List of characters in Beast: The Primordial.

open/close all folders

Families

Families represent the various kind of Beasts, according to both the mythological monsters they are and the kind of primal fear they represent. It serves to define the form of their Souls, the Birthright (special ability inherited from their Family) and the Atavisms (abilities based on the mythological monsters they are) they are the most likely to have.

Begotten in general

Tropes applying to all Beasts:

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skullbtp.png

Amplifier Artifact: Their Mother's Kiss kinship ability allows them to temporarily boost another supernatural's abilities.
Anthropomorphic Personification: Each Family of Begotten is the incarnation of a specific kind of fear.
Berserk Button: Beasts in general seem to have a special hatred for people who hunt supernaturals for the sake of pleasure, glory or profit, probably because of how this reminds them of the worst kinds of Heroes. While they can understand, and even sympathize with Hunters who fight monsters to protect their loved ones, they absolutely loathe groups like the Cheiron Group or the Ashwood Abbey, and show them no mercy.
Blessed with Suck: Beasts are gifted with various powerful abilities, including manifesting powers from their monster form, various Mind Rape powers, and a social affinity with every supernatural creature other than Demons and Insatiable. But they also have to "feed" by abusing, torturing, scaring, or otherwise harming people around them regularly, because if they don't, their Soul will start to cause nightmares to everyone around, whether they like it or not. Not only that, but anyone in their surroundings could turn into a super-powered psychopath out to kill them just for existing.
Cast from Sanity: Any Satiety Expenditure power. Every time you use one, you shave a chunk off the time until you'll need to feed again...
Discard and Draw: Downplayed. Beasts have two major sets of powers, Nightmares and Atavisms. While they can technically use both at will, Atavisms get more effective when their Satiety is low (since the Horror becomes more active and provides more physical effort to help her human self better feed), while Nightmares become more powerful when their Satiety is high (since the Horror becomes calmer, allowing a better focus on the mental powers), meaning only one of the two sets can be used at full power at once. They can sidestep that issue by spending Satiety to temporarily boost either.
Dream Emergency Exit: Beasts have the ability to pull a dreaming mind into the Primordial Dream, where they will attempt to attack and kill the dreamer in order to feed off its fear and pain. If the Beast succeeds, their victim will awaken in their own bed, physically unharmed but suffering from psychic shock.
Eldritch Location: Each Beast has its own personal dimension known as a Lair, consisting of "Chambers" that are metaphysical representations of their hunting ground in the form of various imitations of places in the real world, and a "Heart" that resembles the natural environment of their Horror (an underwater cave for a Kraken, a mountain for a roc, and so on). They can overlap the Lair into the real world under certain circumstances, in effect turning almost anywhere into one of these for a brief time.
Emotion Eater: They feed on fear, to be specific.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Beasts care deeply about family, and tend to get strongly attached to whoever fills this function for them, be it other Beasts, other supernaturals, or even regular humans. Willingly harming those they consider relatives is a very effective way to piss them off.
Extra-Dimensional Shortcut: By entering their Lair, then opening a Pathway from it to a different location, a Beast is capable of instantly moving from one place to another. It can even give them access to other realms than the physical world, such as the Shadow or the Hedge.
Healing Factor: They usually heal at the same rate as humans unless they have the proper Atavism, but when inside their Lair, they get one of the strongest regenerations in the Chronicles of Darkness, allowing them to spend 1 Satiety to instantly heal either all bashing damage, 3 lethal, or 1 aggravated.
Homefield Advantage: While inside their Lair, a Beast gets a Healing Factor, merges with their Horror and has the entire field filled with various traits that make it harder for her opponents to move or survive the trip.
Horror Hunger: An unusual, a metaphysical variant; Beast do not hunger for flesh, blood, or anything material, but for fear, meaning they are driven to scare and abuse mortals.
Humanoid Abomination: In appearance and physical body, Beasts are human. When it comes to their souls, however, they are mythical monsters made out of nightmares and living in an Eldritch Location.
Invisible to Normals: Whenever a Beast manifests an Atavism, they will find themselves surrounded by an aura in the shape of their Horror. This aura is only visible to other supernaturals and Beasts, however; for Muggles, it will just look like the Beast is displaying a supernatural ability while still looking human.
Long-Lived: While Begotten aren't immortal, they do add 50 years to their lifespan for every dot of Lair above the fifth, effectively allowing them to live up to 250 years longer than a regular human, provided they don't suffer a violent death.
Lovecraftian Superpower: A weird variant with Atavisms, which allow them to manifest abilities of the monster their Horror represents through their human form. While this rarely causes Body Horror or actual shapeshifting, it does allow them to use these abilities while still in human form, resulting in things such as men who leave horrible clawmarks with their bare hands, which in a way is just as disturbing. Played more straight with a few Atavisms such as Skin Deep or Ravenous Maw, which do warp their body in horrific ways.
Mind Rape: Their Nightmare abilities allow them to inflict this on mortals in various ways.
Monster Progenitor: Beasts believe themselves to be this for all the other supernaturals. According to them, vampires, werewolves, and the other creatures in the Chronicles of Darkness are descended from various Beasts who managed to reach Inheritance and spawned their own lineages. Whether or not they are right is left ambiguous.
Nightmare Weaver: Basically what Nightmares are: literally summoning bad dreams as a means to Mind Rape opponents, either in their sleep or while they are awake.
Noble Demon: Beasts might be nightmares incarnate who actively harm and scare people in order to feed, and instinctively enjoy doing so for the same reason you enjoy eating, but they are trying to channel their Horror Hunger into benevolent ends by teaching mortals valuable lessons, and they have a strong sense of family, making them very protective of their relatives and loved ones.
No Points for Neutrality: Zigzagged with Satiety. At Low Satiety (1-3), Atavisms become more powerful, while at High Satiety (7-9), Nightmares become more powerful. At Middle Satiety (4-6), both are at their base level and the Beast becomes vulnerable to Anathema. However, if Satiety drops all the way to 0, the Beast-Soul runs rampant through the dreamscape, inflicting nightmares on all and sundry. Similarly, if Satiety rises all the way to 10, the Soul falls into a glutted sleep, rendering the Beast temporarily nothing more than a human.
One-Winged Angel: Not at will, but whenever a Beast enters their Lair or opens a Primordial Pathway, they immediately merge with their Horror and turn into the monster their soul represents, with new attributes to reflect this.
Our Souls Are Different: In this case, they are called "Horrors", and they are mythical monsters made out of nightmares.
Power Copying: They can use Kinship to create new Nightmares inspired by other supernatural creatures. Moreover, prolonged Kinship with other supernatural beings can cause them to gain some features and abilities similar (if weaker) to those of their kin; for example, a Beast who shares kinship with a vampire might develope retractable fangs or the ability to disguise themselves as a walking corpse.
The Power of Friendship: No, really; one of the Begotten's biggest strengths and main redeeming quality is that they can use Kinship to form genuine friendships with other supernaturals (and to a lesser extent humans), where both sides care about each other.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Some Beasts use this method to avoid harming innocents, targeting specifically bad people to satisfy their Hunger.
Pragmatic Villainy: Even Beasts who don't particularly care about teaching lessons to mortals usually avoid killing their victims whenever they can; aside from the obvious fact that dead bodies attract attention and Heroes, letting the prey live limits how much Satiety they get from feeding, preventing them from reaching Satiety 10 and being Brought Down to Normal.
Required Secondary Powers: Since Lairs are supposed to represent the Horror's natural environments, Beasts automatically have the abilities needed to survive and walk around in the often hostile environment of their Lair; for example, a Beast whose Lair is constantly plunged in darkness will have Innate Night Vision, while one whose Lair is constantly ravaged by snow storms will have some degree of immunity to the cold.
Scare 'Em Straight: Beasts' role in the natural order, at least as far as they are concerned. By scaring mortals, they are supposed to "teach" them, using misery to make them realize the darker aspects of reality and make them grow from their bad experiences. In-universe, they use this as a way to give themselves purpose beyond just being a monster and try to channel their need to harm people in a more positive way.
Supernatural Sensitivity: One of the most basic Kinship abilities Beasts possess allows them to sense and identify other supernaturals, with the exception of Demons. Creatures wholly supernatural such as vampires and werewolves can be recognized on sight, while humans with supernatural powers (such as Mages) only trigger their radar if they use their powers. In either case, they then can figure out what type of supernatural they are dealing with through a roll.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Downplayed; Beasts cannot truly shapeshift into another supernatural, but they do have the ability to mimic their aura so they will register as them if subject to Supernatural Sensitivity. At high Satiety, this ability causes slight changes to their appearance in order to complete the disguise (such as giving them paler skin and hiding their heartbeat when disguised as a vampire), but it won't actually make them unrecognizable.
Your Mind Makes It Real: Unlike Atavisms, which are physical manifestations of the Horror's abilities, Nightmares are effects that take place entirely in the victim's head, in the sense that only the victim can see and experience their effects. This doesn't, however, make them illusionary or "not real", and they can quite easily cause injury or even death; it doesn't matter if the victim is the only one seeing the bugs crawling on his skin; their sting will still be pretty real.

