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The Book of FableWood
& Supporting Characters
Here you will find information about the creatures of FableWood and their roles in human myth, legend and fairytale. The book will be updated with every new creature that appears to our heroes. You are more than welcome to submit your own or add to what I have already written. Just send me a note and I will put it in. There is a word limit of 250.
Below you will find a list of supporting characters which are designed to further the story and help guide our heroes through the story arcs.
The Griffin
Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds, the griffin is thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. The griffin is also thought of as king of all creatures. Griffins are known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions. While griffins are most common in the art and lore of Ancient Greece, there is evidence of representations of griffins in Ancient Persian and Ancient Egyptian art dating back to before 3000 BC. According to Stephen Friar's New Dictionary of Heraldry, a griffin's claw was believed to have medicinal properties and one of its feathers could restore sight to the blind. In heraldry, the griffin's amalgamation of lion and eagle gains in courage and boldness, and it is always drawn to powerful fierce monsters. Known in one of their earliest incarnations as the hounds of Zeus these noble creatures have had several mentions since then: They have appeared in Arthurian legend as creatures that were part of the king’s dream. Alice during her adventures in wonderland is introduced to a griffin by the queen of hearts. Throughout their places in myth and in story griffins remain steadfast guardians and valuable and fearless allies.
Raven
Ravens figure heavily in Celtic mythology and legend. They were linked to darkness and death – especially the death of warriors in battle. Celtic war goddesses often took the form of a raven. In “The Dream of Rhonabwy”, the knight Owein battles King Arthur in a dream world assisted by ravens. Some tales suggest that the great King Arthur himself was turned in to a raven upon his death.
In the mythology of many Northwest First Nations tribes, Raven is honored as a culture hero. He is a revered and benevolent transformer figure who helps the people and shapes their world for them, but at the same time, he is also a trickster.
In Norse myth the god king Odin kept two ravens names Hugin and Munin, ‘thought’ and ‘memory’ who were his scouts and could fly as fast as the things for which they were named.
Ravens feature in several of Aesop’s fables both as the trickster, and the one who is tricked.
The Phoenix
Originally, the phoenix was identified by the Egyptians as a stork or heron-like bird called a benu, known from the Book of the Dead and other Egyptian texts as one of the sacred symbols of worship at Heliopolis, closely associated with the rising sun and the Egyptian sun-god Ra. In Greek mythology, a phoenix or phenix (Greek: φοῖνιξ phoinix) is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. A phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. In the Russian fairytale of Prince Ivan the young prince is charged with retrieving a phoenix who had been flying into the royal garden to eat its golden apples. In Chinese mythology, an immortal bird whose rare appearance is said to be an omen foretelling harmony at the ascent to the throne of a new emperor. Like the qilin (a unicorn-like creature), the fenghuang (or Chinese phoenix) is often considered to signify both male and female elements, a yin-yang harmony; its name is a combination of the words feng representing the male aspect and huang the female. It is mentioned as early as the Shang dynasty in oracle-bone inscriptions. Tradition recounts an appearance of the fenghuang before the death of the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), who ruled China in the 27th century bce.
The Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies, and the Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan (namely the Japanese dragon), Korea and other East Asian countries. The association of the serpent with a monstrous opponent overcome by a heroic deity has its roots in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, including Canaanite (Hebrew, Ugaritic), Hittite and Mesopotamian. Humbaba, the fire-breathing dragon-fanged beast first described in the Epic of Gilgamesh (One of the oldest stories in the world) is sometimes described as a dragon.
Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many Asian cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans. Dragons have featured in stories too numerous to count and have been portrayed as both benevolent and destructive. They have inspired for thousands of years and their inspirational power has not yet waned.
Werewolves
The werewolves have existed for centuries in FableWood. Bigby was the first werewolf to come into existence, specifically in the Fable, Little Red Riding Hood. A werewolf has distinct features that, even when they are human, make them appear to always be somewhat wolfish. Werewolves, once they learn proper control, have three different phases that they can enter. The first one being a partial shift, in which they retain their human form while gaining some wolfish features. The second one is their pure werewolf form, where they mostly become a wolf, but can still walk and talk like a human. The third one is their feral state, in which they primarily become a wolf and will generally lose most of their rational thought process. This feral state is typically activated upon a werewolf’s life being truly threatened to the point of death. For a werewolf without proper control, they will usually only be able to go between their human and feral states. Werewolves have always been seen as dangerous beings, bloodthirsty for humans and ready to wreak havoc wherever they go. The legend of the werewolf is one of the oldest legends of human monsters in recorded history. Most of these legends involve serial killings or cannibalism by humans that were tried as werewolves. Much like witch trials in Salem, there were werewolf trials in Europe. The earliest recorded trial was in 1521, in which two serial killers were deemed werewolves and executed. What appears to be the oldest story, and not a proper trial, of a werewolf is not a gruesome group of serial killings followed by an execution, but an Ancient Roman myth. Ovid wrote the Metamorphoses in 1 A.D. In it, he told the tale of King Lycaon (the origin of the word Lycanthrope) who offended the gods by serving human meat to them at dinner. Jupiter punished this transgression by transforming Lycaon into a werewolf. In his werewolf form, he could continue his abomination of eating human flesh with less offense. Therefore, werewolves seem to have been around since 1 A.D. at the very latest. The legend of the werewolf has evolved over time though, as now the full moon is said to have great effect on werewolves. This was proven true by Bigby himself, when he was unable to control his rage and executed Larassa, his own wife, right in front of his daughter. He even tried to have his daughter executed, but this proved to have failed and so Luness, daughter of Bigby and Larassa, has lived on.
