Cherreads

Chapter 2 - The Wendigo King

Name:The Wendigo King

Titles: The First Hunger, Eternal Maw, He Who Whispers in Bone, Crown of the Cold Curse

Classification

Type: Legendary Undead Spirit / Apex Wendigo

Origin: Cursed Ascension—believed to be the first mortal to fully succumb to the Wendigo Curse, devouring gods and kin alike

Rarity: Unique (Only One)

Habitat: Frozen Wastes, Deep Hunting Grounds, Spirit Realms of Starvation

Physical Description

Height: 4 to 6 meters, though its form can shift with hunger

Body: Gaunt but towering, its skin clings to bone with unnatural tension. Flesh is torn, revealing ribs like a ribcage throne, Towering and extremely muscular, his powerful frame is packed with dense sinew beneath pale, corpse-tight skin. Though starved in appearance, his body radiates brutal strength—each movement deliberate, heavy, and predatory.

Fur: Long, matted, and white as snow, stained with blood and decay

Eyes: Glowing with a sickly, soul-piercing yellow, like dying stars in a blizzard—a color that evokes pure, instinctive terror, as if every predator that ever stalked man is staring back, sometimes Flicker with cursed blue flames

Antlers: Gigantic, twisted like dead roots crowned in frost and bone

Limbs: Overlong arms that drag against the ground, ending in talons that can sever souls

Voice: Echoing, layered—like a choir of starving spirits speaking at once(if he scream but he sounds a bit scary)

Elemental Alignment (Tenari System)

Primary:

Ice – Dominates frozen lands; its presence brings eternal blizzards

Death – Feeds on souls and flesh alike; decay follows in its wake

Dark – Its spirit is steeped in shadow and curse

Secondary:

Time – Said to exist outside of natural time; ageless, possibly eternal

Life (Inverse) – It steals vitality, draining life to extend its dominion

Abilities & Traits

Predator's Mind: Capable of high intelligence, cunning traps, and psychological warfare

Torment Whisper: Haunts the minds of those who seek it; can speak through hallucinations, frostbitten winds, and even dreams

Eternal Hunger: Feeds not just on flesh, but on fear, guilt, and despair—those who fear it empower it

Hunt Reversal: Reverses hunter and prey roles; it stalks those who stalk it, dragging them into icy terror

Illusion Craft: Can create perfect illusions of loved ones or familiar landscapes to lure, confuse, or break targets

Unkillable Myth: Wounds do not last; legends say its body reforms from snowfall, and only starvation from all belief can kill it

Personality & Intelligence

Temperament: Patient, cruel, mocking—delights in long hunts rather than quick kills

Speech: May speak fluently in ancient tongues, in riddles, or through mimicked voices of its victims

Mindset: Views all life as prey eventually; believes in natural selection through terror

Motivations:

To feed—eternally and spiritually

To punish arrogance—especially in hunters

To teach mortals that survival comes not from strength, but fear

Temperament: Patient, cruel, mocking—delights in long hunts rather than quick kills

Speech: May speak fluently in ancient tongues, in riddles, or through mimicked voices of its victims

Mindset: Views all life as prey eventually; believes in natural selection through terror

Motivations:

To feed—eternally and spiritually

To punish arrogance—especially in hunters

To teach mortals that survival comes not from strength, but fear

Playful Predator:

Vel'karuun intentionally reveals himself to hunters just out of reach, drawing them in with hope or pride

When they get too close, he darts away or disappears, sometimes laughing

He will dodge every attack with eerie grace, weaving between arrows, blades, and spells with mockery

Not out of fear—but for fun. It's a game to him, a test of how long he can stretch their desperation

He may circle them, appear behind them, or lead them in loops—his joy comes from the slow unraveling of his prey's mind

Legends & Lore

Creation Myth:

Said to be the first Wendigo—once a mortal shaman who devoured his own clan in a starving winter

Consumed the heart of an ice god and the soul of a demon to become immortal

Hunter's Curse:

Any who pursue him are doomed to become Wendigo themselves—or worse, his puppet scouts

Cultural Role:

Feared across Tenari; spoken of only in hushed tones

Children are warned that even thinking about him while starving will summon his gaze

Symbol:

A jawless deer skull marked with claw scars and broken antlers; often painted in blood across warding stones

Unique Powers

Cursed Legacy: Can create true Wendigo from cursed mortals, bound to his will

Throne of Bone & Snow: His lair is a living grave of his victims, shifting in shape and memory

Devour Magic: Absorbs weak enchantments and can corrupt divine spells

Starvation Domain: In his presence, rations rot, fire grows cold, and warmth feels false

Dual-Form Shapeshifting

🌞 Day Form – The Pale Stag

By day, the Wendigo King takes the form of a ghost-white deer or great stag with massive antlers like bleached tree branches.

