The Mantid Sisterhood are ascetic warrior-nuns and servants of Law from the outer planar realm sometimes called the Octachoron of the Archons. They appear as full-scale, porcelain, marrionettes (without visible strings), in the form of insectoid centaurs, with feminine upper bodies, like slim ballerinas. They wear sphinx-like expressions on their perfect, identical faces.
They are sent out to the Prime Material to hunt down those guilty of transgressions against the Grand Algorithm of the Archons of Law. Transgressors need not know they have committed error--the judgement of the Archons is final; the punishments of the Sisterhood precise...and always delivered with the utmost serenity.
#Enc.: 1d6
Move: 40’(120’)
AC: 3
HD: 7
Attacks: 2 (strikes)
Damage: 2d8
Save: C7
Mantid sisters have the abilities of the Monk class at 7th level (except for feign death, and resistance to ESP, which are superseded by other abilities). As constructs of a sort, they possess darkvision, immunity ot mind-affecting effects, and immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, charm, and disease--anything that requires a target be a biologic living being. They are able to travel via dimensional doorways from plane to plane at will.
8 comments:
Very cool, and rather Moorcockian.
Holy crap! This is goddam creepy.
*picturing being surrounded by silent, porcelain, giant, creepy ass mantises with painted on faces.
There is little useful advice to be given to those targeted by the Mantis Sisterhood. They are silent in movement when they wish to be and utterly implacable.
Some have argued that a place full of color and sound might be disorienting to these serene beings but there is rarely a chance to make it to such a place one the Mantis Sisterhood has begun its hunt.
(Mantis creatures are among my favorites. Beautifully creepy. May I ask the source of the image.)
@Fabian - Thanks. Certainly Moorcock's Law/Chaos conceptions (at least in regard to their D&D influence) were influential here.
@Harald - From The Sorcerer's Skull takes no responsibility for nightmares that may result from reading the posts contained here. ;)
@seaofstarsrpg - Ah! I see you've read your Daalbreth! I would be interesting to see his theories put to the test in the field.
The pic came from tumblr (though I don't remember which site now). I've searched in vain for the original source.
You know, I consider myself pretty jaded, but those bastards creeped me out. Well done, sir.
Trey that is utterly nasty. Mantis that serve the cause of law. I thought the elephant posts were good but this blows them away. Your mind is very disturbing at times. Very cool little monsters.
Eric
I don't know...something about the angularness of mantids make them seem lawful to me--and a very controlled monastic mantid centauress made of porcelain even more so. :)
The source of the image is here: http://www.dollmaking.org/about-the-artists-in-our-banner/
It is a doll called Swan Lake by by Vickie Arentz. Unfortunately the artist's page seems to have disappeared from the web.
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