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Tatarigami

Illustration by Elina Lavrienko

Tatarigami are not born but created. These beings are the corrupted remnants of deities, spirits, or ancestral guardians who have suffered wounds too great to heal. Once revered as protectors, guides, or embodiments of natural balance, Tatarigami emerge when their original purpose is violated, whether through industrial overreach, desecration, betrayal, or some profound loss of identity. They are living reflections of a world out of balance, their transformation a consequence of mortal folly.

Nature and Manifestations

Mortals often perceive Tatarigami as demons, yet they are driven by the circumstances of their creation rather than inherent malice. Their physical forms are diverse, shaped by the lands they once protected and the intense emotions—sorrow, wrath, or unending hatred—that now define their existence.

Many Tatarigami actively warp the environment around their sanctums: forests become places of unnatural shadow, rivers are poisoned, or the land itself rejects life. Others, overcome by despair, retreat into desolate isolation. A dangerous few, retaining a focused will, channel their torment into calculated acts of vengeance against those they hold responsible for their fall.

Influence and Spread

Tatarigami typically haunt the desecrated sanctums they once protected, these corrupted sites often located near the mortals whose actions precipitated their fall. While a Tatarigami may be anchored to such a blighted locale, their influence is rarely contained. Creatures tainted by Tatarigami often become unwilling thralls to their rage and despair, spreading a miasma of soured divinity outward from the fallen deity's immediate domain.

However, not all Tatarigami project their torment so actively. Some embody a more insidious decay; their presence saturates their immediate domain with a spiritual sickness or a creeping madness affecting those who linger there. Whether through the actions of these thralls or the palpable blight spreading from a cursed area, such manifestations frequently serve as the first grim warning of a Tatarigami’s awakening and the encroaching despair.

Mortal Perception & Understanding

For most mortals, Tatarigami are a recent and terrifying enigma. Few comprehend their true nature as corrupted divinities or grasp the specific desecrations that birth them. Lacking this understanding, many view these beings simply as otherworldly monsters or localized curses, their attempts to combat them through brute force often proving futile or even exacerbating the underlying imbalance. In the absence of concrete knowledge, communities frequently impose their own fears and folklore onto these entities, their explanations rarely capturing the full tragedy of a fallen god.

Conversely, cultures maintaining deep connections to their deities and the sanctity of their domains, such as the Aos Sí, Kapre, and Ellyllon, often possess a greater aptitude for recognizing the signs of a Tatarigami’s emergence. These peoples are more likely to understand the profound significance of such corruption. They view Tatarigami not just as monstrous threats, but as dire warnings: tragic symbols of a sacred bond broken and a world in desperate need of healing, reverence, or sometimes, retribution.

The Role of Tatarigami

If Tatarigami play a significant role in your campaign, consider establishing their presence early on. Introducing legends, signs of their influence, or encounters with corrupted areas can help weave Tatarigami into the story's fabric, making their eventual appearance more impactful. Below are ideas for integrating Tatarigami into the campaign:

Uncover Ancient Lore. Characters might stumble upon forgotten stories or rituals tied to a deity that has since become a Tatarigami, offering clues about its past and transformation.

Explore Environmental Corruption. Introduce subtle changes to the land, such as blighted forests, poisoned rivers, or eerie silence, hinting at a Tatarigami’s growing influence.

Engage with Local Factions. A village or town might fear a nearby landmark, spreading tales of evil spirits and disappearances.

Foreshadow Through Emissaries. Lesser creatures or spirits tainted by a Tatarigami might attack or approach the adventurers, their behavior reflecting the Tatarigami’s nature.

Invoke Moral Dilemmas. Characters may face situations where they inadvertently contribute to the creation of a Tatarigami, forcing them to reckon with their impact on the world.

