Bestiary

A compendium of variant monsters found in Midhgardhur:

• Bergrisi (plural bergrisar) – “hill-giant” – roughly the same as the hill giants found in Pathfinder.
• Draugur (plural draugar) – a name for any corporeal undead (not just the “draugr” found in the Bestiary 2 !)
• Einfaetingur (plural einfaetingar) – “uniped,” “one-foot,” a type of humanoid creature with only a single leg and foot, in Northern mythology.
• Fylgja (plural fylgjur) – “Fetch” – When encountered as a monster, this corresponds to the monster “Eidolon, Unfettered” pp. 110-111 of Bestiary 3. Also, dopplegangers call themselves fylgjur or fylgjur-folk, claiming to be the “spirit doubles” of people they intend to kill and replace.
• Gygur (plural gygjur) – a type of evil giantess or ogress (exclusively a female name).
• Haug-bui – “Mound-dweller” – The Northern name for a type of corporeal undead that inhabits a haugur, or burial mound – usually a wight or something similar.
• Hjasi (plural hjasar) – A monstrous, dog-like creature, with ears so long they touch the ground. It is said they live incredibly long lives, so that “as old as the hjasi” is a proverb.
• Hrimthurs (plural hrimthursir) – “Rime-thurs,” or “frost-giant” – another name for the frost giants found in standard Pathfinder.
• Irrbloss – Another name for a will-o-wisp. Also called a “lygtemann” in common parlance.
• Jarnvidhja (plural jarnvidhjur) – A type of evil giantess (the term is exclusively female) that dwell in the Eastern forests known as the Jarnvidhur (Ironwood).
• Lokabrenua or Lokadaun – “Loki’s fire” – a will-o-wisp.
• Niflungur (plural Niflungar) – A type of huldrufolk, similar to the svirfneblin of the standard Pathfinder setting. They have a close affinity with dvergar (dwarves).
• Nykur (plural nykar) – a type of water-spirit, essentially similar to a nymph or rusalka, though they are male as often as female. Many Northern traditions mention such beings – that they are fond of singing and dancing, that they foretell the future, that they bring forth rain or storms, that they come to the aid of women in labor, that their presence at weddings brings prosperity to the bride. Some are said to guard renovating springs (Jungbrunnen) which restore the old to youth, or springs with other mystic properties . . .
• Skergipur – A type of giant bird, similar to a roc.
• Skoffin – A mythological creature of uncertain description – sometimes used as an alternate name for a skuggabaldur, at other times a type of bird that breathes fire and has a petrifying gaze, which can only be harmed with holy and/or silver weapons.
• Skuggabaldur (plural skuggabaldar) – In folk belief, the offspring of a tomcat (male cat) and vixen (female fox), or possibly a bitch (female dog). Also used as a term for an evil spirit or a sneaky person who commits evil deeds anonymously.
• Svanmeyja (plural svanmeyjar) – “Swan Maiden,” or “Swanmay” – A spirit maiden similar to a fey version of a valkyrja. She bears a cloak of feathers called an alftarham which allows her to transform into a swan.
• Svartalfur (plural svartalfar) – “Dark Elf” – roughly equivalent to a standard Pathfinder drow in description and statistics, but with a different culture and cosmology (they are not matriarchal and do not worship a spider-goddess, although they are linked to spiders and other vermin from under the earth, where they dwell in darkness). Svartalfar
• Thurs (plural thursir) – A type of ogre or giant, related to the jotnar.
• Troll – A catch-all term in the North for humanoid monsters which include goblinoids, orcs, and more standard trolls from the various bestiaries
• Trollkyn – A halfbreed race, usually half human and half “troll,” roughly corresponding to standard Pathfinder half-orcs, but with a much greater propensity for sorcery