The Erinyes

Alecto, Goddess of Anger

Siblings: The Gigantes and the Meliae

The **Erinyes**, also known as the **Furies**, were female chthonic deities of vengeance; they were sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses".

## Description

A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath". Their number varies, but most commonly there were said to be three. Each one was sometimes represented as avenging a certain type of crime, such as murder, marital infidelity, or patricide. The Erinyes are well known for being relentless and persistent for they will not rest until they have caught the perpetrator nor will they cease until the culprit is broken in mind, body, and soul.

The Erinyes are crones and, depending upon authors, described as having snakes for hair, dog's heads, coal black bodies, bat's wings, and bloodshot eyes. When they are angered their skin is said to turn charcoal black, but when appeased it becomes white. In their hands they carry brass-studded scourges, and their victims die in torment.

## Members

* Alecto ("unceasing") was charged with punishing those who committed moral crimes as anger, especially when used against others, and was the goddess of Anger.
* Megaera ("grudging") was the goddess of Jealousy; she punished those who had committed crimes such as cheating and adultery.
* Tisiphone ("vengeful destruction") was the third sister and the goddess of Vengeance, punishing those who have committed the crimes of murder: patricide (killing leaders or your father), fratricide (killing your brother) and homicide.

## Common Powers and Abilities

**Afterlife Traveling:** The Erinyes can travel between the living world and the land of the dead, freely and safely navigating both the life and afterlife side and any adjacent dimensions connecting the two.

**Curse Inducement:** The Erinyes can place a curse, a negative supernatural effect, on whatever they wish (people, places, objects, etc.). The exact effects can be nearly anything the Erinyes desires, ranging from minor annoyances to tortuously extended death.

**Disease Generation:** The Erinyes can generate diseases and viruses, including mixing illnesses together or creating completely new ones, whether by drawing them from already existing sources or by manifesting them anywhere they want.

**Famine Inducement:** The Erinyes can cause famine on any scale including; a region, country continent, planet or as extreme as a universe. Even is used on a miniscule scale, it can ultimately cause global disruption.

**Fear Aura:** The Erinyes can project an aura of fear, intimidation, submission and terror. The effect may be caused by purely physical or mental means, or a combination of both. This aura of fear can amplify/induce fear on beings inside the Erinyes' aura.

**Madness Aura:** The Erinyes carry an aura of madness and insanity, which allows them to drive others insane and create barriers of madness energy. The Erinyes may be able to gain power from peoples madness and expand their aura over a bigger area.

**Fear Inducement:** The Erinyes can evoke and increase fear and horror in others causing the target’s brain to release fear-inducing chemicals. The target’s perception may be altered, causing them to see their environment as ominous and the Erinyes as dark and foreboding, or even as a monster.

**Flight:** The Erinyes can fly or otherwise perform independent movement in a gaseous atmosphere or vacuum. Some possibilities include using one or more forms of energy, wings or similar structures, harnessing anti-gravitons, or even mimicking or becoming an animal that can fly. The Erinyes are generally able to Levitate, Slide, and Glide as well.

**Levitation:** The Erinyes can cause oneself, subjects and objects to hover or float in the air unassisted; allowing the user to seamlessly float; into the air and prevent their bodies from; making contact; with the ground below.

**Wing Manifestation:** The Erinyes have or is able to manifest wings that grow or are attached to the body allowing flight. They may also protect from rear attacks or detach and re-grow for quick getaways.

**Lesser Divinity:** The Erinyes have a minor portion of divinity and divine powers granting them stronger amounts of power beyond the mundane but still weaker then those of full divinity, making the Erinyes a minor divine being by nature, a status which can be obtained a number of different ways. The Erinyes can gain this lower divinity by having a divine ancestry, transform into a minor deity or other divine being either by another god or by faith, channels, acts as a vessel for, the power/soul of a divine being, mimic/steal powers from a divine being, or be enhanced/evolved to the point of minor divinity.

**Mental Inducement:** The Erinyes is able to cause the target's mind/brain to convert into a desired state, causing short-term change in emotions, sensations, memories, etc. The exact length of the effect depends on both the Erinyes' skill and power and the target's mental state, as they're not directly manipulating them but putting the target into a condition of self perspective.

**Punishment:** The Erinyes can physically, mentally, or spiritually punish any being for breaking the rules or the law depending on the circumstances of the offense. The Erinyes can either banish, kill, or torment the victims with various forms of powers. When the law or rules are broken, the Erinyes' power of punishment can be absolute and unrelenting.

**Tormentor:** The Erinyes are tormentors; beings that pays evil unto evil. Inflicting an unspecific amount of pain and suffering for an unspecific amount of time due to all the evil the targets have committed. Ranging from minor torment to full blown torture of every kind. Sometimes this power comes as a natural skill to beings such as demons and Satan.

**Vengeance Embodiment:** The Erinyes can become an embodiment of vengeance, often gaining power from the vengeful feelings of both themselves and those around them.