Chinese mythology merely fantastic types of the bestiary sort. Sometimes the dragon is considered part of this category, related to it, or the ruler of all the swimming and crawling folk. This may include the giant marine turtle or tortoise Ao, the Bashe snake reputed to swallow elephants, a nine-headed snake monster reminiscent of the hydra known as Xiangliu, and the White Serpent from the novel "Legend of the White Snake". Various birds are found in Chinese mythology, some of them obviously based on real birds, other ones obviously not, and some in-between. The Crane is an example of a real type
Monster Mythology that this book follows a similar format to 2nd edition "Legends and Lore", except that while that book dealt with nine historical and two fictional human cultures, "Monster Mythology" deals with nonhuman pantheons. Unlike the culture-specific gods in "Legends and Lore", the gods in this book are for any campaign setting. Approximately 26 of the deities found in "Monster Mythology" were previously found in the first edition "Deities and Demigods" book, while the majority did not. The introduction has several sections after the lead. Running Divine Beings provides notes for the Dungeon Master on how and when deities interact with