Anakim

The Giants and Ogres, Anakim embody raw power, the unstoppable force you can't escape. Because of this, they tend to be the Beasts who are the most oriented toward physical strength, though that doesn't necessarily mean they are stupid — many are raw intelligence. They do, however, tend to be rather harsh and brutish, often enjoying crushing their opponents.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Being associated primarily with giants and ogres, this is a given. Interestingly, while they can indeed be taller than average even in human form with the proper merits, the Atavism representing this feature, Looming Presence, doesn't actually increase their size; instead, it allows them to retain human size, yet be as resilient and imposing as if they actually had the size of a giant. An Anakim could be a dwarf in human form, yet people will cower before him and he will shrug off blows as if he was gigantic.
Barrier-Busting Blow: Their Birthright allows them to smash aside any obstacle once per scene, be it a barrier, a concrete wall, a door, or anything similar.
Dishing Out Dirt: The Beast Player's Guide gives them the Vengeful Earth Atavism, which they can use to provoke Earthquake or warp earth into gigantic stone hands grabbing their opponent.
Elemental Embodiment: Some Anakim Horrors manifest as overwhelming forces of nature.
Genius Bruiser: Ancient mythology includes plenty of giants who were highly intelligent, and Anakim embody raw intelligence as much as they embody raw power. In-game, this is reflected by their Mimir's Wisdom Atavism.
The Juggernaut: Their core concept. Anakim are all about being an unstoppable force overwhelming their prey into hopelessness; they shrug off anything you throw at them, destroy any cover you try to hide behind, and are too smart to be outwitted. Their prey have little more option than running away, which usually only delays the inevitable.
Living Lie Detector: Mimir's Wisdom allows them to instantly know when someone is lying, essentially making it impossible to deceive them.
Our Giants Are Bigger: While like most Beasts they can be any kind of mythological creature, Anakim are most strongly associated with the mythology of giants and Nordic trolls, and they typically manifest as gigantic unstoppable behemoths. They are even nicknamed "the Giants", and this reflects in their signature Atavisms, which focus mainly on increasing their size and strength.
Out-Gambitted: Intelligent Anakim like to overpower their victims by outsmarting them rather than using raw strength.
Smug Super: Because they are so strong and focused on overwhelming their opponents, most Anakim tend to look down on others, both literally and figuratively.
Super-Intelligence: Mimir's Wisdom, one of their core Atavisms, grants them enhanced intelligence.
Super-Strength: One of their signature Atavisms, Cyclopean Strength, grants them the same force as the giants of old.
Super-Toughness: Looming Presence makes their human form as resilient as if they actually were the size of giants, meaning they get extra health and can take blows that would kill humans. The Beast Player's Guide also adds a new Birthright allowing them to add a similar Health bonus on top of it — and unlike Looming Presence (which is reflexive, and as such needs to be activated), this one is persistant.
Trapped-with-Monster Plot: Invoked; their Lairs usually are built as restrained areas where the victims find themselves trapped with the Horror running after them.

Eshmaki

The horror lurking in the darkness. Eshmaki are the monster from the night, the fear of the shadows and solitude. They usually stick to the dark, stalking their victims before striking them with spectacular brutality. They prefer to be subtle and sneaky, waiting for the right moment to strike.

An Arm and a Leg: Both their Birthright and their Limbs from Limbs Atavism allow them to inflict crippling injuries on a target, including wrecking or cutting limbs.
Breath Weapon: One of their core Atavisms, Dragonfire, allows them to use a dragon's ability to spit fire.
Casting a Shadow: The Beast Player's Guide confers them the Death of Light Atavism, which allows them to plunge an area into darkness. They also get two new shadow-related Birthrights, one allowing them to create shadow puppets to scare their opponents and another they can use to remove any light from their victims' sight, essentially rendering them blind.
Darkness Equals Death: They literally are the incarnation of humanity's fear of the dark, so obviously this trope applies.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Frequently, a Eshmaki's Horror has none of its appearance visible most of the time — just two glowing eyes staring at you from the darkness.
Healing Factor: Their Relentless Hunter Atavism grants them a passive ability to recover faster from injuries even when at high Satiety. At low Satiety, it flat-out starts to downgrade the damages inflicted to them.
Invisibility: At lower Satiety, From the Shadow allows its user to completely vanish from sight.
Living Shadow: A frequent aesthetic for their Horrors, who frequently appear as just an invisible thing lurking in the darkness. The Beast Player's Guide also gives them the Shadow Stalker Atavism, which allows them to literally devour someone's shadow and take its place.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Eshmaki spend a lot of time stalking their prey and scaring them from the shadows, but when they actually attack, they do so with terrifying might. One of their core Atavisms, Limb From Limb, allows them to inflict devastating injuries to their victims, and their Birthright allows them to grab a victim while still inflicting damage.
Our Manticores Are Spinier: Another common appearance for their Horrors, related to Panthera Awesome below.
Panthera Awesome: It's common for Eshmaki Horrors to be giant predatory felines like panthers, since these are well-known to be stealthy and deadly hunters.
Stalker without a Crush: They usually don't stalk their prey out of romantic interest, to say the least.
Stealth Expert: As to be expected, given their concept. One of their core Atavisms, From the Shadow, increases their ability to sneak and hide.
Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: Their core concept; they are the monsters lurking in the dark, stalking you from the shadows and taking advantage of your fear of darkness before striking when you least expect it.

Inguma

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d69d7d5ad5617d04107d75ff548773c97f064877738b91d362aa78e985b62461.png

The strangers and subtly inhuman monsters, those myths that seem human enough to be disturbing. One of the two Families introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, the Outsiders are the youngest lineage of Beasts (relatively speaking), born "only" after human civilization and came up with the idea of fearing the Other, the hostile foreigner and invader. Of course, those fears are still of people, fundamentally, and so the Outsiders are the ironically most human Beasts, valuing fellow outcasts and subcultures of such, and recognizing their existence with civilization is symbiotic. Of course, the fear of invasion comes part and parcel with fear of infiltration, and so the Inguma have abilities that lead them to becoming master schemers and spies who find that same empathy is an extremely useful weapon when outwitting their prey.

Alien Invasion: They aren't literally aliens, but this trope is part of their concept — as in, they incarnate the fear of invasion by strangers and outsiders.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Weaponized; one of their signature Atavisms, "Alien Mindset", makes their mind and thought so inhuman and bizarre they confuse and disturb anyone trying to interrogate them or figure out what they are thinking.
Capture and Replicate: Their "Doppleganger" Atavism allows them to create a duplicate of someone they kidnapped under their control.
Doppelgänger: They are inspired by tales of monsters and aliens who can disguise as us, take our place, and walk among us unnoticed.
Hollywood Cyborg: A potential manifestation of their Horrors. This can cause some confusion among the Unchained, who also naturally tend to look like that when they undergo partial transformation.
Humanoid Abomination: While this trope technically applies to all Beasts, Inguma deserve a special mention due to their Horrors themselves being more humanoid overall than their peers' traditional mythological monsters, reflecting their nature as the fear of the other.
Humans Are Special: Compared to other Families, Inguma tend to see more value in humans and stay in touch with them; they were born from a concept directly tied to Humanity itself, after all.
Humanshifting: One of their core Atavisms, "The Enemy Within", allows them to impersonate other people.
Master of Disguise: Their primary Birthright increases their skill to disguise themselves, and they can assume the appearance of anyone using "The Enemy Within".
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Part of the fear they invoke; they represent the fear of the other man, the one who could be right next to you and look normal; to reflect this, they are experts in infiltration, and their Horrors almost always are distinctly more human-looking than for their peers.
Uncanny Valley: Invoked. Whereas most other Beasts have clearly monstrous Horrors (with some exceptions like some Makara), Inguma tend to have Horrors who retain a mostly human shape... while still having something clearly inhuman about them.

Makara

The monsters from the deep, the Kraken, Leviathans, and Sirens. Makara incarnate the fear of drowning, both literally and figuratively; they represent the fear of being unable to escape.

