Returning to the Multiverse of Magic the Gathering and the world of Dominaria, it has a rich and very detailed history, most of which is focused very much on powerful spellcasters, arcanists, inventors, and those with the special planar spark that allows them to travel between the parallel dimensions. Very early in this history, the plane of Dominaria was ruled from eight major cities by the Empire of the Thran, originating in the eastern lands of Dominaria and the continent of Terisiare, eventually ruling most of it. The Thran people constructed incredible artifact machines, similar in many ways to the ancient sorcerer-kings of Imaskar on the planet Toril in the Dungeons and Dragons Multiverse, but despite a lot of archeological research, a lot about the Thran empire is a mystery, since it fell nearly 5000 years ago. What we do know is the Thran used power stones to fuel their magic machines and that they were just as focused on perfecting their own bodies as they were at crafting the perfect machines to reshape reality to their will. Well, eventually they started getting sick from overexposure to power stones and one of the evil mad doctor Eugenicists named Yawgmoth used societal politics and prejudice to incite riots and unrest, increased his power and influence and eventually took control of the whole empire. It was the appearance of a human planeswalker, a person with the ability to innately teleport themselves and others between parallel universes, that led to the inevitable complete corruption of Yawgmoth as he was shown the world of Phyrexia for the first time by the planeswalker named Dyfed. Showing a plane of existence were metal and flesh could meld together in perfect harmony, to a Thran genius genetic artificer? Well he was instantly obsessed with creating a perfect world with himself as it's god. The planeswalkers ultimately have caused all the problems dominaria has faced over the last 5000 years and one of the symptoms of this unchecked planar travel going on is a creature type called the Atog.
Nobody seems to know where the Atog species originated, but it must have been either somewhere with a lot of ambient mana and natural resources, or the Atog is just a random mutation of some other species, dramatically altered by the twisted mana of uncontrolled interdimensional transitions. There is even a remote and horrific possibility that these were once captives of Yawgmoth who performed experiments on them. It's hard to say because Yawgmoth used these weapons of mass destruction based on Power Stone technology called Stonechargers which caused horrific mutations in the aftermath of their massive devastation.
Atogs are usually humanoid, small, insatiably hungry and afflicted with really bizarre metabolisms. They come in lots of different shapes and sizes, all oddly recognizable thanks to their characteristic features. Atogs are some blend of reptile and amphibian with protruding, bulbous and brightly colored eyes, orange being the color of the common Atog's eyes, bright orange and their hide is a deep shade of purple, so not exactly stealthy, they are fast, vicious and unrelenting creatures with small brains, like very hungry, stupid goblins who have large heads in comparison to the rest of their body just so they can fit an impressive number of very sharp, very hard fangs in their powerful jaws. When the common purple Atog bites, it extends its jaw outward slightly, its lips pulling right back and chomps down as hard as it can, tearing into metal, wood, bone and flesh with equal ease, they will do things like swarm over a vehicle and chew into the engine to either make it explode or just stop in it's tracks, then set about consuming the entire vehicle like a pack of hunting dogs tearing apart a wildebeast. You might be lucky enough to abandon the target of their hunger and avoid getting between those jaws and their food, if you are fast and stealthy.
The name "atog" is a rearrangement of the word "goat", due to their ability to eat metal, which real goats can't do of course. Atogs eat magic items, enchantments, and other sorts of unusual things; the type of Atog it really hinges on what they eat and the color of Mana they are linked to. Planar travel is what caused them to show up in the first place and now Atogs are spread across many different parallel dimensions and the worlds of those planes of existence. Dominaria has the bulk of their population, but there are unique subspecies also found on other planes, so let's take a look at the variety to choose from, shall we?
Most atogs are scavengers, with the power to gain strength and sustenance from certain substances. The common Atog with orange eyes and purple skin will feed on Artifacts and various metals, so they prefer to dwell near civilizations and cities where they are considered dangerous vermin by most people. Some of these purple magic item and metal eaters were transported to New Phyrexia, the planet Mirrodin, a planet of living metal, where they grew to enormous size and became alpha predator quadropeds standing 15 feet high at the shoulder, looking like ancient megafauna called Titanotheres, but with that characteristic rounded head and massive jaw, those creatures became known as the Megagogs, they are large enough to swallow a person whole, which is just as well, considering their teeth and parts of their anatomy is made of solid metal.
