The False Guides
The will-o'-the-wisp's light and the curupira's borrowed voice belong to the bestiary's largest family, the misdirection specialists, who imitate whatever a traveler trusts and then let the terrain do the rest, a lamp where no house stands and a call in a familiar register and a path that was never a path, so that the victim walks willingly and the crime when it finally happens has already been committed by the map in his head. In other words the family industrializes a single insight. You do not need to chase anyone whom you can invite.
What binds them
- Confuses travelers into losing their way · 8 of them
- Vocal mimicry · 6 of them
- Mimics human voice to mislead · 4 of them
- Confuses travelers · 4 of them
- Body wreathed in flames · 4 of them
- One armed one legged body · 3 of them
- Deceptive lure light over water · 3 of them
- Hops on single leg · 2 of them
Drawn from 10 groups of traditions: Celtic 5 · South American 4 · Middle Eastern 3 · East Asian 3 · Mesoamerican 2 · Other 1 · North American Indigenous 1 · European 1 · Southeast Asian 1 · Slavic 1
21 members
- Ahuizotl
- Akhlut
- Alicanto
- Boi-tatá
- Curupira
- Fachan
- Jackalope
- Kapre
- Kasha
- Kikimora
- Korrigan
- Kurage-no-hinotama
- Lia Fail
- Manticore
- Nasnas
- Peuchén
- Shellycoat
- Shiqq
- Tsuchinoko
- Will-o'-the-Wisp
- Xiuhcoatl
Resemblance is not descent; descent is drawn only as the gold lines on the constellation. All families.