Among the numerous animal-shaped geniuses found in Basque mythology is Aatxe. Usually, these animal-shaped geniuses take the shape of male animals like pigs, dogs, vultures, goats, bulls, and rams. They are frequently found close to cave and grotto openings and are mentioned in myths about a world beneath the surface. They are closely linked to the Basque goddess Mari and are thought to be either her servants or her underlings, depending on which interpretation you choose. Natural phenomena are ascribed to these geniuses, who stand in for the forces of the earth.
The English translation of the name Aatxe is "young bull" or just "calf." For this reason, people sometimes refer to it as "red calf," or Aatexegorri.
The Aatxe is the guardian of Grottes de Sare, or Sara's Cave. When someone in his domain offends Aatxe, who often takes the shape of a red bull or occasionally a man, he is known to exact revenge. He is therefore occasionally referred to as the "enemy" or the "demon".
The Aatxe, also called Aatxegorri or Etsai, is a myth from the Basque people, an indigenous race native to parts of Spain and France. The aatxe is cave-dwelling spirit, described as a “young red bull,” that attacks people who are evil or malevolent while protecting the innocent. It can also take the form of a young man to warn people to stay home when danger is present.
Some believe that he is a physical manifestation of the Goddess Mari, working her will through the bull and exacting punishment against people who cheat her. The Aatxe appears in the popular Guild Wars franchise, though engravings and paintings seem to indicate that the myth of the Red Bull has origins as far back as the Paleolithic era.
[Commissioned by @wannabedemonlord, from @bugcthulhu‘s Iberian creatures list. Etsai is another name for the Aatxe, the Red Bull who is a sinister spirit in Basque mythology. It is said that Etsai taught the warring sibling gods Atarrabi and Mikelats, but one of them had to stay behind to serve him (shades of the Scholomance. The only references to Etsai/Aatxe being draconic I could find are from @bugcthulhu‘s list and the War of The Fallen card game, but devil dragons with wizard powers are cool by me, regardless of folkloric bona fides.]
Etsai
CR 16 LE Dragon
This hulking biped looks something between a dragon and a fiend, with curved horns and a maw full of jagged teeth. Each of its red and black scales is engraved with strange, arcane runes.. Its back and wings are ablaze with fire.
The etsai, or devil dragon, is created when a young dragon sells its soul to Hell as a shortcut to power and strength, rather than waiting for age and time to empower it. All etsai are infused with fire, regardless of the type of dragon it once was, and all etsai are gifted in arcane power. They must study for this power, rather than gaining it through their blood, and an etsai carves magical glyphs into its scales, becoming a living spellbook. Some etsai teach mortals the art of wizardry using their scales, but the price for this tutelage is very steep indeed.
Even an etsai from the dimmest draconic stock is of genius intellect by humanoid standards. Thus, they are rarely unprepared for combat, having contingency plans for many occasions and having gathered intelligence on their enemies through scrying. The breath of an etsai burns with hellfire, and those burned by this breath are terribly cursed, their strengths turning into their weaknesses.
An etsai lairs in high mountains and deep caves. These lairs are typically guarded by deadly traps, bound guardians and, in some cases, the dragon’s apprentices and slaves. They commune regularly with their diabolic masters, learning ever more secrets of the unseen world and furthering the plots of Hell. Etsai are prone to ordinary draconic greed, but their skin can be a great treasure in and of itself to a wizard—many etsai have rare and unusual magic collected from a lifetime of study carved into their hide, and a number of etsai are the authors of original spells.
An etsai stands thirty feet tall, with a wingspan of fifty feet or so. They are immortal unless slain. They may go abroad in disguise as a man or a bull, but always have some red component of their bodies, such as hair, skin, eyes or nails. Many etsai continue in their arcane studies, gaining levels in wizard or appropriate prestige classes such as diabolist.