Role in Adventures & Campaigns

Tatarigami offer unique adventures that move far beyond typical monster hunts. You might hook the party by having them investigate a spreading blight that locals attribute to a vengeful nature spirit, only to uncover the industrial accident or act of desecration that created the Tatarigami. Consider missions where characters must choose between helping a desperate community appease a corrupted guardian whose pain is poisoning their valley, or siding with an outside faction that wants the affected land cleared for its resources, regardless of the spiritual cost. Forgotten shrines, blighted industrial sites, or landscapes actively hostile due to a Tatarigami's rage can provide fresh challenges, forcing players to rely on investigation and diplomacy as much as combat.

Beyond quests and locations, Tatarigami force difficult internal struggles upon both PCs and NPCs. Consider a character whose family lineage is unknowingly tied to the event that birthed a Tatarigami: do they seek to atone for ancestral sins, or desperately fight to sever a vengeful entity's focus on them? For a community whose survival depends on an industry that is slowly corrupting a local deity, how do they reconcile their immediate needs with the looming spiritual disaster, especially when some members still revere the fading spirit?

Confronting these Tatarigami-born conflicts pushes player characters to grapple with the weight of past events, the true cost of desecration or unchecked industrial expansion, and the difficult choices made when facing potent, corrupted entities in a world deeply scarred.

Manifestations: Causes and Examples

A Tatarigami's manifestation is not random; its physical form, temperament, and powers are a direct reflection of the originating wound and the domain it now haunts. The fury of a betrayed war god will manifest differently than the sorrow of a forgotten forest spirit. This section provides tools for developing these unique entities, starting with the specific events that corrupt them and offering concrete examples of what they might become.

Origins of Corruption

The following table details distinct inciting incidents that can corrupt a divine being. A GM can use this list for inspiration or roll randomly to determine the core tragedy behind a new Tatarigami. This origin is key to understanding the creature's motivations and the potential paths to its resolution.
d20 Inciting Incident d20 Inciting Incident
1 A massacre or prolonged war desecrates the deity’s sanctum with blood and death. 11 The deity is forcibly imprisoned by mortals, where it endures maddening isolation.
2 The deity’s sanctum is poisoned by industrial runoff or stripped bare by logging operations. 12 The deity is manipulated, coerced, or magically bound into acting against their nature.
3 The deity's worshippers die out or abandon their faith, leaving the entity to unravel from neglect and solitude. 13 A desperate populace, ravaged by plague or famine, falsely blames a local deity and turns on it in a mob-like frenzy of fear and misplaced blame.
4 A nation captures the deity and attempts to break its will, using it as a tormented living weapon against their enemies. 14 The deity’s entire ecosystem collapses due to large-scale mortal works elsewhere (e.g., a distant dam), leaving it stranded in a barren wasteland.
5 The death of a creature, companion, or sibling spirit tied to the deity leaves it unable to recover emotionally. 15 The deity’s most trusted high priest or bonded follower betrays it, delivering it into the hands of its enemies for personal gain.
6 The deity is hunted by mortals, driven from its sanctum to wander without a home. 16 The deity’s physical body is destroyed, and its immortal spirit latches onto a new form.
7 A nearby conflict spills into the deity’s domain, leaving wounded by stray bullets, fires, or explosions. 17 Mortals unwittingly build a structure directly on top of the deity's dormant sanctum, entombing it.
8 An existing Tatarigami rampages through the deity’s sanctum, infecting it with its own corruption. 18 The constant sound of industry, war, or mortal activity disrupts the deity’s solitude, overwhelming its mind.
9 The deity’s followers are massacred and it feels as though it has failed in its purpose. 19 An existing Tatarigami's corruption spreads into the deity's domain, infecting it like a disease.
10 A city’s slow expansion cuts through the deity’s domain, eroding its connection to the land. 20 The deity joins its followers in war, only to become wounded and forget how to find its sanctum.

Core Motivations

Once the cause of a Tatarigami's corruption is determined, its behavior is guided by a core motivation born from that wound. The following table presents archetypes that define how a Tatarigami interacts with the world. Combining an "Originating Wound" from the previous table with one or more of these archetypes provides a clear foundation for a unique and consistent being.

