T
Terrasque: Said to be the son of Leviathan, the Terrasque was gigantic dragon-like fire-breathing beast renowned for its widespread destruction. It had six short legs and a hard shell on both sides of its body like a turtle shell, the rest of its body being protected by thick scales. It is described to have the head of a lion, the ears of a donkey and the face of a sad and bitter old man. Another source, which omits the part about having the face of an old man, says it was a female beast, part fish and part land-mammal. According to legend it was tamed by St Martha, brought back to the town and killed by the townspeople. St Martha later convinced them to be sorry for what they had done to the tamed monster. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrasque, http://members.tripod.com/~gfriebe/tarasque.htm, and http://www.fairrosa.info/dragon/tarasque.html.
Theenin: Grouping: fairy. av.height 4'4"-5'8". Theenin, or the "True Elves," are wilder than common elves, and their fairy magic is stronger. In fairy magic, the theenin are multi-talented. They use some magic with music but not nearly as much as the mihzare, they are good at talking to animals but not as good as the lezalel. They are related to and friends with mihzares, lezalels, nymphs, trastis, and several other fairies (of Garefen, in other words fairies which I made up or appear in my novels). Genre- elf-related fairy. Source: mine. (see also Elf [1], Mihzare, Lezalel)
Titan [1]: Grouping: magical humanoid. A magical giant of ancient times in Garefen. They came in many different shapes and personalities, and, on Garefen, are said to be the forefathers of most species. On Garefen, there are said to be types of titans as forefathers for different types of species: a dringle (or earth) titan as father of the dwarves, grues, xorns, and related species, an ugmruten titan as father of gargoyles, orcs, trolls and other species of the ugmruten genre, a lethkel titan as father of glots, vestrages, nulls, and other species of the lethkel genre, and many other types of titans. There was a titan named Mithersyth who was both father of the wemus and silver titans which began the races of silver beings, and father of the yxerwy and lynerwy titans who were forefathers of the fairies. Genre-all genres of Garefen. Source: my slant on mythological titans.
Titan [2]: Grouping: spirit/daemon. The race of the Greek gods and their ancestors from the earliest (Gaya, Uranus, Kronos, Prometheus..) to the youngest (Zeus, Posidon, Hades, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Persephone, etc..). Their appearance and personalities tend to be human-like, and they often quarrel with each other. Most polytheistic sets of gods or demi-gods of other mythologies are similar and might also be reffered to as titans, although I've never heards types of gods such as the Cananite Baal or the Celtic Crom refered to as titans. Genre-gods, demi-gods. Source: mythology.
Trasti: Grouping: fairy. Closely related to theenin, these 'plant fairies' have magic focussing on all types of plants, and also including vossars and fungi. Genre-elf related fairy. Source: mine. (see also Theenin and Vossar)
Triton (see merpeople[1])
Troll [1]: Grouping: magical humanoid. Tolkien's trolls are very large, ugly and stupid, similar to ogres. "They hoarded treasure, killed for pleasure, and ate raw flesh of all kinds. ..they turned to stone when exposed to sunlight." They have green skin and are sometimes scaled. Source: Tolkien, quote from "A Guide to Middle Earth" by Robert Foster. (Foster may be wrong about the "raw flesh" part, there is a sign in Tolkien's "The Hobbit" that at least some of them preferred their food cooked, when they were disscussing how to cook the dwarves and Bilbo after they had just finished eating some roast mutton.)
Troll [2]: Grouping: nonmagic humanoid. av.height 5'8"-7' The type of trolls on Garefen are not much larger, if any, than humans. They have thick dark leathery hair, deep-set eyes, and a snout reminiscent of a warthog's. Besides the snout, it may be considered something like a cross between a dwarf and an orc. It is stocky, strong, and is sometimes known to fight with axes as well as clubs, chains and crude swords. They are greedy like dwarves but not honorable, and often spend their time as gambling, robbing, or fighting as mercenaries. They can regenerate some body parts, but not as well as other ideas of trolls. Genre-ugmruten. Source: my slant on trolls, appearance is partly inspired by something in a star wars movie (the older trilogy), I think it was one of Jabba the Hut's guards.
Troll [3]:
Grouping: magical humanoid. av.height 7'-9'. Some versions of
trolls, including Tolkien's and Rowling's, seem to be more like
ogres than trolls. The popular idea of trolls that are less like
ogres are still large hideous humanoid monsters. One notable
difference is that the troll can regenerate its body parts, and
sometimes even come back to life after it has been killed. The
Pit describes them as "walking nightmares," and nethack
quotes this passage:
"He was perhaps
eight feet tall, perhaps more. His forward stoop with arms
dangling past thick claw-footed legs to the ground, made it hard
to tell. The hairless green skin moved upon its body. His head
was a gash of a mouth, a yard-long nose, and two eyes which drank
the feelble torchlight and never gave back a gleam. ..Like a huge
green spider, the troll's severed hand ran on its fingers. Across
the floor, onto a log with one taloned forefinger to hook to over
the bark, and down again it scrambled until it found the cut
wrist. And there it grew fast. The troll's smashed head seethed
and knit together. He clamored back on his feet and grinned at
them." Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson.
Source: popular idea mainly from
computer games. (see also Ogre)
Trooping Fairies (see Sedhe)
True Elf (see Theenin)
Tyerrey: Grouping: fairy. A tyerrey is a fairy which appears as a firey hawk. They are as intelligent as humans, and have powerful fairy magic with fire and lightning and some illusion magic. They are almost always friendly except to those who cause harm to the innocent. There are smaller ones with weaker magic called Tyrrelles. Genre-tyerrey. Source: mine, made up when I was a kid, was based on the pheonix at a time when I knew very little about the pheonix.
