[Unofficial Lore] Ijiroc

[RexDraco]

Ijiroc: Phantom in Snow

 

Far in the heartland of the north, deep in the forests of Whitescar, there is a creature known as Ijiroc. Native Caribou have passed this story down for generations, a creature having existed long before tribes had formed. The Ijiroc is said to live between this world and the next, forever stepping between the seen world and the invisible world. For Caribou seeing the Ijiroc is an omen. Places in which it walks are said to yield no life. There is nothing to gather or to hunt. The Ijiroc also has no true presence. Upon sighting the creature one could be assured it had been watching you the entire time you have been near and by. One cannot pursue or follow the Ijiroc once it decides to flee, for it becomes like a mirage, reappearing and vanishing at will.

 

If it has a will left that is...

 

The Ijiroc is said to have once been a Caribou itself. A great warrior that stalked the lands looking for trolls and mountain ogres  to challenge. It is said the Caribou had traveled beyond the mountains, into the white abyss that swallows the Spine of the World Serpent. Many Caribou still hold superstitions of traveling to the Spine, in fear they too would become like the Ijiroc. Those who seek to travel to the lands which Ijiroc make its home become lost. Even the most skilled navigators lose their way and become prey to the deep, white walls of snow of the Spine.

 

If traveling through the forest and you see its ethereal markings glowing from the wall of snows that trail along the base of the Spine, be sure to never turn your back to it, or to follow it. No one Caribou is sure, but perhaps there is not just one Ijiroc roaming the forests of snow and mist...

 

- Haunted Paths Across Equus, a Pocket Guide