Yugangi, Rani of the Aswang
The secret ruler of the aswang is the dark enchantress Yugangi. She can change her appearance at will and lives in secret amongst the mortal population. She seeks out those she deems worthy of joining her parasitic kindred and feeds at will on the rest. As a predator and known conspirator with the Far Realm, she is a fugitive from the justice of the Concordance for Survival.
The Aswang Rani was a bogeyman that me folks used to scare me with when I was a little orcling. I hated the thought of her crawling on rooftops and sticking her long skinny tongue into people's houses. What's worse is that she's real. As a ZAP I saw the aftermath of her massacres more than once. It's the children that still haunt me.
The Aswang Queen Yugangi has been branded as one of the worst criminals on Erathia. She sided with the Far Realm in the War Against the Far Realm and was instrumental in summoning the Elder Ones from beyond the Crystal Sphere of Kirinal and onto Erathia. As a traitor to mortal-kind, she is correctly hated and feared by everyone.
Little is known about her mortal life, only that she was born in obscurity centuries ago on the Talin Islands. When she first ingested The Black Chick she embraced her post-mortal life as a cannibalistic predator with gusto. She sold her loyalty to the Old Ones and has been their tool, seeking the consumption of the world, ever since.
Yugangi's power lies not just in her supernatural abilities, but in her mastery of manipulation and deception. She has a vast network of spies and informants, both mortal and magical, who feed her information to stay one step ahead of her enemies.
One of her greatest resources is her anonymity. She shed her true face with her humanity and has worn a succession of forms stolen from innocents over the centuries.
Her greatest rival is the Blood Siren who shares Yugangi's curse but not her motives. While the Siren ruthlessly seeks power and influence through dark means, she would never betray her world to achieve her goals.
That tongue! I don't know why, but that's the image that will stick with me. In my mind, I see a tongue emerging from a fireplace on Christmas night instead of Claus the Gift Giver.
She's based on some traditional Filipino monsters that used to give me nightmares as a kid. I literally spent a night in a hotel in the jungle in the Philippines as an adult. Couldn't sleep because I was thinking of red threads coming from the ceiling!
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Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!