Pulo Kabayo

Pulo Kabayo is a tiny island at the entrance to the Bay of Mynilad, located a quarter mile from the island of Pulo Hukom. Like its larger neighbor, it is fortified by the Tagápulo Empire and forms part of the bay’s defenses. Once little more than a platform for long-range weapons, it has recently been built up with a significant tower, constructed under the orders of Malaking, Pangkalahatan of the Tagápulo Empire.

The new tower and fortifications are tightly restricted, with only a handful of people authorized to land on the island and even fewer permitted into the tower at its heart. Despite this, rumors about what is happening inside have begun to spread. Some of the storytellers employed by Emperor Matatag in the godcrafting experiment on Nipa are said to have visited the island under heavy guard. Likewise, several of the Empire's foremost practitioners of Gukulam - the Folk Magic tradition most commonly practiced on Pulo - have been brought to the island and sequestered in the fortress for weeks. Finally, rumors have linked the Pangkalahatan’s secret project on Pulo Kabayo to the strange and unexpected disappearance of ghosts both on the island itself and on nearby Pulo Hukom.

While the details vary, the gist of the rumors remains the same: the Pangkalahatan has created a ghost-eater - something born from the power of the godcrafters' stories and Gukulam rituals. Probably a young and hungry god, or some other form of Numina. Most versions of the tale agree that this being is meant to serve as a supernatural defense for the Bay of Mynilad, though how exactly it will fulfill this role remains unknown. Still, the stories continue to circulate, new details emerging all the time, slowly painting the picture of a dark and ravenous guardian who bears the power of a thousand ghosts - and who may soon devour all the lost spirits in the bay.

Notable Spirits

Pulo Kabayo has long been regarded as a place of spiritual significance, even before the Weeping Plague left the Bay of Mynilad haunted and the Pangkalahatan established his secretive workshop there. In the old stories, it was said to be the home of the Tigbolan - a terrible horse-headed monster resembling the Hleemeentreezee, but larger and with strangely elongated limbs. At night, the Tigbolan would wade from the island to the shore - so tall that it could cross the waters without swimming or submerging - and there it would hunt, devouring anyone it encountered.

Sometimes it disguised itself as an ordinary horse, luring the foolish to attempt to ride it. Those who did were swiftly carried out into the bay to drown, for the creature was said to especially enjoy consuming the bodies of the drowned.

The Tigbolan was eventually defeated by the great Ilogaro hero Agdeppa, who bore the blessing of Luek. Agdeppa trapped the monster in a ring of flames, cut open its belly, and released its victims back into the world. From then on, the creature no longer troubled the people—though some still wonder whether it might one day return.