Claustrophobia: They represent the primal fear of drowning and feeling trapped. This is reflected in their Birthright, which allows them to suck the air out of a room to inflict this feeling on a victim, resulting in -2 penalty to all physical actions.
Eldritch Ocean Abyss: Part of the fear they embody; Makara's Horrors tend to themed after Monsters from the depths of the oceans, and their Lairs are often aquatic-themed.
Everything Is Trying to Kill You: Their Lairs tend to follow this trope; out of all the Families, Makara are the most likely to have Lairs built to trap, damage, or kill the unfortunate victims who find themselves inside it.
Extreme Omnivore: Their Ravenous Maw Atavism, which reflects Sea Monsters' tendencies to swallow people, allows them to basically eat anything without undesirable side effects.
Glass-Shattering Sound: The Siren's Treacherous Song Atavism can have this effect if activated through expending Satiety.
Gorgeous Gorgon: There are two major types of form for a Makara's Horror. The first is closer to classic Krakens or Leviathans, and as such look more like gigantic, scary creatures. The second takes more from the Sirens, and as such can look unusually beautiful... which the Makara use to their advantage to trick people into drowning.
Innate Night Vision: The Heart of the Ocean Atavism allows them to see in the dark, a requirement when delving into deep waters.
Kraken and Leviathan: The monsters Makara are the most strongly associated with; they tend to be sea monsters, massive creatures from the depths of oceans. They are even nicknamed Leviathans.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: A frequent aesthetic for their Horrors, seeing how they often are based on deep water fishes or sharks. When spending Satiety, their Ravenous Maw Atavism distords their entire body into a mouth filled with this trope.
Our Sirens Are Different: A frequent association they have. Two of their core Atavisms, Siren's Treacherous Song and Alien Allure, allow them to tap into the Sirens' compelling powers.
Sea Monster: As a whole, Makara have a strong tendency to be creatures from the sea, be it Krakens, Leviathans, giant sharks, or Sirens.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: Their Heart of the Ocean Atavism makes them completely amphibious.
Swallowed Whole: The Ravenous Maw Atavism allows them to warp their mouth into gigantic jaws to swallow a human being. When spending Satiety, they also can open a gigantic, teeth-filled mouth on their entire body.
Threatening Shark: Unsurprisingly, many Makaras have Horrors themed after sharks.

Namtaru

The monsters of revulsion, those whose mere appearance is terrifying. Namtaru are the Gorgons, the giant spiders and the bugs, everything that inspires disgust.

Big Creepy-Crawlies: Namtaru tend to be strongly associated with bugs, spiders, and other arthropods considered repulsive to humans.
Brown Note: The sheer terror their true form inspires tends to have this effect on people. To represent this, their Birthright gives them the ability to lower a character's composure just by touching or sharing eye contact with him.
Innate Night Vision: Part of the abilities granted by the Shadowed Soul Atavism is that they see perfectly in the dark and can never be blinded.
Living Shadow: Their Shadowed Soul Atavism allows them to merge with a shadow, effectively becoming this in the process. It doesn't actually allow them to control the shadow, but it does make them capable of extending their sense through the obscurity to listen to or see anything.
Lovecraftian Superpower: Compared to the other Families' Atavisms, which for the most part apply the abilities of their Horrors to their human form without actually mutating it, they have two signature Atavisms which cause visible Body Horror: Infestation, which can turn them into a swarm of bugs or vermin, and Skin Deep, which allows them to manifest visible monster features such as wings or claws.
Nausea Fuel: Invoked; they are meant to represent Nightmares of revulsion and disgust.
Nightmare Face: A Namtaru's Horror isn't a pretty sight. They are associated with Gorgons, after all.
Plague Master: Their new Atavism introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, Plague Bearer, which allows them to do Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Poisonous Person: Their Basilisk's Touch Atavism grants them the ability to poison people.
Power-Upgrading Deformation: The Skin Deep Atavism, introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, allows them to manifest monstrous features on their human form, granting them the abilities linked to these features.
Shadow Walker: Shadowed Soul allows them to teleport through a shadow by spending Satiety.
Super-Toughness: Their Unbreakable Atavism makes their skin highly resilient, giving them a natural armor that gets stronger with how low their Satiety is.
The Worm That Walks: Many of them have Horrors appearing as just a swarm of maggots, spiders, or insects. They also have an Atavism representing this, Infestation, which allows them to be a swarm of bugs with a Hive Mind rather than one individual. At high Satiety, this just translates as a toned-down form of the Rubber Man ability, but at low Satiety, they can transform into a swarm.

Talassii

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1d9a8e61f6be672ecf9cf40b98867840ce9d3022f068342a482c25861e695746.png

The captors and jailers. The second Family introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, Talassii incarnate the fear of confinement and restraint, the dragons who kidnap princesses, the boogeymen who snatch up little kids, the giant spider that catches people in its webs. Those linguists among you may also note their name is Latin, unlike every other Family; due to an ancient Anathema placed on them, they can never escape the dark reputation attached to their concept: "Talassii" comes from "For Talassus", the leader of a certain mythological event no vaguely moral Captor wants to be associated with, and eternally quests to overcome.

Abduction Is Love: This is sometimes invoked by Talassii seeking Incarnation. This is why nobody likes Incarnate Talassii, and in fact the vast majority of Captors are quite clear on the fact it isn't.
All Webbed Up: One of their signature Atavisms, Caught in the Webs, is based around this trope. While webs are the first thing that comes to mind due to the name, the Atavism is designed to represent any similar means to restrain — it can just as well represent Mummy Wrap, the vines of a plant monster, tentacles, or the body of a constrictor snake.
The Atoner: Downplayed, in that it's not a direct quest for redemption, but Captors universally suffer for their ancestors' own transgressions and do everything in their power to avoid following the same path.
Giant Spider: A frequent aesthetic associated with them is a spider-like creature trapping people in its webs. This isn't an absolute, though; Talassii can have plenty of forms.
The Jailer: Their core concept. As the incarnation of this idea, Talassii specialize in restriction and imprisonment.
Master of Unlocking: Ironically enough considering they are primarily associated with keeping people inside, one of their Signature Atavisms, Illusion of Safety, can actually be helpful in breaking into houses.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: Their Family's curse, and the reason for their name; a group of Captors tried to repeat the Rape of the Sabine Women with a group of Heroes, and were smote viciously for it, leaving them with a universal Anathema that causes a palpable air of menace to follow them. Modern Captors do their best to prove themselves more than that and show that they're more than just creepy abductors and abusers, but their reputation is never going away.
The Paralyzer: Fittingly given their hat is confinement, their abilities focus primarily on restraining their opponents' moves.
Totally Not a Werewolf: Unlike other Families, Talassii don't really have a particularly common form for their Horrors, as there are many shapes adapted to make a good captor. As a result, they occasionally adopt forms fitting for the other Families, resulting in even other Beasts confusing them. They happily go along with that mistake, as it allows them to avoid the stigma associated with their Family.
Wardens Are Evil: Defied. Unlike Anakim, Talassii usually actively refrain from abusing and humiliating their victims with cruel or excessive punishments; to them, it's less about crushing your victims and more about keeping them restrained. Many are wardens in their human life.

Ugallu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/symbolfamilyugalli.png

The monsters from the sky. Ugallu incarnate the fear of being exposed with no cover, easy prey for predators who can snatch you at any moment.

Awesomeness by Analysis: Their Eye of Heaven Atavism allows them to study their prey, uncovering plenty of information on them with just a glance. Their Birthright also allows them to instantly reveal a hidden target.
Blow You Away: At high Satiety, their Storm-Lashed Atavism allows them to generate powerful blasts of wind just by beating their wings.
Death from Above: Their true forms tend to be flying monsters, and they incarnate the fear that something from the sky is stalking you and could snatch you up at any moment.
Feathered Fiend: Ugallu are most strongly associated with bird-like monsters, such as rocs and griffins.
Flash Step: Their Lightning Strike Atavism is a more aggressive variant of this trope, allowing them to quickly reach an opponent from a long distance to hit him.
Flight: The Wings of the Raptor Atavism. At high Satiety, it just allows them to jump high and glide. But at low Satiety, it flat-out allows them to fly.
Hit-and-Run Tactics: Fittingly, given their association with flying monsters and birds of prey; Wings of the Raptor allows them to fall on an opponent before easily and quickly retreating, and the Beast Player's Guide adds to their affinities the Lightning Strike Atavism, which grants them the ability to quickly reach an opponent and hit him before retreating through Flash Step.
Our Gryphons Are Different: If you meet a Beast whose Horror is a Gryphon, chances are it's an Ugallu.
Super-Senses: They have the ability to uncover something hidden just by concentrating, and two of their core Atavisms, Eye of Heaven and Needs Must, grant them enhanced senses.
Weather Manipulation: Their Storm-Lashed Atavism allows them to influence and control the weather to their advantage. At high Satiety, this just allows them to No-Sell any inconvenience caused by the environment and generate powerful wind attacks, but at low Satiety, they can gradually conjure storms and cause lightning to strike their opponents.