Dominarias forests are still home to the Foratogs, they are tricky creatures, blindingly fast on their feet or leaping through the canopy, they are hard to miss just from the trail of devoured trees, they can eat so fast its like a bunch of wood chippers just went crazy and if it were not for the fact that there is only so much mass they can digest at a time, the forests of Dominaria would be completely gone. Foratogs have light blue scales, large green eyes, and spiky barbels extending from their chins and the tops of their heads like a spine crest. Also found on that supercontinent of Jamuraa and the lands of Urborg and Aerona is the Necratog, not too dangerous, they are diseased and nasty little ghouls who dig up and consume any corpse they can find, their emaciated bodies look a lot like a corpse, with green-grey skin and a sticky, milky ooze which coats their red eyes. Also found on Jamuraa are the mysterious three-toed, blue-skinned and more salamander-looking Chronatogs which have large white eyes and somehow feed on time, but not much more than that is known about them.
The continent of Otaria is east of Jamuraa, south of Shiv, and west of Terisiare has its own diverse population of Atogs, which are a more adaptable set of sub-species with a wider tolerance for more diverse diets, feeding takes longer for them as they don't have such concentrated food sources, but they tend to be more deliberate and dare I say intelligent by Atog standards, even using primitive tools and making personal crude jewelry. Among the Otarian Atogs are the Psychatogs, which feed mostly on rotten or decaying flesh, but are opportunistic feeders on psychic energy, they are grey-grey like the Necratog but have a head much larger and more bulbous and they don't live together so they are not hard to tell apart. The Phantatog is a swift, large, blue humanoid tree frog type a bit like the Chronatogs except they eat magic fields, so any enchantments are just a quick snack to them, which can be very annoying if you rely on magical enhancements for anything. The sarcatog consumes decomposing flesh to survive but will prefer to feed on artifacts; Sarcatogs have bright green skin, and resemble a cross between a frog and a goblin. Then we have the lithatogs which eat artifacts and actually eat the surrounding countryside, they eat rocks, trees, grass, dirt... everything in their path until they are too full to eat any more. Lithatogs are blue-skinned and humanoid with red and green eyes, they have huge teeth which barely fit its jaw and they also grow spikes on their head, there is another land consuming type called the Thaumatog, which are smaller, purple skinned and very reptilian with scales and a short snout. Finally on Otaria there is the mythical Atogatog, the so called lord of their species, but probably some sort of mutant that developed the ability to feed on other Atogs and grew very powerful as a result.
On other planes, they can be found also on planet Rath, this is where you find the Auratog, a shrivelled and pink version of their breed, with the maw and the orange eyes, they feed exclusively on magic energy and any enchantments they find.
I can't tell you much about their reproduction, other than it being sporadic and related to how much food they have available, they must grow rapidly though as you never see any juveniles around.
I made a 5th edition stat block and put it in the video description text for you, as always, thanks for joining me, and I will be back with more lore for you, very soon.
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Atog
Medium Monstrosity, Chaotic Neutral
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 13 (3d8)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
STR 10 (+0)
DEX 14 (+2)
CON 10 (+0)
INT 6 (-2)
WIS 12 (+1)
CHA 8 (-1)
Saving Throws DEX +4, CON +2
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +2, Survival +2
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 13
Languages Common Cannot read/write. Speaks in broken Common.
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2
Enchanting Scent: An atog can smell any magic item within a 30ft. radius.
Enchanting Appetite: As an action, an atog can clamp down on a common magic item with its teeth, and the item becomes progressively more damaged over the next 10 rounds as the atog ingests it. After 5 rounds, the item has a 50% chance of not working. After 7 rounds, the item is damaged too much to work at all until it is repaired. After 10 rounds, the atog has completely devoured the item, destroying it. Atogs can also devour magic items of greater rarity; each successive rarity category adds 2 rounds to the time it takes to damage the item at each step. An atog cannot devour artifacts. The item can be wrested from the atog by using a disarm action, using an action during grappling (with the Grappler feat), or by incapacitating/killing the atog.
Enchanting Sustenance: If an atog successfully devours a magic item, it receives the following bonuses for the next 24 hours: A +2 bonus to STR, DEX, and CON; one extra hit die; and resistance to magical damage. If a sentient magic item is devoured, the atog also receives a +2 bonus to INT, WIS, and CHA. These buffs stack with multiple devourings, though the durations are tracked separately.
Actions
Multiattack. The atog makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d4 + 2) slashing damage.
Description
This thin, gremlin-like creature stands about 4ft. tall and possesses purple, veiny skin, large, bulbous, orange eyes, and a large mouth filled with dagger-like teeth. Driven by an insatiable hunger, these creatures endlessly hunt for magic items to devour, at times even ambushing travelers in packs. While one atog who has not fed recently poses little danger to experienced adventurers, one that has feasted on multiple items can be quite challenging. There are stories of atogs that have managed to break into magic shops or laboratories and subsequently terrorized the surrounding area for a short time.
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