---

Ten thousand aeons have passed

since the collision of the realm of death

and life

a strange coupling

many strange births

and here we all are!

A billion sons and daughters

of this cursed Earth we walk

and bump into each other

to fight!

A chronicler am I,

who keeps the tally of the names,

a tally of the forms and shapes

of all the beasts that roam.

I have set them down in this tome,

for those who seek to know

the natures of the beasts who prey on us!

Thee Monstrous Compendium