The Bogeyman

By Rolland Therrien

Superior-level Ethereal in "Service" to Nightmares

Beleth has always had many Nightmarish Ethereals in her service. Even more so since the Purity Crusade, when she offered asylum to ethereals fleeing Uriel, and took the opportunity to "Convert" most of them. But some have been in her service since she Fell. A handful of them were even in the service of Nightmares before she fell.

The Bogeyman is one of the oldest Nightmarish Ethereals currently found in Beleth's service. In fact, it was the very first Ethereal to present itself before Beleth's tower, back when it was originally created sometime after the Fall. It looked her straight in the eyes, then stated "Yes, you are the Princess of Nightmares... Consider me your eternal ally, My Lady. Whenever you have need of me or my children, we shall be there," before it retreated back fully into the mists of the Vale.

No one knows what the Bogeyman looks like. Not even Beleth; when it presented itself to her, it showed itself as nothing more then a barely visible, seemingly familiar female silhouette standing beyond the lights, staring at her with warm, bright eyes. A rumor that is states that Beleth, once looking at it, whispered Blandine's name before the Ethereal spoke. But no one who's ever asked for more details has ever lived to repeat what he knows.

But the form it used then is nothing but one of its countless forms. It alters its appearance and gender to represent any form embodying Humanity's fears; It's the eternal enemy, the mysterious and frightening stranger, the beast that lurks in the dark, the death that awaits for you beyond the safety of the campfire light.

The Bogeyman is all those things, and many more. So much so that some of it's forms have become Ethereals in their own right, which it calls its "Children". His children include such Ethereals as The Horned Man, known these days as the "Goatman", who embodies Man's fear of nature and the wild. Rumors abound that link him as making deals with Jordi. The Hook, an Ethereal Spirit born of Urban Legends, is a more modern child of the Bogeyman, metaphorically embodies fear of sexuality amongst teens and it's consequences, and has spawned some of his own Children: The Psycho Killers of Hollywood.

But these Supernatural manifestations are actually exceptional; the Bogeyman prefers working more subtly, praying on Mankind's own fears and hatreds. Paranoia, in perticular, is its stock in trade, and Xenophobia its calling card. The Bogeyman does not create fear, unlike the Demons of Nightmares. It simply nurtures pre-existing fear, fanning the flames until it becomes hysteria. And even afterwards, rather then stepping back to enjoy the results, it exploits the chaos caused by the fear to further it's cause again, before finally moving elsewhere before the people begin to face their fears, and finds someone else to terrify.

So the Bogeyman has survived for centuries, even Millenia. In fact, the Bogeyman has been around as long as Mankind has, always adapting its form to reflect humanity's fears, before discarding those forms, which become independent Ethereals in their own right. It appears to need no active worship, as Humanity seems ready to instinctivly feed him all the Essence he needs to survive without the need for active worship. Nearly all the Horror-based Ethereals, from the Trolls and Goblins to Bloody Mary and other Urban Legends, claim ancestry to this most ancient of Horrific Ethereals. Some believe the Greek Echidna, mother of Monsters, is actually yet another spawn of the Bogeyman.

And, of course, there are always the rumors... Such as the one that frightens even Servitors of Nightmares; The one that claims that there's a reason Beleth didn't take Fear as her Hellish word.

...Because something else had claimed it before her.