The origins of Tatarigami are known in part. Some remember their gods before they became wrathful things, recognizing fragments of divinity within the horror. But when a god’s physical form is slain, when it takes on something new, how can mortals know what it has become? Some claim to see patterns, that the essence of a storm god lingers in a maelstrom that rages without end, that the whisper of a slain hearth deity still clings to the last embers of a dying fire. Others argue that without knowledge of the transformation, without a thread connecting the before to the after, one cannot truly know. In the absence of certainty, mortals impose their own truths.
d10 Archetype
1 The Avenger. Driven by rage, this Tatarigami actively seeks out and destroys those it deems responsible for its fall, oftentimes with no regard for those caught in the crossfire.
2 The Mourner. Consumed by sorrow, this Tatarigami does not actively seek to harm, but its very presence radiates a despair that blights the nearby land and creatures.
3 The Blight. This Tatarigami’s corruption is like a disease, mindlessly spreading and turning its domain into a toxic, unlivable wasteland. It may not even be aware of mortals, only its nature to corrupt.
4 The Warden. This Tatarigami’s protective instinct has been corrupted into aggression. It now protects its domain by seeking to eliminate all intruders, unable to distinguish between allies and enemies.
5 The Prisoner. Bound to a specific location or object, this Tatarigami endures a maddening existence. It may rage, become dormant, or mourn its lot, making it dangerously unpredictable.
6 The Echo. Forgotten and fading, this entity is barely present. It acts like a ghost that compulsively replays its traumatic memories, creating dangerous, looping phenomena for those who intrude.
7 The Chaos. Its mind shattered, this Tatarigami embodies pure madness. Its actions have no discernible pattern; it may sow dissent, spread illusions, or alter reality in bizarre ways.
8 The Hunger. Born from famine or a desperate act of consumption, this entity seeks only to devour. It consumes life, resources, or even other divine.
9 The Shepherd. This Tatarigami gathers the corrupted creatures of its domain into a unified force. It directs its flock with purpose, using them as a coordinated pack for defense, hunting, or to wage a proxy war against its enemies.
10 The Architect. Although still intelligent and cunning, this Tatarigami is unpredictable. It may strive toward the same goals as any other archetype in addition to laudable (if distorted) goals, but with precision and purpose.

Quelling a Tatarigami

Tatarigami are beings of pain and imbalance, and confronting them often requires more than brute force. Their wounds are deeply tied to the mortal actions that created them, and resolution often lies in addressing the root cause of their corruption. Whether by healing their wounds, appeasing their sorrow, or severing their influence from the land, adventurers must tread carefully when quelling a Tatarigami, as their actions can carry lasting consequences.

Appeasement

Appeasement is attempting to soothe the Tatarigami's acute pain, loss, or rage by addressing whatever directly resonates with its original uncorrupted state or the source of its deepest wound.

PCs will need to dig deep into the specific tragedy of the Tatarigami in your campaign. The core of this adventure lies in them discovering what gesture or restitution might resonate with its wound and original identity. Consider what trauma turned the deity into a Tatarigami. Perhaps returning the remnants of their lost loved one or helping them return to their lost sanctum is all that is needed. However, for some Tatarigami, the pain may be too much to bear and the PCs instead stoke its anger.

Purification

Purification is attempting to cleanse the Tatarigami or its domain of the physical or spiritual blight that sustains its corrupted state.

Confronting the blight that created the Tatarigami or the defilement that causes it to fester can be as straightforward or as involved as you want it to be. Purification might involve PCs eliminating the source of the foulness, purging mutated creatures from the entity’s sanctum, or performing rituals to cleanse defilement to the land. Consider the source of this taint: industrial waste, bloodshed, or a sickness emanating from yet another Tatarigami. Of course, convincing the Tatarigami to cleanse the land is its own challenge.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is attempting to address the original injustice or betrayal that caused the Tatarigami's fall, thereby resolving the core grievance.

