Story-suckers

Blood-hobs (also known as story-suckers) are some of the truly shudder-worthy creatures in the Realm.  Blood-hobs are difficult to see, since they only come out at night, but even more than that, they’re not fully solid, material beings. Enigmatists say that only the circulatory and lymph systems of a blood-hob exist in the realm of matter, while most of the rest of them lives in the spirit world, and so their contact with creatures of flesh and bone like us is tenuous. You may think you see a blood-hob in front of you, but if you try to grasp it, you’re usually left with a sensation that your hand has passed through some damp miasma that’s left your skin unpleasantly cold and wet.

Blood-hobs are drawn to storystuff. What loremasters call innumith, or the fathomless fire. It’s the spark that starts deep in the mind and grows into a story. That’s why sometimes, late at night, if you’re listening to someone tell a story, or telling one yourself, you may have the sense that someone or something else is listening, too, over your shoulder. What these creatures want from our stories is not clear.

Sometimes the fathomless fire burns out of control and becomes werefire, the flame of hallucination and obsession. Blood-hobs feast on this stuff. And sometimes they attach themselves to people who spend too much time around the werefire. They invade such a person’s mind, and feed off their fevered dreams and fantasies.