The bestiary: 253 entries
The monsters of Aethelgard are not wildlife. Each belongs to a family, a region and a specific moment in the story.
There are 253 catalogued entries, each with its stats and its essence card: the piece you can extract and use.
They are not wildlife. The monsters of Aethelgard have a common origin and a reason to exist, and that reason is one of the things the game reveals to you gradually.
How they are distributed
They are grouped into families assigned to regions, and each region has its elemental field and its boss. There are no generic enemies recycled across the map in a different colour: what you meet in a region belongs to that region.
Thirty of the entries are bosses. Some are fought, some are cinematic, and a few are not monsters at all.
Pacts
Some creatures can be bargained with. It is not a blessing and not a demonic contract: it is an ancient technique, rediscovered, that in theory should not work.
It works. And the first pact you sign raises a question the game does not answer straight away.
The full bestiary, and what each entry implies, is something you uncover by playing.