Mostly here to lurkWill sometimes interact with users if I want toYou can ask me things.
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Latest Posts by kiyyunkaiwan - Page 2
my family wasn't this strict, but in some sects of buddhism you're not allowed to eat the "five pungent vegetables", onions garlic shallots leeks and umm chives i think, really any of those kind of vegetables. probably some monk ages ago was tired of onion farts stinking up the temple. anyways, one time my brother made a soup using all five of them. he said, "one sip of this, and you'll be reincarnated as a flea."
Finished Foxy and Freddy. Freddy gets flame throwers on his finger tips. I can only imagine being put into one of these suits would probably consist of dismemberment.
Cyberpunk FNAF.
Blaze's Compendium Entry #6: Helmet is required to deal with the Muh Shubuu.
Warning: Faith and religion are important real life topics, that tackles the culture and way of life of millions of real life people. It is a cultural expression, and must be respected by all means. Here, we use a video-game series only to ignite the flame of learning about the matter, using its art when well depicted, but we do this with all due respect to the cultures we talk here, grounded by real life sources, cultures and people. And i mean this with respect. Hope you all enjoy.
Moh Shubuu, or Moh Shuvuu is a fantastical creature from the Buryati Folclore, nomadic people from Asia in a region between Siberia and Mongolia. Their are treated like a Mythological bird, that is born when a young girl or young woman dies by violent means, without knowing true love. (This can imply chastity, but it will vary in how explicit it says it). Normally, Moh Shubuu will attack man that she could seduce using her young girl looks, bringing the victim to isolated areas of the desert and killing them with a blow to their head, using their ominous sharp beak. Then she would proceed to suck and consume the brain matter out of the person.... Yikes.
According to sources (as always, will be in the boton) There are other ways for a Moh Shubuu to be born, we will explore those later.
This is one of those legends that, finding a single western source on it is way harder than actually understanding it. Not even Wikipedia is of any help here (That is, if it was of any help, any time). The only real English source i was able to locate was a book: ''Christian Demonology and Popular Mythology, Central European, 2006''. Although this book was a verifiable source, it was not from much help because of the biased view of the tale, from a Christian perspective. Which is not exactly wrong. There's whole fields of theology dedicated to this , but we gotta exercise the Methodological Agnosticism here, which means i can't analyze a culture going from other completely biased point of view, but rather try to see by the eyes of said people considering their time and space, which is also not a easy task by any means.
Moh Shubuu hides her beak with her hands, and sleeves.
The book offers little to no insight about more than what is commonly associated with the Moh Shubuu. The western internet is filled with texts and people talking about this legend, in the way i told above. But the creature name gets a bit confusing. Usually, in the west people call it Moh Shuvuu, but it seems this is a western way of spelling the name, which is actually Moh Shubuu or Moh Shubuun. This means literally somehting like ''Evil Bird'' According to most sources, but i was unable to independent verify this claim. So, take it with a bit of salt. I am sure though, that this could not be so much far away from what it really is.
Going by Muh Shubuun or Moh Shubuu makes it more easier to research it, in Russian the name is spelled like: Муу шубуун. In using this language, there is a good amount of sources going from sites that talk about mythology, to museum pages in general, to books. This did not surprised me, because Buryatia being part of Russian territory for centuries now, and Moh Shubuu being a relatively obscure, and oral folklore, makes it very niche to research indeed. Specially from a culture which is in high danger of disappearing. [2]
But by far, the most complete work in Buryatian culture research i was able to find, comes from a renowned Russian folklorist: Matvey Nikolaevich (1858-1918). His work is extensive and very detailed, he spent his life and career studying and documenting Buryati culture. Matvey was celebrated in his time by his expeditions to Buryati settlements to study their culture, and he was elected in 1888 as a member of the Russian Geographic Society. So much so, that a Museum in Buryatia is named after him, and display many of his belongings and researches there. (Linked source, and Museum)
If you happen to speak Russian, and is interested in learning more about Buryatian Folklore, culture and more i heavily suggests you to read more of Matvey books. As for me, i do not speak Russian, so i am relying in software translations. If you notice anything wrong, please let me know!
I can't go too deep in his work here, because our main goal here is to explore the Muh Shubuu lore. Luckily for us, Matvey catalogued this very tale (along with another multitude of Buryati folklore) in some of his work. Here, i will use as a basis his book:
‘’Хангалов М.Н. Собрание сочинений в 3 т. Т.3. / Под ред. Г.Н.Румянцева.-Улан-Удэ: Изд-во ОАО «Республиканская типография», 2004.- (Reprint)’’
Translated roughly as:
‘’Khangalov M.N. Collected works in 3 vols. T.3. / Ed. G.N. Rumyantsev.-Ulan-Ude: Publishing House of JSC "Republican Printing House", 2004. (Reprint)’’
This work was originally published between 1889 to 1903, in 3 volumes focusing on Buryati Folklore. Sadly, i could not locate this book anywhere on the web, at least not using software translation and all my power to do so, i could not locate a physical copy of easy access for me. But, luckily the book is partially transcribed in many web pages and that's how i guided myself.
So, about the Muh Shubuu!
There are some legends Matvey catalogued about this demon in Buryati folklore, but they vary a bit. This can be because of the nomadic nature of the Buryati people, and how the tale can evolve and change between groups and settlement. But nevertheless, the essence is still the same. Here are some tales that Matvey could comply about the Muh Shubuu:
There is, for instance the tale of a young couple, that went to live in the woods together. Sadly the man dies from illness shortly after, leaving his wife alone and depressed. The woman could not bear the loss of her husband, and was driven into madness. During this time, she decides it is a good idea to consume the dead decaying liver of her late husband. After that, she dies as well.
The woman's soul is back as a Mu Shubuun, because of her terrible act. Still according to this particular legend, this demon can change forms into different types of birds. (like some kind of warebird) But, when she transforms back to her more humanoid form, only the beak will remain. (Some times, this beak is described like her lips) The beak will always be visible, no matter how many times she transforms back.
