Silent, The
No one knows exactly what the Silent are. There are those who speculate that they are yet another biological weapon created sometime before the final wars, while others feel, as is always the case, that they are in fact some sort of mutant. Very little is known about these creatures and they are rarely seen, and never during the daylight hours.
Physically they appear to be tall, lean men who are completely bald and have un-usually long fingers and who’s cadaverous faces are always smiling, which most who encounter the creatures find completely disconcerting. Most of the Silent are six feet or higher but because they are so lean, they weigh only around 160 pounds or so. The Silent are also always dressed the exact same way. They appear in immaculate black suits with white shirts, black ties and perfectly polished shoes.
Chris Van Deelen is the author of the Skirmisher Publishing LLC sourcebook Creatures of the Tropical Wastes sourcebook, co-author of its Wisdom from the Wastelands game supplement and contributor to the 'Sword of Kos: Hekaton' Anthology.
No. Enc: 3
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 150' (50')
AC: 5
HD: 8
Attacks: 2 claws
Damage: 2d8 / 2d8
Save: L8
Morale: 11
Hoard Class: None
No one knows exactly what the Silent are. There are those who speculate that they are yet another biological weapon created sometime before the final wars, while others feel, as is always the case, that they are in fact some sort of mutant. Very little is known about these creatures and they are rarely seen, and never during the daylight hours.
Physically they appear to be tall, lean men who are completely bald and have un-usually long fingers and who’s cadaverous faces are always smiling, which most who encounter the creatures find completely disconcerting. Most of the Silent are six feet or higher but because they are so lean, they weigh only around 160 pounds or so. The Silent are also always dressed the exact same way. They appear in immaculate black suits with white shirts, black ties and perfectly polished shoes.
These creatures never speak, and what is even stranger is that the sound of voices can actually kill them. As a result, they project an anti-sound field around them at all times which anything caught in it will be incapable of using any speech, or sound based mutation, as their vocal cords are completely frozen. This anti-sound barrier has a radius of 150’ from each of the creatures.
They always appear at random intervals in small communities around the ruined globe. There is never any rhyme or reason to their appearances except that when they do show up, people die.
These creatures only show during the night time. They have never been encountered during the daylight hours which lead scholars to believe that sunlight and ultraviolet light can hurt or even kill them. In reality, if for some reason a creature is exposed to sunlight; they must save versus energy attack or be killed instantly. They have to save every round, and even if they make the save, they take 6d6 damage. If they are exposed to ultraviolet energy, they suffer double the damage.
These creatures are carnivores. They only feast on the living organs (specifically the heart). The hearts always have to be from humanoids. The way they obtain the organ is by first approaching the target. They are able to literally paralyze the creature with fear. It is treated like a mental attack, and if the attack succeeds, the target is allowed a saving throw versus energy attacks. If the save fails, the target is completely paralyzed for 2d4 rounds. While the creature is helpless, the Silent use their powerful clawed hands to rip through the chest of the creature to get at its heart.
Once they have the heart, they quickly find two more victims and then do the same. After they have collected the hearts, they disappear from sight in order to consume their meals in peace.
When these creatures move, they don’t actually walk… Instead they appear to float above the ground, literally gliding as they move. This is because they have a very limited version of psionic flight, which they employ instead of walking or running. The downside is they can never move faster.
Whenever these creatures are exposed to the sound of human (or mutant speech), they have to make a save versus death or die instantly. Thus they always keep the sound barrier up around them. If someone is capable of forcing this barrier down and then so much as speak to them, it could very well kill them. Because of this, if they sense that their barrier has fallen, they flee at that instant.
Even though they are vulnerable to the sound of speech, they are able to communicate with one another via neural telepathy. They can also communicate with other creatures using this, but rarely do so.
These creatures are also nearly impossible to surprise. They are capable to controlling light waves around them so that they have a full 360 degree view of their surroundings, to help offset the total lack of sound. They are only surprised on a 1 on a roll of 1d10.
Mutations: 360 degree vision, aberrant form (natural weapons), bend sound (special) bizarre appearance, dietary requirement change (hearts), epidermal susceptibility (sunlight), fear generation (special), neural telepathy, psionic flight (special).
Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 Episode ‘Hush’ (1999)
