Pagham-on-Sea: Cryptids & the Unexplained

Cryptids, Myths and Legends

Does the Paghamverse have cryptids? Of course it does! Butchers can’t serve them without a licence. It’s possible that they came into being when other creatures crossed over from other dimensions into ours. One of these is the angelic legion of Nature, known as the Bél. The Bél are essentially anthro, and tend to create other anthros.

Alien conspiracies may or may not be real.

There are the usual Black Dog legends and various origin myths for werewolves, some of which may be true, or have a grain of truth in them.

Fae

The Fae also exist in this world, and link to my dark fantasy concept of the Realms of Sigaldry containing multiple Fae kingdoms, worlds, mini-verses, and portals all over the place. The Realms are explored partially in my dark fantasy quartet and crossover novel with the Paghamverse, The Reckoning.

In-verse, the Fae are the explanation for orbs which appear in photographs and are often thought to be spirits. Some are benign, others are not. It’s best not to bother with them at all.

For more on my Fae concept, see this post on Fairies in the Paghamverse.

Merfolk

Merfolk of various types, including hard and soft shell varieties, selkies and other mammalians, amphibians and anthro-fish types, are all definitely real and living their diverse lives in the oceans. It’s hard to tell whether these might be the result of Bél interference in Earth’s ecosystems, or whether they were originally a class of Fae. Some class themselves as Fae, and others don’t. Some say nothing at all but communicate the way coral and similar types of organism do, so it’s not known if or how they self-identify.

Some merfolk shed their skin at various stages of development.

Some mature on land and then return to the sea or to bodies of water when they reach a certain stage of maturity or under Fae-like conditions that would instigate their banishment from the mortal world, such as being struck three times with iron.