Another tale tells about a hunter, who was hunting alone in the desert. (or woods, depending on the mood of my translation software) After taking a rest, a young woman approaches him. She starts to kick a conversation, cracking jokes, and getting along with the hunter. He noticed that the woman always tried to hid her lower face with her sleeves, and found it suspicious. He notices this is a Mu Shubuu, and asks her to get logs to the fire he is preparing. She goes, and while she's away, the hunter puts some branches and his stuff into his blanket to give the impression he is sleeping in it.
When the demon returns, she thinks the tired hunter was sleeping already, and she could finally attack. She jumped in the blanked with her beak, stabbing the branches and logs he put inside it, and it got stuck. That's when the hunter shoots the thing down with his gun. After that, he burns the remains in a fire.
This story is particularly interesting, because it involves guns, so it was probably not that old. At least this version, it could have changed with the years, with regular weapons becoming guns, once they were invented and got popular. Or... My translation software got something as an bow and arrow as a gun.
This tale also makes clear that the creature was about to kill the hunter, with her classical ''beak to the head'' and would probably consume his brain matter. But there is evidence Mu Shubuu diet consisted of more than just brains. like the woman in the first tale eating the liver of her husband.
This amazing artwork was made by NATZ they are amazing, and let us use it to illustrate this text. Go check them out! I am a big fan!
In another tale, there is also other person who win in a fight against this demon by getting her stuck in a tree. This seemed to be enough to the creature promise not to bother anyone anymore.
Matvey also complied the information that, some tales described that Mu Shubuu had two ''flints'' with them, usually in their armpits. The right one is a bright red flint, very good looking. The other one is a decayed and rotten tool. The disgusting one is the one to destroy, or take from the creature, because it is linked to her vital forces, it seems. During a fight, Mu Shubuu will try to convince you that the red one is better, but this is a trap. This flint will weaken you instead, making you the easiest prey to this demon.
Buryat knife with a suspension, a tube, a pouch, a flint. Silver, coral, malachite, mahogany, leather, hardened steel, corals, chasing, punching, forging. I dont know, but maybe this legends of a ''flint'' could be referring to the tools here.
There is also the implication that there are male Mu Shubuun as well! According to Matvey there was a tale about a forest where lots of Mu Shubuun inhabited, and they always caused mayhem in the region, attacking and eating people's brains.
One day, a warrior decided to go there, and was (surprise surprise) attacked by a Mu Shubuun. In this story, the flint version was accounted for, and the warrior win the fight taking the ugly looking flint from the demon. But, she ends up fleeing.
The man follows the creature trail up to a well, where he found not only the female Mu Shubuun that attacked him, but a male Mu Shubuun. It was the male that convinced the guy not to harm them, explaining that attacking humans was an habit of the female Mu Shubuun only. As a way to apologize, the couple of demons teach the man how to defend himself from their relatives, using magical phrases. I could not translate them very well using software, but in Russian it goes as:
‘’Хадалан долон - Хадалаевы семеро
Хамнагахи найман - Хамнагановы восьмеро’’
Female and (possible) male Mu Shubuun from the game Blood Brothers. I like this interpretation very much, because of the bloody beak.
This tales are interestng, because they are very small but they manage to convey a lot about this creature, which is sadly not very much available to western sources. It is evident that in Buryatia, this is a relatively known folkloric tale, and in Russia and Eurasia it was spread by books and the internet, much before the demon was explored in the Shin Megami Tensei series.
For instance, the Irkutsk City Museum, in Russia has a page dedicated to Buryati culture, and also shows some Mu Shubuun texts. Irkutsk is not in Buryatia, rather is a bit north, after the Baikal lake that separates Buryatia from the rest of Russia. But it is close enough to have some cultural connections.
(Again, i am not going too deep into the Buryati belief system as a whole. Not only because that's not the foccus here, but because it would need much more research. If you want me to talk about more of this culture in the future, let me know!)
Much is talked about the Buryatian Shamanism when talking about the Buryatian folklore. This was present in Matvey's work, as well in official government sources as the Irkutsk Museum. This Shamanistic culture often deals with lots of problematic spirits. Those are usually translated as bad spirits, ghosts, or even demons. This means our little devil bird girl is not alone in this pantheon. Just to be brief about some other Buryatian mystical creatures:
Ada: A spirit that manifests itself as a small crature with only one eye, and one teeth. Their mouth is on her lower jaw. Can appear as a dog, children or even inflate itself as a balloon. (This one is specifically creepy, and it is also cited by Matvey works)
Anakhai: Also spotted on the before told sources, this is a cyclop-like creature that attacks children.
Ezykhe: A spirit that causes harm to domestic animals. Usually it appears as a decaying old hag, that steals cow's milk. This can cause malnutrition to calfs, and even death of livestock.
The Buryati usually are practitioners of Tengrism. This is a belief system that is sustained by the relationship with the Earth, being protected by it and the ancient spirits. It is interesting that, in some sources the Tengrists believe that the skeleton is sacred, because it stores a part of the Soul. They went as far as to not damage animal bones during sacrificial rituals. So, since Mu Shubuun has to break open the skull to eat its prey's brain, i wonder if it is seen as a even more evil act by them. [sourced by Buryati Religion and Society’ from Lawrence Krader, 1954]
As is the case with any culture, we need to know a bit of the time and place to understand the collective consciousness that give birth to such myths. The Buryatia territory as a place and the way of life of the Buryati people is essential to this mixture. For instance, being nomadic people that relies a lot in livestock and surviving the harsh Eurasian deserts and the SIberian tundra, the worst fears would often be dictated by those essential pillars of their lifes.
A creature that can slowly kill your livestock? A predatory demon that kills you alone in the desert, sucking your brains? Those were real fears. It is hard to dive deeper into Buryati culture in this text, because it is just a crop honestly, but is also very important to remind ourselves that the Buryati are a diverse people, and some behaviors, tales and even words can change from place to place.
There is definitively a lot to learn from their culture, and a lot to preserve. Being endangered to disappear, it is always interesting to spread the word to more people that could study and preserve Buryati history.
If you are interested, i can recommend also the paper ‘’Buryati Religion and Society’ from Lawrence Krader, published originally in 1954. It is not perfect, and it is pretty old, but it is a good start! It is one of the few English sources about Buryatian culture out there.
