Year Beast

Nian, the Year Beast is an event creep that was introduced for the New Bloom Festival event.

2014
''Every child knows the tale. Each year, as the dark and cold of winter turns back from its peak, wild energies that have slumbered through the long months begin to twist and pool. From this mire of eldritch power, as the first flowers begin to bloom, the Year Beast takes form to bellow its savagery and its hunger. Yet the same source that imbues the creature with terrible power also covers its being in rare materials, ready to be crafted into unique armaments if they can be pried from its body.''

''The comings and goings of the Year Beast are cyclical by nature. It is a mysterious creature, flighty and prone to long patrols of its strange, unknowable territory, dispersed across both space and time. For days it may disappear, perhaps tracking its predecessor across the veil of time, only to reappear refreshed and renewed, as if no time had passed at all. Those who hope to defend against the Year Beast must be both vigilant and patient, striking at those rare times when the creature chooses to reveal itself.''

2015
''My master told me of the creature's first coming. It struck without warning, razing our first great city to the ground, slaughtering every warrior we had. And the next spring, it came back. And every spring since. We came to call it the Year Beast. And over time, we learned how to survive it. Then the heroes came, and we learned how to fight it. This year, we will not run from the Year Beast. No, this year, we will tame it!''

Trivia

 * Nian is a mythical beast that appears at Chinese New Year in Chinese folklore.