The specific slight that caused the downfall of a deity and spawned a Tatarigami should not be trivial, nor should it be easy to resolve. Oftentimes, the nature of these grievances can vary widely and may involve actors that have been dead for centuries or millennia, requiring PCs to get creative with their solutions. Consider what form this resolution might take: Is it bringing vengeance upon the ancestors of those who cause the grievance, the return of stolen land or artifacts, or the symbolic righting of a historic wrong? Dredging up old wounds is perilous, and attempts at reconciliation might easily be spurned or inflame the Tatarigami's sense of injury further as old wounds are reopened.

The Corruption of Váttkorr

This example shows how a specific wound and resulting motivations can shape a Tatarigami. As a GM, you can use a similar process to develop your own.

Who was the entity before it became Tatarigami? Váttkorr was a central Dwergar deity, the Guardian of Glisméri. He took the physical form of a massive mata mata turtle, a being embodying the stillness and pristine purity of the mountain lake. For the Dwergar, he symbolized both that purity and the resilient and enduring power of nature.

How was the deity wounded? The industrial expansion of nearby Kizar Korath turned Glisméri into a cesspool of chemical runoff and filth. Because Glisméri was Váttkorr’s sanctum, he would not abandon it, and the corruption inevitably seeped into his divine being.

How did the wound affect the deity's nature? Váttkorr grew disgusted at the nature of his sanctum, which festered into self-loathing as the corruption came to affect him and bloomed into hatred and rage at those who had inflicted this fate upon him. His divine power invariably came to exacerbate the corruption that overcame his sanctum. This transformation might be understood through archetypes:

  • He embodies The Blight, as his corrupted presence actively warps the land and any creatures within his domain.
  • He also acts as The Shepherd, as those affected creatures come to serve as agents and exact vengeance upon the source of his suffering.
  • He acts as The Avenger, seeking vengeance against those who have corrupted his home.

What is the entity now? Váttkorr is a distorted reflection of his former self, brooding over his disgust and hatred in the stagnant, ichorous mire of the corrupted Glisméri. He rarely stirs his massive form from beneath the polluted waters, consumed by fury and grief. His primary impact on the world is through his agents, the gaospod, which spread his blight and exact his endless vengeance.

Confrontation

Confrontation is engaging the Tatarigami in direct conflict, usually not with the intent of destroying it. Instead, confrontation is attempted to break its destructive momentum or force it into a state where other resolutions become possible.

Meeting a Tatarigami with direct force is a deadly, if sometimes necessary, means of addressing the danger it presents. PCs may choose to battle a Tatarigami to protect a community in its path, or to push it back to a location it can be more easily controlled. Consider what a victory might look like for the PCs: Does driving it back to its sanctum give them time to seal it therein? Does a significant show of force make the entity more willing to converse? Direct combat is always perilous; a Tatarigami is a force of nature, and even a "successful" confrontation might only be a delay that results in widespread destruction or escalations of its rage.

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is attempting to counterbalance the Tatarigami's defining anguish by mirroring and sharing that pain or loss.

If the PCs need to counterbalance the Tatarigami’s loss, you first need to establish the precise nature of its defining anguish and what a mirroring loss would entail in concrete, playable terms. If a Tatarigami arose because its sanctum was burned, mirroring that loss might require the PCs to convince the community whose ancestors were responsible to burn down their homes. The challenge for PCs lies not just in the act, but in discerning what specific forfeiture could possibly resonate with an entity defined by such singular agony. A failed or insufficient sacrifice offers no solace; it might simply feed the Tatarigami’s despair, or worse, the entity could perceive the attempt as a mockery, turning its full, undiminished wrath upon those who dared such a gambit.

Sealing

Sealing is attempting to contain a Tatarigami by imprisoning its physical form through brute force and clever engineering.

