The Strange Bestiary
Nakarand is the name of a native of the Chaosphere. It's not a planetovore, though possibly only because of its temperament and its "modest" needs. This sticky, brownish organism, vast and coiled, is several hundred feet (60 m) across, though it's far larger on the inside. In some ways, it's like a living recursion—a living recursion able to manifest its mind and abilities into a powerful, mobile avatar. Nakarand usually creates only one avatar at a time. This avatar, using its quickened abilities, arranges for the feeding and well-being of the far larger and less mobile part of itself. Unfortunately for creatures of the universe of normal matter, that feeding requires both flesh and sapient minds, which means Earth and the Shoals around it are prey for Nakarand.
Most avatars gather feedstock by masquerading as a human being selling a special substance called spiral dust. Unfortunately for people who become hooked on the druglike blue dust, overuse causes a victim to be translated directly into Nakarand's gullet, where he is digested. If Nakarand is fed, so too is the avatar.
Motive: Feed and defend Nakarand
Environment (the Strange): Can appear in any recursion, and is sometimes seen haunting the dreams of spiral dust users
Health: 22
Damage Inflicted: Major wound (10 points)
Armor: 1
Movement: Short
Modifications: All tasks related to stealth as level 8; knowledge of the Strange as level 7.
Combat: The avatar possesses a shadowy "digestive" aura that it can use to create partially material objects or feed directly on living creatures. An object created from the digestive shadow (whether a melee weapon or one with a long-range attack) inflicts a moderate wound (6 points) from the force of impact, plus 4 additional points from the digestive process. Anyone within immediate range of the avatar when it makes an attack also takes 1 point of damage each round from the digestive aura.
When the avatar is within immediate range of someone experiencing the effect of spiral dust (sometimes called a spiraler), the avatar regenerates 2 points of health each round.
Despite its power, an avatar prefers to work in the shadows and rarely indulges in direct combat unless it has no other choice.
Interaction: Different avatars adopt different personalities and means to accomplish their ends, though in the Shoals of Earth, pushing the "drug" called spiral dust seems to work well. Recently, an avatar calling itself the Dustman had great success doing so and was described as a sort of malign sandman.
Use: A PC investigating an old house startles several squatters who are strung out on a new street drug. But they're not the only ones who are startled; the PC glimpses an avatar in the shadows.
Loot: Avatars carry a few cyphers and several doses of spiral dust (which acts like a hallucinogen and causes crazy dreams, among other things).
Nakarand: level 10; health 100; Armor 10; regenerates 10 points of health per round
If an avatar is killed, Nakarand retreats into the Strange (if not already there), breaking through whatever barriers might lie in its way. There Nakarand hides away until a new avatar forms (in 1d20 days), one that has the characteristics of sapient creatures from the nearest prime world.
GM Intrusion: The character must succeed on a Might defense roll or fall into a normal, if somewhat deep sleep (requiring vigorous shaking, at minimum, to wake).