Looking for an original creature to write about...?

Question

I'm working on a serie of short stories turning around mythical/folkloric creatures.
But I'd like to do it about creatures that haven't often been used in litterature.
For the moment I've got: Wendigo, Erlking, Manticore...

Answer 1

People in the R&S had been talking about the Crocoduck, Magic Puppies, Magic Kitties and as for me, I am up for Horsemunk and Chipmonkey. There's also a Kangerillapig and Effalump :-)

Answer 2

A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature (often known as "fabulous creatures" in historical literature). Some creatures, such as the dragon or the griffin, have their origin in traditional mythology and have at one time been believed to be real creatures. Others were based on real creatures, originating in garbled accounts of travelers' tales; such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which supposedly grew tethered to the earth (and was actually a type of fern). The traditional unicorn may have come from garbled stories about the rhinoceros and/or narwhal. Examples of the legendary creatures can be found in medieval bestiaries.

Conversely, some creatures downplayed as just storytelling, have been rediscovered and found to be real in recent times, such as the giant squid. In Africa, Natives of the Congo told European visitors of an animal that looked like a cross between a zebra and a giraffe. While the visitors assumed the stories were just folk tales, in 1901, Sir Harry Johnston brought back pelts that proved the creature, which we now call the okapi, was real.
Often mythical creatures are chimeras, a combination of two or more animals. For example, a centaur is a combination of a man and horse, a minotaur of a man and bull, and the mermaid, half woman half fish. It should be noted that these were not always intended to be understood as literal juxtapositions of parts from disparate species. Lacking a common morphological vocabulary, classical and medieval scholars and travelers would attempt to describe unusual animals by comparing them point-for-point with familiar: the giraffe, for example, was called cameleopard, and thought of as a creature half-camel, and half-leopard.

Many legendary creatures appear prominently in fantasy fiction. These creatures are often claimed to have supernatural powers or knowledge or to guard some object of great value, which becomes critical to the plot of the story in which it is found.

Other legendary creatures are thought to exist even today including Bigfoot, Mothman, Chupacabras and the Loch Ness Monster.

Throughout history legendary creatures have been incorporated into heraldry and architectural decoration. Legendary creatures have also been accepted into many facets of popular culture most notably in fantasy role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons or Everquest, video games, Hollywood movies and power metal bands (such as DragonForce).

Answer 3

just copy paste this In Greek mythology, Pegasus (Greek: Πήγασος (Pégasos)) was a winged horse that was the son of Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and the Gorgon Medusa. Depending on the historical source, the plural for pegasus is pegasi.

There are two versions of the winged stallion's birth and his brother the giant, Chrysaor:

One is that they sprang from Medusa's neck as Perseus beheaded her, a "higher" birth, like the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus.
Another says that they were born of the Earth as Medusa's blood spilled onto it, in which case Poseidon would not be their sire. A variation on this story holds that they were formed from the mingling of Medusa's blood and the sea foam, thus including Poseidon in their making.
Athena caught and tamed Pegasus, and presented him to the Muses at Mount Parnassus. After he became the horse of the Muses, he was at the service of the poets.

Hesiod connects the name Pegasos with the word for "spring, well", pēgē; everywhere the winged horse struck hoof to the earth, an inspiring spring burst forth: one on the Muses' Mount Helicon, the Hippocrene ("horse spring"), at the behest of Poseidon to prevent the mountain swelling too much and another at Troezen. The actual etymology of the name is most likely from Luwian pihassas "lightning", or pihassasas, a weather god (the god of lightning). In Hesiod, Pegasos is still associated with this original significance by carrying the thunderbolts for Zeus.


Parthian era Bronze plate with Pegasus depiction ("Pegaz" in Persian). Excavated in Masjed Soleiman, Khuzestan, Iran.Pegasus aided the hero Bellerophon, who is a double in some way for Perseus, in his fight against both the Chimera and the Amazons. There are varying tales as to how Bellerophon found Pegasus; the most common says that the hero was told by Polyeidos to sleep in the temple of Athena, where the goddess visited him in the night and presented him with a golden bridle. The next morning, still clutching the bridle, he found Pegasus drinking at the Pierian spring. When the steed saw the bridle, he approached Bellerophon and allowed him to ride. Bellerophon slew the Chimaera on Pegasus' back, and then tried to ride the winged horse to the top of Mount Olympus to see the gods. However, Zeus sent down a gadfly to sting Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall all the way back to Earth[1] on the Plain of Aleion ("Wandering"), where he lived out his life in misery as a blinded cripple.

Afterward, Pegasus found sanctuary on the sacred mountain, where he carried Zeus' thunderbolts and was ridden by Eos, the goddess of dawn.

In his later life, Pegasus took a mate, Euippe (or Ocyrrhoe), and had two children Celeris and Melanippe. This family is the origin of the winged horses. Celeris is associated with the constelation Equuleus.


The constellation PegasusPegasus was not immortal. On the last day of his life, Zeus transformed him into a constellation, but a single feather fell to the earth near the city of Tarsus.[citation needed]

In modern terminology, the word "pegasus" has come to refer to any winged horse, hence its pluralized form [Pegasoi], though the term "pterippus" (meaning winged horse) and the plural form "pterippi" is also used.

Answer 4

type in cryptozoology in wikipedia there is lots of info there. there is also a list of almost all of the made up creatures on there with a little on the stories behind them. it might help you think if something to write about.

Answer 5

GhostMan
He is a spirit that can transform into a man.
I came up with the idea myself.

Answer 6

well bush/cheney is a great mythical creature to write about,, oh no wait they are real,, aaaaawwwwwwwwww ruuuun

Answer 7

I haven't seen that many about kelpies, selkies, and brownies.

Answer 8

nymph... Echidna... Lamia... Sirens... Polyphemos... Scylla...

Answer 9

nymph, wasp