Hungers

Hunger represents a Beast's primal, iconic need, the kind of victim she needs to target, and the kind of fear she needs to inflict in order to feed.

Tyrants

The Hunger for Power. Tyrants are Beasts who live to crush mortals under their domination, to make them feel hopeless by showing how superior to them they are. They are supposed to teach mortals to learn their limits, to realize that sometimes there are things you just can't accomplish.

Always Someone Better: They literally feed by being this to other people; their entire point is to remind mortals they have limits and there will always be someone better than they are.
Ambition Is Evil: They usually aim to get in positions of power, just so they can dominate other people and make them feel powerless.
Comically Small Demand: Tyrants who are trying to inflict the minimum of suffering required to keep their Horror fed will often make hilariously petty demands in order to demonstrate their power (a Tyrant who has arranged to be promoted past a rival forcing that rival to polish his nameplate, for example).
The Dreaded: All Beasts feed through instilling fear into people, but Tyrants especially are prone to willingly make themselves a figure of dread and fear wherever they live, since they need people to know they are being bested in order for the feeding to work. They are not the only Beasts to inspire fear, but they definitely tend to be the most open about it.
Evil Overlord: They are meant to represent this archetype; the monster as a ruler who imposes its authority through fear, frequently being worshipped as a god. Nowadays, however, they tend to represent more modern equivalents, such as being a Mean Boss.
A God Am I: Not that much in present day due to this kind of behavior being less important in modern times, but back in olden times, Tyrants would occasionally get mortals to worship them as gods.
Humiliation Conga: They specialize in inflicting this. Tyrants don't just defeat an opponent, they crush them under their domination.
Kneel Before Zod: Tyrants feed through domination, and need their victims to acknowledge them as superior. As a result, they are prone to enjoy having people kneel, both metaphorically and literally, before them.
Mean Boss: One of the safest way for a Tyrant to feed; for example, a corporate Tyrant may arrange to get a promotion over a rival, then rub it in his face so he can feed off the resulting humiliation of said rival.

Collectors

The Hunger for the Hoard. Collectors are Beasts who feed by taking things away from mortals and keeping them as trophies. They teach people that nothing is forever, forcing them to chose between something they are fond of and something they truly love.

Adventurer Archaeologist: Some Collectors prefer to target wealth lost for centuries rather than take it from living people, delving into ancient and forgotten places to recover old treasures.
Collector of the Strange: Collectors pick items for their Hoard based on the value it has for the people they take it from, rather than the value they have objectively, so they sometimes collect things that no human in their right mind would want. One of the example Collectors provided by the book collects teeth.
Dragon Hoard: Their concept is based on this trope; they are the monsters hiding in their lair, guarding an impressive treasure from intruders. A Collector and his habit of amassing stolen objects is meant to represent the image of a dragon sleeping on his treasure.
Friend-or-Idol Decision: They often embody this trope, forcing their victims to choose between possessions and people.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The book notes at several points that Heroes sometimes find their Chosen Blade in a Collector's Hoard.
Master Thief: Very likely to be a profession for a Collector, since they are literally required to steal in order to feed — they can't just buy something; that would just be trading one thing for another. Many of them come up with heists to satisfy their hunger.
Sadistic Choice: A frequent method they use to teach their lesson is forcing a mortal to choose between something they truly love and something they are fond of.
Trophy Room: Since they feed by taking things away from mortals, many of them tend to fill their houses with items they have stolen from their victims.

Enablers

The Hunger for Transgression. Introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, Enablers are the tempters, who feed by luring people into breaking their own rules, then watching them drown in shame. Often depraved and hedonistic, they try to teach mortals to not stick too much to their ethics and codes and to be ready to loosen them.

The Corrupter: Their core concept; they represent the monster as a tempter, who convinces people to go against their morals.
The Cynic: Many of them come to view humanity as a collection of their flaws and internal hypocrisies, though many of them also find that's what makes them fun.
Every Man Has His Price: One of the many methods they can resort to while feeding.
Foil: To Nemeses; whereas the Hunger for Punishment involves teaching humans to not cross the line and value rules, Enablers actually try to make people cross it and break their belief. Needless to say, the two don't really get along well as a result.
Good Angel, Bad Angel: They firmly play the role of the bad angel.
Gorgeous Gorgon: Their Horrors are often quite attractive, to better play tempter with people.
The Hedonist: Ironically, Enablers frequently revel in the same depravity they push their victims toward, and indulge in the pleasures of life. This is why most of them care little about Inheritance — that often requires leaving their human life, and thus earthly pleasures, behind.
The Shrink: A common profession among nicer Enablers; after all, a psychologist is on some level trying to get a person to violate his own self-image and recognize it as harmful to themselves and others.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Unsurprisingly, their depraved tendencies and inclinations toward seduction make them get along well with vampires, though every now and then the two might end up in conflict despite the Kinship if the vampire feels threatened by the Enabler's power. The issue varies, but when they do reconcile, it often ends up in make-up sex.

Predators

The Hunger for Prey. Predators are hunters, Beasts who feed by stalking people and feeding on the satisfaction of the hunt. They are here to teach humans about mortality and danger.

Enemy Mine: The Beast Player's Guide reveals some Predators, infamously, willingly team up with Heroes to feed by hunting other Beasts. While this can work for a while, it usually lasts only as long as they can find other Beasts fast enough to keep both themselves and the Heroes busy, after which one usually ends up turning on the other.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: They literally feed through this trope. Interestingly, they aren't required to kill the people they hunt; some Beasts can just feed off the utter terror of their victim, or take a trophy (like a lock of hair) and be done with it. All they need to feed is for the victim to have been at their mercy.
Stalker without a Crush: Out of all the Hungers, Predators are the most likely to stalk their prey. But they do it for the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of catching them.
Super-Persistent Predator: They obviously aren't this trope, since like all Begotten they have a human intellect, but they are meant to invoke it; Predators represent the monsters as cruel animals who hunt humans to feed by tracking them down or luring them.
To Serve Man: Downplayed; it is possible for Predators to feed by killing and eating their victims, and some do, but thankfully it usually isn't necessary –- most of the time, having their prey at their mercy is enough. Merged Predators, on the other hand, do need to devour their prey, making them extremely dangerous.
The Vamp: A method used by some Predators, who will lure their prey by charming them with their beauty and smiles until it's too late to escape.

Nemeses

The Hunger for Punishment. Nemeses are Beasts who feed by punishing people who have committed infractions to some form of rule, with the obvious lesson that you need to follow rules to live in a society.

Berserk Button: Many Nemeses have a special kind of offense which they consider especially bad, and will make them come for you right away.
Cruel Mercy: A common method used by Nemeses to become Incarnate is to defeat Heroes, then spare their life, thus punishing them by hurting their ego and showing them how insignificant they are.
Disproportionate Retribution: The punishment in itself tends to be more important than the seriousness of the infraction to define how well a Beast will feed. Unfortunately, this means particularly cruel Nemeses will sometimes come up with absurdly brutal punishments for actions that barely qualify as crimes.
Gaia's Vengeance: Makara Nemeses frequently like to target polluters.
Karma Houdini: They specifically aim to defy this trope by tracking down people who committed infractions or amoral actions but went unpunished, so they can inflict the punishment themselves.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Any Beast can satisfy her Hunger by targeting bad people, but Nemeses are particularly prone to this, seeing how their victims are required to have committed some form of infraction.
The Scourge of God: They represent the monster as an instrument of punishment to strike the guilty. Notably however, they rarely, if ever, target people who aren't guilty even once they are done with the ones who are, since that would not feed them.
Vigilante Man: Many Nemeses end up becoming vigilantes, feeding by punishing criminals and murderers for their crimes.

Ravagers

The Hunger for Ruin. Ravagers are Beasts who are remembered less as individuals and more as a natural disaster. They feed by destroying things to remind mortals how fragile their life is. Their lesson is that you cannot prevent a natural disaster from happening, but you can endure and survive it.

