Monsters I/J/L

I

Iron Man (Hominidae Ferrohominidus)

Half-Man, and half-Demon, these iron-skinned giants wander aimlessly through the barren ruins of Memoria. The first of them was an indomitable swordsman, who lived to fight, and nothing else. He eventually realized that death would be the only enemy that he could never defeat, and so he sold his soul to to Necron, the Lord of Infinity. In exchange, he received immortality. Though of course, the Lord of Infinity never really kept his promises. The swordsman's soul was transformed into a man-of-metal - an Iron Man - upon his death, and in a sense he did become immortal – he has spawned numerous Iron Men in his image. They are, by logic and reality, weak against Thunder spells, since only those spells are capable of breaching their impervious skin.

Iron Men are formidable fighters, as their originator was in his heyday. They still carry copies of his colossal broadsword, and are still garbed in his battle gear. Standing at twenty feet in height, they will often attempt to stomp on their quarry, or to let you taste their metal Fists. A single swipe from an Iron Man could shatter bones and demolish small houses, and being stomped on one… Suffice to say, you'll never step on a cockroach again, once you've witnessed someone being flattened-to-death under an Iron Man's boots.

They also possess knowledge of the ancient sword-arts, specifically, the Helm Divider slash, often shortened to 'Helm Divide' in reference manuscripts. This dorso-ventral slash was created by Harry Asher, the master of knots and blades during the 11th century, and its purpose was to cut through all and any armor, and deliver a powerful shock-wave that paralyzes the target. A Goblin Punch could kill you after you've been hit by a Helm Divide, so always carry elixirs if you're in Memoria.

Being the 'progeny' of a warrior, they are proficient in Might and Protect enchantments. Other than that, they also have knowledge of the Vanish spell. This provides them with some measure of stealth, though their thundering footsteps are a dead giveaway to their approach. A common trick is to cast a Blizzard spell on the ground to locate a Vanished Iron Man – he will slip on the ice and fall down. Fire Thundaga spells at patches of cracked ice, and he should become visible, and die soon after.

Their broadswords are immensely heavy, powerful, and have an impressively Long Reach. Be wary of them, even when they are up to fifteen feet away. Many have literally lost their heads to a swing of an Iron Man's sword.

Whoever said that the size of a man's sword doesn't matter, is either a flaming fool, or ignorant about fighting Iron Men.

Iron Men can only be challenged safely by experienced fighters.

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Ironite (Aves Nagabesi)

The weakest of the Dragons that inhabit Gaia, Ironites are horrible combatants. These Aerials have an annoying tendency to swarm and assault unwary travelers, notably those who traverse the wilderness of the Mist Continent's forests, in particular the forests surrounding Gizamaluke's Grotto, and Burmecia. They literally have wings of iron, and research by Professor Calcite Canaliculi has proven that they actually consume metal objects, and grow metal-saturated scales on the edge of their wings.

They dwell in caves, on sheer cliffs. No one has ever entered an Ironite cave, since it is near impossible to gain access, unless you have wings. They will peep out of their dwellings, and swoop-down upon passing animals. Their body-shape is similar to that of a double-bit axe, and by looking at the shadow it casts, an Ironite's descent can quickly be anticipated and evaded.

Their Wing and Flame attacks are mediocre, and the latter pales in comparison to the Cerberus' Flame. Ironites attack with their wings similar to a Dragonfly, in the sense that it charges forward and uses a combination of momentum and its sharp wing-edges to deal out some nasty cuts. Their Thundara spells are slightly more annoying, and can be used to straighten unruly hair at its very best.

The standard Eart-magic immunity for Aerial beasts is found in Ironites, and they are, of course, weak against Blizzard and Wind spells.

Ironites can be safely-challenged by rookie fighters.

J

Jabberwock (Rana Jabberjaws)

Jabberwocks are scholarly spirits that wander the wastelands of the Forgotten Continent. They always carry a heavy almanac under one arm, and are usually garbed in a simple leather jacket. After the Agares, they are the probably the most knowledgeable monsters among the masses that inhabit Gaia, and they are often rather friendly to humans. In fact, significant amounts of human knowledge regarding medicine, science, and mathematics, were obtained from Jabberwock almanacs (which are basically text-books), including organ transplants, Pythagoras' Theorem, and the Avogadro Constant. The reason for their current hostility between them and humans, was the Human-Jabberwock Wars that took place several years ago.