This form allows him to blend in or walk among life unnoticed, often followed by unnatural silence and the absence of birds or insects.

He may lead lost travelers, give cryptic clues, or even allow hunters to see him—knowing they won't believe what they saw.

Wounds inflicted in this form carry over to the night, but they regenerate slowly.

🌙 Night Form – The King of Hunger

As night falls, the gentle form unravels into his towering Wendigo form, shedding flesh like frost.

His antlers grow twisted, eyes ignite with deathly fire, and the gentle hooves become clawed talons.

The transformation is often marked by sudden snow, darkness, and the sound of bone snapping far in the distance.

Weaknesses

Fire (Blessed) – Only divine or spiritual fire can scar his essence

Life Magic (Pure) – Healing magic can temporarily dispel his illusions and slow regeneration

True Starvation – If completely ignored, denied fear, or forgotten, his power begins to weaken

Sacrificial Seals – Rare rituals that require a willing sacrifice to trap his essence in a sealed tomb

Behavioral Patterns

Rarely Attacks First: Lurks, studies, and plays with prey

Cycles of Activity: Appears more during harsh winters, famine, or wars

Always Watching: Once a hunter seeks him, they are never alone again

🎭 Personality Addition: The Gamekeeper of Fear

The Wendigo King loves to play games with his prey.

He doesn't simply kill—he crafts trials, riddles, and elaborate hunts, often making promises like:

"If you can catch me before the sun sets, I'll let you go."

Sometimes, he leaves behind trophies, tokens, or twisted versions of help—like a frozen map or a whispering wind.

His laughter is bone-chilling, layered, and echoing, often heard in the trees just before he vanishes again.

Cruel but never without rules, he keeps his word in these games—though his interpretations are always to his own benefit.

👑 Chosen Name: Vel'karuun, the Hollow Crown

Vel: From an old word for "hunt" or "seeker"

Karuun: Derived from Tenari's ancient tongue for "crown" or "curse-bearer"

The Hollow Crown: Symbolizes how he rules not through a kingdom, but through fear, winter, and memory

🔱 Full Title

> Vel'karuun, the Hollow Crown

The Pale Stag by day, the King of Hunger by night; stalker of the prideful, tormentor of the bold, whisperer of bone and snow.

defines Vel'karuun's two distinct forms, The Pale Stag (day) and The Hunger King (night):

Dual Forms of Vel'karuun

🌞 Day Form – The Pale Stag

In daylight, Vel'karuun takes the form of a gigantic, ghostly deer, often referred to in myth as The Pale Stag and sometimes go in a normal deer or an elk form.

His antlers stretch outward like bleached trees, heavy with frost and twisted in unnatural patterns.

Though elegant and silent, his muscular build still shows beneath the fur—each step is unnaturally powerful.

His eyes still glow faintly with that sickly yellow, instilling unease in any who meet his gaze, even in daylight.

He often appears to travelers, leading them astray or into cursed hunts, speaking in riddles through wind or illusions.

This form is not harmless—he may charge with devastating force or vanish entirely in mist.

🌙 Night Form – The Hunger King

When night falls, the stag form twists and tears apart, revealing his true self: Vel'karuun, King of the Wendigo.

His muscles grow, bones shift, and his antlers mutate into jagged, root-like weapons.

His glowing yellow eyes burn brighter, paralyzing prey with terror even before he strikes.

All previous grace is replaced by predatory dominance, dragging talons, and soul-slicing howls.

Fear feeds him—the more terrified his victims, the stronger and faster he becomes.

🩸 The Children of the Hollow Crown

"Born of flesh, but fed by fear."

---

🌑 Origin

Vel'karuun—the Wendigo King—does not sire children through life. He breeds through doom. When a doe or forest spirit unknowingly mates with him during his Pale Stag form, what begins as a natural pregnancy warps into something far darker.

The growing offspring are never born normally. Instead, mid-gestation, Vel'karuun finds the mother again—and devours her, reclaiming the cursed fawns and nesting them inside his belly, within a grotesque, ever-pulsing womb formed of antlered bone and soul sinew.

This Living Womb rests in the hollow of his distended belly, a shadow-chamber where his spawn drift in frozen fog, whispering and shifting within him like unborn ghosts.

---

🦴 The Womb Within

> "The Pale Stag leaves no child behind—he eats them first, then brings them back when he is ready."

Inside Vel'karuun's abdominal cavity, beneath his ribs and through the open slits of his belly, fawn-shaped spirits nest like grotesque embryos. He carries between 20 to 40 cursed offspring, sometimes more, and releases them in waves of famine, deep winter, or spiritual blight.

Some are never released. They remain trapped, their faces pressing against the flesh beneath his fur, their antlers twitching, visible beneath thin skin.

