Edimmu
(incorporeal)
The remains of powerful genies bound to a master beyond death, edimmus haunt abandoned desert ruins.
Appearance
An edimmu resembles a dark, ghostly skeleton cloaked in wind-lashed tatters and hunched over from the endless ages spent damned to their current existence. Their skeletal form walks from amid a roiling storm cloud of dust and desert sands, and the edimmu is constantly surrounded by buffeting winds that it can control and use as a weapon. An edimmu's eyes resemble glowing embers burning amid the surrounding storm.1
Habitat
Edimmus are the undead spirits of malevolent genies trapped in the mortal world by binding magic and unable to return to their home elemental planes. As such, they are often bound to places long since abandoned, and many tales of daring exploration feature long-dead bound genies that still guard great treasures. These edimmus are often bound within some innocuous object or structure that releases them if disturbed.
Some explorers seek to completely free edimmus from whatever pacts originally bound them to this world, but many such pacts are ancient and often all but unbreakable. Most edimmus have also long since given up on the idea of freedom to become incarnations of bitter elemental rage. Still, those willing to risk entering an edimmu's lair can sometimes find great wealth, as the ancient genies were often summoned to guard treasure vaults, harems, and other valuable sites. These places have often been looted, but some that have been lost to the desert and were well guarded by their edimmus, still contain vast treasure hoards. Most such lost locations are located in Osirion, Katapesh, and Qadira.2
Ecology
The closest equivalent to edimmu ecology is that of the damned undead genies known as ghuls. Edimmus arise from the corpses of slain genies whose spirits, due to powerful binding magic, cannot return to their home in the Elemental Planes.
Most edimmus date back to ancient times, when cruel genies such as ifrits3 tried to trick gullible mortals into worshipping them like deities. Fearful of these powerful creatures, mortal wizards found ways to bind and control them, and the most hateful and evil of these genies were bound for eternity as punishment for their crimes.
As time wore on and these evil genies succumbed to murder and other violent ends, the early genie binders realised their mistakes as angry ghosts arose from the corpses of the genies they once controlled. Now most genie binders try to ensure that their magic does not bind a genie's soul to the Universe, as few want to face a freshly risen edimmu.2
Folklore
Edimmus, despite there relative rarity, play a large role in the folklore of many desert nations. In Qadira and its current and former vassal states, many tales speak of pitiless edimmus stalking the dark desert nights to bring misery to any innocents they encounter.
These tales are often parables of morality, and each normally features a wise character who knows how to fend off an edimmu with a special ward, such as making a circle of ox blood to keep it at bay, covering oneself in funeral garbs or scripts, playing a funerary dirge to force the edimmu to flee, or confronting them with an elemental being like a genie that the edimmu will not harm. The factual accuracy of these folktale wards is unknown, and only a desperate adventurer should rely on them.
These cultures also often feature tales of treasure-filled ruins guarded by foul edimmus, their riches almost a match for the dangers one must endure to claim them.2
References
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ . “Bestiary” in House of the Beast, 82. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 . “Bestiary” in House of the Beast, 83. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ Paizo referred to ifrits as efreet and naaris as ifrits until the publication of Highhelm. See also Rage of Elements pg. 3 and Pathfinder Core Preview pgs. 2, 13, 18.
External links
- Edimmu (real-life mythical entity) on Wikipedia