Harpies

**Harpies** are a mortal species on the world of Morpheus. Harpy is the common term used to refer to a woman whom is half woman half bird. They are usually seen as vicious and cunning creatures but not all can be painted by the same brush.

## **Anatomy**

Harpies are thought to be a mixture of woman and bird. They have feathers all over their bodies, mostly on the arms to form their wings, down their legs, on their spines and on the back of their legs. Their legs formed sharp taloned feet, which makes them deadly weapons in combat, and they can have sickly looking skin and sharp eyes.

Half blood harpies are thought to appear more human in appearance, but always keep the wings and the talons to set them apart from the ordinary.

## **Personality Traits**

Harpies are a mixture of cunning and traitorous by superstition and hearsay, but what is known is that they are very smart creatures able to think quickly. They are very knowledgeable, and may sometimes be approached for information, but be warned that all information comes with its own price.

Those who are not raised in the flock tend to be calmer and kinder, as the separation of kinship removes the prejudice of their fellows.

## **Magic Ability and Powers**

Most harpies are Maori, though some are Caoul, but when they do use magic it is usually always concerning death and disease of other life forms.:

* Harpies have a power to manipulate disease in the human body, however the disease already has to be present, and cannot be man made, only being able to play on natural forming illnesses.
* Harpies are Witches mostly, and use spells and enchantments to channel their magic and work well with hexes and curses.
* Some harpies are also very adept in healing magic, because they have a rare mastery of the illness of the body that few races study in so much detail.

## **Location**

Harpies tend to live in the mountains in flocks, or in high abandoned places. They are sometimes known to be scavengers, picking on the remains of civilisations long since dead and buried. They learn the magics and histories of these places, storing the knowledge for their own use

Some harpies are known to travel around Morpheus on their own seeking such knowledge, but they tend to keep mostly to themselves.

## **Life Cycle**

### **Birth & Childhood**

Harpies are born from eggs, like other bird species. The woman will lay the egg, she will often steal the semen of another species in order to fertilise her eggs before leaving the male behind to have them. When the chick is hatched, they will first learn how to hunt and survive from the parent and the flock for their early years. But whose who do not adapt quickly do not tend to survive as long. They are not born with many feathers.

### **Youth and Teen-Years**

As they get older they will come into their plumage, the colour of their feathers depending on a lot of different factors including genetics, diet and surroundings. They will also grow more feathers for protection if they are in a cold environment. The harpy will begin to learn, going with their flock to different places to learn the ways of magic, witchcraft and lore before they decide whether or not to set out on their own.

### **Adulthood**

In their adult years the harpy will be something of an expert in Witchcraft, and their feathers will have completely grown and come into being. They will then decide whether they want to stay with their flock, search for another and head out on their own, like any other species they may wish to find their own path.

### **Senior Years**

In their senior years their feathers will start to fall from their skin as they get older, and they will become more haggard in appearance. Their hair will start to change colour to grey, the same way that a humans often will, and their features will become noticeable sharper and more birdlike. During this time they will often find a flock to settle in when they die.

### **Death & Burial**

When a harpy dies the body is usually picked clean for magic and knowledge by their fellows. They are after all scavengers, and waste nothing. However the harpy that has not been brought up in this kind of environment will likely be buried according to the custom of the land they have chosen to settle on. For not all of them are suited to the life of the Witch and scavenger.

### **Relations**

Because of their dark and vulture like nature, Harpies are generally not well looked upon by other races. They are seen as cunning tricksters, dangerous and to be avoided. This is not without reason, as they have a reputation for doing just that. However they are intelligent and wise beings, and their intellect and demure is not something to be disregarded so easily. They are also seen as ill omens in some places, thought to carry disease and decay with them.

With each other flocks tend to band together under the leadership of a Matriarch, and she will be the one responsible for deciding what the flock does and where it goes next. Harpies on their own have to learn to survive in a world against this kind of prejudice.

### **Religion**

Harpies are Witches, and therefore will usually worship deities that have to do with cult magic, such as death, disease, and spell craft. Some who use lighter magic will look to lighter and kinder gods.

They are also known to worship some cult deities long forgotten to the rest of the world.

### **Sex & Mating**

Harpies will usually steal the semen of a human male, and use spell craft and ritual in order to become pregnant and lay their eggs. They are almost exclusively female, a male harpy being known by something else and a very rare thing indeed.

### **Genetic Weaknesses & Strengths**

Harpies are lightweight, and like birds they are capable of moving very fast and with great agility. They have sharp talons, and these can be used in a physical attack to cause some heavy damage if angered, especially in greater numbers.

## **Notable Classes**

* Witches - Most Harpies are witches, working with ritual, spell craft and hexes. Few know the knowledge of spell craft better than harpies, who spend much of their lives collecting knowledge from peoples and civilisations long forgotten, containing magic that has also been lost.

## **Sub-Species**

### **Hybrids**

Sometimes, when a ritual is not preformed for birth, like when a Harpy genuinely loves the male and conceives and gives birth naturally, the child will be born with more human like features. They will be softer, with not as many feathers. They will still have the same adeptness at magic and taloned feet and wings. However they will not live as long.

## **Family's / Clans / Tribes**

Is there any famous/royal family's or tribes amongst the race?

### **Notable Characters**

Notable playable characters, Link wikia profiles.

## **History & Advancement**

Harpies are thought to be the invention of woman and bird, the first harpy being made when a witch cast a spell to make herself and her coven more bird like so that they could fly away from the persecution of witch craft by humans. They fled to the hills, and swore to themselves that they would gather all the lost magics in the world so that they did not fall to the hands of ignorant men.

In the present day, most tend to avoid the flocks, seeing them as dangerous and those who approach without invitation foolhardy. Most harpies that are seen are those who are more human like, or those who have chosen to travel about on their own.

## **Meta-Information**

Harpy is a playable race, but make sure to ask before you manipulate the disease of another player.