Mu Shubuun is a very interesting case of a regional folklore making a trip from it's mother culture and ending up appearing in pop culture. Even with UN classifying the Buryati language to be highly in risk to be extinct, this predatory bird devil ended up in games and known in many parts of the world. In SMT for instance, she ranked 9th as the most popular demon in recent years, as well is a recurrent character in almost every franchise release since the 1990s.
Kazuma Kaneko's design is great for me, because it interprets the beak as disguised as the creature hair, or is it hair and just looks like a beak? That is the magic of his take on the creature. I am just curious on how he got to this specific folklore in the first place.
Kaneko took inspiration from Buryati female clothes when designing Mu Shubuun appearance! Very neat. SMT Moh Shubuu lacks the beak, but its hair its styled like a bird's beak, head and wings in a very cool nod to its nature.
It is fascinating to think this happened, but it got me thinking that Mu Shubuun was a product of a culture, and real people that lived by this for centuries. As the warning says in the start of the text, we can use popular media to spark a flame of interest in the matter, but this has to be done with all due respect.
The next paragraphs are based on my personal opinions upon studying this tale extensively. But you feel free to disagree with me, or even correct me!
In my personal belief, Mu Shubuun is one of those Folkloric cautionary tales. Not only not to wander alone in the desert, which could be fatal by very real means, but also that violence against the more vulnerable could have consequences. In the case of Young Woman, this could end up as a Muh shubuu coming to enact her revenge.
Another personal observation of mine: The creature carrying flints reminded me of the old Korean tradition of young virgin woman carrying daggers in her clothes (usually in their arms as well), so they could commit suicide if endangered to be sexually harassed. [1] This could be nothing related, but i thought about it immediately after noticing the flint trope with Moh Shubuu.
As why the bird connection, i really can't say for sure. Probably because raptor birds could be menacingly common, around. But i should study Buryati culture deeper in order to be more accurate about it. End of my personal opinions
Be any reason why this tale survived centuries and ended up here, in the internet, videogames, and other works, is a mystery to me. Maybe the idea of a vengeful spirit taking her grudge on male society is alluring to some, maybe it was because Kazuma Kaneko really did an amazing design, and maybe it is because there is something about regional tales, folklore and beliefs that really fascinate some of us. Some distortions may have occurred in the way, but it is also part of this process. To me, it is important that Buryati traditions and culture can be preserved, and for many, Mu Shubuun is the link to this cosmos. That is a very interesting thing, and i am quite fascinated by it as well.
Thank you for reading up until here!
Sources:
-Matvey, Collected works Volume 3, pages 25 to 26 (reprinted in 2004) - (Хангалов М.Н. Собрание сочинений в 3 т. Т.3. / Под ред. Г.Н.Румянцева.-Улан-Удэ: Изд-во ОАО «Республиканская типография», 2004.- С.25-26’’)
-Irkutsk City Museum
-Buryati Religion And Society, Lawrence Krader 1954. (Sadly paywall...)
[1] - Korean Perceptions of Chastity ceptions of Chastity, Gender Roles, and Libido; F , Gender Roles, and Libido; From Kisaengs to the Twenty First Century (This one is just to back my claim about similarities)
[2]- The troubled state of the Buryati language today, Dulma Batorova
Blaze's Compendium Entry #10: The Khyah (Cyak, Kack, Khya)
Warning: Faith and religion are important real life topics, that tackles the culture and way of life of millions of real life people. It is a cultural expression, and must be respected by all means. Here, we use a video-game ( some times) and other media series only to ignite the flame of learning about the matter, using its art when well depicted, but we do this with all due respect to the cultures we talk here, grounded by real life sources, cultures and people. And i mean this with respect. Hope you all enjoy.
Also, please note that the Sources for this one will be a bit tricky, since we are talking about a regional and always developing urban legend and cosmology, which is not very well documented in traditional books. In this case we have to turn our attention to personal stories and every day people who lives in this culture.
The Khyah (ख्या) is a mythical creature that is part of the greater Nepali folklore and cosmology. Specifically from the Newar people from the Kathmandu Valley.
Some sources will say that its name means literally ''Ghost'' or ''Haunt'', ''Phantasm'', etc... However i was not able to confirm this. The language spoken by Newar people is the Nepal Bhasa, which is also written in the Devanagari script, just like Hindi. I do not speak this language, so please if you do, reach me out! But in any case, it seems that the word for ''Ghost'' in Newar is ''गुफा'' or ''gupha''. It may be the case that the name: ''Kyah'' got so used to general supernatural occurrences, that it got mixed up. Just like we talked about the Saci in my other post. -This is not uncommon to happen- I used regular online translators to reach this conclusion, but feel free to correct me if i am wrong because i could not consult any native to talk about this matter during my research.
For a bit of context, The Newar are people that historically inhabited the Kathmandu Valley, and the regions around Nepal. As we said before, they speak Newari (Nepal Bhasa). They have 3 major cities, those being Kathmandu, Patan and Bhatgaon. [1] The academic research on the Newar people just started at the early 20th century, the french anthropologist Sylvain, wrote a very famous and complete work called Le Nepal, that was one of the first western written works about the region, and its people. Their religion are mostly Hinduism, Buddhism and there are minorities from other beliefs.
The Newar live in this region since ancient times, way longer before Nepal even existed as a Estate. According to most history books, the Newar would live alone in the region, being sovereigns of the Kathmandu valley up until the Gorgkha Kingdom in 1769. It is very hard to know much about the Newar before that in details, since they are in the region for so long, and mixed so much with other people from around the Nepal, that even their history ends up blending with mythology.
For example: according to the sacred Swayambhu Purana, a Buddhist scripture, the Kathmandu Valley was once a huge lake, Inhabited by Nagas*. That is, until one day the Bodhisattva Manjusri with the help of a powerful sacred sword, sliced the surrounding hills, which in turn made the water flow away. This information is even on Kathmandu government official site!
This myth was later confirmed to have a basis, since NASA themselves found out clues that Kathmandu was in fact, once a huge lake. NASA did not reply me about the Naga thought. Bummer...
