Lamia

The lamiau(lamia is sungular) are female vampires who can only consume the blood of a child.

## Description

Not much is known about the lamia as only two have appeared, one being a shapeshifter. It is unknown where they live but they may live in the desert like the lamia of Old Earth mythology. Lamia are a species of vampire but they can walk in the daylight with the same ease as a human.

A lamia's most notable characteristic is her limited diet. Like vampires, lamia drink blood but they can only consume the blood of a child. They will only reject all other food, even meat. According to Lola, only the purity and innocence of a child's blood can make her forget the cruelty and vileness of her life.

### Nature

Lamia are creatures who spend their lives burdened by horrible sins. Even a lamia shapeshifter feels the burden of bad deeds committed in the past. This drives them to devour children as they desire peace from their torment. A child's innocent blood is the only thing the lamia can eat and so hunger enhances their pain which makes it harder to resist the desire to devour a child. However not all lamia may feel like this as Nox, the first real lamia seen so far, seemed to have no problem with eating Travis and looked forward to it.

### Physical Description

Lamia are similar to manticores with the body of a predatory cat and the face of a human. Lamia also possess snake characteristics including a serpentine tail and grey scales which cover their bodies. Hal described a lamia as looking like a snake which had swallowed a cat. A lamia's body and legs are slimmer and more lithe than a manticore's but they are just as strong and powerful as the woodland monsters. A lamia's humanoid face is beautiful with long silver hair. When a lamia drinks enough blood her body becomes golden.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Speed:** A lamia's body is filled with strong muscles. According to myth, a lamia is the swiftest of creatures and can easily overtake her prey.
* **Strength:** Lamia are powerful creatures and their strong muscles can easily break a human's neck.
* **Enhanced senses:** Like manticores, lamias have enhanced senses which allow them to track their prey.

* **Fangs:** Like the vampires of pop culture, lamias have sharp fangs which they use to extract and drain the blood of children. Their fangs can also use their fangs to extract poison from the bloodstream.

## Known Lamia

* Nox
* Lola(shapeshifter)

## History

### Origin

Lamiau were created along with other magical creatures at the beginning of New Earth. The lamiau' terrible nature and thirst for the blood of children suggests that they were created as a common enemy to bring different species together to fight against the threat that a lamia posed.

### Island of Fog Legacies

#### The Unicorn Hunters

One of the captured creatures is a lamia.

## Old Earth Mythology

In Old Earth mythology, the first lamia and the species' namesake was a queen of Libya and the demigoddess daughter of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Lamia's beauty attracted the attention of Zeus, king of the gods. They wed and had many children. Yet Lamia's happiness would not last. Zeus's jealous and cruel wife, Hera, goddess of marriage, discovered the marriage and killed Lamia's children in front of the queen. Hera then cursed Lamia to never again close her eyes, forcing her to relive the horrible experience for the rest of her life. Lamia was then thrown into the desert with a broken heart. Zeus tried to help by granting Lamia the power to pluck her eyes out, giving her a break from the horrors of her children's death and gain the ability to tell prophecy. This was not enough to quell the poor woman's rage. Her terrible fury combined with the magic she inherited from her mother turned Lamia into a horrible monster with a cat-like body, bear claws, a goat's hind legs, a horse's tail and a hide covered in dragon scales. She retained her beautiful face. In other myths she kept her beautiful upper body but her legs became a hideous serpent tail. Some legends claim that Zeus also granted Lamia the power to temporarily transform into her human form.

To get her revenge on the gods, Lamia hunted children and devoured them. She was said to be the swiftest of animals and could easily run down her prey. Lamia would sometimes wander near the shores of Libya to look for shipwrecked sailors. Once her prey was in sight, Lamia sang a haunting melody which put the men into a deep sleep, allowing Lamia to drain them of their blood.

Somehow, Lamia had other daughters who resembled her shape and nature. The myth evolved and the lamiae(plural for lamia) became alluring succubus/vampire-like monsters. These lamiae had their mother's characteristics but were also stupid and lazy. In some versions, Lamia are ogresses with magic powers and like the witch Baba Yaga, they were crucial to a hero's quest. Some mothers in ancient times said that the lamiae would eat children who misbehaved.