Hope Crusher: Their purpose is to destroy, to remind you that there is no such thing as perfect stability or safety. There can be subversions, however; for example, nothing stops them from feeding by ruining the plan of a Diabolical Mastermind and sending him into a Villainous Breakdown.
Pragmatic Villainy: They rarely kill people to feed, not necessarily because they have any form of standard about murder, but because they feed on the feeling the destruction causes on the surrounding community rather than the act itself; unless they kill a lot of people or someone important like a mayor or a patriarch, murder isn't going to have enough impact to sustain them, so it's usually easier for them to just destroy a house or an object important to someone.
Pyromaniac: Ravagers who are especially cruel or need a large amount of Satiety will sometimes resort to burning houses down in order to feed.
Walking Wasteland: Not in the usual sense (though they can be with the right Atavisms), but they are meant to invoke this trope; Ravagers are remembered as living disasters who cause destruction and damage whenever they show up.
Window Pain: One of the less harmful ways a Ravager can feed is by throwing rocks at someone's windows. While not exactly "nice", it won't really cause more than an inconvenience to the victims, yet still harms them enough to produce a small amount of Satiety.

Whispers

The Hunger for Secrets. Introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, the Whispers feed by finding people's secrets, uncovering them, and sometimes revealing them to the public.

Big Brother Is Watching: The core concept behind their Hunger; they feed on the fear of having someone contantly watching you, and knowing everything you are trying to keep a secret.
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: They pride themselves on being the Hunger whose Beasts have the easiest time being nice, as finding and uncovering secrets seems harmless when compared to things like hunting people or burning houses. While true in theory, they can actually be harmful in the right circumstance –- some people have really Dark Secrets that can destroy them if revealed, either ruining their reputation or humiliating them.
Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Their Hunger is for things that others seek to hide, which often leads them probing other supernaturals' secrets as well.
Private Detective: A frequent occupation they take to satisfy their hunger.
The Spymaster: Another frequent occupation, since spying on people to discover things about them is an excellent way for them to feed.
Unknown Rival: To demons. Whispers find the Unchained fascinating and like to brag about having a professional rivalry with them, but this is actually very one-sided, as demons are the perfect spies, surpassing even Whispers. They do fear their habit of trying to unravel their Covers, though.

Inheritance

The forms a Beast may take if they so wish later in life.

The Incarnation

The Beast Incarnate. Beasts who achieve this form have achieved a perfect symbiosis with their Horror, fusing their Legend and Life into a Myth, granting them the power to assume their Horror's form even outside their Lair and immune to the Anathema of Heroes.

Achilles' Heel: For all their power, Incarnate must rely on their Myth in order to maintain their status; should you manage to disturb it, not only would they revert back to regular Beasts, but everyone (not just Heroes) would become capable of placing Anathema on them for a while.
Bishōnen Line: Downplayed. The most powerful Inheritance is also the one who still appears human until they need to get serious.
Brought Down to Normal: Not only are Incarnates immune to Anathema, they can actually "shut down" Heroes, reverting them back to humans.
Earn Your Happy Ending: The Beast Incarnate is the most powerful Inheritance known, and the only one that comes with little to no drawback, making it the closest they can get to a "happy" endgame. It also happens to be the most difficult and dangerous one to acquire.
Fusion Dance: An Incarnate has completely merged with their Horror. Unlike the Merger, this is more of a metaphysical fusion, joining their Life and Legend into one Myth that grants them better control over their abilities.
Living Legend: Basically how one becomes Incarnate; you need to create a true Myth around yourself, marking you as a world-changing creature by either a spectacularly memorable feeding, becoming your Hive's Apex, or defeating a Hero so resoundingly that it's crystal clear you are the central figure of this story. You also need to maintain said legend once it's done, or you might lose all your power.
No-Sell: Again, Incarnate are immune to Anathema, meaning any Hero that picks a fight with one is in for a big surprise.
Voluntary Shapeshifter: Unlike other Beasts, Incarnate can assume their Horror form anywhere, and in a much stronger variant.

The Retreat

The Beast Unfettered. This form occurs when a Beast dies whilst their Horror slumbers; the Horror, rather than dying with the Beast, roams the Primordial Dream, leaving behind its humanity but retaining its intelligence and sometimes part of her human self's memory.

Abstract Apotheosis: Unfettered become nightmare spirits, wandering the Primordial Dream.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The Retreat involves a Beast discarding her physical body to ascend in the Primordial Dream, becoming a Lairless Horror and an Ephemeral being akin to spirits or ghosts.
Driven to Suicide: When they aren't killed by a Hero's hand, it's not uncommon for Beasts to go through the Retreat by committing suicide, either because they are trying to do it or because they see their existence as Blessed with Suck.
Emergency Transformation: This Ascension requires the Beast to physically die in order to take place, so it's not uncommon for Slumbering Beasts to go through it after being killed by a Hero as a last-ditch effort to survive.
Our Ghosts Are Different: To an extent, they also share similarities with ghosts, in that they used to be living beings, but have become Ephemeral beings with residual memory from their past life.
Our Spirits Are Different: Unfettered are closer to Spirits of Fear than Begotten, gaining Numina and Influence in their transformation and turning into embodiments of nightmares.

The Merger

The Beast Rampant. The opposite of the Retreat, this form occurs when a Beast ends up embracing the physical world to the point they drag their Horror into it, merging with it into a feral, physical monster.

Clipped-Wing Angel: The impractical variant. The Merger causes a Beast to merge with their Horror and Lair, meaning they now have access to a fully physical monster form at all times... Except that's because they cannot revert back to human form, and have lost most of their humanity, being now reduced to feral creatures led by instinct. Their bestial mind also leaves them incapable of subtlety, meaning they can no longer use Nightmares nor feed in insidious and harmless ways, making them more dangerous and much more likely to endanger the Masquerade.
Fisher King: A Merged Beast tends to warp the place wherever it leaves, often causing it to become more sinister-looking and nightmare-inducing, as well as attracting other supernatural beings to live there.
Fusion Dance: Like Incarnate, a Merger completely merges with its Horror. Unlike Incarnate, this results in a feral monster with little to no conciousness left.
The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body : The transformation a Merged Beast goes through removes most of their human personality, leaving only a feral monster led by hunger and instinct. They might retain some memories of their past selves if they are lucky, but that's it.
Power-Upgrading Deformation: The increase in power Merged Beasts get comes from drawing their Horror and Lair in the physical world to merge with it, turning them into monstrous creatures who retain few human aspects.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: A Merged Beasts irreversibly turns into a fully physical monster.

The Divergence

The Beast Divided. One of the three Inheritances introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, this occurs when a Beast willingly starves both her Horror and herself until both turn on and consume each other, eventually turning into two separate half-physical half-ephemeral beings as a result.

Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Divergence leaves the Beast and her Horror as two separate beings who usually aren't on good terms anymore, with the Horror often resenting the separation and being actively hostile toward its former host to the point of bullying. Their lives are sufficiently linked so that one's death would also kill the other, so they restrain from actually murdering each other.
Enemy Without: Basically a forced version of this; the Divergence divides the Beast and her Horror into two individuals, with the Horror becoming a separate monster capable of leaving the Lair of its own and assuming a human form identical to its former host.
Glamour Failure: The Divided Horror can assume a human disguise identical to its former host — but its eyes remain monstrous.
Literal Split Personality : A variant ; The Divergence results in the Beast and her Horror separating and becoming distinct entities, with the human part becoming a half-spirit being that keeps the ability to use Nightmares, while the Horror becomes half-flesh and retains the ability to use Atavisms.

The Erasure

The Horror Eliminated. The second Inheritance introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, this one occurs when a Beast manages to slay their Horror. This results in their powers weakening and gradually fading with time, until the Beast reverts to a regular human being who can never again be turned into a supernatural creature... although the process can be slowed down by devouring the flesh of other Beasts.

I Just Want to Be Normal: Beasts who go through the Erasure are usually motivated by a desire to return to a human life.
Monstrous Cannibalism: Once a Beast has gone through the Erasure, her powers gradually fade away until she reverts back to human. The only way to slow the process down is to literally devour the flesh of other Beasts.
No-Sell: An Erased Beast effectively becomes immune to any form of new transformation into a supernatural being (except one related to the God-Machine), whether vampire, mage, werewolf, or any other.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Since the Horror replaces a Beast’s soul, just killing it would either kill the Beast or leave them soulless rather than revert them back to human... meaning you first need to find a new soul to replace your Horror for the Erasure to work properly.
This Is Unforgivable!: The Dark Mother feels that way toward the Erasure; to her, it's not just rejecting her Gift to you, but also killing the part of yourself that made your her child and betraying your own kind (not to mention potentially cannibilizing them), and as such there is no coming back from it. This is the reason Erased Beast can never become supernatural beings again, and get attacked on sight by Horrors should they enter a Lair.