---

🩶 The Children's Forms

Male Offspring — The Starved Sons

Never truly born

Torn from the womb and reborn as Wendigo-like spirits

Bear glowing yellow eyes, black cracked antlers, and hollow voices

Feed on fear, guilt, and dreams

Can be slain only by fire or sacred silver—but even then, they return to Vel'karuun's womb

> "One son screams. Another watches. A third walks behind you, already tasting your spine."

Female Offspring — The Living Daughters

Born naturally before Vel'karuun devours the mother

Appear as beautiful, living does

Innocent in youth

Live freely... until their 7th year

If they stay near their father's cursed domain, they begin to fade or become bait spirits, whispering hunters to their doom

> "She lived her first spring in sunlight. Her second in fear. By her seventh, she was snow."

---

❄️ The Womb-Born Lifecycle

Trait Males – Starved Sons Females – Living Daughters

Birth Reclaimed into Vel'karuun's belly Born naturally, by mortal deer

Form Wendigo-like wraiths Normal does (with odd traits)

Purpose Hunt, feed, spread the curse Lure, vanish, or rarely resist it

Survival Reborn after death (unless sealed) May escape, but rarely live past 7

Curse Activation Immediate Age 7 or proximity to Vel'karuun

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💀 The Living Womb (Anatomy)

Located inside Vel'karuun's belly, not his chest

Surrounded by a second, cursed stomach made of bone sinew and antler-spines

Glows faintly at night—faces seen pressing beneath the skin

When he "births" a son, the belly splits open, not like flesh but cracking ice

Sons emerge howling, bloodless, screaming the name of their lost mother

---

👁️ Notable Offspring

Tharn, the Hungering Son – The largest, most dangerous; known to cannibalize lesser spirits

Vel'miri, the Echo Doe – Gentle, glowing eyes; mimics lost loved ones to lure prey

Fallow-Face – No mouth, just antlers and silence

Nyrrhak, the Bone-Spike Fawn – Leaps from trees and impales prey with his fracturing antlers

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🕯️ Mythical Beliefs

> "Vel'karuun is not just cursed—he is the curse. His womb is a hive of winter's cruelty, a hollow belly where innocence goes to die and return with antlers."

Some believe that if one daughter forgives him, his curse will shatter. Others say even his daughters are just mirrors of sorrow—bait for a deeper hunt.

🦌 Name: Sylali

Species: Normal Fallow Deer (doe)

Age at Time of Mating: 4 years

Status: Deceased (claimed mid-gestation by Vel'karuun)

Role: Unknowing mother of Vel'karuun's second brood

---

🌿 Physical Description

Sylali was soft-featured and elegant, with a warm, russet-toned coat that faded to white at her throat and belly. Her flanks bore faint dapples, like falling leaves on snow. Her eyes were large and brown—clear, kind, and filled with a deep sense of caution, the way all prey animals are.

Her antlerless crown and slender limbs made her seem delicate, but Sylali was strong in the way wild creatures must be—born to outrun wolves, to leap over frostbitten roots, to raise young in the dying breath of autumn.

She moved with the wind, drank from crystal brooks, and rested in moon-dappled groves. Her hooves barely left prints.

---

🌙 Personality

Sylali was gentle and solitary by nature. She had no herd—only silence and the forest. She had raised a single fawn before, who had vanished during a storm two winters prior. Since then, she had become cautious, quiet, and prone to looking over her shoulder even when nothing was there.

But she was not fearful. She was curious.

When the Pale Stag stepped into her life, she did not run. His presence felt ancient and serene. She saw no bones, no frostbite in his smile. Only beauty, otherworldly and strange.

To Sylali, he was a miracle.

To Vel'karuun, she was a vessel.

To the world, she was a tragedy.

---

🌸 Her Final Days

After mating with the Pale Stag in spring, Sylali began to change. Her belly swelled too quickly. She began to speak to shadows. She stood still for hours, ears flicking, as if listening to something just behind the veil of the trees.

Animals began avoiding her. Water tasted like metal.

Sometimes, her reflection in puddles would blink when she didn't.

She died in early autumn.

Not torn, not devoured—taken. Mid-gestation.

Her soul passed peacefully, not knowing the horror growing inside her.

Vel'karuun came and reclaimed his children, absorbing their cursed spirits into his own rib-womb.

---

💧 Legacy

Sylali's name is not remembered in myth.

Only in the quiet cries of the wind when it brushes the high grass,

in the white does that tremble without cause,

and in the soft, mournful lullaby sometimes heard beneath the trees:

> "The stag I loved wore no crown of bone.

I followed his steps, and now I am alone."

Children:

1st born is bramble he is strong and stubborn and brave and that is where he got the name from.

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