Gwahled

Gwahled

(Creature)

Type

Fey

Starship Tier

15

Environment

Any vacuum

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Alien Archive 3, pg(s). 46

Gwahleds are enormous fey creatures that look like a world-ending meteor and feed on the fear of mortals as they plummet towards their planet.

Appearance

One of the largest fey in existence, a gwahled looks like a meteorite with three eyes and a massive mouth capable of swallowing starships. The gwahled's fear-eater aura can send those that look at it into abject horror.

Ecology

Gwahleds sustain themselves on fear, and seek to produce it on a planetary scale. They wander space until they dream of a planet whose intelligent life can detect an impact event but cannot thwart it. The gwahled then quickly transports itself near that planet and pretends to be a meteorite drawn to its gravity, and relies on the fact that it is large enough to cause a mass extinction upon impact to sow fear and feed upon a population aware of its doom.

Once the gwahled approaches the planet, its fear-eater aura drives most creatures into terror, and even those who resist the supernatural fear might give into despair as civilisation collapses around them. The sated gwahled then moves away from the planet before causing physical harm, and continues its drowsy drift through space before dreaming of another world to feed.

Although gwahleds are large enough to swallow starships, they only feed on the fear of the crew when doing so.

Habitat

Most gwahleds only visit a given world once, except a few who have established feeding routes along planets that make ideal prey. Those who expect gwahleds are less likely to panic but still susceptible to their fear-eater aura. These worlds often have religions or stories that tell of a 'chaos star' that sow terror and chaos on a generational time scale.

Society

Although gwahleds rarely cause actual extinctions, the fear and confusion they cause can nonetheless disintegrate civilisations as people become desperate or resign themselves to their fate. Sometimes, nations exploit the incoming apocalypse to wage war, and once the terror is over, the world's development has been set back decades or centuries.

Gwahleds are opposed by comanides, who visit their potential victims and warn them of their peril, and might seek the help of heroes to thwart a gwahled.