Progeny of Ragnorra: Beckoner
“Beckoners, vile creatures really. Ironically the best way to fight them can lead to the worst possible outcomes. Strength in numbers is advisable. But if too many of your number turn… they will win every time.” — Erryx Volgenshire, Loch Lurker
Uncanny Charmers
Out of all Progeny members, beckoners are by far the most humanoid-like. Most beckoners stand anywhere between 5.5 - 6 ft. tall and seem to outwardly display sexual dimorphism. Beckoners are, in a word, beautiful. They have soft faces with large starry eyes and full lips. A slit that runs down the length of their face facilitates breathing in place of a nose. Their featureless ears are sensitive and can detect even the most minor shifts in pitch and tone. Their bodies are lithe and fit looking with different beckoners displaying characteristics of men, women, or a mixture of both.
Beckoners seem to have a mastery of the Common language to a degree that most other Progeny members struggle to attain. Their inflection and diction to speechcraft is careful, clear, and pleasant on the ears. This is also a beckoner’s most potent weapon. A beckoner’s words are intrinsically infused with positive magic energy allowing it to engage in spellcraft typically reserved for the most skilled of musicians, bards, and orators.
Beckoners are among Ragnorra’s most utilized spawn. In combat, a beckoner is quite a bit more durable than the average person, able to withstand typically lethal attacks for a long amount of time. Part of this durability is due to the fact that a beckoner becomes noticeably harder to hit the closer one is to it.
Their prominence within the Progeny does not mean that beckoners are weak like the frail Idea Shaper. Just one beckoner is potentially enough to wipe out an entire town. Beckoners hate drawn-out physical combat and try to avoid it if at all possible. Instead, they prefer to bolster and build a personal army of charmed humanoids to do the “dirty work” for it. There have been isolated cases of a single beckoner becoming the new lord of a town, charming (or killing) each and every member of the population into adoring it. The longer someone is exposed to a beckoner’s charm, the deeper they fall under its influence.
This charm is entirely one-sided. So great is a beckoner’s charm that the alien can harm their subjects to the point of near-death and the subject will never utter a word of complaint.
Ragnorra’s Mouthpieces
As stated, beckoners have a unique capacity for humanoid speech. Beckoners do not seem to have a personal consciousness, or if they do it is quite diminished. Instead, much of their words and babblings are dedicated to ‘preaching’ fundamental concepts of Ragnorra and praising her “radiant form”.
When pressured into extreme duress, the beckoner can unleash its most powerful ability, a "scream” of raw positive energy. This scream infuses the beckoner’s words and voice with the overwhelming energy of the Plane of Positive Energy alongside the mind-altering sermons of Ragnorra. In doing so, anyone who hears this scream is at extreme risk of becoming charmed by the beckoner. This scream is also extremely detrimental to Negative Energy associated creatures, such as undead.
The more creatures a beckoner brings under its control, the stronger the beckoner becomes. Beckoners are able to heavily influence those charmed by them, destroying their minds with flashes and mental depictions of Ragnorra. One common vision those who have fallen under their spell and escaped reported was the promise of entire legions of beckoners marching across the land and sweeping the world’s population into their charm.
