Belker

From PathfinderWiki
Belker
(Creature)

Belkers are evil, elemental creatures native to the Plane of Air.1

Appearance

Belkers are winged, insect-like creatures made of smoke. Belkers appear almost fiendish despite being more akin to elementals; they are made of dark, billowing smoke, and appear to possess large wings despite their innate ability to fly. To further increase their fiendish resemblance, their eyes glow red, and their bodies are covered in grasping, insectile claws.1

Habitat and ecology

Belkers primarily dwell on the elemental Plane of Air, where they are fiercely territorial, but they also frequently find their way to the Material Plane. Though they do not normally take permanent lairs, belkers tend to favor living near volcanic areas or those frequently ravaged by violent storms or raging forest fires. Belkers are hateful creatures—with particular disdain for non-elemental creatures. Though they seem to tolerate air, dust, and steam mephits, as well as air and fire elementals, they particularly loathe both djinni and janni.1

As outsiders, belkers do not share mortals' need for food and sleep, and much of their ecology is a mystery. Some scholars have speculated that belkers feed on either the mystical energy or the strange air that emanates from their turbulent homes. Other scholars, however, have theorized that belkers instead worship these instances of turbulence, while still others believe that these areas are necessary for the belkers to reproduce.1

On Golarion and in the Great Beyond

Belkers can be summoned and bound by powerful spellcasters to serve as guardians.234 Among the greatest of these summoned belker guardians was Aethsan, who was bound by the powerful undead sorcerer Yithdul in the ruined Shory city of Ulduvai in the Mwangi Expanse.5 Although belkers are native to the Plane of Air, and are occasionally summoned to the Material Plane by ambitious arcanists, they have also been spotted on (and are assumed to be natively living on) the demiplane of Leng.6

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wolfgang Baur et al. (2010). Bestiary 2 (First Edition), p. 45. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-268-5
  2. Richard Pett. (2008). Escape from Old Korvosa. Escape from Old Korvosa, p. 40. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-092-6
  3. Richard Baker, Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood, et al. (2013). Thornkeep, p. 57. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-519-8
  4. Nicolas Logue. (2008). Revenge of the Kobold King, p. 12. Paizo Publishing, LLC.
  5. Wolfgang Baur. (2008). Crucible of Chaos, p. 21. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-074-2
  6. Greg A. Vaughan. (2012). Leng: The Terror Beyond Dreams. Into the Nightmare Rift, p. 67. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-487-0