Etsai CR 16
XP 76,200
LE Huge dragon (fire, shapechanger)
Init +7; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., Perception +24
Aura frightful presence (120 ft., DC 22)
Defense
AC 31, touch 11, flat-footed 28 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +20 natural)
hp 232 (16d12+128)
Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +15
DR 15/good or silver; Immune fire, sleep and paralysis effects; SR 27
Defensive Qualities fire shield, freedom of movement; Weakness vulnerable to cold
Offense
Speed 40 ft., fly 120 ft. (average)
Melee bite +25 (2d6+11), 2 claws +25 (1d8+11), tail slap +20 (2d8+16), 2 wings +20 (1d8+5)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon (120 ft. line, 8d8 fire and 8d8 typeless, Ref DC 26 half, 1d4 rounds), powerful blows (tail)
Spells CL 14th, concentration +22 (+26 casting defensively)
7th—banishment (DC 25), greater arcane sight, waves of exhaustion
6th—flesh to stone (DC 24), greater heroism, mass suggestion (DC 24), true seeing
5th—cone of cold (DC 23), feeblemind (DC 23), hold monster (DC 23). quickened shield, teleport
4th—confusion (DC 22), dimensional anchor, enervation (x2), greater invisibility(x2)
3rd—dispel magic (x2), displacement, haste, vampiric touch (x2)
2nd—bull’s strength, fox’s cunning, resist energy (x2), scorching ray (x2)
1st—alarm, mage armor, magic missile (x2), ray of enfeeblement (DC 19), true strike
0th—detect magic, message, read magic, resistance
Spell-like Abilities CL 16th, concentration +22 (+26 casting defensively)
Constant—fire shield (warm shield), freedom of movement (self only)
3/day—greater dispel magic, magic circle vs. good (DC 19)
1/day—geas/quest, greater scrying (DC 23), planar binding (DC 22)
1/week—commune
Statistics
Str 32, Dex 17, Con 27, Int 27, Wis 20, Cha 22
Base Atk +16; CMB +29; CMD 42
Feats Arcane Strike, Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Hover, Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll (B), Spell Penetration (B), Vital Strike
Skills Appraise +27, Bluff +25, Diplomacy +25, Fly +20, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +31, Knowledge (history) +27, Knowledge (planes) +27, Linguistics +27, Perception +24, Sense Motive +24, Spellcraft +31, Stealth +14, Use Magic Device +29; Racial Modifiers +4 Knowledge (arcana), +4 Spellcraft, +4 Use Magic Device
Languages Common, Draconic, Infernal, Undercommon, 16 others
SQ change shape (aurochs or humanoid, polymorph), self-scribing
Ecology
Environment any mountains and underground
Organization solitary
Treasure triple standard
Special Abilities
Breath Weapon (Su) A creature that takes damage from an etsai’s breath weapon must succeed a DC 22 Will save or take a -12 penalty to its highest ability score. This cannot reduce a creature’s ability score below 1. This is a curse effect, and the duration is permanent until removed. A creature that fails its save a second time against this effect has its next-highest ability score reduced in this fashion, and so on. A creature can be affected by this curse a maximum of six times, once per ability score. The save DC for the breath weapon is Constitution based, and the curse effect is Charisma based.
Self-Scribing (Ex) An etsai treats its own body as a spellbook, and can carve spells into its skin. It treats itself as if it were made of 500 pages of spellbooks, but must expend material components to scribe spells into itself as normal.
Spells An etsai casts spells as a 14th level wizard without spell school specializations. It does not gain any other class abilities of a wizard.
Aatxe’s this great bull from Basque who can shapeshift into a man and somewhere I read he can have firey horns too, and that seems pretty badass so I put those in there. He comes out on stormy nights to protect the weak in their homes and challenges the treacherous. It’s a very Sword-Page thing to do, and here he’s doing just that, attack thing robber/nefarious guy who isn’t fit to hold that sword at all.
@fyeahmyths two week summer event
day eight: western or southern european pairing/creature/event→ aatxe
a spirit in the folk mythology of the basque people. his name is translates to “young bull”, and he is sometimes known as etsai. he is a cave-dwelling spirit who adopts the form of a young red bull, but being a shapeshifter, sometimes takes the shape of a man.
The aatxe is also called the Etsai or the Zezengorri, and is a creature of Basque mythology. The aatxe is a shapeshifter who predominately utilized the form of a bull, or a young man. He has a multiplicity of purposes in the mythology, and is seen as both a malevolent and a benign spirit. The roles the aatxe commonly finds itself in include: teacher, protector of “good people”, an attacker of criminals, general troubler of travelers, guardian of a cave, and a representative of Mari.
Its role as a teacher is not considered to be one of its beneficial roles, interestingly enough. It may also not be one of its roles, or come from a separate mythology. More on all of these roles will be described in greater detail under the “purpose” section below.
Etymology
As the aatxe has three names to look into, all three will be elaborated on here.
Aatxe itself means simply “Young Bull”. Considering this is one of the primary forms of the aatxe, the name makes sense.
Etsai has the more malevolent meaning, equating itself to “enemy” or “devil”. The aatxe’s reputation for causing harm to travelers may have earned it this name.
Zezengorri is akin to aatxe, and translates to “Red Bull”. Its inclination towards the bull is clear, and the hue “red” may also explain its connection to the term Etsai, as red is a color often associated with demonic entities.
Appearance
The aatxe is a shapeshifter, so by definition the aatxe could look like anything. However, the aatxe is noted for having two main forms. One of them is the form of a bull, and the other one is the form of a man.
As a bull, the form has been described as “young”, but it is likely this is meant to imply that the aatxe is in the prime of its youth, and thus, the prime of its power. This bull form, whenever it is described, is described as being red. In some instances, it is believed that the aatxe can breathe fire out of its nostrils and mouth. This form is also at times depicted as having flaming horns and a flaming tail, which makes it quite visible within its cave and outside its cave.
The other main form of the aatxe is of a young man. This form is not described any further, so it is not clear if there is any way to tell an aatxe from a regular man. Nor is it known if the aatxe favors appearing with a certain hair color or eye color. All that is noted is that the other major form of the aatxe is that of a young man.
