On Remixing the Minotaur & Monsters from the Marble Empire

As inspiration for the Celestial Coast, I’ve been rereading Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings - which in many ways feels like a precursor to the Monster Manual. The book is a compendium of fantastical monsters from history and literature written by Borges in his usual playfully poetic prose. Like anything by Borges, I can not recommend it enough and it definitely serves as a great resource for monster ideas if you’re looking for something pre-gygaxian.

However what inspired me on this reading was from the preface, in which Borges writes:

 “...a monster is no more than a combination of parts of real beings, and the possible permutations border on the infinite. In the centaur, the horse and man are blended;  in the Minotaur the bull and man (Dante imagined it as having the face of a man and the body of a bull); and in this way it seems we could evolve an endless variety of monsters.”

Which leads me to think specifically about the minotaur.

This is the saddest minotaur I could find. 

We all have a shared idea of what a minotaur looks like, a bipedal humanoid man with a bull’s head that exists to chase those lost in a labyrinth. That should feel scary, it should feel monstrous, but the image of the minotaur is so well known and explored that it's not. We understand the monster and so it is no longer unknown to us and we are not no longer scared. 

For me the idea of the minotaur should tap into that very primal human fear that we are not at the top of the food chain. There is always something bigger than us, something chasing us and when it catches us there is no escape. 

So how do we make the minotaur scary again? How do we make it monstrous? 

My idea is to steal from Dante and remix that minotaur. 

Cheer up buddy. It's time for a make-over.

A passionless human face contorted onto a bull’s body. Tight pale skin stretched against the muscular neck of the beast. Ivory white horns protruding from its forehead. Sweaty fur covering its giant torso. The slap of four prehensile feet echoing along the halls of the labyrinth. Always angry, always moving, always ready to hunt you down. 

There are an infinite number of animals that can be combined together to create new monsters. However there is also an infinite number of ways of combining those animals together.

So here are some classical Greek/Roman monsters that I’ve remixed in some way or another for eventual use in the Celestial Coast. For the setting the idea being is that the modern countries are built on the ruins of the Marble Empire, an unknown ancient civilization, so scattered throughout the coastline and mountains are ruins still containing treasures and of course monsters. I want the monsters to feel mythic but at the same time appear fresh and unknown. 

These should all be compatible with Electric Bastionland/Into The Odd/Cairn as that’s the system I’ll be using for the Celestial Coast. The formatting for the monsters is inspired by how Yochai Gal lays them out in Cairn because it rocks. 

The names are all a bit dumb at the moment, I was thinking of calling them stuff like “He who rages endlessly through architecture of loss to find you for his eternal hunt” but I didn’t, you can do that though if you want. 

1. The Reverse Minotaur - 12 HP, 1 Armor, 18 STR, 12 DEX, 8 WIL, Ivory Horns (both d10) ⬤ Colossal muscular bull with an emotionless human face and brutish prehensile feet. Stinks of musk and sweat. Grunts with a low roar.  ⬤ Prefers the hunt to the kill. Chases anyone running away from it or trying to retreat, even if it is currently engaged in combat.  ⬤ Critical Damage: The target is gored upon the Reverse Minotaur’s horns. A STR save is needed to remove them by hand.  

2. The Anti-Gorgon - 8 HP, 12 STR, 12 DEX, 16 WIL, Snake Bite (d8) ⬤ Bald humanoid with a giant unkempt beard of hissing snakes. Eyes made of glowing marble. Snake-like tail that rattles. ⬤ Moves slowly and methodically. Always searching for stone statues. ⬤ As an action it can stare at a statue, giving it life and turning it into flesh. Flesh Statue - 4 HP, 11 STR, Meaty Punch (d6). Flesh Statues follow any command given by the Anti-Gorgon for as long as they are visible.

3. The Cydra - 6HP, 9 STR, 16 DEX, 9 WIL, Tail Whip (each d6) ⬤ Giant snake head with d6 long tails. ⬤ The tails are constantly wriggling and squirming so it struggles to move in a straight line. ⬤ Whenever critical damage is dealt to the Cydra it has a 50/50 chance of ignoring the effects, sprouting a new tail and gaining 2d6 STR.

4. The Tocsin (4 HP, 8 STR, 12 DEX, 14 WIL, Beautiful Talons (d6) ⬤ Bird headed women with painfully bad singing voices.  ⬤ They usually travel in groups of 3 or 4 and migrating to safe or secure locations. ⬤ Anyone that hears the Tocsin’s awful song must make a WIL save or be filled with panic and an urge to run away from the singing.

5. The Panclops (10 HP, 15 STR, 11 DEX, 7 WIL, Eye Brawl (d8) ⬤ A giant humanoid covered in eyes. Its skin has eyes, its teeth has eyes, its eyes have eyes. ⬤ Can see from every direction. Sleeps with many eyes open. Always looking out for intruders. Love seeing new things with all those eyes. ⬤ If the Panclops’ entire body is completely blinded by bright light it is unable to see or act. 

6. Cerbepuss (4 HP, 7 STR, 18 DEX, 16 WIL, Hellclaw (d6) ⬤ A elegant and sleek black cat with three heads. Its eyes burn bright like an inferno. ⬤ Wherever it steps a small fire starts. ⬤ If you show the proper admiration and respect for the cat’s staggering, heavenly beauty it may consider showing you the way to the underworld.