Jawnomicon

Oschaert

Oschaert is the night-goblin of Flemish tradition, a shapeshifter that takes the form of a fiery-eyed dog, horse or donkey and springs onto the backs of travellers, growing heavier the further they carry it.

At a glance

Tradition
European folklore (general)
Region
Eastern Belgium (place of origin)
Trait family
The Threshold-Keepers

Near this figure

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Form

Behaviour

  • Drops from trees onto passersby
    why

    Its method is consistent across the accounts: it appears to someone travelling after dark, usually as an animal with glowing or fiery eyes, and fastens itself onto the traveller's back or shoulders.

  • Can be placated by specific ritual or trick
    why

    The burden then increases with every step, so that the victim staggers under a weight that has no proportion to the creature's apparent size, until some boundary is reached where it must let go. The boundary is often a crossroads, a bridge, a churchyard wall, or the edge of the being's own territory, and this limitation is as much a part of the tradition as the attack.

Utility powers

  • Shapeshifting
    why

    Its method is consistent across the accounts: it appears to someone travelling after dark, usually as an animal with glowing or fiery eyes, and fastens itself onto the traveller's back or shoulders.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.