Creature Codex

Ewe peoples (Ghana & Togo)

In insect form it drifts as a glowing firefly. When captured, it becomes a small humanoid with hollow cheeks and red eyes that drink the warmth from a room.

Kenyan Highlands

A cryptid of the highland mist — hyena-jawed, bear-backed, and said to take only the brain of what it kills. Hunters speak of it in the past tense, as though it already has them.

Sawa peoples (Cameroon)

Water spirits of the estuary, beautiful and exacting. They bless those who honour the river with healing and fortune — and take back the debt in tides.

Congo Basin

A colossal river-dweller whose back is mistaken for a sandbar and whose passage overturns canoes. The forest tribes do not hunt it. They negotiate.

Great Lakes Region

A shimmering lake spirit that walks the shallows at first light, protecting fishermen who remember the old courtesy of the water. Nets come back full. Nets come back wet with something else.

Morocco

The night is her country. She is beautiful in the way a storm is beautiful — those she favours are lifted, those she claims are never quite returned.