The dispute was something to do with prostitution, Regent Cid V, and an Everyone Light spell, but the Lindblum government refuses to divulge any more information regarding the issue. All we know, is that the humans signed an agreement with Jabberwock Dodgson, the leader of the Jabberwocks, and they agreed to never again set foot upon the Forgotten Continent. No one has broken the contract yet, though there are rumors…

Jabberwocks are decent magical duelists, with several nifty spells at their webbed-fingertips. Light and Everyone Light will cause a person or several to be lifted into the air, where an Aera spell will cut them down. Heavy will be used to bring a target down, in preparation for an Earthquake spell to the feet. I'm not joking, and all these spells are part of a Jabberwock's magical arsenal. Finally, they also can cast the Deathstrike spell, Limit Glove. Apparently, no Jabberwock will go down before taking its killer with it to Judgment.

Their weaknesses are Water, Thunder, and Shadow spells. Holy spells only affect them partially, and in fact, casting a Holy spell will make them laugh at you! Their moment of distraction, however, could be used to cut them down with a Thundara spell.

Only challenge a Jabberwock if you're a competent fighter with some experience under your belt. Oh, wait. I forgot that people aren't allowed to travel to the Forgotten Continent anymore. Never-mind…

K

No creatures have been discovered under this heading, to date (13th May, 1750).

L

Ladybird (Coleoptera Schiltroneus)

Aerial Insects endemic to the Eunoras Plains, Ladybirds are far from ladylike in their behavior. They are bloodthirsty, violent little thugs, which enjoy feeding on carrion, or even fresh meat if they can get their hands on some. They are NOT the adorable insects you'll find in gardens, but rather, rotund, armor-plated monsters armed with calcite spears. Two oily-looking eyes, ruined by eons of evolution in darkness, sit atop their squashed-looking heads.

Their presence can be discerned by the foul-smelling pheromones which they secrete through their caudal glands as they fly. These pheromones induce sexual arousal in most humans, except for homosexuals. In fact, Ladybird pheromones have been used for the testing of homosexuality, as part of an attempt by certain high-ranking religious orders to weed out and hang homosexuals. It's barbarism, I tell you!

Ladybirds are tenacious, and can do impressive amounts of damage using their spears of calcium carbonate, which are actually honed stalactites broken off the cavern roofs of Ironite dwellings. Their Spear attacks are painful as well as deadly, and their Fire spells are considerably powerful for such a low-level primary predator.

Strike them down with Wind spells, which will snap their wings of gossamer, but don't bother with Earth-based magic. No good shall come out of using such spells, since they are Aerial.

Strangely enough, despite their ferocity, rookie fighters often have no problem defeating a Ladybird.

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Lamia (Narcissus Aproditus)

The female counterpart of the Epitaph (as discovered by Professor Calcite Canaliculi), Lamias are indigenous to the network of caverns that form Gizamaluke's Grotto. They are solitary creatures, and rarely venture into the parts of Gizamaluke's Grotto that are inhabited by humans and Burmecians. They resemble a pink-and-yellow snake-woman, with a feathery head-crest, and a large fan, made of a silk-like material with crystalline edges, in their left hand. Their right hand wields a crystalline blade, fashioned out of calcite. Lamia blades and fans are highly-coveted by collectors, since their properties and materials have never been replicated successfully by humans. Indeed, the seemingly-fragile blades and fans, are incredibly durable, with the blades being capable of Slashing through stalactites and stalagmites with ease, and the fans being capable of repelling Fire spells when unfolded. It is not uncommon for a Lamia to swipe at its opponent with its fan, since its swipes are executed with such speed, that the fan's crystalline edge could cut through flesh and bones with utmost ease.

Lamia's are decent combatants, with several useful spells and attacks at the disposal. Mainly, they use the Might spell, to charge-up some strength for a Slash offensive. This is not all, however. While the Epitaph turns people into stone, and reveals the darkness within their hearts, the Lamia merely has the Entice spell. No other living creature has the ability to use this spell, which, for good reason, is also known as the Eros spell.

You see, Entice causes a surge of overwhelming lust in its male targets. This leads to Confusion and a lack of focus, which allows the Lamia to either escape, or cut the unfortunate soul into ribbons. Survivors of Lamia encounters who have been affected by Entice, have described it as such, "An overwhelming wave of passion, which drives all thought from the mind, and regresses the human man into a prehistoric animal whose only priority is that of copulation and orgasm."

