Blind Walker
Guts & Gears — NQ 65
If you make your living fishing the Cloutsdown, you get used to seeing gatormen. Usually, they’ll leave you alone if you steer clear of their villages, but sometimes they don’t. It’s why I carry my old military rifle in my boat. I’m not afraid of anything made of meat and bone — a bullet in the brain will do for a gator just as it will for a man. What I am afraid of are the gatorman shamans, the bokors. They work a dark magic, and on some nights, you can see the witch lights dancing over the village mounds built up out of the swamp. Sometimes those lights move, crossing the dark marsh in silence, and once I saw how.
I was doing a little night fishing when I caught sight of a glow on the shore. I watched it move closer and hunkered down in my boat, hoping whatever it was would pass me by. A gatorman appeared out of the gloom, covered in bone fetishes, its scales painted in swirling designs. It was leading a terrible beast, a great bipedal gator with eyes that glittered in the dark. Its head was adorned with a crown of flickering candles, and the wax had melted into the thing’s scales. There was no reason those candles should have stayed lit, with the wet and the wind, but they did.
They didn’t see me, or else that bokor had more important things to do. I went straight back to the village and I didn’t come out of my hut until the sun shone clear and strong in the sky. I don’t fish at night anymore.
— Killian Dunn, Gnasir fisherman
The gatormen of western Immoren are mighty warriors — strong, tough, and vicious. There are few races on Caen that can match their physical strength or natural fighting prowess, but it is not these traits that make the gatormen so feared by their enemies. It is the dark magic they command, the power they derive from the terrible spirits of the swamp, the greatest among them being Kossk.
The gatorman shamans, called bokors, can channel the might of the spirits directly to aid allies or smite enemies. They may also invoke these fell powers to harness the mightiest beasts of the swamp. Sometimes it is enough to simply control these monsters in battle, turning their primal fury into a powerful if unsubtle weapon. Other times, a bokor may call upon Kossk to change the nature of a beast and make it a more appropriate vessel for the bokor’s magic. The blind walker is such a creature, a blackhide whose spirit has been hollowed, whose mind has been all but destroyed, and whose purpose has become much more terrible than brute ferocity.
Blind Walker Creation
They put the beast in the ground. I saw this from my cage in the trees. Strange words were said, prayers to the scale-back’s gods, I suppose. I was frightened, for the presence of these gods could be felt in the swamp, dark and suffocating.
Two days later, they uncovered the beast. I thought it was dead. What manner of creature could survive such a thing? But it moved at the scale-back shaman’s command. He took the beast’s eyes and ate them, then he placed candles on its head and a metal bowl filled with fire on its back. The candle wax melted, though there was no heat, and it seemed the flickering lights were part of the creature now. Again, I felt the presence of the scale-back gods, and I shut my eyes. Would they put me in the ground? Would they take my eyes?
— Far-Springer, escaped croak slave
Blind walkers are created from blackhides, the huge bipedal gators that have long been used by gatorman bokors as beasts of war. The blackhide wrastler is the most commonly encountered, and its strength and ferocity are well documented. The blind walker is something altogether different, a subtle and more precise weapon compared to the wrastler’s overt brutality.
The primary purpose of the blind walker is to serve as a conduit for a bokor’s magic, usually the one who creates it. Secondarily, the blind walker is imbued with an enhanced ability to protect its master, even if this means its own destruction.
The process of creating a blind walker is lengthy and arduous, and only the most skilled bokors, those that truly command the favor of Kossk, would dare attempt it. The first part of the process is choosing an appropriate subject. Some bokors seek a blackhide in its prime, healthy and vigorous, to serve as the vessel. Others, perhaps more pragmatically, may choose an older, more decrepit blackhide, even one that has served the bokor as a wrastler but can no longer due to catastrophic injury or old age. The choice of vessel makes little difference, and the resulting blind walker is arguably the same regardless of its physical condition before its transformation.