Purpose
The aatxe has a multiplicity of purposes, and they will all be elaborated on here. The only questionable purpose of the aatxe is in its role as teacher. Only one reference has been found to this, under the name etsai. However, for the sake of having all possible purposes here, it will be elaborated on though it should be taken with a grain of salt.
The aatxe’s main purpose appears to be to serve Mari’s will. Mari, in sum, is a goddess of the Basque who was known to dwell in the mountains and caves. She was also thought to be behind storms, and was considered both as an Earth goddess because of her dwelling, and as a lunar goddess because the Basque people associated fire with the moon. Mari, thus, had ties to fire which can be seen in the aatxe. She was also considered to be a law-giver, which ties into the purpose of the aatxe.
The major purpose of the aatxe seemed to be to deliver justice. The aatxe took human form in order to go into towns and punish criminals there. Some variants tell that it punished those who offended it, and thus was called Etsai. The people were not necessarily criminal, but they had disturbed its peace in some way.
The aatxe supposedly only emerged on stormy nights to do this, which adds to its connection with Mari, the storm goddess. It is uncertain if the aatxe caused the storm, or if it was only allowed to leave when a storm was raging. It is likely that the aatxe was believed to cause the storms, since some believe that the aatxe would protect good people by not allowing them to leave their homes. It may have done this by causing storms to keep people indoors.
The aatxe was also thought to cause harm to travelers in its bull form, so it did not need to shapeshift into a man. One story tells of a priest who ran into aatxe on his way home. The priest was described as arrogant, which may be the “criminal sin” the aatxe intended to punish him for, but the priest managed to escape unharmed.
The storms were also its way of delivering justice or wreaking havoc, depending on whether or not one wished to view it as benign or malevolent.
The aatxe may have also been a teacher under the name etsai. It was believed that it taught what arts and sciences it knew to others. However, considering the name this is under, this was not necessarily a good thing. One source notes that the etsai would want to keep one of its students permanently when the teaching was over. This was not considered a good thing, though it is unclear why, as the student tried (and succeeded) to escape etsai’s cave.
Weaknesses
The aatxe may be required to stay in its cave unless it is storming. This was not clear through the stories, and it is unclear if the aatxe is capable of causing storms.
The aatxe can be kept at bay if one has a dog, according to the priest story. The priest sought a dog and cornbread (it seems the cornbread was to keep the dog present) in order to travel. He knew that he would be harmed otherwise, because he had been behaving badly. So long as the dog stayed by his side, the aatxe in bull form could not harm him. When he ran out of cornbread, he had to run for the nearest town, as the dog left him.
It may be possible to appease the aatxe with Roman coins, as evidence of coins being thrown into caves for this purpose has been attested to.
Strengths
The aatxe is known for being fiery. This extends to its ability to breathe fire out of its nose and mouth.
The aatxe is a shapeshifter, capable of at least two forms: a human man and a red bull. The human form of the aatxe does not seem to have any flaws to its design.
The aatxe causes unease in cattle, inspiring them to attack each other when it is near.
The aatxe may be able to create storms.
The aatxe is very knowledgeable, and may be immortal or long-lived, at the very least.
Location
The aatxe was known for living in caves near or on mountains. The particular area of aatxe myths springs up in the area of Basque, known to us more as southwestern France and northwestern Spain.
The caves that it was thought to dwell in often had depictions of bulls in them from prehistoric times. Some have theorized that the idea of the aatxe stretches all the way back to those prehistorical times and has grown out of ancient beliefs.
Numbers
It is probable that there was more than one aatxe, considering how many caves there were, and how many local tales seem to have existed about the aatxe.
However, it is also quite possible that there was only one aatxe and this creature roamed from cave to cave. The story of the teacher implies that there was just one.
Modern Day Appearances
A restaurant that specializes in Basque cuisine has named itself Aatxe. This restaurant can be found in San Francisco, California.
Aatxe is used as a horned shadow monster in the game Guild Wars II.
The Aatxe are also found in the game Disco Zoo, and they are depicted as a red bull with a golden nose ring.
Sources
“Aatxe is a Basque Mythological Figure Spirit”. Mythology Feels Tumblr. 19 August 2012. Web.
Aatxe. Chef: Ryan Pollnow. Located: 2174 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114.
“Aatxe”. Guild Wars Official Wiki. Last Updated 11 June 2015. Web.
“Aatxe”. Disco Zoo Wiki. Last Updated 6 March 2015. Web.
Bordagarai, Koldo Alijostes. “Zezengorri”. Euskal Mitologiaren Ataria. Amaroa. 2011. Web.
Gomez, Olga. “Etsai”. Encyclopedia Mythica. Pantheon.org. Last updated 17 February 2003. Web.
José Miguel de Barandiaran Ayerbe. “Aatxe”. Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia Fondo Bernardo Estornés Lasa. Euskomedia. Web.
Krishanna. “Subterranean Goddess: Mari of the Basques”. Witchvox.com. 11 November 2007. Web.
Matthews, John, and Matthews, Caitlin. The Elemental Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures. China: Barnes & Noble Inc, 2008. Print.
Rose, Carol. Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998. Print.