*The Swayambhu Purana is a Buddhist text essential to Newar Buddhism. However i sadly could not find a copy online, but there are some summarized versions translated to English, which i am using as guide. For instance the US Wikipedia article, sources books that i also could not find, but i could verify the authors! So... That's something, i guess.
This goes to show how the Newar people are rooted in their mythology, and how this is completely absorbed by even their space and surroundings. Even something as the very foundation of their lands is a hierophany.
This brings us to the Kyah, that we will see can show us a lot about this society.
About the Khyah
The Khyah are supernatural creatures that are hairy, looks like apes, sometimes extremely chubby and have their bodies are totally covered in hair. This description is corroborated my multiple sources, like ''Dietrich, Angela (1998). Tantric healing in the Kathmandu Valley: A comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist spiritual healing traditions in urban Nepalese society. Book Faith India.'' But not only that, the Khyah are also represented in multitudes of paintings and also in costumes for the Yenya Festival. The only thing that can sometimes be different, is that if it will be treated like a Ghost or a more physical creature.
The wealth goddess Lakshmi and two Khyah serving her, in a painting on a Kathmandu temple.
About this painting and sourcing the Khyah appearance:
I have made tireless efforts to pin down the origin of this painting. And many others! This one is present in most of the articles about the Khyah in the internet, even local articles from Nepal itself. However i was not able to pinpoint where it came from. All the sources i found either say this is from a ''temple'' or that it was taken by an individual named: Karrattul. This is not the photographer's name, but instead the name of the profile who uploaded it on the Wikipedia, where it was uploaded in 2012! I tried to reach to Nepali communities and other enthusiasts of History and Mythology, but no one could help me. If you know anything about this painting, please contact me!
For the same reason, it is almost impossible to find sourced materials about the khyah appearance. We know that there are traits like the hair, that keep intact from place to place, but i could not find a central work detailing the creature. We have those paintings from so called temples to trust, and the ceremonial suits used in the Khyah dance.
I will link here a video of a Khyah Dance performance, so you can see the physical traits of this creature are well agreed between the locals.
The Khyah is popular among children, or at least were at one point. This can be seen in a popular children song sang in Nepal. It depicts the Khyah as a cute and hungry little critter, as the kid in the song is encouraged to give food to it. The Kyah seems never to be satisfied sadly...
A banger...
The Khyah is indeed often treated like a type of ghost. In my personal opinion they are simmilar to Djinn, some kinds of yokai and can be classified generically as a type of monster or apparition, in my view at least. (This means a supernatural creature, that is in between a human and a god like being.) The Newar believe that the Khyah has active participation in events of their daily lives. But they also are not all bad or good, they are multiple entities, some good and some bad. Usually there are white colored Khyah who are good, and black colored Khyah who are bad.
They have their own lives, families, and friends. There are a lot of tales and works related to this creature, not counting personal tales of every day people and their encouters with this little devil. That's how ingrained in the Newar culture the Khyah is.
I was able to track the writings of a Kathmandu Valley denizen, which happened to write about the Kyahk! [3] This person was kind enough to provide a lot of personal information about the regional culture, in their personal website. According to the locals, the Khyah would often live in houses, squares, public spaces, and would regularly interfere with their existence. Not all Khyah are bad, some can protect the households they inhabit, they can bring fortune and good luck. Although, the Khyah fears light, so they have to live in dark corners of the house, like the attic or some empty room.
The Unitedstatian Wikipedia page for Khyah shares some unusual information, that we can not trace to any sources. For instance, they mention that this creature supposedly fears electricity. As interesting as it may seen, the source from this particular information goes to a book called: '' Asian folklore studies, Volume 55. Nanzan University Institute of Anthropology'' Which i was unable to find to read online, and was also unable to find it by its ISBN trackers: 9057890984, 9789057890987. Those took me to another book, called: ''Caturmāsa. Celebrations of Death in Kathmandu, Nepal’'
This one seems to exist, but i also could not find it anywhere online. Google Books has some samples, and it guarantees that the word ''Khyak'' or any variations of sorts, are not on it, which means this is a misinformation. Someone probably interpreted that the fact that Khyah fear light, can also apply to electricity as an energy source. I think you won't be letting your homie Khyah uncomfortable having electricity at your house, don't worry.
Again, according to locals [3] There are two variable Khyah: Black and White. The white are the ones who bring luck, and the Black ones gives you trouble. No matter what kind of this creature you have in your house, you should respect it. They are often revered and well treated. They have their own cozy dark place to hide, like the bhandar and dhkuti. Those are places of the house used to store grains and valuables.
There are other variations according to other local sources sources [3] [4] Those Khyah are usually described as:
-Bārāy Khyāh (बाराय् ख्याः) appears in rooms where girls are kept in seclusion during their rite of passage to adulthood (first period). [5] (Very documented, and easy to track on western sources)
-Bhakun Gwārā Khyāh (भकुं ग्वारा ख्याः), literally football, rolls on the ground to move around. (Most common Khyah, probably the one Kaneko tried to draw! Most commonly seen in regional urban legends. Not very documented in translated to English literature)
-Dhāpalān Khyāh (धापलां ख्याः) is a very hairy Khyah. (Very popular because of that children's song, still sang to this day.)
-Lanpan Khyāh (लँपं ख्याः) blocks people’s way on dark streets. (Not much about this one, really. At least not in western sources. It seems that, along with Bhakun Khyah is probably more of a word of mouth thing)
The relationship with Kawancha
The origin legend for the Khyah goes that, in the distant past, two gods had a baby. They fought to see who had the right to hold the baby, but ended up tearing the child apart. The skin peeled off, revealing just flesh and bones that would separate. The flesh became Khyak, and the bones Kawancha, a skeleton that would be the Anthitesis to the Khyak. This relationship is portrayed in paintings and regional dance festivals. [3]
Also known as Kavam, the skeleton monster seems to be the other half of the Khyah. It is extremely hard to find sources about this, not only because it is a very specific regional folk belief passed down orally, but also because the language barriers. One could in theory go there in person to collect sources about this part of the lore, but it is not an option for me. Someone at Reddit pointed out to me that in some regions, they are not related at all, being just monsters from the same sources. So, their lore seem to vary from place to place.
Painting depicting Kwancha/Kavam and Khyah in Kathmandu. Origin Unknown.