Once the vessel is chosen, the first step of its transformation into a blind walker is the application of a powerful toxin called the venom of Kossk. This poison, taken from the skin secretions of certain frogs native to the swamps, holds the multi-ton blackhide in a deathlike sleep for days. The poison’s primary use is to destroy portions of its brain that control will and cognition, hollowing the beast’s mind to serve as a more receptive vessel for the bokor’s magic. The venom of Kossk has an additional benefit: it holds the blackhide immobile while the rituals are performed. A powerful bokor could simply dominate the blackhide and force it to remain still, but the rituals involved invoke powerful spirits that could seize control of the blackhide to disastrous effect.
Once the blackhide is immobile, the bokor petitions Kossk through a complex set of rituals. The purpose of these rituals is to remove a portion of the blackhide’s spiritual essence so that the void may be filled with the bokor’s will. Kossk “devours” this piece of the blackhide, a sacrifice to ensure the mighty spirit is appeased and will facilitate the transformation.
When the ritual is complete, bone fetishes are bound to the blackhide’s body, and its muzzle is secured with ropes that have been soaked in the bokor’s blood. The blood is a sacrifice, as the bokor offers his own vital essence to replace the vitality stripped from the blind walker and appease the great spirit Kossk. Then a grave is dug, which can be the most difficult part of the process. Finding an area of firm earth in the swamp large enough to bury a beast the size of a blackhide is not an easy task. In some swamps there are islands dedicated to this purpose, and this valuable resource is often a source of conflict between gatorman tribes.
The blackhide is buried for at least two days, sometimes more. How it survives this process is unknown, though some scholars believe the venom of Kossk may slow the beast’s respiration to a point that it requires little oxygen. This alone would cause severe brain damage, but since the venom of Kossk has already stripped away the great majority of the blind walker’s mind, reduced cognition is hardly a concern. The necromantic ritual process employed by the gatormen during the burial manages to mystically preserve the creature’s life, though outsiders know little about the mechanisms of this ritual.
When the blackhide is unearthed, there is nothing left of the creature’s mind beyond that which controls gross bodily functions, such as breathing. At this point, the beast’s eyes are removed and replaced with gemstones. The type of gemstones varies, but bloodstones are common, as they are sacred to Kossk. Gemstones are rare in the swamps, and some bokor’s may use large freshwater pearls instead, as they are more readily available. The bokor then devours the blackhide’s eyes in a ritualized ceremony, so that part of its flesh becomes part of the bokor. This ritual binds the blind walker to its master and imbues the beast with a type of limited precognition directly related to threats in its master’s location.
The final step in the creation of the blind walker is making the crown of candles that adorn its head and back and the rune-inscribed brazier attached to its spine. The candles are commonly red and white. The tallow of the white candles is combined with dirt from the blind walker’s grave, the site where it was buried and began its transformation, while the red candles incorporate the blood of powerful predators. The brazier is made of copper or bronze and is inscribed with runes of life and death. The candles and brazier amplify necromantic magic, and allow the bokor to use the blind walker as a conduit for the bokor’s magic, extending the shaman’s range and efficacy with his charms and curses.
Once the candles and brazier are lit, they melt into the blind walker’s scales, fusing them to its body. The flames are drawn from the creature’s life force, and as such, they cannot be snuffed by water, wind, or any mundane method. Only the death of blind walker can extinguish its flames.
Blind Walker Role
We surprised the gators, but we weren’t prepared for them. It was their damned bokor that caused all the trouble, him and his wretched beast. I’ve seen the gator beasts in battle before, and they are terrible, but this monster was a new one on me. It looked like a blackhide or at least it had started life as one. Its head and back were covered in a mess of candles, and its eyes had been replaced with red gems.
I’d seen gator magic before, and it’s dark and potent, but I also knew killing the bokor would put an end to it. We had a couple of trolls with us, and I sent two impalers after the shaman. They were close and when they threw their spears, I thought for sure that’d be the end of the bokor, but that weird blackhide appeared out of nowhere, and the spears hit it instead. I didn’t think the lumbering thing could move that fast, but that wasn’t the worst of it. I saw spell runes form around the blackhide, and the spell, a plume of acid mist, melted half my kriel warriors. At that point, we’d had enough, and I ordered a retreat. The gators were banged up too, and they let us go. Thank Dhunia for that.