They also know how to use Cure spells, which are channeled out of their blades. Dr. Buter proved this, by destroying a Lamia's fan, and Poisoning it with a Bio spell. Hence, they can heal themselves, but only if their blades are intact and ready on-hand. An effective counter-measure is to cast a Thunder spell directly onto the blade, which, due to its mineral composition, will conduct the electricity into the Lamia's body, thus killing it. From this weakness, it is obvious that Lamia's are semi-immune to Water spells. After all, they do inhabit a wet, slimy grotto, and are excellent swimmers.

Lamias should only be challenged by rookie fighters with some experience of, say, killing a Serpion.

xxx

Land Worm (Anisoptera Humusenthes)

These gargantuan, wrongly-named insects inhabit the Kiera Desert, in the Outer Continent, and have not been found anywhere else in the world to date. They might appear to be colossal worm-like creatures, but they actually are members of the class Insecta. Dissection and examination of dead specimens has revealed a set of six segmented legs and four gossamer wings, all vestigial, on the posterior of the animal's bodyy. Entomologists theorize that Land Worms actually are a distant relatives of the Dragonfly, but with distinct differences in their physiology. For those who are horribly unobservant, the Dragonfly has an extended posterior, with its legs and wings at the anterior end of its body, whereas the Land Worm differs in the ways which I have mentioned earlier.

When freshly-hatched from their eggs, Land Worms are only about three-feet long, and can grow up to fifty-seven feet in length upon full maturity. Their wings and exoskeleton soften as they age, and this is indeed a puzzling phenomenon, as insect wings and exoskeletons usually harden within hours of them hatching.

Soft exoskeleton nonetheless, Land Worms are formidable beasts to fight against. They are not weak against any type of magic, but rather, absorb any Water spells that hit them, as any desert-dweller would. They can also deal out impressive amounts of damage, using several spells that they know.

Mainly, they use the Sandstorm spell, which Antlions are known to imitate, with varying degrees of accuracy. Sandstorm is a wide-dispersal spell, which sends the desert sands into a wind-powered flurry of death. Rocks and other debris are often thrown about in a Sandstorm, and this makes the spell especially deadly, since the effect of a rock being flung at your head with the velocity of a windstorm, would most-likely be fatal. Maelstrom is their second most-used spell, and this is nastier than Sandstorm, in the sense that it hits only one victim. The Maelstrom spell is executed by the caster summoning several columns of sand out of the ground, and using the columns to flog the living daylights out of the spell's target. As with Sandstorm, rocks are often thrown into the mix, and needless to say, the rocks can hit more accurately when used as part of a Maelstrom spell. The spell often ends with a sand-whirlpool being formed at the target's feet, so that the unfortunate creature can be pulled under the sand, to be dug-up and eaten by the Land Worm later.

They also know how to cast the Demi spell, which weakens its target in stages. I feel that I have no reason to elaborate on the effects of this spell, since it has already been well-documented and studied by the famed Red Mage Dr. Taxo, who was also the discoverer of the spell. More spells and enchantments are also included in his manuscript, 'Magicks and Spelles', which is currently being studied at the library of Alexandria Castle.

Qus despise the meat of the Land Worm, as it has a sandy taste and gritty texture. This should not be a surprise, since Land Worms often consume copious amounts of sand if they fail to catch any prey animals. If you want to try eating a Land Worm's flesh, try cutting-out just the flesh directly under the exoskeleton. Those bits happen to be the parts with the least sand in them.

Land Worms should only be challenged by fighters with moderate experience.

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Lizard Man (Homo Reptisapiens)

Reptilian humanoids, Lizard Men are the bastardized results of the abominable union between the bestiality-loving sorcerer Herpo the Foul, and his pet iguana. No other beast has an origin as disgusting as this, since it is quite unimaginably filthy and taboo, for a man to try and mate with a lizard. The infest the Daines-Horse Basin in caste-organized communities, and they patrol the prairies with a cleaver in each hand, ready to chop-up anyone who trespasses upon their territory. The grisly remains of the trespasser is often eaten after that, by Lizard Men of the higher castes. Though relatively weak in combat, they have some vestiges of their 'father's' intelligence, and can plan their battles rather well.

Lizard Men are intelligent enough to be considered sentient, and this is further evidenced by their history of trading with humans and Burmecians. Their products are inclusive of weapons and craft-works, such as wonderful garments woven of the Carve Spider's web, and also halberds of significant quality. Never before has it been lamented that a weapon forged by the Lizard Men, has failed its wielder through an issue of quality. In fact, their metal-craft far surpasses that of even the Dwarfs of Conde Petie, and THAT, is sufficient in speaking for itself.

