Augur
Creature 1These spherical knots of sinewy muscle, serrated blades, and bloody metal are the most common velstracs on the Netherworld. Each augur has only a single eye, from which they can witness the horrors inflicted by other velstracs, who train the augur to expect and appreciate pain. Augurs are 1 foot in diameter and weigh 30 pounds.
The shadow-dwelling fiends known as velstracs all share a horrifying preoccupation with the search for ultimate sensation through self-mutilation. Velstracs transcend their stoic detachment only when inflicting pain and terror upon their victims, practicing new forms of torture, or turning their agonizing practices back on themselves. They consider themselves enlightened beings, transcending such limitations as morality or mortal taboos, but their victims know them as emotionless tormentors who inflict sadistic suffering. These fiends claim to seek perfection in thought, form, and action, although they don't recognize any refinement that doesn't require the painful excision of the flesh or spirit. Velstracs manifest from the souls of the most extreme masochistic or sadistic mortals who are judged and sent on to the Netherworld. They take on forms that suit their vile predilections, ranging from the low-ranking augurs to the maestros of suffering and mutilation, the eremites. The process of transformation warps the soul step by step, with other velstracs conveying their new members through untold chambers of pain among the dark reaches of the Netherworld.