Harpies

Bird folk living in coastal settlements

Physiology
Harpies are bird folk found on coastal islands in the north and south of Hegan. All female, they reproduce with humanoids of mammalian or avian descent that they capture during breeding season – only the offspring is always a harpy. They prize beauty above all else and their culture is largely based around that ideal. Having intelligence comparable to humans, harpies are a sentient species. However, they live in isolated societies of 50 to 200 and don’t see much change or developments. Harpies trade or raid merchant ships as well as fish and farm for food. They trade foods and silk to merchant in return for goods. They prize and trade for pretty things (jewelry, art, pets and other things they can’t get themselves). Harpies fly south for winter as many migratory birds do. Harpies in the east are hunted by silver flame, and have a more advanced society than other harpies by necessity. They are neutral evil, and put themselves before others, often not caring about the lives of those they do not see as equals. Their main trading partners are Lepersarium, Greybank, Creston, and the Elven Lands.

Harpies are all female. They reproduce by mating with male humanoids. Harpies prefer elves and humans, occasionally using halflings and tieflings, and rarely if ever using other races. The mating is hardly ever consensual, often involving the male being overpowered or enthralled by the harpy’s song. Some harpies will mate up to 5 times in their lives, while others will mate only once. Harpies lay their eggs after about 4 months, and incubate them for another 50 days afterwards. Incubation is non-communal, although other harpies in the flock will bring food to the mother and keep her company during the process. Harpies lack down feathers to keep the eggs warm, and will often wrap them in blankets and place them near small fires to keep the eggs warm. The eggs shells are fairly thin, but the harpies incubating inside are very resilient to external sources, including minor trauma and variations in temperature. Harpies reach physical maturity by 13 years, though their fairly isolated culture, incredible memory, and capacity for learning allows them to reach emotional and mental maturity by around 8 years. Harpy hatchlings are raised communally and learn to fly by age 2. Harpies rarely live past 60 years.

Harpies average 6 inches shorter than humans, sitting at 5’2”, and have less variation; it is uncommon for a harpy to be more than 2 inches above or below average height. Harpies look predominantly human. They have the lower legs and wings of a vulture, and their lower arms have a similar appearance to their legs with scales and talons, albeit with smaller claws, more dexterity, and three fingers and a thumb. The scales range from a golden colour, to shades of grey, to white or black. Harpies’ wings sprout from their shoulder blades and extend to a 16 foot wingspan. Their wings give them an extra height of 1 foot when folded up.

Harpies have two colours in their wings: primary and secondary. Primary colours include shades of grey, white, black, very light or dark blue, dark red, and occasionally green. Primary colours consist of most of the wings. Secondary colours include shades of grey, black, white, blue, red, green, and occasionally purple. Secondary colours consist of either speckles or stripes on the wing, or small groups of feathers. The pattern on the wings is hereditary, differing only slightly between mother and daughter. The underside of the wing will always be lighter than the top. Colours are passed down hereditarily from both the harpy and the father. A harpy will always have one colour that its mother had, while the species and genetic make-up of the father (such as hair/skin/scale colour) will determine the other colour. A harpy’s hair is one of the colours of its wings, though often slightly darker. Wing characteristics often match the habitat of the harpy, though not to the extent where one could identify a harpy’s home based on its wing colour; variation is more dependent on the characteristics of the potential fathers in the region than the environment itself.

Isolated Culture
Flocks live on islands, often ones with tall cliffs that prevent those without wings from trespassing. They dig/find caves or build small shelters of wood, foliage, mud, and rope on cliff sides or in trees. There are many large communal buildings (much the same as a human settlement), but each harpies will live in its own nest. Nests are small, but are heavily decorated. Harpies love to fill their houses with trinkets and pretty things. It’s not uncommon to have all the walls of a nest covered in hanging fabrics or paintings or to have furniture and trinkets filling the space. Nest floors are always bare, and a harpy would wreck any rugs with its sharp talons. Harpies often trade amongst each other for decorations that suit their own nest. Harpies carry currency only to trade with merchant ships, not each other. They acquire this currency from raiding, and they will not sell their possessions, only trade them.