As much as I tried for months, I could not come with a source for this information besides literal oral tradition. But for sure these two are indeed connected in some places. You can see them in several paintings at Kathmandu, and they also have their own dance performance telling their story and painting their relationship. As the Reddit user mentioned, their connection will vary from place to place. Being more of a localized and oral tradition.
In the performance you can see Khyah and Kwancha performing together, as they show their relationship. Still according to [3], the instrument played in these performances is the Dhimay. Its made from tree bark, and the legend says the gods later created this tool to help control the beings, and communicate with them. In the author's perspective, this was meant to showcase the duality of our universe. This being the real nature of those beings.
Again, I lack written and traceable sources. While the Dhimay is indeed a real instrument, used on those performances, there are almost no mentions of it being related to Khyah or Kwancha in the western internet. This also falls in the category of facts I could not check because of being probably too of a localized oral tradition.
I could at least find some sourced paintings. Like this one, shared by the Twitter user Sanjib Chaudhary Who is an author himself on Nepalese culture.
Kwancha and Khyah are shown in this painting on Jaya Bageshwori temple, in Gaushala.
Also, while Khyah is very well documented in the west, the same can not be said about Kwancha. It is easy to find dances, masks, his Megami Tennsei design (being the most easy result) and paintings about the skeleton monster, but almost nothing on its nature and lore. This means I highly doubt everything the Megaten games say about it to be factual, although they do in fact exist in Nepalese culture.
One thing i noticed is that Kaneko himself could have watched a dance performance of Kwancha and Khyah, or at least seen pictures. Because his Kwancha design for Devil Summoner has the clothing in colors and shapes very similar to some Kwancha performers:
This specific clothing can be seen here: Kawancha (Skeleton) Dance of Bhaktapur कवांचा प्याखं , तौलाछें, भक्तपुर ll Part of Bharab Dance ll
The final point on this part is their origin: Which gods crated them? This rent a space in my brain for free for the last year or so. While I could not find it for sure, this does not mean it is wrong or not factually a belief in their tradition. Buddhism has many gods and entities, and i suspect the ones who created the Khyah accidentally, are just regular Devas.
Modern mentions?
Khyah tales are in the heart of Kathmandu people, and many other Nepal regions. For centuries they dominated the children's tales and late night scare stories of that region. In 1992, Jim Goodman published a book called ''Tales of Old Bhaktapur'' Which complied some folk tales from Nepal.
Sure enough, Khyah makes an appearance in it. At page 28, there is a story about a Khyah haunting a house, and how a boy deals with it. Sadly the book is not openly available on the internet, but google books have some parts readable:
There is also the book: Tales of Kathmandu: folktales from the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal (1980). This book was published by the authors Karna Sakya, Linda Griffith. This book seems to put together many popular folk tales from Nepal, and in the page 105 we have a story called ''The Khya of Marusata.''
Now, as this seems to be the case with every freaking material in this search, this book is not available online, but google books has many parts available. Sadly, we can only see the title of the story. What we can know by a quick google search, is that Marusata is some kind of square in central Kathmandu. I tried to search this tale online, but I could not find. Will try to keep searching for it eventually.
Also, in the books first pages, around 20 or so, Khyah are mentioned too:
It seems to classify Khyah as demons, just like their neighbors Rakshasas. Which is not exactly on the point here, but its interesting nonetheless.
The Khyah are still recognized today, and are well known in the community. But even if the western internet made a good job of preserving its lore and some of their character, their presence is very scarce. By going on Eirikr Kaneko Crib's notes I found that one of the most recent official appearances of the creature online was on the site Local Nepal Today. This seems to be a site dedicated to portray and preserve Nepalese culture and report on situations at the region. It is however, done by foreigners that went to Nepal afterwards. The site seems to be dead, but they do mention their hearings about the Khyah! Here they call it Kack.
The authors compare it to European elves and trolls, which is not exactly a good match. They are more akin to Brownies, Silkies and some kind of Kikimora.
In any way, their description matches most sources, and oral sources alike: They are shy, prefer dark and isolated places, and hate the light. They also comment on the duality between the white Khyah and the black Khyahk.
Most important thought, they mentions talking to an elderly woman in Kathmandu, who shared her own stories about meeting the creature:
''An elderly woman in Kathmandu who saw several kacks – all white ones. The closest encounter was with a quiet, furry fellow who came and sat on her lap! Many of those who’ve seen a kack will tell you how these “little people” would come and sit on the edge of their bed for a while, keeping them half amazed, half in shock the rest of the night. A white kack is friendly – but it can still be a bit scary.''
They also gathered information from old Kathmandu citizens on why the Khyahk tales are vanishing nowadays:
'''Well, old people who grew up in the heart of kack territory – Kathmandu – will usually tell you a simpler reason: kacks are shy creatures and so, since the capital has become crowded and noisy, many have left. Sure kacks can hide and move about by stealth, but there’s a limit. Either way, now it’s no-longer in Kathmandu but in the villages you’ll hear about kacks the most.''
In my personal view, its interesting to connect the vast and accelerated growth of Kathmandu, to the losing of traditions and oral folk tales, which ended up making the Khyah tales vanish bit by bit, becoming isolated to small nearby villages.
This makes me a bit sad, because if there is no one trying to preserve those traditions, it may very well disappear as the times goes on. The internet has this amazing tool to preserve culture, but we do not seem to be using it enough.
In this regard, I am glad that Kazuma Kaneko imortalized Kyahk in the Shin Megami Tensei series, even if they are not regular monsters on the newer games, many people probably had their first encounter with this critter through that.
And that is it! Everything I could gather! Hope you guys enjoyed!
Beware the Kyhak at the feet of your bed!
Thank you for reading through it all. I actually started this research more than 1 year ago, but postponed it multiple times, since I started doing scientific research at college, and other monsters looked way more easy to research.
Stick with me for more deep dives on critters from around the world.
Sources: [1]- "Elements of Newar Social Structure". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.’’ - Christoph Von Furer- Haimendorf, 1956.
[2]- Dietrich, Angela (1998). Tantric healing in the Kathmandu Valley: A comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist spiritual healing traditions in urban Nepalese society. Book Faith India.
