Creature Feature - The Sin Eater

 Due to the sheer craziness of this month I haven't been able to create the artwork I wanted to go with this but in honor of the spooky season of the year I am launching a new thread on my blog - the Creature Feature in which I write up an introduction to a creature/monster I have created and we'll be starting with one of the now-panic-and-freak-out sort - the Sin Eater. So, shall we begin?

Creature Feature

Name: Sin Eater

Type: Human based monster

Appearance: The Sin Eater appears to be the upper half of a blackened human skeleton, draped in a off-the-shoulder robe of some tattered, matted organic material open to the waist to reveal the smouldering hell fire contained within its ribs. The robe however, is not a garment but an integral part of its anatomy, able to both provide its form of locomotion and become extra manipulators. Researchers are particularly eager to try and make contact with this being, if this can be managed. This decision was made after field operations revealed that positioned on the bones of what would be the left ring finger in a human, the sin eater wears a perfect ring of pure, untarnished silver. The sin eater has been observed to rotate this ring when at rest so is aware of its existence.

Note: The locomotion of the sin eater is of special interest to crypto zoologists. Field observations have revealed that at normal resting pace it moves forward in a upright, human like pose but it does not possess legs, instead gliding forward on its 'robe' with the sound of surf over a shingle beach, creating a restful sound at odds with its appearance. However, when a burst of speed is required it prowls forward on its hand bones, the robe stretching out behind it like the undulating tail of a sixty foot long serpent of appropriate girth. If pushed into a combat situation the sin eater's robe becomes a bundle of lashing, cracking tentacles with its human torso at the center. In this configuration there is no logically way of predicting its next move or direction as it travels at blazing speed over ever surface it is path, a path that can change direction in less than the blink of an eye, even while other tentacles grapple with its prey and drew them to within its grasp. Footage recovered after the Isinton Cult Affair appears to show the sin eater folding through its own form to attack the cultist that shot it in the back and the tentacles can apparently build up a series of whip cracks in the air to produce a focused sonic attack that stuns its prey. 

Habitat: The sin eater appears to have avoided human habitation for many centuries prompting some crypto zoologists to believe that it was a psycho pomp, a way for earlier civilizations to mentally deal with both trauma and the injustices of human corruption. However, the Isinton Cult Affair revealed that it truly existed and its lack of appearance was due to it having been imprisoned for centuries within a living tomb. With its release it now seems to be drifting towards major population centers, though its lack of any chameleon ability has kept its pace slow and it seems unable to refuse to track any possible food source, undoubtedly an effect of its long imprisonment and starvation.

Food source and Hunting tactics (if any): The sin eater is one of several psychically predatory creatures that find their food source within the human mind and it embodies its name to such a degree that field studies have revealed that it often speaks the name of the sin that it detects within its prey, often breathing the word into its victim's face just before its strikes. In the case of a highly concentrated food source, such as arrogance, it is not gentle nor considerate in its methods, literately reaching down the victim's throat with fine tentacles of its robe, which extract the 'sin' as a glowing ball of orange-yellow light and deposit it in the palm of one of its bone hands, which then feeds this 'sin orb' into its fang toothed maw, which can distend to accommodate the size of its meal. This habit of swallowing its food whole does seem to often cause it discomfort and after a particularly large meal it has been observed to suffer from what can only be described as hiccups.

In other cases, it has been seen to use a much more gentle method of extraction. It not only feeds on sin but also any other negative emotion and has been observed to find the 'scent' of victims of abuse and sufferers of PTSD and C-PTSD almost impossible to ignore. Indeed, the closest study of this extraction method was observed when it turned on the team tracking it, alerted by the masked case of C-PTSD one of the operatives was hiding, the legacy of a toxically, dysfunctional childhood. Having used its ability to move in non-human methods to cut its target out of the team for the seconds needed to begin its work, it proceeded to mesmerize him by drawing runes made of flame that hung in the air, said flames being sourced by dipping its finger tips in the fire within its own ribs. Not only did these swirling runes mesmerize the operative but also seemed to draw the negativity out of the target as a yellow-orange mist that came out not only on his exhalations but also from his very skin. The sin eater then span this mist into a 'sin orb' before retreating with its prize. The operatives insensibility lasted until the sin eater had left his line of sight for about a minute. Subsequent psychoanalysis revealed a great improvement in his condition, almost a full recovery. It appears the sin eater had not removed any of his memories but rather removed his emotional response to them, enabling him to look at them with true objectiveness and calmness. It should be noted that the sin eater seems to favor meals of this kind and appears to suffer less post consumption distress than with its first method.

In either method of extraction it should be noted that the sin eater never kills any of its food sources, leaving them physically unharmed. In the case of its more aggressive feeding tactic the victims are left in a catatonic, sometimes comatosed state. Some of these cases have later recovered their senses but with distinctive personally changes. For example, a business man the sin eater has judged to be guilty of 'greed' will regain his senses but without the need to continually drive his company for growth at the expense of worker rights, the environment and sustainability.

Note: After any feeding the fire glow within the sin eater's rib cage increases in intensity, sometimes curling into actually flame that licks in and out of its rib bones.

Status: Under observation. At the present time the sin eater has been judged to be of low to moderate threat. Its appearance could inspire panic but it appears to be aware of this and takes steps to avoid this possibility without the intervention of crypto zoologists. As its feeding habits are non-lethal it has been appropriate to keep its movements and habits under observations but not interfere as of yet. As it draws closer to areas of higher population density it maybe necessary to reconsider this assessment.