— Champion Durok Hammerfist, Hardstone Kriel
The blind walker serves its bokor in combat, primarily acting as a conduit for his magic and as a reliable countermeasure against enemy attacks. The creation and ownership of a blind walker also imparts some measure of prestige, as it demonstrates an advanced ability with the necromantic arts. Other gatormen may tread warily around a bokor with a blind walker at his side.
The blind walker serves its master in both offensive and defensive roles in battle, and while it is more specialized than other gatorman warbeasts, it is no less deadly when paired with a powerful bokor.
A blind walker is still a formidable opponent in melee. Its claws are strong enough to rend steel and tear fleshy enemies to pieces. The ropes that bind its muzzle rob it of the blackhide’s powerful bite, but this is a necessity, as the hollowing of the creature’s mind and soul makes it susceptible to inhabitation by powerful spirits of the swamp. The ritual of binding its muzzle prevents this.
More important than raw physical power is the blind walker’s function as a conduit for necromantic magic. A bokor can channel spells through the creature’s body, dramatically extending the range at which he can affect his enemies. This is facilitated by the candles and brazier that form a direct link to the blind walker’s life force, some of which must be used to enact the channeling. Using the blind walker as a vessel for magic drains away some of its life force, and the brazier and candles can be seen to gutter slightly when a spell is unleashed from the creature. Careless bokors can even kill their blind walkers if they are too reckless with their channeling ability.
Many bokors prefer to use the blind walker’s channeling powers to surprise foes and may submerge the creature in the swamp — its candles cannot be extinguished this way — to launch magical attacks at enemies before they are even aware of the danger.
Blind walkers are also imbued with powerful defensive abilities that can be the difference between life and death for their masters. The ritual destruction of a portion of a blind walker’s soul and mind dampens its natural fury. This allows a bokor to transfer his injuries to a blind walker even if it is fully enraged, an impossible feat for other warbeasts.
Finally, the bokor’s ritual devouring of the blind walker’s eyes grants its blind walker an almost precognitive awareness of threats to its master, and it is driven to interpose itself between the bokor and anything that might harm him. Many an enemy has rushed to deliver a killing blow to a gatorman bokor only to have his attack strike a blind walker that suddenly appeared between him and his intended target.
Conclusion
We found something mighty strange in the swamp today, so strange I don’t know what to make of it. We came to one of the larger peat islands, where we often stop to stretch our legs a bit. It’s usually empty, but today it held the gigantic corpse of a dracodile surrounded by a dozen dead gatormen. We circled the island to make sure everything on it was truly dead, then went ashore to have a closer look.
There were eleven gatorman warriors and one of their shamans or bokors. I recognized the bokor; he’s quite a big thing among the gatormen in the Bloodsmeath, powerful and feared. All the gatormen had been killed by the dracodile, either slashed to pieces or crushed to death. None of them had been eaten because the dracodile’s snout had been sealed shut with strong ropes. Odder still, there was a mass of wax on the dracodile’s head and what looked to be candles. The dracodile itself had died from more wounds than we could easily count: cuts, burns, bites, you name it.
Whatever the hell those gatormen were trying to do with that monster, it didn’t work, and it got them all killed. I tell you, though, something about the situation unnerved me, and I have a terrible suspicion that if the gators had succeeded, we’d all be in a lot of trouble.
— Captain Fenris Kane, the riverboat Mudraker
The blind walker represents an important and disturbing development among gatorman bokors. The augmentation of living creatures to act as vessels for necromantic magic has wide-reaching implications. If it can be done with a blackhide, might it also work on other gatorman warbeasts? Or, worse yet, what if such augmentation could be performed on even more potent creatures? Often, the more civilized races of western Immoren are quick to dismiss gatormen as simple, savage brutes. If the terrible power of the blind walker is any indication, this is a grave mistake.
