| Level | 4 |
| Alignment | |
Source: Sixty Feet Under, pg(s). 85 | |
Tenome
| Tenome | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
Tenomes are a type of yokai1 who stalk and eat victims in cities.12
Appearance
A tenome resembles a humanoid whose two eyes are each in the palms of its hands instead of its head. Its skin is pale and wrinkled and its sharp fangs emit a vibrating hum.12
Abilities
Tenomes gaze at their victims from the eyes in their outstretched hands to terrify them, and after wounding their victim they feed by rapidly vibrating their teeth and sucking their bones out as a liquid slurry.2 A typical tenome stands between five and six feet tall and weighs 150 pounds.1
Ecology
Legends suggest the first tenome was a widower who unintentionally witnessed his neighbor rustling cattle. The neighbor gouged his eyes out and killed him; he returned as a tenome, stalked his murderer's family, and killed them.2 A Minkaian folktale suggests the widower was blind and cursed at by farmers for disturbing their livestock. While being beaten by local youths for trespassing on a pasture, he ripped his own eyes out and crushed them in his hands, prompting the youths to stone the man to death in disgust. The man's corpse disappeared, and the youths' bodies were found without bones in the days that followed.1
Tenomes themselves do not know how they were created. Stories claim that a tenome forms the night after another tenome kills and places a victim's eyes in the corpse's palms,12 and tenomes who believe these stories attempt to mutilate their victims accordingly.2
Tenomes feed on meat and carrion but prefer bones. They hunt at night, maintain lairs that can be miles from where they hunt, and attempt to cover their tracks.1 Grasping a victim obscures a tenome's eyes, so many hunt and feed in packs of four or five tenomes, or only pursue lone victims.12 Tenomes move on if a hunting ground becomes too well defended.1
A tenome can also hibernate for months by burrowing underground, often taking advantage of traditions that prohibit disturbing graves by hibernating in graveyards. Those who witness a tenome rising from a grave falsely, if understandably, associate them with undead.1
References
External links
- Tenome (real-world yokai) on Wikipedia
- The pale man (fictional character) on Wikipedia