Got the missing five points for Gernichora finally, so here is the story! Enjoy!
Angren is one of the most treacherous regions of the Continent... And Ysgith is the most dangerous locale within Angren. It is there one can find the lair of the horrifying monstrosity known to locals as Gernichora.
According to some, Gernichora appears as a tall woman, covered head to toe in bloodgorged leeches. Others claim she resembles a siren, though with the abdomen of a leech in place of a fish tail. The debate is likely to rage on, however, as no one who’s had the pleasure to examine the beast firsthand has ever returned alive.
Nevertheless, the inhabitant of Angren’s marshes are well-aquainted with her most iconic trait: the fruits of Ysgith. From afar they appear to be thirst-quenching apples - so plump, red, and juicy that the branches bend under their weight... Yet whenever a wayward traveler - delirious with hunger - reaches for one, he grabs naught but an enormous leech, engorged on blood near to the point of bursting.
Gernichora’s not wholly unlike a vampire, though rather than feast on the blood of others, she feeds them with her own. She latches parasites to her body, then dangles them from trees. Then any beast or monster which tastes of her fruits shall become completely subservient to her will...
Gernichora, as the legend goes, was once a princess on her way to wed one of King Cedric’s sons in Vizima when her retinue ran adrift in Angren, engulfed by the treacherous swamps of Ysgith. The princess, at the last possible moment, caught hold of a nearby tree root before the bog’s thick mud could swallow her up. Desperate for help, she screamed and screamed, yet there wasn’t a soul for miles. Others arrived at her side, however. The princess was quickly overwhelmed by hundreds of leeches that drained her body down to the last drop of blood. Then, enveloped in the mysterious power of Ysgith’s swamps, the princess was reborn - a monster.
Gernichora was, in fact, a post-Conjunction monster whose name derives from the Elder Speech. The elves called her Gvaern Ichaer - the Bloody Mistress. The Aen Seidhe, though incapable of defeating Gernichora, did their best to limit her power. When the last elves left Angren, their warnings fell on deaf ears. It wasn’t long before the effects of local ignorance and negligance were felt...
Many rulers have attempted to harness the power of Ysgith: first the Temerians, followed by the Nilfgaardians. Drawn by its potential, they sent vast settler caravans - heavily guarded, of course - into the tepid swamps. But the end result was always the same: affliction, insanity, and the stench of mass graves to whet the appetite of nearby ghouls. Ysgith largely remains uninhabited, and perhaps that’s for the best.
