M
Mankind (see Human)
Manticore: Grouping: magical beast. A fearsome beast with the body of a lion and the spiked tail of a dragon or giant scorpian. Its head resembles a human head except for a pair of horns and three rows of sharp teeth. It can speak, but is not as intelligent as a human. In battle it can throw spikes from its tail at its enemy. Genre-mythical hybrid. Source: mythology, don't know of a specific mythological story it comes from, though.
Margoyle: Grouping: nonmagic humanoid. av.height 8'2"-9'6". The largest and most intelligent breed of gargoyle. Also, it is the only type of gargoyle known to use magic, though they very rarely become powerful wizards. Genre-ugmruten. Source: mine, appear in my novels. Accually I think I've seen a margoyle (which was only a larger gargoyle) in some computer game, but I don't remember for sure. (see also Gargoyle)
Merpeople [1]: Grouping: fairy. A race living underwater with the upper body of a human and a fishlike lower body with a wide tail fin. Usually they are able to change their lower half into a human's and come on land, but in some versions they never come on land. Usually they stay away from land-dwellers (especailly the mermen) and live in cities deep underwater. Stereotypical mermen fight with a trident, and mermaids are attractive but tricky. Note: the name "mermaid" can be midleading because "maid" inplies a virgin, but "mermaid" can refer to any female merperson. Genre-merpeople. Source-common idea/ folklore.
Merpeople [2]: Grouping: fairy. The mermaids of Irish folklore are called Merrows, the word comes from the Irish "moruadh" which litteraly means "sea-maid." In the northern British Isles they are also called "Selkies." Merrows are beautiful and not well-disposed toward humans. In some stories they wear a sealskin cloak and take the form of a seal when in the water, in other stories they wear a feathered red cap which holds their ability to live and breathe underwater. When they come on land, they look like human women except for thinly webbed hands and feet. If a man finds a merrow's cap or sealskin cloak, they have power over the merrow and can persuade her to marry him. Besides being beautiful they are also rich from wealth salvaged from wrecked ships at the bottom of the sea. After staying on land for a length of time, a merrow will have a driving urge to go back to the sea, and eventually she will find her cap or cloak and leave her husband. Some Irish families have claimed to be decended from a human and merrow union, W.B.Yeats reported, "Near Bantry in the last century, there is said to have been a woman, covered in scales like a fish, who was descended from such a marriage." The male of the species is very ugly, unfriendly, with piglike features and covered with green scales. The place they live is called "Tir fo Thoinn," meaning "The Land Beneath the Waves," and there are some rumors and wonderings if a merrow has a natural form similar to the males when living there. Genre-merpeople/sedhe. Source-irish folklore with info from this website: http://www.irelandseye.com/animation/intro.html.
Merrow (see Merpeople [2])
Mettite: Grouping: nonmagic humanoid. av.height 70'-120'. Metites are an alien race of gigantic people who live on a planet where everything is bigger. Their skin is like thick steel, so that if one stepped on a land mine he probably wouldn't notice. They are usually peaceful, but they can easily kill humans simply by stepping on them which they are prone to do by accident if there are humans around. They are usually far separated from humans, and are often farmers or herders by trade. Genre-giant. Source: mine, made it up when I was a little kid, they were originally called "metal monsters."
Mihzare: Grouping: fairy. Mihzares are similar in appearance, personality and lifestyle to theenin. Also known as "music fairies," they are masters of music, and music is their primary way of using their fairy magic. They seem too proud to teach others their unique instruments or methods with music, but in truth they are the only ones with the ability to play the strange instruments they invent. Genre-elf related fairy. Source: mine.
Minidrake: Grouping: daemon. Minidrakes appear as tiny dragons, but are unrelated to dragons. They are demons who love to annoy people and speak lies. Often, they choose a companion to land on their shoulder or hover around their head. They make friends with the victim, and then stay with them to annoy, lie to, and lead in wrong directions. Genre-minor demon. Source: common idea mainly from dnd type games, and also from "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis.
Minotaur: Grouping: magical humanoid. av.height 8'-10'. Minotaurs are giants with the body of a human and the head of a bull. They are well known for living in mazes and eating those who get lost in it. The origonal minotaur lived in the Great Labrynth of Crete where a man was sent into the maze because the king wanted him dead. Genre-famous myth. Source: mythology.
Mummy: Grouping: undead. An embalmed and mummified corpse that has been reanimated (or not). They are more powerful than zombies partly because their bodies have been preserved and partly because they are very old so the magic is stronger. Unlike zombies, they are not servants of wizards, but they are often associated with a curse. Mummies are real, but in real life they (as far as I know) have never been seen to walk around or move on their own. Most mummies are egyptian, but a few other ancient cultures also mummified their dead. Genre-reanimated undead. Source: common idea.
