Ghoul
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Ghouls are a variety of monster that come from Arab folklore. The English word comes from Arabic الغول al-ghūl (al- is the definite article "the").
The Arabian ghoul is a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can transform itself into the guise of an animal, especially a hyæna. It lures travellers into the desert wastes to slay and devour them, and also robs graves and feeds on the flesh of the dead, or on young children.
As a result of this latter habit, the word ghoul is also used to refer to an ordinary human grave robber, or any individual who delights in the gruesome or morbid.
The star Algol is also named after this creature from Arabian legend.
Ghouls in fiction
In the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, a ghoul is a member of a nocturnal subterranean race. Once human, their adherence to an exclusive diet of dead human flesh has mutated them into horrific bestial humanoids. As frightening as they are to the human characters in Lovecraft's fiction, they are not truly monsters; they only prey on the already-dead, and in some stories they are able to carry on intelligent conversations with the living. Richard Upton Pickman, a noteworthy Boston painter who disappears under mysterious circumstances in the story, "Pickman's Model," later appears as a ghoul in the novella, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
In the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, ghouls are monstrous undead humans who reek of carrion. In addition to dead flesh, they capture and eat the unwary living. They can paralyze their prey with a touch; only elves are immune. The ghast is similar, but more powerful, and even elves can fall victim to their paralytic power.
As a consequence of the above two sources' popularity, many other sources use the term "ghouls" for undead creatures and/or cannibalistic, degenerate humanoids. Some notable examples follow.
In the computer role-playing game Shadowrun, ghouls are a mutation caused by a virus known as HMHVV, specifically the Krieger strain. While not undead, they do exhibit vampiric behavior. Ghouls must consume about 1% of their body weight in raw human flesh each week and have a mild allergy to sunlight that inhibits them slightly, but does not harm them. They are physically blind, but their astral/physical dual-nature allows them to perceive the astral plane, and they are also endowed with enhanced senses of smell and hearing. Ghouls are especially sensitive to foreign substances within their bodies, making the use of cybernetic implants difficult for them. Their strength and body are greater than a normal human's, but their intelligence and charisma suffer. Finally, they also show total immunity to the VITAS plague. Some ghouls regress to a feral state after the change, while others retain their sanity. Those who remain sane will often have extreme plastic surgery performed in order to pass for human, and replace their blind eyes with new cybernetic eyes.
In the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, a ghoul is a human who has been given the blood of a vampire to drink and has gained an extended lifespan and supernatural powers as a result. Vampires often take ghouls as servants, since the process of drinking the vampire's blood creates a bond of loyalty and affection from the ghoul to the vampire.
In the computer role-playing game Fallout, a ghoul is a human in the wastes mutated by the airborne Forced Evolutionary Virus.
In the real-time strategy game Warcraft III, Ghouls are the standard fighting unit for the Undead and lumber gatherers.
In the anime and manga series Hellsing, ghouls are zombie-like creatures created when a vampire feeds on the blood of a non-virgin.