WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Monsters of Ravenloft

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is The Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. As

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<v Speaker 2>a lifelong horror movie and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast, I'm,

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<v Speaker 2>of course a devoted fan of the Ravenloft campaign setting,

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<v Speaker 2>which entails the various domains of dread Pocket dimensions separated

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<v Speaker 2>by supernatural myths, each a prison for a different dark lord,

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<v Speaker 2>and each a different shade of fantasy fueled horror, from

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<v Speaker 2>Gothic to folk, from body to cosmic, and so forth.

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<v Speaker 2>The latest raven Loft gaming book just came out, Ravenloft

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<v Speaker 2>The Horrors Within, so I thought I'd do an episode

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<v Speaker 2>to run through some of the creatures, monsters, and entities

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<v Speaker 2>in this particular volume. The book's bestI area includes various

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<v Speaker 2>updated creatures from past raven Loft installments and some creatures

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<v Speaker 2>I've covered on The Monster Fact before. For instance, there

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<v Speaker 2>is the Nosferatu vampire, based of course on the tradition

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<v Speaker 2>of ghastly cadaverous blood drinkers that springs initially from the

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen twenty two Silent film. As statted out in the

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<v Speaker 2>Horrors Within the Nosparatu vampire blood Fiend quickly flies into

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<v Speaker 2>a frenzy at the slightest drop of red and can

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<v Speaker 2>emit a disgusting blood spew previously called a blood disgorge

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<v Speaker 2>in previous editions to attack anyone that is getting a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit too close and a little bit too player

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<v Speaker 2>charactery for its own well being. This will enable the

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<v Speaker 2>creature to emit a fifteen foot cone of spray. It

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<v Speaker 2>is the necrotic contents of its own stomach now. As

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<v Speaker 2>I mentioned in a past episode of The Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>this attack suggests both a vulture's meal disgorgement, which might

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<v Speaker 2>lighten the load for quick flying escape or serve as

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<v Speaker 2>a bribe for an attacking predator. You know, don't eat me.

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<v Speaker 2>How about you eat this disgusting thing. And it also

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<v Speaker 2>brings to mind the defensive projectile ocular sinus bleeding of

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<v Speaker 2>the Texas horned toad. We've talked about that on Stuff

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<v Speaker 2>to blow your mind before. We also have returning stats

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<v Speaker 2>for the jiangshi, or the so called hopping vampires of

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<v Speaker 2>Chinese folklore. In dungeons and dragons. These creatures are a

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<v Speaker 2>common feature in karature and of course in the dark

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<v Speaker 2>domain of I Caath based on Chinese folklore and Gothic horror.

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<v Speaker 2>I Caath isn't prominently featured in The Horrors Within, but

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<v Speaker 2>the Jugshi returns in the Bestiari. As I've previously discussed

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<v Speaker 2>on both The Monster Fact and on core episodes of

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<v Speaker 2>Stuff to Blow Your Mind. This undead creature emerges from

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<v Speaker 2>a ching dynasty crisis concerning the burial of the dead.

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<v Speaker 2>A rise in unburied bodies left upon the ground caused

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<v Speaker 2>an empire wide crisis of perceived spiritual and funerary dysfunction.

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<v Speaker 2>The Jiangshi, stiff with rigor mortis, is forced to jerk

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<v Speaker 2>itself forward to hop as it moves towards its victim.

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<v Speaker 2>Emerges from this ripe soil of anxiety of cultural anxiety,

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<v Speaker 2>and of course later becomes a standard in Hong Kong

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<v Speaker 2>horror films of the eighties and nineties, which, of course

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<v Speaker 2>is that the prime influence point here for dungeons and dragons.

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<v Speaker 2>As The Horrors Within now includes Ensmith as a dark domain,

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<v Speaker 2>a number of Cthulhu mythos monsters have also wormed their

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<v Speaker 2>way back into the pages of Dungeons and Dragons, and

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<v Speaker 2>these include the Migo, the gug, elder things, Yetheans, night Gaunts,

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<v Speaker 2>show goths, and Cthulhu itself, all of them fully stated out.

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<v Speaker 2>Fans of The Whisper in Darkness will be pleased to

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<v Speaker 2>know that the Migo can in fact extract a player's

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<v Speaker 2>brain and preserve it inside of a Migo brain canister.

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<v Speaker 2>But I want to discuss one of the other newly

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<v Speaker 2>added or at least newly returned monsters in the book,

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<v Speaker 2>and that is the Death's Head tree. This concept is

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<v Speaker 2>as simple as it is grizzly. In Dunis and Dragons,

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<v Speaker 2>Death's heads are floating, flying, dis embodied heads of various creatures,

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<v Speaker 2>from humans and animals to medusas and mind flares, and

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<v Speaker 2>a death said tree is where heads like this grow

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<v Speaker 2>like foul fruit and sometimes even explode all over unfortunate

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<v Speaker 2>player characters. This concept has its roots in global folklore.

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<v Speaker 2>In religion, the Qoran mentions the tree of Zukum, which

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<v Speaker 2>grows in the Hell of Jahannam. Its fruit resembles the

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<v Speaker 2>heads of devils, which then feed the inhabitants of hell,

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<v Speaker 2>burning their stomachs in the process. Meanwhile, in Japanese and

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<v Speaker 2>Chinese folklore, we have the tradition of what is commonly

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<v Speaker 2>called the Jinmin Jew or the nim ben Jew tree,

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<v Speaker 2>which produces flowers that look like human heads and face

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<v Speaker 2>shaped fruit. According to Matthew Myers Yochai dot com, the

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<v Speaker 2>faceflowers will laugh at you if you laugh at them,

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<v Speaker 2>but they will wilt and fall off if you laugh

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<v Speaker 2>too hard. He also shares that this particular tree of

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<v Speaker 2>heads and faces likely has its origin in Islamic folklore,

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<v Speaker 2>specifically one known as the Wokwalk tree, which was said

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<v Speaker 2>to bear fruit shaped like humans and animals. The Walkwalk

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<v Speaker 2>was also a factor in the legends of Alexander the Great,

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<v Speaker 2>with the Macedonian conqueror having been said to receive a

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<v Speaker 2>prophecy of his own death from such a tree. There's

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<v Speaker 2>a whole array of traditions concerning human heads and other

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<v Speaker 2>human parts growing on trees, and a much larger global

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<v Speaker 2>tradition in which the botanical world crosses over with human

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<v Speaker 2>and animal biology. You see this all over the place.

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<v Speaker 2>We've discussed some of these examples on the show before,

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<v Speaker 2>such as the mandrake root and the vegetable lamb of Tartary.

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<v Speaker 2>But I think this is a concept and a topic

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<v Speaker 2>we might come back to for our core episodes of

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<v Speaker 2>Stuff to Blow Your Mind, because again, there's so many

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<v Speaker 2>examples of humans and especially trees fusing together in folklore,

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<v Speaker 2>in mythology, and just in human thought in general. It's

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<v Speaker 2>a common focus of human dreams and nightmares and is

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<v Speaker 2>such fitting material for the domains of Dread, which also

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<v Speaker 2>boasts other botanical harms. Tune in for additional episodes of

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<v Speaker 2>the Monster, Fact, the Artifact, or Anomalius to Pendium each week.

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<v Speaker 2>You never know what you'll get. As always, you can

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<v Speaker 2>email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind

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<v Speaker 2>dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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