[3]- Himalayancultures.com -Personal blog of a Kathmandu citzen that shares a bit about regional folklore and culture. Extremely interesting to see stuff from a personal point of view.
[4]-Archive My Sansar - Regional website about Nepali culture.
[5]- Growing Up: Hindu and Buddhist Initiation Rituals Among Newar Children in Bhaktapur, Nepal, 2008, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. (Pag 174)
[6]- Tales of Old Bhaktapur'' - Jim Goodman (1992)
[7]- Tales of Kathmandu: folktales from the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal (1980)
[8]- Local Nepal Today
Rompopolo's entire existence gives me anxiety. What if god gave you the body of a balloon animal with swords for arms? You love drinking crude oil but half of the year your entire ecosystem is on fire. Your natural enemy is the humble exploding gorilla.
Sometime on this site, you can find the info you need, mostly due to people having a hyper fixation on a certain topic. So sometimes the clowns can have knowledge.
Are sharks actually smooth? I keep seeing people saying they aren't but also others saying they are and now I'm confused :(
sharkskin is completely covered with tiny tiny grooved teeth, which gives it some interesting properties!
these denticles are aligned in one direction with the jagged edges pointing back towards the tail, which breaks fluid mechanics in some weird completely bullshit ways that gives it basically no water resistance in that one direction.
this, in effect, means that sharks are INCREDIBLY smooth and can go as fast as they like in any direction, provided that the direction in question is forward.
however, if the shark tried to go backwards, or if you ran your hand down it the wrong way, the opposite effect would take place- the sharp edges of the denticles would create SUPER water resistance and shred the bejeesus out of your hand.
if you’re going to pet a shark, make sure you go from the head back!
HI HElLo!!! Sorry for the bother but I’ve been kinda going in circles trying to find more info on Toubyou!! It seems that whenever I look em up, I just find the SMT renders. Is this a case of like, a mistranslation or something else? HES LIKE. Such a Funny Little Guy and my mind craves more info on him.
(They do kinda remind me of those Snake Wine bootles. If only a little) Thank you for your time tho!!!!!!
Let me detail my process for situations like this when I want to find more info on obscure demons:
1 Toubyou is a Japanese demon, so it's likely "real"
2 I search using its name as rendered in the Japanese version of the games: トウビョウ, with the intention of finding how the name is rendered in Kanji (to search again for more info, if necessary)
3 The top two results are its Japanese Wikipedia page and Pixiv wiki (these Pixiv wikis often have reliable information, at least for Japanese stuff) The Wikipedia page offers a Kanji name: 土瓶.
4 Next I'll run what I find through a translator
5 Lastly, I'll compare the new info to an officially translated in-game profile to see if it's in the ballpark/ the original Atlus intention for the demon:
6 The bit about the golden ring around the neck is consistent between sources, so this seems to be what you're looking for
The Wikipedia page has more sources to look through that should lead you down an even deeper Toubyou rabbit hole.
Been reading some original works on Ao3 recently
Something, something stones and glass houses.
honestly the discourse on this site is so bad that I have a new hot take: if you use tumblr at all fuck you
Ok magical girl, I know you while shtick is that you beat your foes with the “power of friendship” and magic blasts and beams but have we tried like I don’t know… running them over or a knife. It deals with the problem with the added bonus of avoiding property damage. Sounds like a good idea, right?
Ya know around tumblr, when one of your posts hits maybe 4 digits, people start panicking about the attention, but people like me see satisfaction on when at least 5 people like or reblog anything I make because it tells me that people are willing to listen to me and my nonsense.
With the Raidou Remaster coming out soon and how it adds in new demons not found in the original, I decided to make a list to see just how much was added compared to the original game.
The remake is said to have added to equal 120+ demons compared to the original’s 71, roughly a 50 demon increase.
List down below.
————————————————————————
The original Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army demon roster:
Pyro Order/Crimson Lotus Genus
Skill: Ignite
Ukobach, Pyro Jack, Orthrus, Oshichi, Sati, Gdon, Throne, Cerberus, Muspell, Belial
Frost Order/Silver Ice Genus
Skill: Cool Down
Azumi, Jack Frost, Raiho, Jubokko, Okuninushi, Naga Raja, Tarrasque, Ouyamatsumi, Arahabaki, Yamata-no-Orochi
Volt Order/Thunder Genus
Skill: Inspect
Agathion, Raiju, Tsuchigumo, Oboroguruma, Nue, Parvati, Mishaguji, Oumitsunu, Thor
Wind Order/Gale Genus
Skill: Scout
Poltergeist, Muu Shuwuu, Anzu, Feng Huang, Ichimokuren, Kurama Tengu, Hitokotonusi, Power, Sandalphon
Fury Order/Barbaric Genus
Skill: Use Force
Obariyon, Turdak, Oni, Lamia, Chernobog, Yoshitsune, Yomotsu-Ikusa, Triglav, Rakshasa, Shouten, Siegfried, Susano-o
Pagan Order/Foreign-Law Genus
Skill: Read Mind
Alp, Mokoi, Okiku-Mushi, Ghoul, Alice, Utai-Gaikotsu, Nebiros, Gashadokuro, Incubus, Lilith, Beelzebub
Skill Order/Technical Genus
Skill: Demonstrate
Legion (5 different variants), Ippon-Datara, Leanan Sidhe, Nekomata, Thoth, Nagasunehiko, Abihiko, Scathach, Kudan, Futsunushi
————————————————————————
New to the remaster demons - either from Smt V Vengeance or from King Abaddon.
Pyro: Asura, Enku, Fionn Mac Cumhaill, Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, Mada, Onmoraki, Vritra
Frost: Arioch, Artemis, Basilisk, Mermaid, Pabilsag, Preta, Qing Long,
Volt: Barong, Cybele, Hayataro, Koropokkuru, Makami, Nandi, Vishnu, Zeus
Wind: Angel, Archangel, Camael, Decarabia, Dominion, Huang Long, Ophanim, Turbo Granny
Fury: Fenrir, Gozuki, Mezuki, Neko Shogun, Nezha, Shiva
Pagan: Arachne, Black Frost, Mara, Rangda
Skill: Belphegor, Idun, Pixie, Tam Lin, Taotie
Mitama: Ara Mitama, Kushi Mitama, Nigi Mitama, Saki Mitama
Element: Aeros, Aquans, Erthys, Flaemis, Sylph, Undine
Monster Hunter Wilds Spoilers below and in tags. You were warned.
