Fantasy Monsters - the Hru, the Gargu-Khanu, and the Greater Ivashu

         The Hru, Gargu-Khanu (Orcs, Greater), and the Ivashu are all excellent picks for fantasy monsters to be integrated into your world. While I will not provide any stat blocks yet, I will explain why they are interesting. These are all ripped from the Harn setting, which I am still on a kick of, as previously mentioned. First, we will look at the Hru. 

    "The Hru is a gentle rock giant that typically stands 12 feet tall and weighs three tons, although some attain fifteen feet in height and four tons in weight. They are nocturnal, and transform during the day into a large boulder, or pile of rocks. At night the Hru’s earth–shaking stride has frightened many a traveller. They are fairly sociable creatures and may be found in colonies of up to forty. The strange rumbling songs they use to converse send shivers down the spines of most who hear them. Their voices are at the lowest pitch of human hearing which adds to the discomfort of human listeners."

        As mentioned above, the Hru is an interesting take on the classic fantasy giant. They are found in highland regions and are generally only antagonists to those who wish to disturb their habitat. To protect their territory, they are known to kill miners and foresters. Otherwise, they are mostly friendly and rather sociable. They might clash with the Garguns/Orcs of the area, however, as they live in foul caves and often raid and desolate local areas. Next up is the Gargu-Khanu.

    "The black or great orcs, at an average height of 4’2”, are the largest and most murderous of the Gargun. Their fur is black or dark brown. They justifiably regard themselves as the “warrior elite” of the Gargun. Strong for their size, the Khanu have little fear of humans; they are the most likely Gargun to mount raids on human settlements. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the Khanu breed far more slowly, and kill each other far more readily, than any other sub-species. With these checks on their population, Khanu are the least likely of all Gargun to swarm. The Khanu prefer to fight with maces or handaxes. When faced with death, these willful fighters are more likely to become berserk than flee."

        Reading the above, I get many evil inspirations for villainous plots in my world. Something not mentioned above is that they keep other Garguns as slaves, primarily the Brown orcs and Small orcs, which are smaller subraces of orcs. They also tend to raid and pillage the homes of these "lesser" orc subraces, taking over as colony leaders. Garguns tend to take over abandoned mines, caverns, or desolate dwarven fortresses (which have most likely already been assaulted by Garguns).    

        These orcs might not pose a threat, but when you have ranking orders with parties starting at eight to ten orcs (only two or three of which being Khanuns), it becomes extremely dangerous for party members to be traveling through the orcish territory, especially at night. A plot point that could be interesting to the players is a territorial war between dwarven miners, Gargu-Khanun, and Hru, all fighting for a viable cavern rich with resources. Finally, is the Ivashu, the grouping that the Hru belong to.

    "Ivashu are Ilvir’s creatures, known as the Fatherless Multitude by the faithful, or the Accursed Beasts of the Barren Circle by non-believers. Ilvir creates the Ivashu at Araka-Kalai, making use of a limited number of souls over and over again. Some Ivashu are fairly common, because they have proved most adaptable to survival, or because they are the easiest to create. However, Ilvir also enjoys experimental lifeforms and can produce any conceivable beast in some quantity. Many varieties are unique, created to perform a specific task, or just to amuse the deity"

     Ivashu is an interesting concept for any world. They originate at Araka-Kalai, returning there after death to be reborn once again as another Ivashu. Having an entire unending group of people, literally created just because a god wants mischief in the world is absolutely amazing, and is a concept I have been tossing around, especially once you get into creatures like generic evil, necromancers, zombies, etc. I hope that this article helps you expand the roster of evil monsters in your world! I cannot thank you enough for reading this; it means the world to me.