1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,359 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:11,800 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is The 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 2: Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters. In time. 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 2: I cover various creatures from dungeons and Dragons here on 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 2: the Monster Fact. And given that we just started a 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 2: series of core Stuff to Blow Your Mind episodes about 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: real world manta rays, I thought it might be fun 9 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 2: to dive into the fictional and fanciful treatment of these 10 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 2: amazing fish in the pages of the world's most famous 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 2: tabletop role playing game. I'll start with what's probably the 12 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 2: most famous invocation of the manta ray in the game, 13 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 2: the Cloak of the Manta Ray, a stylish but ultimately 14 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 2: very simple, wondrous magical item that's been around since I believe, 15 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 2: the second edition of D and D. While wearing the cloak, 16 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 2: which is implied to be either made from or in 17 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 2: the style of a manta ray, the wearer gains the 18 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 2: ability to breathe underwater and swim in a speed of 19 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 2: sixty feet per turn. That's compared to the typical Adventures 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 2: thirty feet per turn walking speed. Again pretty straightforward and 21 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 2: in a limited way true to science. Manta rays are fish. 22 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 2: They have gills. Also, they swim underwater and are capable 23 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 2: of short bursts of speed to evade threats. Apparently, some 24 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 2: variations of the cloak of the manta ray also enable 25 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 2: the wear to just polymorph into the form of a manta, 26 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 2: which would of course be even more exciting. But what 27 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 2: of the creature itself. While a manta ray's stat block 28 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 2: is seemingly absent from the current in most recent editions 29 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 2: of D and D, the creature did make a statted 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 2: appearance in the first, second and third edition. Indeed, if 31 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 2: you pull up a copy of the original nineteen seventy 32 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,279 Speaker 2: seven Monster Manual, you will find stats for three different 33 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 2: varieties of ray rays, sting rays, and something called pungi rays. 34 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 2: The first edition manta ray is, I'm sad to say, 35 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 2: extremely biologically inaccurate. The text describes a giant predatory ray 36 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 2: that hides on the seafloor and then tries to swallow 37 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 2: hole any non giant creature it encounters. We're also told 38 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 2: that it will defend itself with its tail stinger if threatened. 39 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 2: The Monster Manual also describes how an adventurer might stab 40 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 2: their way out of the manta's belly, liberating themselves and 41 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,359 Speaker 2: perhaps a little treasure from the creature's gullet. As we've 42 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 2: already discussed on stuff to blow your mind in our 43 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 2: core episodes on the manta rays, these creatures are filter 44 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 2: feeders and have no interest in swallowing even nome or 45 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 2: halfling sized prey. And they boast know stingers at all 46 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 2: you're thinking about sting rays. They also don't hide on 47 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 2: the seafloor. They may go down on occasion to feed 48 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 2: close to the seafloor, but for the most part they 49 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 2: live in the open. But I don't mention all of 50 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 2: this to shame the architects of D and D. This 51 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 2: was the nineteen seventies, after all, and while Westerners were 52 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 2: emerging from a fog of superstition about the supposed threat 53 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 2: of the devilfish, the complete transition to a new popular 54 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 2: understanding of the creature's harmless nature would obviously take some time. Plus, 55 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 2: the adventure RPG Dungeons and Dragons was based on various 56 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 2: pre existing fantasy and adventure stories which would have included 57 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 2: threatening mantis. The ideas seem to have been dropped by 58 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 2: the time of two thousand and eight fourth Edition, by 59 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 2: which point the idea of a killer Manta ray was 60 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 2: clearly clearly too ridiculous even for fantasy. Fortunately, D and 61 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 2: D also boasts another variation on the ray, dating all 62 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 2: the way back to the first edition as well, and 63 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 2: that is it ZiT Zi Chittal or demon rays, small 64 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 2: evil rays created by their demon patron, the Demagorgan. They 65 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 2: of course boast barbed details like a sting ray. Some 66 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 2: of them are actually clerics despite being fish, and they 67 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 2: are capable of casting demonic spells. Yet others are actually 68 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 2: vampiric it xits the Chittles, which have regenerative powers and 69 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 2: a vampiric bite. All three of these variations factor into 70 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 2: the fifth edition campaign. Out of the abyss which I 71 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 2: have I'm happy to admit I have played through in 72 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 2: its entirety, and this campaign also features at least one 73 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 2: dead proper Manta ray as well. For what that's worth. 74 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,160 Speaker 2: Let's get back to this name. Though it zitz the Chittle, 75 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 2: I realized the name itself sounds vaguely Mesoamerican. It's creator 76 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 2: game designer Steve Marsh has apparently weighed in on this. 77 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 2: I believe this was a Q and A that he 78 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 2: participated in on Dragonsfoot dot Org back in twenty twenty. 79 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 2: Apparently he lifted this name from the nineteen fourteen book 80 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 2: The Myths of Mexico and Peru by Lewis Spence. In 81 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 2: the nineteen fourteen text, however, and you can find PDFs 82 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 2: of the song line, the name exits a chittle is 83 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,799 Speaker 2: that of a cited quote Native chronicler who flourished shortly 84 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 2: after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and not the name 85 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 2: of a manta ray monster from Aztec mythology or anything 86 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 2: to that effect. Again, none of this to shame early 87 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 2: D and D. I think it's all fabulous. I'm a 88 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 2: big Dungeons and Dragons fan, obviously, but it is interesting 89 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 2: to see how early twentieth century Western ideas of the 90 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 2: Manta ray were then reinterpreted into early Dungeons and Dragons 91 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 2: and how you know, maybe we've gotten away from some 92 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 2: of the misnumbers and the myths about manta rays, but 93 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 2: we've still found room for the idea of a monster's 94 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,599 Speaker 2: Manta ray, and that remains with us in the form 95 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 2: of the evil spell casting and sometimes Vampiric Exits the Chittles. 96 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 2: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The 97 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 2: Artifact or Animalia Stupendium each week. As always, you can 98 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 2: email us at contact at stuffd blow your Mind dot com. 99 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 100 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 101 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:20,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.