Whisperjack

ENTITY FILE: WHISPERJACK

Overview
Whisperjacks are auditory predators that haunt the deeper paths of the Briar Reaches. Their bodies are never fully seen—if they exist at all. Instead, their presence is detected through sound: perfect replications of voices known intimately to the target. These whispers emerge from nowhere and everywhere, calling softly, persistently, until the listener begins to follow them.

Whisperjacks do not hunt with teeth. They hollow you with sound.

Appearance

• Physical Form: Unknown. Attempts to visually confirm a Whisperjack have resulted in memory loss, blindness, or perception failure.
• Manifestation: Presence is purely aural. Victims report feeling breath on the neck, the sensation of being watched.
• Shadow Theory: Some observers claim to glimpse stretched, antlered shadows just beyond peripheral vision.

Behaviour and Abilities

• Vocal Mimicry: Replicates the precise emotional tone, rhythm, and phrasing of people the target has loved or lost.
• Suggestion: Subtle implantation of ideas through repeated phrases. Often urges targets to stop, turn back, or give up.
• Spatial Distortion: The longer one listens, the less reliable the landscape becomes. Paths loop, distances stretch, exits vanish.

Signs of Presence

• Hearing a loved one’s voice where they cannot be.
• Whispering in stereo—heard from multiple directions simultaneously.
• Disorientation while navigating otherwise familiar terrain.

Folklore and Signs

• “Don’t Talk to Echoes”: A saying among forest guides. Answering a Whisperjack aloud is thought to seal the bond.
• Mourner’s Bite: Some wear silver-wire ear cuffs or stitch their ears at funerals to prevent spirits—or Whisperjacks—from calling them away.

Effect on Earth and Human Minds

• Mild Exposure: Confusion, auditory hallucinations, sudden nostalgia.
• Prolonged Exposure: Loss of directional sense, disconnection from time. Victims may begin walking without stopping, unable to explain why.
• Long-Term Contact: Dissociative fugue states, identity loss, or selective memory erasure. In extreme cases, targets follow the voice into non-space and never return.

Summary for Field Operatives

Trait	Detail
Threat Level	High psychological. No known physical attack.
Signs of Presence	Familiar voices, path confusion, emotional breakdown.
Containment Risk	Low. Rarely leaves Reaches, but may ‘ride’ auditory hallucinations.
Engagement Advice	Use white noise barriers. Avoid speaking to familiar voices in field.
	Operate in pairs. Use written comms in active zones.

Quote from Field Report #259:

“She said my name the way only my sister ever did. She’s been dead four years. I stopped walking—just stood there crying until the sun moved and I realised I didn’t know which way I’d come.”
—FDG Audio Memo, Operative H., Widdershade Perimeter