Probability-Beasts
Changers of the Probability Fog that exist in several states at once and so attack from every angle at the same time.
Overview
The Probability-Beasts are the most dangerous of the Changers of the Probability Fog. Each exists in several states at once, so that it is here and there, coming and going, and it strikes from every angle together.
Appearance
A Probability-Beast is a predator seen several times over: a big grey hunting cat, say, crouched on the left, leaping from the right, and already behind, all of it the same beast. The copies overlap and flicker like a reflection in rippled glass, and they never quite agree on its colour or size. Where its states meet, the air shimmers. It makes many sounds at once, a growl, a footfall, a breath, from different directions, and its smell is everywhere.
Habitat and Range
They prowl the thickest parts of the Fog, alone. They are rare, and most visitors never meet one.
Behaviour and Temperament
They hunt like any great predator, by stalking and the rush, but no prey can watch every way at once. They are drawn to the confused and the unlucky. They are beasts, without guile, but the Fog lends them the cunning of chance.
Abilities
They exist in several states at once and choose, at the last, which one bites. A blow that lands on one state may land on nothing. They cannot be outrun by direction, only by luck.
Life Cycle
They begin as beasts caught by the Fog and split by it into many possibilities that never came back together.
Uses and Dangers
They are deadly, and the Fog's survivors say the only defence is to stop guessing which way it will come from and simply move. They give nothing to the peoples.
Lore and Belief
Moorland folk say a hound that howls from several places at once is a Probability-Beast's warning, and turn back. Scholars of the Shifting Path argue that the beast is several possible beasts that never resolved into one, and that every state is real.
Beast-hunters will not take a bounty on one, saying that a beast which might be anywhere might also be behind them; the few who tried are remembered in the moorland songs, and none of the songs ends well.
Where It Appears
In the Writers’ Guide
- Changers A Bestiary of CaeldonUses and Dangers
- Probability-Beasts A Bestiary of Caeldon