Music Fairy (see Mihzare)
N
Naga: Grouping: magical beast. A semi-devine large snake from Hindu and Buhdist background. Some nagas have several heads, some have a human head, and some have a whole human upper half with a snake's lower half. Often, they are attached to a certain area and will defend that area with their life. Sometimes one will be used as a guardian for a wizard, but they can only be tamed by a very powerful wizard. The word "naga" is Sanskrit for snake. Genre-snake hybrid. Source: the information I have here is from "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter" by David Colbert, and from nethack's description.
Nastx: Grouping: magical humanoid. A nastx is a human-sized golem made of metal scraps and lightning. The wizard who made it often puts sharp pieces of metal in its hands to serve and claws. To touch a live nastx gives an electric shock almost as powerful as getting struck by lightning, and the electricity can also run down the blade of a weapon and depending on what the blade is made of might still shock the weilder, or might just break the sword at the handle. Genre-golem/wizard's invention. Source: mine, made up when I was younger. If I include it in one of my stories I'll probably change its name first.
Nayad (see Nymph)
Nazgul: Grouping: undead. Also called the "ring wraiths," there were nine of them on Middle Earth who were once human kings but overpowered and corrupted by Sauron using the nine rings which were given to humans. They are neither alive nor dead and exist only to serve Sauron's One Ring of power. The Nazgul are blind to the physical realm, but they have a magical sense of smell. They are invisible if not for their black clothes. In The Fellewship of the Ring, the disguise themselves as Black Riders, and later in the trilogy they appear riding terrible winged beasts. Because of their evil power, the minds of anyone near to them are influenced. This influence is called the black breath and it causes despair, unconciousness, and nightmares, and after more exposure it will kill the person affected. Genre-reinhabited undead. Source: Tolkien and The Guide To Middle Earth by Robert Foster.
Nulfraz: Grouping: magical beast. Size: body about 6' in diameter with tentacles up to 20' long. Extremely rare, this is possibly the ancestor of the other nulls and the kusseda, and it is all around more powerful than its decendants. The nulfraz has thicker tentacles, each with two or three clawed fingers. It is also more intelligent then other nulls and can speak. Occationally is has been known to use weapons, its favorite being a large bladed boomerang, which ironically is very effective used against the tentacles of kussedas and nulls if used skillfully. They can also spit acid as a weapon. Genre-lethkel/null. Source: mine, partly inspired by a picture on the cover of some 80s monster movie which I never accually watched.
Nulluz: Grouping: nonmagic beast. Size: body about 5'-6' in diameter with tentacles up to 30' long. A Nulluz is basically a giant null that will sometimes live in the sea as well as large swamps and lakes. Genre-lethkel/null. Source: mine.
Null: Grouping: nonmagic beast. Size: body about 3' in diameter with tentacles up to 10' long. Nulls are tentacled blobs that lives mainly in swamps and lakes. They have very small brains and live mostly by instinct alone. It usually keeps its body underwater and uses its tentacles to pull animals or larger fish into its mouth. Its flesh and blood are extremely acidic, so that if a tentacle gets cut off by a sword the sword will be severely damaged by the acid. Genre-lethkel/null. Source: mine, appears in my first novel. Its partly based on the "watcher in the water" at the doors of Moria in Tokien's the Lord of the Rings.
Nulx: Grouping: nonmagic beast. These nulls are smarter than others and come on land more often. Nulx have a few thicker tentacles with something like fingers on the end which it uses like hands and legs, and some of them can speak and use weapons. They are not loyal to anyone and can only be bribed or befriended by offers of food. Possibly a wizard tried to turn a null into a human or a human into a null and messed up the spell. They are similar in size to a common null. Genre-lethkel/null. Source: mine.
Nymph: Grouping: fairy. Nymphs are spirits (usually female) that inhabit places in nature. There are many types of nymphs including Dryads, Nayads, Oreads, and Rock Nymphs. Dryads (Wood Nymphs) are the spirits that inhabit the trees and plants. Many people think they die when their tree dies, but they are reborn from their dead plant's seed. Nayads (Water Nymphs) are the spirits that inhabit rivers, lakes and streams. Oreads (Mountain Nymphs) are spirits that occupy hills and mountainsides. Rock Nymphs are said to be what makes jewels shine. In some stories, nymphs are no more powerful than most other fairies, but in some myths, they are semi-devine and have very powerful magic. Genre-nymph. Source: my slant on the idea origonally from Greek Mythology.