Hunting Horror
Horreur Chasseresse Beyond and above them, and dwarfing them to insignificance, was a masters vision of the terror that stalks about and within us, and the worm that writhes and slavers in the hideously close abyss. — H. P. Lovecraft
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This intelligent ropy being flies on webbed wings, the long length of the creature pulsating and swelling in throbbing waves. Some Hunting Horrors have two wings; others have only one, which they rotate peculiarly to keep themselves aloft. Every Hunting Horror beats its wings slowly and rhythmically, and always can be identified by a constantly writhing body and dangling head. A Hunting Horror is not composed of ordinary matter. It co-exists on another plane coterminous with ours, as does a Fungi From Yuggoth. The Hunting Horror is able to fly and keep its huge coiling body aloft by the pressure its wings exert on the media constant to this other plane. A Hunting Horror can speak in human tongues, though its voice is distinctively loud and harsh. The Outer Gods or Great Old Ones, especially Nyarlathotep, often use Hunting Horrors to pursue a victim. Habitat : desolate alien worlds. A Hunting Horror is only found on Earth when pursuing a quarry here, or when summoned here by individuals using hypergeometrical or other techniques of hard metaphysics. Distribution : though native only to a few scattered worlds, the Hunting Horror ranges through several galaxies; if may be accidentally encountered almost anywhere.
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Life and Habits : in its natural state, the Hunting Horror lives on a dark planet. It cannot endure extremely bright light, or even normal daylight for more than a few hours, so it generally visits Earth after nightfall. Given the continuous solar light of interplanetary space, disagreement exists as to whether or not a Hunting Horror actually flies there; a summary of positions has been published (Gillman, 1986). A Hunting Horror is an extremely intelligent entity which apparently functions without social organization or material civilization. Dannseys (1987) believes that a Horror›s knowledge of occult science is so profound as to render technology and information-exchange superfluous, but a controversy rages here: Varson (1988) insists that evidence of an elaborate telestitial network exists, though attempts to reproduce his data have been unsuccessful, owing to the difficulties of researching living Hunting Horrors. Hard metaphysicians perennially face this disagreeable situation. Distinguishing Hunting Horrors : •
Shantaks have shiner, squatter bodies, and also have hind legs.
