On Greater Monsters

On Greater Monsters: An Abridged Edition of the Official Research Originally Published for the Pleasure of Her Ladyship Moreau of Colorac

Author’s Note

To the esteemed scholars of Endramar, you will never understand the knowledge you possess until you have lived the experience yourself. I urge you all in the strongest terms possible to see the world which you study and experience the reality of your education. To know the death of a great foul beast creates a surge of magic which coalesces into valuable treasures is one thing, but to watch the anima seep from their corpse and finely worked blades materialize from nothing at the slightest touch is entirely another. Do not live vicariously friends, live truly and know that it is good.

Summary

The findings of this research, while not exhaustive, include a consolidation of multiple independent studies from across the kingdoms of Endramar. Each piece in this body of work came to the same conclusion and proved the reality of monsters which I have come to believe many adventurers have learned through sheer repetition and power of will enforced over nature. That reality is, of course, that monsters of all shapes and sizes are grouped into various tiers of ability which each produce greater dangers and greater rewards for their elimination.

Introduction

The development of this body of research is the culmination of a millennium of violence against the endless enemies of sapient creatures across the world. With the intrinsic nature of monsters in this world it is only proper that we attempt to understand this foe in a bid to curtail or at least mitigate this danger for the good of the individual as well as for society as a whole.

While it is impossible to categorically define the depth of power, commonly referred to as tier, of a given monster based simply on its visible form, a well-accepted generalization has long been sought by the people of Srovine. This organization should prove particularly useful to the layman adventurer whom needs to determine risk versus reward of any given monster at a glance.

Literature Review

Very little official documentation exists at the scholarly level on this subject. Despite this, there is a vast depth of anecdotal evidence at the regional level. In particular, The Adventurer’s Guild of Srovine has maintained a well-known archive of “drops”, monster generated items, that were created when members of the guild defeated any particular monster. This researcher is hesitant to make claims as to the accuracy of these data points as it is entirely possible that many points are fabrications independently generated to justify the less-than-honourably gained treasures these adventurers find. When accounting for these fairly obvious outliers; however, the data proved to be consistent across regions which would have little interaction between them. It must be our assumption then that the data we have gathered as a society is accurate to an acceptable degree to apply this research.

Methods

The data collection and compilation methods were inexhaustive but as practically as thorough as possible with current levels of scholarly diaspora. Records were requested from all major Adventurer’s Guild outlets throughout Srovine, Inyethelenor, and Banrigh. Criayphia was considered but ultimately rejected due to the danger of cursed tablets being received in response.

All data was collated and averaged within two months after initial requests were sent and resulted in an average of ten thousand data points per Guild Hall. In total there were over two-hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) monster kills reported along with associated rewards. This data was charted and outliers of rewards more than three deviations in quality from average were excluded as likely rewards for heroes or as interference from deities that were more aggressive in empowering their champions.

Once all existing data was collated, I identified several gaps in the data around the northern border of Srovine. For the obvious reasons of the last few generations of strife across that border which do not bear repeating in this document, significant regional data and information has been lost. In the interest of thoroughness I spent several months working alongside hired adventurers to gather fresh data from that part of Srovine.

Initially, I sat inside the Colorac branch of the Adventurer’s Guild requesting reports from returning groups. The groups were split in their responses almost evenly between boasts and a hesitant reluctance at revealing their hauls. Small sums of coin ranging from five (5) silver to ten (10) gold suitably lubricated even the most resistant of voices to the information needed.

Once as much data as could be reasonably gleaned was gathered from these sources, I began a more direct approach. Posting my own jobs on the guild board, I hired several groups of adventurers to escort me to regions along the border that had the least available data. Upon our arrival, I recorded each monster we encountered as well as any drops received from them. Each group was surprised at first when I declined to collect the drops myself but were more than happy to oblige when I insisted that whatever we collected would be theirs to keep.

After three additional months of data collection on the weakest areas of information we had identified, I managed to gather sufficient data that I am satisfied that no additional research is required for this project. As a final step, I reconciled the newly gathered data with the historical data and was belated to confirm that my firsthand accounts were in line with the bulk of information pulled from the records of the Adventurer’s Guild throughout Srovine.

Results

The results of this data collection and collation schedule align with many of the existing theories of magical loot from greater monsters with one major exception. Where many have considered the larger and more dangerous monsters to have a level of diminishing returns, the collated data showed that this is only true within individual tiers of monster. With all currently available information, there appears to be a spike in value and quality as the unfortunately nebulous tier barriers are breached. For reference, a simplified chart has been provided to show this trend in a manner that may be understood by even the layman.

Data was admittedly sparse on the highest tiers of monster as their increased rarity obviously reduced the number of data points available. Equally, the non-lootable minor monsters’ value was significantly impacted by the knowledge of the harvesting party as well as their skill in manual harvesting. As an example, the common minor monster called a ‘Bareet’ has a kidney which is valuable in potion production. That part is only valuable if you know about it, and if you are able to extract it manually without damaging the organ or its associated glands. Assuming a perfect harvest of valuable parts of minor monsters, the average drop value would likely increase by a few silver.

The middle tiers of monsters, particularly greater monsters, had the most reliable data points of the most common amounts. Many adventurers appear to deal primarily in the trade of greater monster hunting and loot sales. It is for that reason that this researcher believes greater monsters are the world’s primary method of balancing the existence of monsters with the rewards of slaying them. If any other hypothesis were true there simply would not be enough of them to support the flourishing trade economy of their resources across Endramar.

Conclusion

With the summation of data points from across Endramar this researcher feels it is safe to formalize they common types of monsters and estimate their value as a function hithertofore unbeknownst to any others.

Per this researcher’s notes, there are four tiers of monsters now named as such:

• The nonlootable and commonplace ‘Minor’ monster

• The ‘Greater’, and first of the lootable lootable, monsters

• The rare and powerful ‘Superior’ monsters, many of which exhibited intelligent behaviour or were able to organize larger groups of ‘Greater’ and ‘Minor’ monsters

• The very rare and often deadly ‘Exceptional’ monsters. Amongst these include the legendary dragons, liches, and world beasts which inhabit the Eastern half of the continent

  • It is worth noting that while the higher tier monsters drops were of a high value the creatures often had valuables on or around their person which did not qualify as a drop, but still increased the viability of hunting them. A superior monster for example may only drop one enchanted blade, but may have a treasure hoard of hundreds of silver or gold pieces from raided caravans or villagers wherever it nests.

• This researcher does not exclude the possibility that there are higher tiers of monster which have even greater rewards, but data on such creatures is and will continue to be so rare that they are impractical to research outside of a case-by-case basis.

The value of loot from each tier of monster follows an inverse exponential gradient which has an immediate spike in value from the highest values of the previous tier. The average ranges are as follows:

• Minor Monsters- Two (2) to twelve (12) silver

• Greater Monsters- Forty (40) to eighty (80) silver

• Superior Monsters- One hundred and twenty (120) to One hundred and ninety (190) silver

• Exceptional Monsters- Three hundred (300) and greater silver

References

• Assorted (Ongoing). The Combined Records of Adventurer’s Hauls. Srovine Adventurer’s Guild

• Trenila, A. Z. (57). A Wild Hunt: The Beasts of the Southern Shores. Self.

• Corrinia, B. T. (33). Of the Woods: A Discourse of Thousands, The Complete Saga. The Library of The First Empress.

• Bion, K. K. (10). The Monsters of the Dungeons of Endramar. Self

• Jerin, M. Q. (40) The Economics of Monster Hunting in Northern Srovine. The College of Colorac.