U
Ugmruten genre: Grouping: magic or non-magic humanoid. The Ugmruten is a race of humanoid monsters including, orcs, trolls, gargoyles, ogres, etc. They tend to be strong, tough-skinned, ugly and barbaric and have thin stiff hair which is usually gray or black. Except for some gargoyles, they are less intelligent than humans ranging from the very stupid ogres, to the only slightly less intelligent trolls. They are usually crude and unfriendly. Margoyles, the largest type of gargoyle, are the most powerful, the most intelligent, and the least crude and barbaric of all ugmruten, though still usually quite crude and barbaric. Source: mine.
Unicorn: Grouping: fairy or magical beast. Its appearance is well known: a small pure-white horse with a single shining horn on its head. It is a sacred animal in some worlds and mysterious and respected in others. Its horn has many magical powers including purifying water and healing. It will not attack unless provoked, but its speed and its magical horn make it very dangerous to bring it to anger. Though peaceful, the unicorn is wild and will not be domesticated. It is said that the only way to subdue or capture it is by a maiden who be able to calm it and keep it still while she can tie it up with a golden rope. It is unknown how intelligent it is, but generally agreed it is at least more intelligent than most horses. There are some stories however, who protray the unicron without much respect as something more like a common wild animal. That view is not keeping with the older traditions and legends about unicorns that I know of. Genre-xafeni fairy or famous myth. Source: common ideas including a little of mine.
Urding: Grouping: fairy. av.height 3'4"-4'. An urding is a very strangely shaped fairy. It has a thin (horizontally) disk-shaped body and three round tubelike legs ending in ducklike feet. On the top of its body there are a few leaf or flower pedal-like things surrounding its neck which looks similar to its legs. Its head looks like one which would belong to a featherless duck. Most closely related to the phissel, it also has a somehow expressionate face. Its fairy magic deals with mental effects including dizziness, halucenations, mood altering, persuasion, and calling up certain memories. It could be a powerful enemy but it uses its fairy magic mainly for defence and good purposes. Genre-xafeni fairy. Source: mine. (see also Phissel)
Uruk-hai: Grouping: non-magic humanoid. Type of orc bred by Sauron to be used as soldiers, they are stronger and a little larger than other orcs. In the LoTR movies, they were bred by Saruman instead of Sauron. "Uruk-hai" means "orc-man" in the black speech of Mordor. Genre-ugmruten/orc. Source: Tolkien. (see also orc [1])
V
Valkyrie: Grouping: daemon/magical humanoid. In norse mythology, valkyries were created by Odin. They appeared as beautiful but fierce warrior women to fight for Odin. A large part of what they did was become invisible as they watched battles between men to select who would win and who would die in the battle. If a valkyrie fell in love with a warrior, the valkyrie might make that warrior die in battle so he could come with her to Valhalla, which is the heaven of norse mythology. In Valhalla, the dead warriors would eat and drink without restraint and fight over again the battles in which they died and won their fame. Valkyries were made famous by Wagner's "Ring Cycle" and the very famous and somewhat overused "Ride of the Valkyries." Genre-semi devine being. Source: Norse mythology.
Vampire: Grouping: undead. There are several different versions of vampires, but almost all (or maybe all) agree that it is an undead human kept alive by drinking the blood of living humans with their fangs. Stereotypical vampires wear capes of black and red, sleep in a coffin, have very pale skin, and only come out during the night. Here are some of the other more common aspects of a vampire that appear in various stories: the ability to take the form of a bat, turning others into vampires when bitten, the ability to hypnotise, killed only by a wooden steak driven into its heart, hating garlic, being scared away by a cross, will not enter a home unless invited.. Some versions of vampires are not much different than humans, others portray them as very evil undead with powerful magic. Genre-vampire. Source: pieced together from various sources and common ideas. I have heard that the idea of a vampire originally came from a man seriously wounded in battle who drank the blood of other wounded soldiers or those recently dead to keep himself alive longer.
Vasp: Grouping: magical beast. A magical bug which grows to 4-7 inches long and has a poisonous stinger. It may be a wizard's invention or a result of magic radiation. Genre-magical bug. Source: kindof mine based on a vasp in the Pit which didn't have a description.
Vestrage: Grouping: nonmagic humanoid. av.height 4'9"-5'7". A vestrage has tough brown leathery skin and lives in holes underground. Its holes are never very deep being often partly made out of the roots of trees. They are peaceful people usually staying away from other races except maybe dwarves and some fairies. Genre-lethkel. Source: mine, appears in my first novel.
Vossar: Grouping: nonmagic beast/plant. av.height ~2feet. A vossar is part plant part animal often grown for food because it provides tasty berries (fruit), leaves (veggie), and its neck (meat) to eat. Between small stalks and leaves, its neck rises (greenish brown in color) topped with a mouth but nothing much like a head. It has two different bites, one used for defence which it painful and strong enough to bite off a hand, the other barely breaking the skin used for healing poison. Healers use it by getting the vossar to bite a patient's wound. The vossar can heal many types of poison this way, but usually not magical poison, and it often makes a wound heal faster. Genre-vossar. Source: mine, appears in my second novel.
Vyrm: Grouping: silver. av.length 2'10"-3'8". It's real form is like a flying worm with ghostly-looking scales, it would look something like a snake except that it has no real skin for the scales to be attached to. In the silver land or other places where there is enough silver magic around, it appears like a pleasant looking colorful bird. It's song makes a person calm, content, and fogs a person's brain so that they forget reality for the moment. Genre-silver being. Source: mine, appears in my second novel.