The Inversion

The Hero's Rebirth. The third Inheritance introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, this one occurs when the Beast, rather than just slaying their Horror, succeeds in creating an Anathema for it and sealing it inside it, leaving it in a state close to death while still alive enough that they can still drain power from it. The resulting Beast then becomes a strange Beast-Hero hybrid, combining the Horror’s abilities with an ability to detect other Beasts and inflict Anathema on them.

All Your Powers Combined: Inverted Beasts retain access to their Atavisms, Nightmares, and Birthright (albeit only the Normal Effects, since they no longer have a Satiety pool) while combining them with Heroes' abilities to detect other Beasts and place Anathema on them.
Became Their Own Antithesis: The very point of the Inversion: a Beast turning into something close to a Hero.
Hazy-Feel Turn: Neither Beasts nor Heroes are necessarily evil, but each has certain factors that push them more to the "evil" side. Hence, going from one to the other is difficult to judge.
I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Usually the primary motivation for Beasts to go through the Inversion; they hate being Begotten and resent the Dark Mother for their Devouring, but unlike Erased Beasts, they do not wish to just go back to a human life — they want payback.
Knight Templar: Inverted Beasts tend to be fanatical in their hatred of Beasts even when compared to regular Heroes.
Rage Against the Heavens: Toward the Dark Mother; the Inversion is used by Beasts who resent her for turning them and wish to strike back.
Soul Jar: Their Lair still contains their Horror's corpse with its Anathema binding it inches away from death. Said Anathema can be drawn from the carcass by a Hero, which would result in the Inverted instantly dying.
Symmetric Effect: The Inverted shares any Anathema they place on a Beast. Also, Beasts who survive the first encounter can track an Inverted the same way they track Beasts.

Supporting Cast

Primordial Cultists and Heralds

Not every mortal who dreams of a roving Horror is driven to Heroism or willingly forgets the nightmare. Some are intrigued or regard it as a spiritual experience and seek the Beast out in the real world to discover the truth. In many cases, the Beast realizes these people are also excellent friends when seeking to Feed, and from there a cult is born; part worshipers, part close circle of friends, and part minions. One cultist in particular is given an exalted position over the rest as the Herald, imbued with a piece of the Horror and made more than human. Bad Bosses beware, however; if pushed sufficiently, it's easy for a cultist's link to the Dream to become exactly like a Hero's.

Cult: Duh. Though much like mummies, they aren't necessarily the stereotypical religious cult; some are corporate business, clubs, fighting rings, or anything else that fits the Beast's tastes.
The Dragon/Number Two: Heralds are cultists imbued with part of the Beast's powers and serving as the right hand in the Cult.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: While Cults are loyal to their Beast, they might not like some of the stuff they're asked to do, and pushing them too far is a good way to awaken Heroes out of moral disgust with their god.
Mouth of Sauron: The role of the Herald is to serve as the voice of the Beast to the cultists.
The Starscream: Stereotypically, Heralds are often seen as backstabbing second-in-command waiting for the first opportunity to betray their master. While some of them avoid that cliche and are genuinely loyal, this isn't entirely unfounded, which is one more reason wary Beasts usually avoid being too much of a Bad Boss.
Touched by Vorlons: Heralds are given a small portion of their Beasts' powers through a ritual, granting them some supernatural abilities and sometimes a distinct mark. Not only this, but their Beast becoming Incarnate immediately results in themselves becoming full-fledged Beasts.

Horrorspawns

Introduced in the Beast Player's Guide, Horrorspawns are monsters that Beasts have the ability to create, either by splitting small parts of their Horror or by mating with another Beast while inside the Lair. Regardless of the method, this results in what are essentially smaller versions of their Horrors, which obey them and can serve as useful minions, either helping them feed or defending them against Heroes. They are a double-edged sword, however: spending too much time with them can cause a Beast to lose touch with her humanity, while spending too little time with them can result in them gaining independence and trying to take over the Lair, forcing Beasts to keep a balance between the two options.

Actually a Doombot: One of the possible uses for them; it's common for Heroes to fight a Horrorspawn and wrongly assume this was the Beast, especially if the fight happens in the Lair. Beasts occasionally use this to fool them into leaving them alone, at least for a time.
Familiar: Essentially what they are for Beasts; barely sentient monsters serving as allies.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Downplayed; you do require a dead body to serve as a vessel in order to bring a Horrorspawn out of the Lair, but said body doesn't need to be human, nor must you kill it yourself. It's common for Beasts to either use animal corpses or grab a body at the morgue.
Servant Race: To Beasts; Horrorspawns have little mind of their own, being essentially fragments of the Horror, and live only to serve their creator.
Weaponized Offspring: They are small versions of Beasts' Horrors that can be produced to serve as minions and guards.

The Dark Mother

The mysterious entity from the Primordial Dream who gave birth to Horrors, and by extension to Beasts. Few things are known about her, though all Beasts agree on her existence.

I Have Many Names: She has gone by many names through the ages, including taking on names from various mother of monster figures in mythology such as Lilith, Hecate, or Tiamat.
Monster Progenitor: To Beasts, being the progenitor of all Horrors. The Begotten also believe her to have given birth to the various progenitors of other supernatural beings, such as Father Wolf, though how right they are is left ambiguous.
Mother of a Thousand Young: All Horrors (and by extension Beasts) are her children. Supernatural beings in general, aside from Demons, are also considered to be descended from her, though which way is unclear.

Begotten factions and groups

While Beasts do not form societies the way other supernatural beings do, and lack factions as a social splat, they do have a culture, and some of them assemble into factions, typically in an attempt to learn more about their mysterious progenitor, the Dark Mother.

The Athenaeum

Mostly composed of scholars, the Athenaeum take an intellectual approach in studying the Dark Mother, collecting every bit of knowledge, song, story, tale, or artifact they can in an effort to study them. They are by far the most organized subculture among the Begotten, having created a worldwide Hive where they placed an entire library containing all their knowledge.

Great Big Library of Everything: Their Hive is essentially a gigantic Library containing centuries of knowledge and artifacts about the Dark Mother, both from the physical world and the various ephemeral realms.
Magical Library: Said library is in the Primordial Dream itself, built within a Hive connecting multiple Lairs all over the world.
Seeker Archetype: Unsurprisingly, most of the Athenaeum's membership are scholars and archeologists.

The Empusae

A faction of Begotten who chose to leave their human side behind and dedicate themselves to the Begotten part of themselves, feeling humanity can no longer teach them anything of value. They spend most of their time refining their understanding of themselves and socializing amongst common Families.

Slobs Versus Snobs: They are the Slobs to the Athenaeum's Snob, with a less intellectual, more brutish approach to exploring their Beast nature that causes the Athenaeum to perceive them as callow and unsophisticated, while they see the Athenaeum as pretentious and deluded. They don't actively fight or hate each other, but they don't exactly get along either.
The Wild Hunt: They have their own version of this, which they practice when the moon is dark as a means to reach enlightenment.

The Guardian Beasts

Not all Beasts have a positive view on the Dark Mother; the Guardian Beasts consist of Begotten who resent the Dark Mother's absence, yet force her children to pursue her if they want her “love”. Unlike most of their peers, they reject the notion of Inheritance as a gift from her, instead seeing it as something personal that all Beasts should attain to become independent.

Abusive Parent: How they perceive the Dark Mother; in their opinion, she left her children alone in the physical world, forcing them to pursue her and warping them into her standards if they even hope to meet her.
I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Their position toward the Dark Mother; they refuse to play her game, studying her only to figure out ways to protect themselves and their kin from her influence, and seek Inheritance solely as a way to become independent.

The Dominae

Possibly the most predatory and amoral of all Beasts, the Dominae believe Beasts to be the firstborn of the darkness, the ultimate predators –- meaning everyone else, be it humans or other supernatural beings, are just prey. They focus on domination and gaining authority, often using complex maneuvering to attain positions of power, ideally as the Apex.

Fantastic Racism: In contrast to Beasts' usual view of other supernatural beings as kin and family, the Dominae has a very supremacist stand toward them, seeing them only as prey who happen to be more dangerous than humans. Even weaker Beasts can suffer a similar stigma in their eyes.
The Social Darwinist: As far as they are concerned, in this world you are either a predator or prey — and if you aren't the former, then you are automatically the latter, family ties be damned.

