes' memories, but has gained immunity to poison or disease
- the elder cordulegaster, which has dwelt long enough in the River Styx to learn how to consume souls, becoming a daemon
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 . “Bestiary” in Turn of the Torrent, 82–83. Paizo Inc., 2015
External links
- Cordulegaster (real-world dragonfly genus) on Wikipedia
