Uncommon/Underappreciated Mythical Creatures?

[Dark Squiggle]

Mazik is a Jewish thing. A mazik is the most insignificant type of shed, which is roughly equivalent to a demon.
Here is an article that discusses it. The article is only an accurate representation of the idea of sheddim (singular, shed) if you happen to be its author. I grew up with occasional references to these things, and can tell you the article leaves you knowing less then before you read it.
YIVO | Demons

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Sphinxes aren't used in books much except as replications of the Greek myth. I'd like to write a story that features Sphinxes as a culture and species.

 

[skip.knox]

Sphinxes aren't used in books much except as replications of the Greek myth. I'd like to write a story that features Sphinxes as a culture and species.

Not a bad idea. Sphinxes don't really belong in southern France, but then neither does a warg, which is what I ended up going with. That let me raise the point of why such a northern creature turns up in Languedoc. I could have done the same with a sphinx, I reckon, but the warg's there now.

Thanks for the responses. </threadHijack>

 

[Yora]

I don't really recall anyone doing anything interesting with nixes in heroic fantasy stories. There are plenty in fairy tale style works and probably some in urban fantasy, but for such a major mythological creature here in northern Europe they seem very much underused.

 

[ImaginationGoneWild]

Creatures that aren't from the western cultures like dragons, elves, etc...
and old-fashioned faerie-folk like satyrs, pixies, and seelies.
I only discovered seelies from a roleplay i did a couple years ago. it was really well done and made me curious about the race more.

 

[Ireth]

Creatures that aren't from the western cultures like dragons, elves, etc...
and old-fashioned faerie-folk like satyrs, pixies, and seelies.
I only discovered seelies from a roleplay i did a couple years ago. it was really well done and made me curious about the race more.

I've never seen Seelie used a a race; technically it's a Court, the mostly-benevolent counter to the usually-wicked Unseelie. Almost any sort of Fae can belong to either Court. Or perhaps you're thinking of Selkies, which are shapeshifters who turn into seals?

 

[ImaginationGoneWild]

oh, no. The guy I roleplayed with used seelies as a race where they appeared as skinny elves but who needed to shrink to an insect size every now and then to prevent injuries and exhaustion. And I think it was also to get access to their magic? I can't remember it that well. But i do remember the good vs evil courts. Kind of like light elves and dark elves with a pixie twist I suppose.

 

[Tom]

No one uses the púca. Unfortunate, because they're one of my favorite trickster creatures.

 

[BJ Swabb]

My favorite creature that I have not seen anyone except myself use is the Baku. A hybrid creature from Japanese culture. It has the body of a horse, mane, ears and face of a lion, trunk and tusks of an elephant, tail of a cow, and clawed paws of a tiger. They are known for killing nightmares and making them into good fortune. I also think there are many other creatures not used really in any fantasy books other than myths and legends such as the Calydonian Boar, Gorgons (Nagas), selkie, vetala, chupacabra, bogles, the green man and even kobalds (these are not kobolds of lizard creatures they are brownie like creatures of German folklore).

 

[BJ Swabb]

I have an encyclopedia of mythology in my room.

I have tons of books on mythology. Including this one! I find this book very helpful with my creatures. I am sure you would as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Cre...t=&hvlocphy=9022300&hvtargid=pla-433831785776

 

[Foxkeyes]

You might have heard of leprechauns and banshees. But here are some lesser known Irish mythological creatures.

Dobhar-chú: Half dog half otter that dwells in deep waters and eats people.

Selkie: Evil water spirit.

Fear Gorth ‘The Hungry Man’: Phantom of hunger.

Hungry Grass: Walk on this patch of grass and you will be hungry forever.

Púca: Bringers of good or bad luck.

I don't know if the hungry grass counts as a creature. But I’m pretty certain I walked on some ‘hungry grass’ once. I am always hungry, especially for sweet things.

 

[Foxkeyes]

Some timely references here, as I happen to be on a monster hunt. I am looking for a variant on "and then a bear jumped out" only I want it to be some sort of fantasy monster. The chief constraint is it has to be rather pedestrian.

That is, no flying creatures. No creatures that kill instantly--I need it to be something my fledgling hero can overcome. No vampires or zombies or any of that ilk. Also no unique creatures and certainly no gods. Also not an "intelligent being" which is to say no dryads or centaurs or other humanoids with some modicum of intelligence or speech.

Turns out, most of the "monsters" in various monster manuals fall into one of the above categories. A great many are one-offs. Various man-beast combinations are commonplace. Many other entries in such lists are gods or demons. But plain, ordinary dangerous monsters? Surprisingly few. Of course there are the combo monsters, the ones that combine goat, lion, bull, horse, etc. in various sets of two or three. I call them the Napoleon Dynamite monsters (liger).

My short list came down to mainly to giant versions of ordinary animals--giant spider, giant wolf, etc. I confess I'm rather disappointed in humankind on this point. I expected to find an easy dozen to choose from.

Leprechauns can be evil tricksters. Pukas are interesting too.

 

[Gurkhal]

My favorite creature that I have not seen anyone except myself use is the Baku. A hybrid creature from Japanese culture. It has the body of a horse, mane, ears and face of a lion, trunk and tusks of an elephant, tail of a cow, and clawed paws of a tiger. They are known for killing nightmares and making them into good fortune. I also think there are many other creatures not used really in any fantasy books other than myths and legends such as the Calydonian Boar, Gorgons (Nagas), selkie, vetala, chupacabra, bogles, the green man and even kobalds (these are not kobolds of lizard creatures they are brownie like creatures of German folklore).

While probably cool and such I think that hybrid creatures have in many cases a lower status than mythological creatures which are not an amalgamation of different animals. Why this is I can't say for sure but that's my experience in the matter.