The Strange Bestiary
Nuls are distorted, mangled reflections of creatures around the Shoals of Earth. They seem to bubble into existence in the Strange and sometimes in recursions whose connection to the Strange is particularly lax.
Nuls are about the size of small monkeys, but their features are a mlange of horrible bits and pieces of flesh, bone, hair, and horn. Although their limbs are often mismatched, they move with surprising speed through the Strange or on a solid surface within a recursion. Like rats, they exist in dark places, feeding on residual energy given off where a limited world ends and the Chaosphere begins, but if threatened, cornered, or surprised, nuls viciously attack.
Sometimes a nul has a more humanlike visage and might be mistaken for a creature of higher intelligence. The effect is particularly unsettling when the visage is that of a recognizable historical figure seeded into a recursion through leakage.
Motive: Defense
Environment (the Strange): Anywhere in the Strange, and sometimes in recursions with a strong connection to the Strange, in groups of twelve or more
Health: 3
Damage Inflicted: Minor wound (2 points)
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size and frenzied quickness; Intellect defense as level 6; knowledge of one particular recursion as level 4.
Combat: Nuls swarm over a foe and bite, pinch, squeeze, and hug. Nul flesh is anathema to objects and creatures native to a recursion or a prime world, and contact with it acts almost like acid, inflicting 2 points of damage plus 1 additional minor wound (1 point) that ignores Armor. Five nuls attacking together can make a single attack against one character as a level 3 creature. The swarm's successful attack deals 4 points of damage plus an additional minor wound (2 points) that ignores Armor. Ten nuls together act as a level 10 superswarm that can make two attacks as a single action, dealing 5 points of damage plus an additional minor wound (2 points) that ignores Armor.
Interaction: Sometimes a group of nuls is herded together or lured to a location where their colony can guard an area for an intelligent creature of the Strange. However they're encountered, nuls are essentially vermin.
Use: Nuls are not particularly dangerous threats to PCs unless they appear in numbers. Their horrific appearance and swarming behavior might serve as an interesting encounter for characters new to the Strange, especially if the PCs are still reeling from their first brush with alienation.
Loot: Nul colonies tend to form in areas where cyphers sometimes crystallize out of the Strange, and amid the refuse of such a colony, PCs might be able to liberate a cypher.
GM Intrusion: The nul attacking the character is a grandmother among its kind, and a far more serious threat.