Post made around March 2.
With the release of the game and it being out for a bit now, it shows that they were not very willing to hide a few more monsters from us in the trailers, though the few things that wasn’t shown makes a interesting case on fictional biology, with one monster in particular showing how secretly frightening adaption works in the Forbidden Lands.
The one I referred to aren’t the Wylk beasts or the final boss, but Nu Udra's smaller friend who hides much more underneath .
The guy's name is Xu Wu and there is a lot to go off here.
An eyeless octopus with what look to be teeth on its head, something resembling a ponytail behind the “teeth”, markings on it's “face” that either looks like a beard or teeth, tentacles that leak a yellowish fluid that hardens into blade-like crystals, and a mouth less like an octopus beak and more like a very toothy starfish.
It feels less like a monster and more like either a walking fungus, an alien, or something eldritch, something that I adore. I always loved the monsters at actually look like the word monsters and not just big animals like Gigi, Xeno, and Goss.
Even it’s name tells a tale, as while in English it does mean much especially as two words, put it together and you get a Chinese word 虚无 Xūwú (pronounced Shee Wu), which translates to nothingness, emptiness, or just void.
With how the monster is small, speedy, favors ambush and hit & run tactics, it seemingly considering most creatures, even humans in two cases(you & a villager) as prey, how it has a false face and a maw of teeth, and how the armor with a Middle East motif and weapons named after famous assassins, you have a monster that, when It’s in the area you pray it doesn’t “see” you before you do lest you vanish.
But the most weird thing is it’s diet and how it adapted to it’s prey.
For one thing, it’s s prey isn’t even natural, or shouldn’t even exist, though some people suggest that they are attracted to strong bioenergy carrying monsters.
The guardians are artificial monsters born of the living mass knows as the dragontorch, basically gene manipulation by the ancient civilization to create homunculi.
And these guys aren’t random monsters, they’re dangerous in their own ways, Doshaguma may be the easy to make grunts that could have a leader, Rathalos are the eyes in the sky, Ebony the patrolling sentry with speed and violence to act on, Fulgur the brute to deal with big problems, Arkveld the unpredictable due to monsters or problems having no defenses against an extinct monster, and Zoh Shia, who might as well be a man-made god of hate.
All of these guys (an argument for Doshaguma) are basically apex-elder tier threats. Something a foolish person thinks would work well for defense.
And Xu Wu basically wins every “turf war” with the guardians. Calling them turf wars feels wrong as 3/4 of them starts after Xu Wu knocks its prey over and starts eating them until they escape.
Ebony gets at least a fight, but ends up skewered and thrown away.
Arkveld might tie with a few hits from Xu Wu until the chains get him, and he isn’t elder level enough for Zoh Shia, but it’s still an interesting thought.
Think it this way: you are a scientist who created powerful artificial life forms to prove you are a god, but nature outdid you already with a creature that was born to prey on the strong, energy rich monster, which your creation fits the bill.
It then proceeds to turn your work into a snack with the only things that could win one of a kind monsters you aren’t willing to lose.
You tried to play god, but nature one upped you without effort. You can never surpass the natural world because it already found a biological version of what you thought of.
You lost a fight to the natural order before you even got started.
⚠⚠⚠
DISPOSE OF PUFFY BATTERIES ASAP!
They CAN explode!
⚠⚠⚠
hacking your 3DS/2DS
https://3ds.hacks.guide/
troubleshooting 3DS software/CFW
https://gbatemp.net/forums/nintendo-3ds.199/
https://discord.gg/MWxPgEp
https://3ds.hacks.guide/troubleshooting
getting games
https://hshop.erista.me/
https://vimm.net/
physical 3DS issues
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Nintendo_Handheld_Console
3DS Tumblr Community
FAQ post
Submissions + Asks are open! Send me photos of your DS/3DS If you wanna!
decorated 3ds's are tagged under '3DS inspo'
Also, bigotry of any kind is not accepted here. terfs/radfems/gender crit will be blocked + reported. Free Palastine + ACAB
GET PRETENDO NETWORK !!!
Arkveld is really smart when you think about it design wise.
Ghosts don’t exist in Monster Hunter, so how would they make a ghost flagship (who recall, is titled “The White Wraith”)?
Obviously there’s the design, a wyvern whose wrists look shackled and bound by broken chains, a shaggy white coat of fur and cloaked wings… It’s chains burning with ghostly white flames before turning to a bloody, vengeful red.
Yeah yeah design is awesome… But lore! How does Arkveld lorewise connect to a ghost?
Simple… Arkveld is an ecological ghost.
Its species is dead, it is dead, the world has adapted and reshaped without it. Arkveld’s species is artificially revived, mankind’s machinations bringing something that should be dead back into the world of the living.
Something dead, dragged forcefully back onto the living world.
Pretty ghostly if you ask me
Well, that was a story.
Something you can’t really unread, but good to know.
I will be thinking of this for a long time.
I only learned about this story a couple months ago from my friend who does Wormgerm, but I instantly knew that 1) it was going to be my October 31 post and 2) I was going to illustrate it.
This is of the most horrendously nasty fairy tales you may ever hear. It revolves entirely around graphicbody horror and repeated non-consensual childbirth between a demon and a kidnapped fairy queen. I do my best to preserve the details without getting too upsetting, but the demon literally keeps drugging his stolen wife to conceive a series of deformed monsters and some of the ways in which they were born even make me squeamish.
But, yes, this legend really does involve tapeworm creatures. And weirder. The nine demon children are responsible for all diseases known to man, and take a variety of verminous animal forms, each with their own areas of expertise in the art of pestilence.
I’ve transcribed the most complete version I could from multiple sources, and drawn all nine slimy hellspawn.
So if you have a strong stomach for dark, disturbing ancient legends, learn where the common cold really came from (a hagfish baby. It was a hagfish baby.)
