Another day of weird monsters by Nicholas Cloister! Believe it or not, this freaky slug/lamprey/naked mole rat, the Bhorda, is a gigantic, monstrous seal. It’s inner, circular mouth can extend out like the proboscis of a priapulid (or a certain infamous biomechanical extraterrestrial), an ability that it uses to snatch prey from icebergs- and the occasional ship.
This monstrous pinniped also boasts another power that’s particularly creepy. According to the RPG creatures blog: “In areas where the ice is too thick for the Bhorda to penetrate, the creature can apply a deep and extended bellowing roar to create cracks in the ice and break it open. The vibrations of this sound are powerful but must work on the ice for some time before it comes apart. Surface instability can be felt from above, and a deep eerie song is audible even through thick layers of ice.”
I’ve always found polar environments particularly haunting. The cold and quiet. The sense of isolation. The strange, beautiful shapes of icebergs. The endless white plain of the Antarctic interior. The Bhorda's low, rumbling call- perhaps detectable only as a faint rumbling deep in one's bones- adds the perfect eerie element to a story set on the ice.
I doubt it was intentional on Cloister’s part, but the Bhorda reminds me a little of the giant stop-motion walrus created by Ray Harryhausen’ for the 1977 movie “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger”
 |
| I couldn't find a video of the walrus scene on Youtube, so this picture of it will have to suffice. |
You can read the Bhorda’s full description at the RPG Creatures blog
No comments:
Post a Comment