(Haunts and Horrors) New Creature! Angra Mainyu

Today we have a new creature for your Haunts and Horrors game.  It is the first of a series of creatures from the folklore of the middle east, in this case, Persia.  The Angra Mainyu will be appearing in our upcoming H+H Scenario 'The Ahriman Tablets', due for release later this year.

Angra Mainyu

Angra Mainyu are dark spirits of destruction from the Zoroastrian tradition. The oldest Avestan writings seem to use the term as an alternative name for the destructive Deity Ahriman, the Zoroastrian equivalent of Christianity's Satan. Later writings begin to write of Angra Mainyu in the plural, as a range of demonic spirits in the service of Ahriman and his female counterpart Az.

These demons can be formed in various ways, some are the ghostly remains of Usij. Strictly speaking the Deava's in service of Ahriman and Az are a form of Angra Mainyu, but in game terms, the Deava's are the vastly more powerful spirits of destruction while the term Angra Mainyu is used for the lower level demonic and ghostly beings that serve Ahriman.

Due to the fact that there are several ways for an Angra Mainyu to come into being, their attributes and power can vary greatly between one individual and the next, which is reflected in the following profile.

STR: n/a

SIZ: n/a

AGL: n/a

PER: 20-70

LUCK: 20-60

WIP: 10-80

Preternatural Abilities

Different Angra Mainyu have different preternatural powers but what follows is a list of the more common ones. How many preternatural powers any given Angra Mainyu has also seems to vary wildly from 2 to 10.

Curse, Chill, Darken, Drain Strength, Dream Speak, Fright, Inflict Wound, Manipulate Object, Phantom Sound, Phantom Sound, Physic Drain, Pestilence, Plague, Possession, Silence, Strike Blind, Strike Deaf, Strike Mute, Suggestion, Warp.

Angra Mainyu tend to prefer powers that reflect destruction and darkness over all others and cannot use powers that would create something real. Thus they can not use 'The Writing on the Wall' or similar powers, as it would create something ('Writing'). The only exception is the creation of illusions.

Other Abilities

Angra Mainyu can remain invisible in dark places, even when some light is present they may remain invisible so long as there are deep, dark shadows deep enough that a human in dark clothing would be permitted a stealth roll to avoid detection. In sunlight or when trapped directly in a beam of light – or when viewed via 'Mind's Eye' or similar powers, the creatures appear as dark shadows of vaguely human form as if clad in tattered rags. They lack legs and their eyes seem to be pools of even deeper darkness.

Some Angra Mainyu may retain the ability to practice magic.

Destroying Angra Mainyu

These spirits can be driven back to whatever hell spawned them via an Exorcism, although they will use everything at their disposal to prevent themselves from being exorcised.

Sometimes the creatures are 'Bound' to unholy altars or artefacts which are concentrated to Ahriman or Az. When this is the case no exorcism will succeed until the item is found and its consecration to the dark gods is undone. This can be done by blessing it or re-consecrating it to another deity (Usually Ahura Mazda in the Zoroastrian tradition but in truth any deity that isn't tied to Ahriman will suffice just as well).

Other Notes

Angra Mainyu should be considered to belong to the classification 'Demons', even when they were created from the spirits of dead Usij.