Korcheya

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Likhoradka, Korcheya

The Worm in the Tongue

Korcheya are the likhoradkas of lyssa, the frenzied spirit of rage and madness that manifests in rabid animals, and susceptible humanoids. Rabies has always carried a supernatural charge in folklore: the bite that catalyses a transformation, the fever that clouds the mind, the thirst that cannot be quenched, and the final stage in which the victim spirals down into something alarming and scarcely recognisable. Korcheya blur the boundary between sickness, curse, and possession. These fiends come wearing the shape of a predator, but their true threat is the disease which consumed the afflicted from within.

The korcheya are shaped from fear and fed by rage. Lyssa is not only a disease that causes animals to bite; in sapient minds it also transforms fear into violence, and violence into fear, until neither can be separated from the other. Korcheya dwell in the space caused by that confusion, feed upon the rage, and revel in the consequences.

These creatures are natural shapeshifters, and seldom keep one form for long. Their natural shape is a hunchbacked humanoid with the head of a wolf and the wings of a bat. Their fur is soot-black, although a cold bluish glow runs beneath the skin, shining out through the palms of their hands and their and eyes. That glow makes them visible in darkness and even more dreadful. They do not care for stealth—the korcheya want you to know exactly what is following you home. They may prowl as dogs, wolves, foxes, bats or stranger beasts, but they always have blue eyes and an unnaturally fixed stare, for they do not blink.

The bite of a korcheya carries a curse-like affliction, which the fiend is able to tailor to its victim and cause one of three effects. They can provoke uncontrollable rage, causing the afflicted to attack their own allies, instil fear, or even cause paralysis.

Their only known weakness is running water, for they fear it instinctively. The sight, or even sound, of a stream, river, or the roar of a waterfall fills them with a supernatural terror. Crossing a bridge is extremely difficult for them, and wading through water impossible.

Sources: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. Margarita notes: The likhoradkas are a homebrew fiend race, inspired by the eponymous disease-riddled spirits of Slavic mythology. While based on Slavic folklore and beliefs, the amount of actual information we have on pre-Christian Slavic deities is so minuscule that building any kind of lore out of it is impossible. However, there are a lot of folk beliefs about things these deities are thought to represent, which I have worked into the piece.