Keribos

The most common stygian guardian, a keribos resembles a heavily built dog or wolf with reddish-brown fur, a wide head with a row of six or more eyes, and six legs. When they're not on alert, they're playful with the shades of the underworld and eager to be petted. If they sense trouble, however, their true nature becomes much more obvious as their broad faces separate, revealing multiple heads filled with sharp teeth. Most keribos have three heads, but they can have up to five. The warning growl of a keribos is enough to send most shades running for shelter, and their baying draws the attention of any nearby stygian guardians.

Places in the afterlife are constantly under threat from those who seek the souls of the deceased for their own uses. Most realms in the Outer Sphere, however, have denizens who are tasked with guarding against such threat. Although psychopomps are best known for this task, even demons greedily protect the souls hoarded in the Outer Rifts. Other pockets of reality, such as Amneros, house great numbers of shades with fewer defenses aside from the ruler of the realm themself.

Guardian Creation

To protect the vulnerable shades of Amneros, Amnerion created specialized guardians adapted to the particular environment of their realm. These creatures, called stygian guardians, serve primarily as deterrent against unwelcome visitors, although they're sometimes tasked with capturing or redirecting wandering shades.

Other Stygian Guardians

While keribos and eumenids are the most frequently encountered stygian guardians, they're far from the only ones. Amnerion also created multi-armed giants called thalisons to carry out jobs requiring great strength and serve as protectors of their palace, although these giants spend most of their time melded into the cavern walls. Within Bothrios, horrid half-mantis, half-scorpion creatures called scynoxthis mete out punishments to the wicked.