Antagonists

Heroes

The Beasts' primary opponents. Much like them, Heroes are people with a connection to the Primordial Dream, albeit a smaller one, and whose function is to help humanity deal with nightmares. Whenever there is a disturbance in the Dream, they feel it and can start looking for a way to fix it. Unfortunately, most Heroes Beasts meet are people with low Integrity, who've ended up convinced the Beasts are responsible for these disturbances and dedicate themselves to killing them.

Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted; Beasts tend to think Heroes are all narcissistic psychopaths, but this is because those are the kind of Heroes they are most likely to meet. Good Heroes do exist; they just rarely cross paths with Beasts.
Anti-Villain: Conquering Heroes features several, ranging from Well-Intentioned Extremist Mad Doctor Jameson Stone to Tragic Monster Martin Whist.
Axe-Crazy: Unfortunately for Beasts, the majority of Heroes they cross paths with are maniacs obsessed with killing them.
Bad Boss: How they typically act toward their Followers. As far as they are concerned, they are the main characters, and all the people who fight beside them are just expendable companions meant to weaken the Beast so the Hero can finish the job.
Black-and-White Insanity: In their mind, all Beasts are evil and they are the good guys, meaning anything they do, no matter how morally questionable, is justified. "Good" Heroes are usually slightly less bad in that area, but they are still quick to judge and hard to reason with.
Category Traitor: How they rationalize killing any human relative or loved one a Beast might have — as far as they are concerned, if these humans really are close to the Beast, then they are little more than its minions and deserve no mercy.
Characterization Marches On: In earlier previews of the book, Heroes were people who would develop supernatural abilities and hatred for the Begotten after being tormented by them, and all of them were delusional maniacs. Later versions of the book change their origin to them being born as Heroes with their powers awakening when they feel disturbances in the Primordial Dream and clarify their typical psychotic behavior is a result of Motive Decay — while they never got along with Beasts, there used to be a time when violence between them was the last resort. Conquering Heroes then clarifies there are many different kinds of Heroes with various shades of grey in their morality, some of them verging toward Anti Villains or even Hero Antagonists.
The Chooser of the One: It's rare, but the occasional humble Hero will develop the Chosen One gift, allowing them to designate a specific person as a Beast's Anathema. This is invariably not them.
Combat Pragmatism: While Heroes typically would much rather have a climatic final confrontation with the Beast right inside its Lair because it would be more glorious for them, most aren't idiots, and do realize fighting a Humanoid Abomination in a place where it has a Homefield Advantage isn't necessarily a good idea. As such, many will instead go for a safer, more direct method, such as placing a bomb inside the Beast's house or trying to stab her in her sleep.
Create Your Own Villain: In the original preview, this was how they were created — people who were tormented in their dreams by Beasts would become Heroes provided they had a low enough Integrity. This is downplayed in the final book, where Heroes are born as they are instead — the nightmares a Beast causes are just what attract them, and it's heavily implied in Conquering Heroes that a Hero has to make the decision to kill a Beast without considering them a person before they manifest their Hero powers.
Crippling Overspecialization: Downplayed; while Heroes are technically supernatural beings, the majority of their powers are entirely focused on fighting Beasts, and Beasts only. Against other supernatural creatures, they are for the most part regular (albeit frequently well-trained, skilled, and determined) humans, which can get them in trouble when they end up fighting something they weren't prepared for. Some can also avert it by possessing the "Kinslayer" Heroic Gift, which allows them to use their other Heroic Gifts on other types of supernaturals who have kinship with Beasts (though they still can't place Anathema on them like they do with Beasts).
Evil Counterpart: They are considered this by Hunters. Much like them, they are humans who slay monsters, but they represent all the darker and worst aspects of this role. Some Hunters even mistake Heroes for a specific kind of Slasher who just happen to target living embodiments of nightmares.
"If confronting a Beast brings a hunter a moment of doubt, meeting a Hero is like looking into a mirror and realizing you don't much care for the person gazing out at you."
Fallen Hero: There was a time where Heroes actually acted heroically and would only try to slay Beasts as a last resort. Nowadays, such Heroes still exist, but the ones Beasts typically meet are crazy narcissists who are just out to kill them.
Fantastic Racism: They hate Beasts basically just for being monsters, and the majority of Heroes don't even acknowledge them as real people.
Healing Factor: While not quite as fast to heal wounds as werewolves, they still recover much faster than regular humans. They also are immune to mundane illness, and never need medical attention; their wounds always close up on their own and heal perfectly without any need for surgery.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: They need Beasts to give their lives meaning. All of the things that people ordinarily enjoy — life, home, friends — are meaningless to a Hero. Without the addictive rush of the hunt, their souls are just...empty. And they can't bear to acknowledge that.
Glory Seeker: Many Heroes are hunting Beasts less because they want to help people, and more because they want to make it their story and get the glory that comes with slaying a monster. This is why they rarely work well together — they all want the glory, and they tend to fight over it.
Hero Antagonist: It's rare, but occasionally Beasts will meet a Hero who deserves the title, only hunting them because they're good at it and not reveling in the kill beyond having a threat to their friends and family removed. These tend to be the most dangerous Heroes, precisely because they aren't that maladjusted, and thus develop competent friends they view as equals. Marlena Sarcosa the Sentinel (a Mama Bear who only hunts monsters who threaten her children and community) and Daniel Greene the Silversmith (who is honestly more hunter than Hero, not caring if he gets the fame so long as an actual threat is removed) come to mind. The problem is that even the nice Heroes have a case of Black-and-White Morality and are quick to judge; they're just less myopic about it.
Implacable Man: Heroes can recover from the worse injuries in a few weeks if you don't make sure they really are dead, and some of them possess the "Champion's Endurance" Gift, granting them a natural armor against Beasts.
It's All About Me: Being convinced that they are the protagonists of the tale, Heroes have a bad habit of turning into narcissists who see themselves as above others.
Long-Lived: While most Heroes don't live long due to their dangerous life of fighting Humanoid Abominations, the ones who managed to kill multiple Beasts and accumulate dozens of Gifts frequently lose their ability to gain Gifts by killing Beasts, instead seeing their lifespan increased by the kill.
Man of Kryptonite: Their Heroic Gifts are an entire set of abilities specifically made to fight Beasts, and they have the ability to place Anathema on them, creating weaknesses.
Motive Decay: The reason they are usually antagonists in present times. When acting properly, Heroes are supposed to be forces of good, warning mortals about the dangers of the Primordial Dream and helping them learn lessons on their own, without fear or pain, only killing Beasts as a last resort. Unfortunately, many nowadays just interpret their job as "slaying as many Beasts as possible".
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The final version of the book makes a point of clarifying that not all Heroes are violent narcissists — they are just the ones Beasts are the most likely to meet.
Not Quite Dead: While Heroes will die from things that would quickly kill humans (such as decapitation), their Healing Factor protects them from blood loss or mundane illnesses, and allows them to properly recover without any need for medical attention; even if you hurt a Hero so badly he ends up in a coma and abandon him in the middle of nowhere, his wounds will still heal and close on their own, and he will be back on his feet a few weeks later. Beasts who forget to make sure the Hero tracking them down really is dead frequently get the unpleasant surprise of facing him again later.
Scarily Competent Tracker: Their Heroic Tracking ability allows them to automatically feel when a Beast is creating disturbance in the Primordial Dream (either by letting her Horror lose or by using Nightmares and Atavisms in a spectacular manner), and Heroic Stalking allows them to feel the presence of nearby Beasts, making them excel at finding them.
Staking the Loved One: Deconstructed; it's actually a pretty frequent occurrence for mortals who were friends and relatives to Beasts to become Heroes (Marian Jones being one of the most infamous examples). When this happens, their instinct usually compels them to kill the Beast loved one on the spot; those who actually take time to think about it will only convince themselves this monster isn't the person they knew anymore and see the act as a Mercy Kill. The Player's Guide reveals this has been subverted at least once, when an Ugallu Nemesis discovered a legendary Iraqi Heroine was her own mother — the two promptly teamed up and killed a Beast who was actually a monster, with the Ugallu becoming an Incarnate who specializes in helping Heroes and Beasts live in relative peace.
Stalker without a Crush: Heroes who find a Beast usually become obsessed with tracking them and following them everywhere, much in the same manner a stalker would. However, their obsession usually has less to do with romantic feelings and more with wanting to kill them at all costs... usually.
Supernatural Sensitivity: Their Heroic Tracking ability allows them to sense if a Beast has been there recently and/or has been using an Atavism.
Tautological Templar: In their opinion, Beasts are evil incarnate, and as such any action done to take them down is entirely justified, no matter how amoral said action is.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Heroes are capable of working together, but this usually doesn't work out very well, since they are all Glory Seekers who would rather be in the spotlight and are unwilling to share the glory with anyone.
- It doesn't help that, per the sourcebook, only the Hero who strikes the killing blow on a Beast gains a new Gift.
Underestimating Badassery: Many Heroes don't think much of other supernaturals, seeing them as little more than minions serving their Beast overlords. The book mentions this can lead to quite a shock when they meet an elder vampire or a raging werewolf who is genuinely more powerful and dangerous than any Beast they have fought before.
Van Helsing Hate Crimes: As far as they are concerned, all Beasts deserve to die — they won't even acknowledge the idea that not all of them might be evil.
Villainous Underdog: Despite having quite effective powers against Beasts, most Heroes are still considerably less powerful than the Begotten, not to mention often far less informed about the supernatural, forcing them to rely on Combat Pragmatism, guile, and allies to have a chance.
Weapon Specialization: The "Chosen Blade" Heroic Gift allows a Hero to imbue a weapon with part of his legend, effectively enhancing it against Beasts and making it their signature weapon.
Weapon of X-Slaying: One of the Anathemas Heroes can place on a Beast. While most Anathemas give the Beast some form of Fatal Flaw or Achilles' Heel, the Weaponbound Anathema partially externalizes the vulnerability, investing a specific weapon with the power to destroy the Beast.
We Have Reserves: Heroes are well aware of the Red Shirt trope regarding their followers, and unfortunately tend to treat them accordingly.
Would Hurt a Child: Heroes typically have no problem taking on Beasts who are still children or their underage relatives; Dwight Whittaker once kidnapped and poisoned a kid in order to get a Beast to come to him, and Grace Teller's first victim was 17 years old (though admittedly, she was genuinely torn over the act and partially ended up doing it under pressure from her producers).
Wrong Genre Savvy: They believe themselves in a classic "Hero slays the Beast" story where they are the protagonists. They are technically correct — except that they oversimplified it to make it less about actually being a Hero and all about just killing the Beast, without trying to understand further.

