I like the cloaker. Always have. I get that some people don't like those monsters created just to occupy an artificial niche in dungeon ecology designed solely to mess with adventurers. I don't care, but I get it.
A monster that looks like a cloak, just to fool adventurers, can seem a bit silly. And silly certainly has no place in some folks' epic fantasy adventure gaming.
I don't find the cloaker to be silly. I also don't have adventurers encounter cloakers that hang motionless on a coat rack. Silly is as silly does. Though I happen to like a little silly from time to time, I take the cloaker very seriously. The thing is built like a ray, and maybe a little like a bat. Whatever the case, there is a framework for a believable creature there. Still, for Avremier, I took it a bit further. From the start, the cloaker sparked my imagination. That's what good monsters do.
What, in Avremier, is a cloaker? Well, that depends on who you ask. If you ask most everyone - they won't know. In fact, the vast majority of them will have never heard of the thing. Cloakers don't get out much. They are found underground - usually, deep underground. If you were able to ask an actual cloaker, it might tell you something like this:
The god of all is the King in Tatters. The Tattered King. Also called Susurrus. We are but bits of his ragged robes, given sentience and purpose - sent out into the Vastness to learn all there is to know, before returning to the source to share our experiences. To become greater - and whole. Myriad - and one.
So, each cloaker has the potential for different or unique traits depending upon how it became independent from the robes of its deity. Did it just fall off? Was it torn free? Was it sent forth? Was it cast away? Did it flee? Whatever the circumstances, it matters. That's what makes the cloaker what it is. In fact, in Avremier, it isn't called a cloaker. The creature is a 'tatter'. No one really sees it as a cloak-like monster.
And all of this came from my contemplation of the cloaker's place in my setting. Not just a living trap for unwary adventurers. Something more fitting within the Avremier multiverse. Is the origin myth mentioned above the actual truth within the setting? It might be. Maybe someone will find out for themselves during the course of a future adventure. That's what Avremier is about.
I don't find the cloaker to be silly. I also don't have adventurers encounter cloakers that hang motionless on a coat rack. Silly is as silly does. Though I happen to like a little silly from time to time, I take the cloaker very seriously. The thing is built like a ray, and maybe a little like a bat. Whatever the case, there is a framework for a believable creature there. Still, for Avremier, I took it a bit further. From the start, the cloaker sparked my imagination. That's what good monsters do.
What, in Avremier, is a cloaker? Well, that depends on who you ask. If you ask most everyone - they won't know. In fact, the vast majority of them will have never heard of the thing. Cloakers don't get out much. They are found underground - usually, deep underground. If you were able to ask an actual cloaker, it might tell you something like this:
The god of all is the King in Tatters. The Tattered King. Also called Susurrus. We are but bits of his ragged robes, given sentience and purpose - sent out into the Vastness to learn all there is to know, before returning to the source to share our experiences. To become greater - and whole. Myriad - and one.
So, each cloaker has the potential for different or unique traits depending upon how it became independent from the robes of its deity. Did it just fall off? Was it torn free? Was it sent forth? Was it cast away? Did it flee? Whatever the circumstances, it matters. That's what makes the cloaker what it is. In fact, in Avremier, it isn't called a cloaker. The creature is a 'tatter'. No one really sees it as a cloak-like monster.And all of this came from my contemplation of the cloaker's place in my setting. Not just a living trap for unwary adventurers. Something more fitting within the Avremier multiverse. Is the origin myth mentioned above the actual truth within the setting? It might be. Maybe someone will find out for themselves during the course of a future adventure. That's what Avremier is about.
I like this idea of different origins of the cloak giving different traits. Somewhat reminiscent of Tolkien's creation story where the origin of the Ainur are different thoughts from Ilúvatar's mind. Perhaps your cloakers have their own Melkor, who understands the threads of the great cloak more than any of the others, and thus aspires to more than being just one patch on the Greater Cloak
ReplyDeleteAn apt comparison. In this case, their Melkor would be Susurrus. There is much more to come on the nature and workings of Susurrus in the Avremier milieu.
ReplyDeleteI realize that bit of information might not make complete sense, but...Susurrus is not what it seems and no one understands the mind of a tatter.
DeleteThe Tattered King certainly evokes the King in Yellow for me, as well, David! :D
ReplyDeleteAllan.
I really like aspects of the Mythos, but find the whole concept really overdone in recent years. So, while I do have analogues of the deities I like, they are rarely overt or straightforward.
ReplyDelete