Okay, it seems when we do a Tumblr sexyman tournament, the winner takes the power of the rest and, in turn, sends it to our world where someone ends up dying.
Said person who died, seems to be judged neither by morality, but by status, with the recipients being a queen and a pope. We’re 2 for 2, not a lot, but the pattern is there.
I think we can weaponize this. Let’s make more sexyman polls at an increased rate and hope that this probable Death Note hits our more problematic people like our president and the tech idiot.
We'll eventually hit them if we throw enough shots at their direction, so let’s see the hell we can raise with our Blorbos.
Good to keep on your blog if nothing seems interesting at the moment.
i know this means absolutely nothing to most people but basically all of the little web game things I've made recently (angels in automata, hex plant growing game, d.a.n.m.a.k.u., life music, sudoku land, the metroidvania style map editor, etc etc etc) are all entirely self-contained individual client-side html files that can be downloaded and run offline and have literally no libraries or frameworks or dependencies, because i'm an insane woman who enjoys hand coding my input handling and display code from scratch in vanilla js and having it all live in one single html file with the game logic and the page structure and the page style all just living and loving together side by side in a universal format that can be run by any web browser on any devixe. i'll even include image files as base64 data-uri strings just to keep every single asset inside the one file.
Very late response, but I thank you.
Didn’t really understand him until reading this, cleared a few things up.
Hello, I am a person interested in folklore. I wanted to ask if you who Assur or Ashur is and what legends he has and if it isn’t too much of an issue, give some good sources on Mesopotamian myth and folklore as I can’t tell what’s real and what’s bullshit.
Probably the best overviews of Ashur’s character are still Wilfred G. Lambert’s short 1983 article The God Aššur and Grant Frame’s My Neighbour's God: Aššur in Babylonia and Marduk in Assyria. If you can read German, Wiebke Meinhold’s Die Familie des Gottes Aššur is a must read too. The wikipedia article is actually quite in depth too now, a pleasant surprise - it used to be a nightmare.
Long story short, it is generally agreed Ashur started as a divine representation of the namesake city (or perhaps the hill on which it was built) and with time could become essentially whatever its political interests required; so, for instance, when his cult center turned from a city-state into the capital of an empire interested in military expansion, he gained warlike traits. His early character was fairly indistinct, and he had no signature epithets which would point at a specific sphere of influence, though.
While it’s par the course for ancient Mesopotamia to have gods essentially represent the political interests of their cult centers, this is particularly extreme in Ashur’s case because for a solid chunk of his history it’s hard to even speak of him as a personified deity. For example, the Old Assyrian texts from the trading colony Kanesh essentially make it difficult to tell when the god is meant and when the city. Regarding specific cities as numinous, basically divine, locations are not without parallel either, but rarely to such a degree. It’s possible he was initially depicted in art in non-anthropomorphic form, see here for some discussion. However, anthropomorphic depictions might be present on seals too, see here.
As a result of Ashur’s lack of personhood in early sources, he had very few truly distinct associations with other deities to speak of. Basically the only exception is the minor goddess Sherua, but it was already a matter of heated debate in antiquity how they are related to each other. There are also virtually no references to him having parents; no genealogical speculation centered on him ever developed before the emergence of a Neo-Assyrian trend of referring to him as self created (bānû ramānīšu).
The earliest evidence for a gradual shift towards making Ashur into a more standard deity, as opposed to a semi-personified deified city, are probably theophoric names. Additionally, rulers of the city addressed him as a source of their authority and presented themselves essentially as governors acting on his behalf, similarly to what their counterparts in Eshnunna and Der did with Tishpak and Ishtaran, respectively.
Further important developments occurred in the Middle Assyrian period, some 4-5 centuries later. The idea at this time was to essentially pattern Ashur’s character on Enlil. This is attested to various degrees for the heads of many pantheons on the periphery of Mesopotamia, you can read more about other similar cases here. However, in Ashur’s case this process was nowhere near as straightforward as sometimes claimed, as recently stressed by Spencer J. Allen in Aššur and Enlil in Neo-Assyrian Documents. For the most part, the two were effectively separate, even though Ashur did borrow Enlil’s titles, traits and even some of his relatives and servants.
Ashur generally doesn’t appear in myths. The only exception I can think of is that during the reign of Sennacherib there was an attempt to develop a rewrite of the Enuma Elish with Ashur taking Marduk’s role but it’s… well, an incomplete rewrite and nothing more. A pretty incoherent one at that according to Lambert. Regarding your other question: I have a recommended reading doc linked in my pinned post, you can find it here.
Rather have parts broken than glowing
Gaping side wound will be really big in 2025
Glad to finally know that this guy actually exists and isn’t just some random made up demon to be filler hoping nobody notices.
Don’t know if this is a stupid question, but with the Raidou remaster shown and older demons given new life, I’d like to ask, what is an Enku?
I know it’s a Preta, but I can’t find sources on Enku specifically, and I thought one of the guys that found the myths of obscure demons would find him.
Questions about demons are never stupid!
It is really difficult to find specific info on the Enku. This is about the best I could find in a reasonable timeframe that's also not just repeating SMT compendium info:
The sixth section tells how Ananda (J: Anan), another of Shakyamuni’s ten great disciples, heard about the suffering of a hungry ghost who continuously belched flame (engu gaki) and taught the ghost an incantation from Shakyamuni to achieve salvation. The seventh section recounts how Ananda passed on this method of salvation to the monks, who then began the ceremony of offering food and drink to the spirits of the dead (segaki).
The Enku's definition as a type of Preta that belches flame and exists in the Preta realm really seems to be about it. Essentially, it's a being that exists as a kind of punishment should you be wicked and end up reincarnating in the Preta realm. The idea/formula behind the enku gaki is, in sum:
you hear about the enku gaki
then get frightened of reincarnating as one
thus you become more devoted to following Buddhist teachings
That's how they get ya!
Enter Der Hungergeister:
Damn, should have seen this earlier.
Happy Xenoblade Day
Ahh, I love it when a story has two characters who fit with each other’s story and their personalities mean they will get along but are cursed by never meeting in canon whether by missing each other, never in the same place or death. At least fanfics help remedy this.