THE CONCORDANCE

decay

Rot as a slow, patient inevitability.

Africa & the Middle East · 1

AmmitOld God · EgyptAmmit (Ammut), “devourer of the dead,” waits beside the scales in the ancient Egyptian judgement of the heart. Composite of crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus, she is not a temple goddess and not a roaming cryptid: she is the omen of oblivion for a life that failed Maat.

Asia & the Isles · 3

AkanameHousehold · JapanA yōkai associated with dirty bathrooms and neglected washing places, said to lick up the grime. A domestic warning dressed as a grotesque visitor.JiangshiRevenant · ChinaA hopping revenant of Chinese folklore and later popular culture, usually tied to a body animated by disrupted death rites or vital force.ManananggalShapeshifter · PhilippinesA nocturnal, flying figure in Philippine folklore, often described in regional stories as separating from its lower body to hunt at night.

Europe & the North · 2

AjatarWildwood · FinlandA Finnish female forest spirit, Ajattara in the older spelling, who leads woodsmen astray. Christfried Ganander recorded her in 1789 as a terrifying wraith of the trees, not as a Christian demon invented for a bestiary.NuckelaveeNight visitor · ScotlandA terrifying, skinless horse-and-rider figure in Orcadian folklore, remembered in stories as a force of disease and devastation.

South Asia · 1

MahasonaNight visitor · Sri LankaThe great cemetery demon of Sinhalese folklore, Maha Sohona or Mahasona, a yakka of graveyard, hill, and crossroads, met in healing rites as well as in origin legends of a warrior given a bear's head.