Kyton

Description

(From 5th edition Monster Manual - 2014):

This ominous fiend wears chains like a shroud. Driving lesser creatures before it with its fearsome gaze, a chain devil animates the chains that cover its body as well as inanimate chains nearby, which sprout hooks, blades, and spikes to eviscerate enemies.

Chain devils act as sadistic jailers and torturers in the infernal realms, relishing pain and living to inflict it on others. They are called on to torment mortal souls trapped in the Nine Hells, inflicting their sadistic fury on the horrid lemures in which those souls manifest.

(From Planescape: Planes of Law Monstrous Supplement - 1995):

Kytons are a race of creatures inhabiting the city of Jangling Hiter on the third layer of Baator. They are the city’s constabulaly, ferreting out transgressors. A soul knows when he’s being stalked by one of these monstrosities if he hears tinkling chains and an accompanying malicious titter.

Kytons are humanoid, though it’s hard to tell if they’re human. They wear chains in lieu of clothing and armor, using this “apparel” as weapons. The body, arms, and legs are all tightly wrapped with smaller chains. When a kyton raises its arms, a cutter can see dangling ropes of metal — chains studded with barbs, welded scraps of iron, and other small sharp implements.

The kyton’s head is also wrapped with chains, covering where the hair, eyes, ears, and nose would be on a normal humanoid. The only visible features on a kyton are its throat, its grimacing mouth, and occasionally one gleaming eye. Some people might wish they hadn’t seen even that much. See, the kyton has a nasty habit of assuming the feature of a departed loved one or friend — or sometimes that of much-feared enemy. Though all a berk can see is the lower part of the face, he can often reconstruct the rest of it. No one’s really sure whether this is an illusion the creatures create, or if it’s actually the dead person come to horrible “life” in the city of chains. Regardless, anyone viewing a kyton’s features must make a successful Wisdom check or suffer a -1 penalty to initiative for 1-3 rounds from the shock.

All Kytons are equal in Jangling Hiter. They don’t disagree over standing, though they do squabble over choice scraps of unlucky berks. These fights are short-lived and usually end with the victor claiming the morsel. The loser fades (flees, really) into the metal jungle of the city.

The only treasure a kyton has is that of its victims. That hoard can va

ly widely, depending on the kyton’s power and the resources of its quarry.

Kytons are the police force of the city, enforcing its edicts and trampling those who don’t live by them. It’s rumored that they eat their victims, though it’s been put forth that what the kytons really consume are the spirits of those they hunt. These sages speculate that kytons survive on the anguish of the screaming spirits they catch.

This is conjecture, for kytons have never been studied in depth. Bloods know a captured kyton can kill itself simply by willing it. And a dead kyton dissolves, leaving behind an acrid stench and a greasy puddle of chains and ichor — nothing much there to study.