- written by Lioness075
Werecats
In folklore and fantasy fiction, Werecats are shapeshifters who are similar to werewolves, except that they turn into some species of feline instead of a wolf. The species involved can be a domestic cat, a tiger, a lion, a leopard, a lynx, or any other type, including some that are purely fantastical felines. The word “werecat” was not coined until the late 19th century, so it was not directly used in legends from earlier eras, only by later folklorists’ commentary. European folklore usually depicts werecats who transform into domestic cats. Some European werecats became giant domestic cats or black panthers. They are generally labeled witches, even though they often have just the one magical ability, of self-transformation. During the witch trials, this was official Church doctrine: all shapeshifters, including werewolves, were just specialized witches. African legends describe people who turn into lions or leopards. In the case of leopards, this is often because the creature is really a leopard god or goddess masquerading as human. When these gods mate with humans, offspring can be produced, and these children sometimes grow up to be shapeshifters. Any of them who never transform will have other powers. With werecats who turn into lions, the ability is often associated with royalty. Such a being may have been a king or queen in a former life, or may be destined for leadership in this life. This quality of heroic warriorship can be seen in the lions of Tsavo, which were reputed to be kings in lion shape, attempting to repel the invading Europeans by stopping their railroad. Asian werecats usually become tigers. In India, the weretiger is often a dangerous sorcerer, portrayed as a menace to livestock who might at any time turn to man-eating. Chinese legends often describe weretigers as the victims of either heredity or a vindictive ghost. Ancient teachings held that every race except the Han Chinese were really animals in disguise, so there was nothing extraordinary about some of these false humans reverting to their true natures. Alternately, the ghosts of people who had been killed by tigers would become malevolent supernatural beings, devoting all their energy to making sure that tigers killed more humans. Some of these ghosts were responsible for transforming ordinary humans into man-eating weretigers. South American werecats usually became jaguars. In some tribes, all shamans were thought to have the ability to become jaguars. There are also urban legends about jaguar shapeshifters lurking along highways in tales similar to the vanishing hitchhiker and of them being assassins secretly employed by the government or organized crime. North American werecat legends are usually based on the European model, with domestic cats, either normal-sized or giant, being the favored shape. In what is now Mexico, Aztec folklore described jaguar people as being specially blessed by one of the gods, but modern Mexican folklore is more likely to attribute such transformation powers to the devil. American urban legends tell of encounters with feline bipeds, beings like Bigfoot except with cat heads, tails and paws. Feline bipeds are sometimes classified as part of cryptozoology, but more often they are interpreted as werecats.
- written by Lioness075
Kelpies
Kelpie, or water kelpie, is the Scots name given to a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. It has usually been described as appearing as a horse, but is able to adopt human form. Almost every sizeable body of water in Scotland has an associated kelpie story, but the most extensively reported is that of Loch Ness. Narratives about the kelpie also served a practical purpose in keeping children away from dangerous stretches of water, and warning young women to be wary of handsome strangers. A folk tale from Barra tells of a lonely kelpie that transforms itself into a handsome young man to woo a pretty young girl it was determined to take for its wife. But the girl recognizes the young man as a kelpie and removes his silver necklace (his bridle) while he sleeps. The kelpie immediately reverts to its equine form, and the girl takes it home to her father's farm, where it is put to work for a year. At the end of that time the girl rides the kelpie to consult a wise man, who tells her to return the silver necklace. Once again transformed into the handsome young man she had first met the wise man asks the kelpie whether if given the choice it would choose to be a kelpie or a mortal. The kelpie in turn asks the girl whether, if he were a man, she would agree to be his wife. She confirms that she would, after which the kelpie chooses to become a mortal man, and the pair are married.
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