Hai-Van and Van-Hai
These two malicious white-tigers are almost indistinguishable from one another. They appear in all ways identical, every stripe is exactly the same, every tooth and fang are the same shape and size. The only distinguishable difference between these two is their eyes. Hai-Van, the female, has yellow eyes, while her mate, Van-Hai, has green eyes.
These two cruel and intelligent tigers rule over a small, isolated tribe of villagers. The people worship these ageless beasts as gods, a belief that Hai-Van and Van-Hai have reinforced through generations of overplaying their abilities. The legend goes that they assumed this avatar form a century and a half ago and brutally killed every other tiger in the village, calling upon the powers of lightning and fire to destroy these creatures. When the high priest of the god they then worshipped, a god of tigers and nature, challenged them, they revealed his façade and liberated the village from a false deity.
What really happened is actually much less impressive. Hai-Van and Van-Hai were actually only born a century ago, as normal white tigers. Van-Hai’s mother attacked a powerful druid one day, hoping to find her next meal, who killed her in self-defense. The druid, overcome with guilt about what he had done, took in her now orphaned cub and brought him to his house. A year or so later, the same druid came across another cub whose mother had died, this time from disease. The druid took in Hai-Van as well, and for a while everything was peaceful. However, the druid had made enemies with a fowl necromancer, and he soon worried that he would not be able to protect the cubs for much longer. In desperation, he decided to give them the only gift that he believed would help them, and Awakened both the tigers.
Hai-Van and Van-Hai chose names for themselves as soon as they were Awakened. Unfortunately, the two grew up to be evil, sadistic creatures who despised their druid guardian. The war between the druid and his enemy necromancer wore on for years, until Hai-Van and Van-Hai were fully grown. By that time, the years of war had taken an effect on both casters. The necromancer had lost most of his undead servants, and hundreds of animals had died that swore their allegiance to the druid. In order to preserve what little they had left, the two agreed to settle the score one-on-one. The druid did not expect, however, that his supposedly loyal tigers, who he had raised since they were just cubs, would make a deal with his enemy. They went to the necromancer and offered their help, that they would attack the druid from behind when the fight came. In exchange, he would use his dark magic to make them all the more powerful, grant them abilities far beyond that of any other tiger. The necromancer upheld his part of the bargain and wove a terrible ritual around them, binding them together and infusing them with dark magic. On the day of the fight, Hai-Van and Van-Hai killed their master and ate his corpse, the final part of the ritual; to eat the flesh of one that truly loved them. The necromancer had little time to enjoy his victory, however, because the two tigers turned on him and killed him too. Some say that both of their skeletons remain somewhere, buried beneath a hundred years worth of dirt.
The two tigers came across a village soon enough, and decided to claim it as their own. They killed the tigers that lived in harmony with the village, and when the high priest, one of true power and who worshipped a true god, tried to defend his village they killed him too. A hundred years of propaganda has twisted the story, and made the village fiercely devoted to their “gods.”
Hai-Van is the most outspoken and dominant of the two. While they always appear together, she is usually the one who speaks to her subjects, and any who would oppose her. She is quick to kill for any reason, even imagined ones. Van-Hai, on the other hand, rarely speaks to anyone other than his mate. He loathes any real movement, and prefers to simply be worshipped by generation after generation. He has shown some distaste for his mate’s killings, not because of any moral reason or because he does not enjoy it, but because he realizes that the population of their little village is rather small. If they kill one hunter, there will naturally be less food. Still, he allows Hai-Van’s indulgences, he would rather not have as much to eat than argue with his mate.
The stats below are for one of the two, however they always fight as a pair. As such, the challenge rating reflects fighting the two of them.
Hai-Van and Van-Hai
Size and Type: Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 13d8+30 (82)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +8 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+18
Attack: 2 Claws +15, Bite +9
Damage: Claws (1d10+9) Bite (2d6+3)
Space/Reach: 10ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Pounce, Rake (1d10+3)
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Scent, Damage Deduction 10/Cold Iron, Fast Healing 5, Forever Bond
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +11, Will +10
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 20
Skills: Balance +14, Hide +9, Listen +10, Move Silently +17, Spot +9, Swim +20, Intimidate +19
Feats: Alertness, Improved Natural Weapon (Bite), Improved Natural Weapon (Claw), Weapon Focus (Claw), Weapon Specialization (Claw)
Environment: Warm Forests
Organization: Pair, or with human followers.
Challenge Rating: 7
Alignment: Always Neutral Evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: -
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a tiger must hit with a claw or bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can rake.
Pounce (Ex): If a tiger charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.
Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +9 melee, damage 1d8+3.
Skills: Tigers have a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Hide, and Move Silently checks. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus improves to +8.
Forever Bond: Hai-Van and Van-Hai are bound together by the necromancer’s dark ritual. They can never be more than a mile apart from one another, and they always know if the other is lying. They also share wounds, whenever they are damaged they both take exactly half the damage. Neither dies unless the other dies with it.
Cubs: Hai-Van had a handful of cubs in the last five years. Originally they were unspectacular, but recently the older children have been affected by the “Awaken” spell, and are showing signs of increased intelligence. They have not, however, shown signs of any other of their parents abilities, though Hai-Van and Van-Hai theorize that the capabilities are there, and just need to right events to bring them out. Specifically, the think that they must consume the flesh of someone who loves them. They have their eyes on their high priest, who worships these cubs as the children of gods.