Sealing a Tatarigami means physically trapping its embodied form to curtail its impact. This is less about esoteric rituals and more about masterminding a prison the entity cannot escape. PCs might need to lure the entity into a structurally unsound cavern and trigger its collapse, use massive, forged chains or stone anchors to bind its limbs, or even divert a river to flood its lair, creating a deep, inescapable mire. The primary challenge lies in executing such a grand-scale, physical plan while facing a powerful, struggling being. A successful imprisonment contains the immediate threat, for a time, but the Tatarigami endures as a captive, potentially finding new, subtle ways to affect the area around its tomb.

Guidance

Guidance is attempting to introduce external influences, such as other deities, that might lead the Tatarigami toward a state other than its current corruption.

The core of this adventure often lies in identifying a suitable intermediary, one that might hold sway over the corrupted being or understand the original nature of its wound. Consider what kind of power could possibly influence your Tatarigami: If it was betrayed by its followers, perhaps a loyal sect remains. If its domain was consumed by war, maybe another deity from an untouched region could offer it refuge. The challenge for player characters is not only finding such an entity but also convincing it to risk itself to intervene. Success is precarious; the intermediary might refuse, fail, or even be corrupted itself, and the Tatarigami could violently reject any attempt to alter its current state of being.

Annihilation

Annihilation is attempting to permanently end the Tatarigami's existence by slaying its physical form.

Destroying the Tatarigami may seem like the simplest solution, but the reality is far more grim. PCs who pursue annihilation may or may not be aware that Tatarigami have immortal spirits which cannot be destroyed. Oftentimes what drives such extreme violence is the failure of other means or the belief that such methods have a certain finality. Regardless, the challenge lies in dealing with the immediate, immense power of the Tatarigami in battle. Even if the PCs are successful in destroying its physical vessel, the act only offers a reprieve rather than an end as the immortal spirit will persist, eventually latching onto a new form within the next age.

Tatarigami in the World

The following are examples of specific Tatarigami found in Dheghom. You can use these as presented or as inspiration for your own unique entities.

Braenlok

Description. This massive stag has been corrupted into a beast of charred bark and burning branches. Its hoofprints ignite the ground, and its breath is a cloud of ash, turning its former domain into an inferno.

Inciting Incident. A nearby battle ignited the surrounding forest, causing it to erupt in flames. Braenlok's sanctum was engulfed and him along with it, leaving him scarred and perpetually burning.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Avenger, Braenlok targets those who bring the clamor and iron of battle into any wild space, seeing them as a continuation of the conflict that destroyed its sanctum. Its manifestation as The Blight is the ever-burning fire it spreads with every step.

Drochnath

Description. Drochnath is an amorphous mass of packed earth, raw sewage, and urban rubble. Rusted pipes and broken foundation stones jut from its body. It constantly seeps a foul, black sludge and moves by dragging its bulk, vaguely resembling a colossal slug.

Inciting Incident. This was a dormant earth spirit slumbering beneath a fertile field. When Kavesk built a new district directly over it, unknowingly burying it alive. The weight and constant filth from the city's new sewers soured the entombed god.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Prisoner, Drochnath is bound to the sewers and foundations of the district built above it. As The Blight, its presence is a slow acting disease on the city, spreading sickness through the water and causing buildings to crack and shift as it moves beneath them.

Harowald

Description. Harowald appears as an elderly man in the simple, unremarkable robes of a traveling scholar. This body, which belonged to its slain high priest, is animated by the Tatarigami's spirit. The body does not decay, but is cold to the touch and still bears the wounds that slew it, hidden beneath the robes.

Inciting Incident. Harowald was the divine guardian of a peace-grove. When one clan moved to massacre another during a truce, the spirit physically intervened. It was slain for its efforts, its original form destroyed. The dying spirit latched onto the nearest vessel, the corpse of its own murdered priest.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Avenger, Harowald seeks retribution against all mortals, viewing society as a violent failure. As The Architect, it pursues this vengeance with cold calculation, using its unassuming form to gain trust and meticulously engineer social conflicts, turning communities against each other to accelerate their own self-destruction.

