Sikari macaque

Sikari macaque swarm

(Creature)

Type

Animal
(swarm)

CR

5

Environment

Warm forests

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Escape from Old Korvosa, pg(s). 88–89

Ⅰ

Sikari macaques are rabid monkeys from Vudra. Individually, they are little more than vicious, biting annoyances; when they swarm, they can strip an elephant to the bone in minutes.

Appearance

Sikari macaques are small, hairless, red-coloured monkeys that stand around 1 foot tall and weigh approximately 5 pounds. They are gaunt and thin, and their entire body is covered in angry red welts. When enraged, which is nearly constantly, they become whirling dervishes of teeth and claws that attack anything that gets in their way.

Habitat and ecology

While a lone Sikari is not a fearsome opponent, they never travel alone and move in swarms numbering in the dozens, and sometimes hundreds. These swarms are the source of their foul reputation as the Red Wind, an unstoppable horde that knows no fear, barely feels pain, and devours everything in its path.

Sikari macaque swarms are most common in the Sikari region of northern Vudra, where they tend to travel in closely related family swarms that rarely claim any one patch of territory as their own. They instead roam the jungles of Sikari, mostly at night in screaming hordes hunting for food and preferring to rest during the hottest part of the day. However, during mating season Sikari macaques cease resting and are active for weeks at a time.

Encounters between swarms always erupts into violence, and the monkeys that survive the initial fight normally form a new swarm together, often larger than either of the previous swarms. These huge swarms, known as furies or frenzies, terrify Sikari's residents, and their folklore is filled with tales of the macaques devouring entire villages.

Sikari swarms are driven to violence by the disease that infects them, known as Sikari rage. This disease is similar to rabies and is transmitted by the bites and scratches of infected monkeys. While most animals are immune to this disease, it affects other monkeys and humanoids. In non-macaques, the effects of the disease temporarily drive the afflicted creature into a furious stupor.

The life of the average Sikari monkey swarm member is short and violent. They are born after four months of gestation but are not usually raised by their mother, instead being adopted by the swarm. They mature quickly, and any weak or infirm members of the tribe are weeded out, either by being left to die or devoured by the rest of the swarm.

Sikari macaques are carnivores who devour any creature in their paths. Swarms can overwhelm and devour much larger creatures than they would normally be able to, and there are reports of them killing and eating tigers and even elephants.

Abilities

All members of a Sikari macaque swarm are infected with Sikari rage, so any curative magic weakens it, as many of its cured members return to being normal, inquisitive macaques. Their diseased form and perpetual shrieking are so distracting that merely being near one can leave a foe nauseous.

On Golarion

The first case of Sikari rage was reported in 4679 AR, after the Sikari village of Bannaquet is attacked by what becomes swarms of Sikari macaques. The outbreak occurs near Reverchaldam, the former home of the sinister order of alchemists known as the Breathers of Ash.