Taltoses | |
Aliases: | Taltos |
Continuity: | Lives of the Mayfair Witches |
Category: | Terrestrial |
Status: | Existing |
Homeworld: | Earth |
Body type: | Humanoid |
1st appearance: | The Witching Hour |
Taltoses are a type of supernatural creature featured in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series of novels written by Anne Rice. They serve as the primary antagonists of this series and first appeared in the novel The Witching Hour in October, 1990.
Origins[]
Taltoses, singular Taltos, are a breed of supernatural entities whose origins date back to ancient Scotland. They once inhabited human form and may have even been members of the Picts people during the Early Middle Ages. For reasons lost to time, the Taltoses lost their ability to manifest physically and existed only as spiritual apparitions.
According to one Taltos known as Ashlar, the Taltoses once thrived on a tropical island north of the British Isles that apparently was a semi-active volcano. They had been there since "The Time Before the Moon" and lived innocently and peacefully until the land began to shift under their feet. The water became too hot, and the animals died. The tribe escaped in time and fled south to the bitter cold of Scotland. From there they could see the island as it sank into the the sea. They made do in their new home, becoming hunter-gatherers, and occasionally witnessed the early humans, whom they kept as pets on occasion. The Taltoses broke off into different tribes and the largest of them, led by Ashlar, went south to Somerset where they settled. Their peace was often disrupted by the Cetic raids on the land. To adapt and live peacefully among humans, they became the Picts, and Ashlar their king.
In the modern era, a Taltos is a superhuman creature born of the crossbreeding between two witches, who possess extra chromosomes. Such beings are immensely strong and possess an insatiable sex drive.
One such Taltos, dubbed Lasher, first manifested in Donnelaith, Scotland in the late 18th century. He influenced Suzanne of the Mayfair, visiting her and whispering to her. Suzanne's interactions with Lasher paved the way for the formation of the Mayfair family bloodline. The Taltos required the power of a witch who was strong enough to birth him into the physical world once more. It took thirteen generations of Mayfair women to breed such a witch, but Lasher was reborn after Rowan Mayfair gave birth to a child she had with psychometric Michael Curry. [1]
Representatives[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- None