As I have mentioned before, they carry a hatchet in each hand. These are forged by the Lizard Men themselves, in underground foundries and synthworks, of incredible sophistication. This has been honored, in their species name, Reptisapiens. The hatchets are forged in one-piece, and have no weak-points or seams that can be exploited during combat. Despite these impressive traits, their hatchets are often too heavy for non-Lizard Men to wield effectively, and thus are not highly-sought after by arms collectors.

I once had the privilege and honor of being called a Friend by several Lizard Men, and got the infinitely-rare chance of visiting their subterranean forges. It was an unforgettable week, and I shall try to describe the wonders within their workshops, in as few words as possible, but also with all the details.

The entrance to their communal dwelling was a large, cathedral-dwarfing cave cut into the middle of a limestone cliff, with several hundred, perfectly-cut stairs leading up to the mouth of the cave. The cavern's walls were supported by tube-like columns, which also served as the domiciles of several hundred Lizard Men. These columns were literally grown by some unknown art of theirs, out of stalactites and stalagmites, and later hollowed out.

Moving on deeper into the limestone tunnels, I saw that they had cultivated large patches of phosphorescent algae on the tunnel walls, to provide a source of dim, but functional, illumination. We walked deeper and deeper into the earth, and soon, the sand beneath our feet gave way to hard granite, which they had miraculously cut-and-smoothed during their tunneling.

Finally, after several hours of walking, we arrived at the legendary Lizard Men synthworks. It was in a sweltering-hot chamber larger than the airship dock at Lindblum Grand Castle, and was marvelous beyond measure. Colossal scaffolds had been erected, sticking to the walls and granting access to deposits of ores and gemstones that were embedded in the stone chamber's granite surfaces. Several tunnels were visible, and my reptilian friends told me that mining operations were conducted in those tunnels, to provide materials for their forges.

All this time, we had been walking on a titanic granite bridge, several dozen feet across, and exceeding two-hundred feet in length. At strategic intervals, large metal braces and supports were bolted to the bridge, anchoring it to the chamber's walls. The reason for this became apparent soon enough, when I took a look downwards, and saw a river of magma flowing sluggishly, several hundred feet beneath the bridge. Numerous stairways wound their way down from the bridge to the magma's surface, where hundreds of Lizard Men toiled away in the hellish heat, striking with their hammers and practicing the art of weapon-forging. They would cool the freshly-forged weapons with Blizzard spells, and dump the products into a bucket imbued with special magic, to make it unbreakable.

Every few minutes, large loads of weapons would be pulled-up onto the bridge by chain-links threaded through ancient pulleys, and these were loaded onto large carts, pulled by six muscle-bound Lizard Men. They would take the fresh weapons to a team of Master-Sharpeners, who would hone the blade-edges with their secret techniques. Never has a Lizard Man's blade failed to slice through any armor, and this can be attributed to their magical sharpness. The blades never dull at the edges, nor do they blunt upon hitting a hard surface.

Those weapons, my friends explained, would be sorted later, with some being kept for domestic usage, and the rest being traded-off to humans.

This explained the flawless quality of Lizard Man forge-products, since they use the planet's natural flame to forge their weapons. In fact, the magma itself is occasionally used as the material for halberds of impeccable quality. They use one of their unbreakable buckets to scoop-out a quantity of magma, which is then molded into a halberd using secret magic known only to their weapon-smiths. In fact, Burmecia's Dragon Knights have been known to use these magma halberds, and the most famous of them all, which is still in existence today as I write this sentence, and was forged three centuries ago by a Lizard Man Master-Blacksmith, is the Dragon's Hair.

It is also notable, that only the weakest of the Lizard Men are allowed out of their cave-dwellings. The strongest and smartest spend their entire lives toiling away in the underground work details, and never see the light of day.

I shall not detail the weaknesses and combat abilities of Lizard Men in this manuscript, since I consider them to be friends of humanity, and also, fellow sentient beings. I still keep a small set of paired-daggers they crafted specially for me, and the two blades are indeed a work-of-art. The Lindblum synthworks managed to duplicate it, though their replicas have never succeeded in fully-emulating the properties of the original masterpiece.

What is the name of the dagger, my readers might ask? The Lizard Men told me that they named it in their language, with a word meaning, 'Unyielding'. And so I shall relate its name to you as such.

They named the two daggers as one whole, with a beautiful name.

And so they were named, Orichalcum.