Kalthorin

Description. Kalthorin appears as a massive bear composed of icy mountain rock and dark glacial ice. Its body is covered in a multitude of scars, its stoney appearance covered in gouges, chips, and cracks.

Inciting Incident. During a long and harsh winter, desperate villagers blamed Kalthorin as the cause for their suffering. They ascended the peak and attacked it, but failed. This began a cycle of violence; for years, the village sent hunting parties to kill the beast, and each time Kalthorin defeated them, turning the god into a violent protector of its home.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). The endless attacks transformed Kalthorin into the role of The Warden. Once a simple resident of the mountain, it is now a violent and relentless defender of its domain, viewing any mortal as another bloodthirsty intruder.

Kamenik

Description. Kamenik appears as a primordial, humanoid giant of the black flint and slate. Its features are indistinct, worn smooth, and covered in soil, moss, and vegetation .

Inciting Incident. During the bloody, pre-imperial consolidation wars of the ancient Marcians, a massive and particularly brutal battle was fought in the deity's sanctum. The sheer scale of the slaughter and the desecration of its sacred stones with blood corrupted the spirit.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Shepherd, it corrals the spirits of the slain, driving them to rise as trolls each night. As The Warden, it uses this flock to destroy any mortal who enters its sanctum.

Kurohana

Description. Kurohana, Kodama of a felled grandmother tree, now has skin like cracked bark and hands that weep sickly, discolored petals. Wherever she treads, the land becomes a garden of beauty that poisons all other life.

Inciting Incident. The ancient grandmother tree to which Kurohana was bound, the spiritual heart of a forest, was chopped down by mortals.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Mourner, her grief for her lost tree radiates a sorrow that causes nearby life to wither. As The Echo, she compulsively searches for her tree or replays its destruction. Her presence also manifests as The Blight, as her despair unintentionally sours the land into a beautiful but toxic mockery of life.

Shirogami

Description. This pale fox appears matted and feral, covered in the grime of the bog it haunts. Its nine tails are frayed near the ends, with visible bone showing through the fur. From these broken tips, will-o’-wisps detach to hover in the air around it.

Inciting Incident. Shirogami once guided travelers with its lights, but after they found a safer road, the bog was abandoned and the spirit was forgotten. Years later, hunters entered the disused swamp for sport, hunting the lonely entity.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Echo, Shirogami compulsively tries to replay its former role as a guide. As The Chaos, this instinct is now warped, and the pale fox’s will-o'-wisps no longer lead to safety but instead lure travelers to predators, impassable mires, or endless circles until they die.

Nadipala

Description. A great gar, once scaled like smooth river stones. Now, its body is scarred by chemical burns from the toxic reservoir it inhabits. Its scales are peeling and discolored with industrial stains, revealing raw, festering flesh beneath. Rusted metal fragments are embedded in its hide, and its fins are tattered and torn.

Inciting Incident. To control access to clean water and deprive an Askaran tribe of their god, a Bethunian noble family built a fortified dam and reservoir, trapping Nadipala within. Recently, using the reservoir as a dumping ground for industrial and alchemical waste, they open the sluice gates to create targeted floods downstream, leaving Nadipala to putrefy in its toxic cage.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Prisoner, it is bound to the polluted, stagnant reservoir, a tool in its enemies' arsenal. As The Warden, it violently lashes out against any creature that enters its prison.

Urquoth

Description. Urquoth takes the form of a rotting, oversized boar. Its belly is split by a gaping wound that never heals, revealing a stomach cavity writhing with gluttonous, maggot-like vermin. A foul stench of decay and starvation follows it.

Inciting Incident. During a great famine, its starving followers hunted their own deity. They captured, killed, and ate the god of bounty to survive.

Suggested Core Motivation(s). As The Hunger, Urquoth is driven by a phantom starvation it can never sate. It compulsively devours any organic matter it encounters, creatures, crops, entire sections of forest, in a futile attempt to fill an emptiness that cannot be filled.