Meatball
Contents
Lord Meatball the Destroyer, of Empire's Grove, Goldenvale
”I dunno, I guess I could try and eat it”
Origin
The following is an excerpt from the diary of the late Headmaster Tezethar Arcan:
"I speculate that Meatball is an image from outside time, before the existence of beasts and men, and perhaps, even, before some of the Gods. We believe that he has come to this plane for food, as more is available here than elsewhere. Alternatively, he could have been a magical accident at another school, released into the wild. There's no way to tell. In our hubris, we housed him for quite some time, not seeing the potential for harm that exposing something like this to the Magicks could do.
I suppose that I should start from the beginning, shouldn't I? We had already heard about this creature as early as eight-score years ago; for generations, peasants in the area had folk-tales and legends about a lord whose love of torture had angered the gods. According to the tale, the gods came and punished him by ripping his skin off while he slept. The magic of the gods preserved his life, but he was doomed to suffer in extreme pain for eternity. He was driven mad, and fled from his seat, never to be seen again. This, of course, could not be farther from the truth, and was created to explain a creature they could not understand. He is neither mad, nor is he like anything ever seen among humans, elves, and orsimer.
Meatball typically imitates the form of a humanoid, and looks as if he's made of tightly packed meat. He is generally harmless, and of a good disposition. In early encounters with our brothers, he would often have evidence of a recent scuffle somewhere on his body; leaves, sticks, fur, bite marks, and other wounds were extremely common. Although he was shaped in the vague likeness of a human, he was quite cautious and displayed many beast-like behaviors and patterns of movement. His curiosity and intelligence was self-evident, and he began to appear more and more frequently, bringing us the fresh, still-warm cadavers of rabbits, boars, and stags. There was no evidence that he had used tools for any of these kills. At one point, he attempted to teach the brother at the front gate to eat, a behavior most likely learned from the forest animals.
After much deliberation, we took him in."
Biography
An excerpt pulled from a burned book in the ruin of Adamarry On-the-Water:
"Meatball is typically manifested in the form of a humanoid, and looks as if he's made of fresh ground meat. The black beads he has for eyes are very deep and solemn, suggesting a silent wisdom. He is generally docile and of a good disposition in his neutral, unfed state. In the wild, his outer layers collect detritus and can give evidence as to the places he has visited. We believed him to be an unremarkable beast, perhaps the result of an unfortunate accident at another school, so we let him loose to roam our grounds. He learned a few words, and subsequently learned to do the chores that magic couldn't do. He took great pleasure in making us happy in this way. Curiously, he did spend a lot of time in the basement levels, staring into the anchor of the beam around which our school was built; a vast majority of our research here surrounds a massive geode we use to channel and store magical energy. Initiates from other schools train here for years before they can learn to absorb and redirect energy, and head home when they've succeeded.
When he feeds, his outer flesh becomes abnormally supple, and has a tendency to clean and replenish itself by extruding foreign bodies still lodged in his body. This happens only when he consumes the flesh of a creature made of flesh and bone. Research suggests that a different end is achieved upon exposure to high potency blood (or essence) of a foreign body; in his foolishness, Vizier Oncolus fed him a capsule of Bear's-blood, and was chased off campus by an enraged and bloodthirsty Meatball. (excerpt damaged by fire)
Belted Family
Lord to Sword at Arms Cecelia Read, and to Person at Arms Foxglove
Notable Accomplishments
Additional Images
- Link to image 1
- Link to image 2