The Insatiable

Introduced in Conquering Heroes. Like Beasts, the Insatiable are manifestations of primal fears merged with humans — except no human ever felt the fears they embodied. Rather, the Insatiable are callbacks to a primal, uninhabited Earth long before humanity, where the planet itself was hostile towards all life. They claim to be kin to Beasts as well, perhaps their closest, but unlike Beasts, they were not descended from the Dark Mother, but her mate, the Primogenitor. Beasts bitterly dispute this, not only because they don't feel Kinship towards them, but because the transformation renders Insatiable almost completely inhuman, borderline sociopathic Humanoid Abominations that must kill in order to feed, and as the name suggests, they are never truly full. The fact that, rather than having Lairs, the Insatiable invade the Begotten's own homes and even send their own monstrous parts to possess them doesn't help their case.

The Ageless: While the Insatiable grow and die like any other living creature, some apparently can't die of old age. In Conquering Heroes there are three examples: The Blind Man, who apparently has at least 2550 years under his belt but looks like a man in his 50s; Peter Slaughbal, who hasn't aged a year since the '60s, but was trapped by a hunter in a reliquary, so maybe doesn´t count; and finally, the Blitz Boy, who looks like a 10-year-old boy, but transformed into an Insatiable in 1940 and hasn't aged a day since.
Antagonist Abilities: In contrast to Heroes, Insatiable are more than able to give Beasts a bad day with little effort; their basic package includes the abilities to steal a Beast's Lair and Atavism, inflict Demonic Possession on the Begotten by touching them, go One-Winged Angel at any time without the need to be in a Lair like Beasts do, and inflict a Hate Plague on nearby humans that they can sometimes use to manipulate them into doing their bidding.
Bizarre Alien Biology: They tend to have really weird anatomy, to the point most abilities directly affecting the body have less effect on them.
Demonic Possession: In addition to their ability to take over Beasts' Lairs, they also can subvert a Beast's Hunger through physical contact, allowing them to take over the Beast's mind for a time based on their Satiety (the more Satiety the Beast has, the longer it lasts). Being the sadistic monsters they are, they typically use this ability to force Beasts to harm people they care about, destroying their life in the process.
Driven by Envy: The reason they corrupt and invade the Begotten's Lairs; they are unable to construct their own, and feel jealous because they consider this ability a birthright the Dark Mother never bestowed upon them.
Eldritch Abomination: Their Horrors are invariably this, embodying concepts that existed before any current living thing.
Elemental Embodiment: Instead of Families, Insatiable have Moments, which are based on environments rather than monsters who live in it, and follow an elemental pattern:
- Clashing Faults is associated with Earth, caves, and earthquakes;
- Freezing Hell is associated with Ice, inhospitable frozen lands, and the Ice Age.
- Molten Earth is associated with Fire, lava, and infernos.
- Primordial Seas is associated with Water, storms, and inhospitable seas.
- Void is obviously associated with Void, emptiness, and cold space.
Evil Counterpart: To Beasts; while the Children can at least try to moderate their hunger and spin it towards a purpose, the Insatiable couldn't care less and are callbacks to a time where morality didn't exist.
Food Chain of Evil: To Beasts; with the exception of really powerful ones, which they perceive as rivals, Insatiable see the Begotten as prey to manipulate and feed on. They similarly have no problem feeding on other supernaturals as well as humans.
Hate Plague: Because of their very nature as an infection in the Primordial Dream, an Insatiable dwelling in an area produces a Schism, a field that gradually drives nearby humans insane with delusional fears. They exploit this for all it's worth.
- Peter Slaughbal, prior to being sealed in a reliquary, used his Schism to transform the traveling circus he was a part of into his own cult of willing helpers.
Horrifying the Horror: Beasts, creatures who are nightmares incarnate with a literal Horror as a soul, are disgusted and frightened by these guys, to the point they granted them the nickname "Nightmares of the Beasts". Their Horrible Forms are almost as terrifying to supernatural beings as they are to humans.
Humanoid Abomination: Even more so than Beasts! At least Begotten retain some human morality and an almost completely normal body. Insatiable are utterly divorced from anything except passing fancy when it comes to humans, and their bodies almost invariably mutate in some way. The most infamous Insatiable, the Blind Man, constantly leaks eggs from his anus, urethra, and navel he claims are pieces of the Primogenitor — those poor sods who eat them start leaking similar, more mammalian eggs and have a great increase in fertility, and he loves tricking people into eating them.
Lovecraftian Superpower: Insatiable have access to unique abilities known as Esuriants, which they can summon by spending Satiety. Unlike most Atavisms, they often are physical and do warp the user's body in visible ways, such as creating fanged mouths all over their body.
Power Copying: Insatiable do not naturally have Atavisms of their own; they learn them by stealing them from Beasts, either through Subverting their Lair or through the Your Power is Mine Esuriant.
Power Parasite: They have no Lair of their own, instead either creating a temporary pale imitation, or using a process called Subversion that allows them to take over a Beast's Lair as their own, as well as use the Beast's Atavisms in the process. Fortunately for Beasts, that control can be broken if you manage to keep them away from the Lair long enough.
Red Baron: Some of the nicknames used to design them include the Lamashtu, the Obscene Ones, and the Nightmares of Beasts.
To Serve Man: Unlike Beasts, an Insatiable feeding on a mortal always results in the human dying and being literally devoured, leaving nothing but bones and chunks of flesh. And true to their name, they are never full.
Walking Wasteland: Not only does Schism cause a Hate Plague on every mortal around, it also makes the area more vulnerable to the intrusion of Ghosts, Spirits and other Ephemeral beings. Considering these creatures frequently have a lot of powers and Blue-and-Orange Morality, this will likely make things worse.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The Insatiable's feral forms tend to look much more alien and incomprehensible than Beasts', to the point that the human mind is unable to process them. Because of this, humans who witness them usually suffer a Brown Note causing them to leave and repress the memory, and even other supernaturals can only resist this by succeeding on a Resolve+Supernatural Tolerance roll.
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: To say Beasts aren't comfortable with the fascination the Insatiable have for them and the fact they consider them as kin would be an understatement.

Characters / Beast: The Primordial

Families

Tropes applying to all Beasts:

Hungers

Inheritance

Supporting Cast

Begotten factions and groups

Antagonists

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Beast: The Primordial

Edit Locked

Families

Tropes applying to all Beasts:

Hungers

Inheritance

Supporting Cast

Begotten factions and groups

Antagonists

Previous

Index

Next