Harpies mainly eat fish and fruit. They grow the fruit on their islands and fish from the seas. Harpies do not keep livestock, though they sometimes trade for foods exotic to their culture from merchant ships. Harpies have no qualms about eating passing humanoids or even carrion. In some cases, cannibalism occurs, but only when a harpy has died, often in battle; cannibalism is never preceded by murder. Harpies follow a practice of not wasting any resources if they can help it. If a boat is completely raided, harpies will strip the wood from the sinking vessel for reuse.

Harpies do not mourn death for long. No funerals occur, and bodies are tossed into the ocean, left on merchant ships, or consumed. Harpies do not have particularly close relationships with each other, stemming from the lack of need for other harpies for reproduction – they have no biological attraction to or dependence on other harpies. Harpy relationships are closer to business partners or coworkers than friends or family, though close personal relations do sometimes occur. Harpies are more likely to avenge themselves if they are wounded by a foe than to avenge their fallen comrades. They do mourn if their children are killed, though the treatment of the bodies differs only in that the mother will not cannibalize her young.

While there are no specific laws in harpy society, acts of murder, theft, destruction/damage of property, and permanent injury and scarring are often met with harsh consequences. Harpies do not prohibit slavery, but it is seem as a strange and unnecessary act that often leads to social outcasting.

If violence breaks out, a harpy will try to avoid marring the face of its adversary. To damage the face of a harpy is a great insult, especially if scarring should occur. This practice carries over when a harpy fights a different species.

Festivals and celebrations are limited. Harpies like the full moon, and have a festival each month on the night of the full moon. The moon is viewed as a thing of great beauty and is a popular theme amongst many nests. Other celebrations include bountiful raids.

Harpies worship no gods, having have been created by a deity’s curse, they decide to trust in only themselves. Harpies understand the power of the gods, and some harpies will worship a deity for a short while to acquire a service. They treat this as a trade of goods and services, not devotion. For example, a harpy might make a series of offerings to Annaliese to exact revenge on an individual who caused harm to her.

Harpies wear clothing that accommodates their wings: they often wear robes made from a single long rectangle of fabric with a hole in the center for the head and a belt or sash holding it in place. Ceremonial garb worn by elders or by common harpies for celebratory purposes often include more complex forms of clothing less accommodating to wings. Another harpy often must assist the wearer in putting the clothing on. Harpies don’t often wear headdresses due to the risk of them falling off during flight, though helmets are worn in battle. Shoes are never worn due to harpies’ claws.

While most harpies raid or trade with vessels, they also perform a variety of other activities. Farming, fishing, weaving, and artistry are common. In their pursuit for beauty, harpies try to create beauty themselves. While some of content to merely decorate their homes with goods from vessels, others paint, write, sculpt, or write music. These goods are kept, traded amongst other harpies, or traded to merchant ships. Harpies make their own clothing by weaving silk from carefully cultivated silkworms, and though they often acquire dyes from merchant vessels, the craftsmanship is superb. Harpy clothing can fetch quite a price, and many merchant ships will trade valuable goods to harpies for it

Although the vast majority of harpies stay on their islands, some do venture to the mainland. Some harpies are curious, some don’t want to wait for passing ships to acquire certain items, and on the rare occasion a harpy might be exiled. Harpies that stray from their flocks are often very cautious, and are incredibly slow to trust others. It doesn’t help that many people are scared of harpies, while others are offended at how closely these inherently evil creatures resemble lawful good celestials. Harpies often have trouble entering towns not only due to their appearance, but also due to their lack of knowledge of customs and laws. However, smaller towns near trade-heavy harpy flocks sometimes accept the presence of harpies and welcome their business.

Raiders and Merchants
Harpies usually prefer a peaceful option when trying to acquire goods. They hate wasting the lives of their fellow harpies (though they do not value the lives of others often). Small ships will be raided, but any ship that appears dangerous will be approached with caution with intent to trade. When raiding, harpies often land on the vessel and demand offerings, rather than attack the sailors outright. If resistance is met, violence will ensue. The exception is most elves, especially female elves, as harpies sometimes see them as creatures of equal beauty to themselves, and they would prefer to not bring harm to them. This can occur with some other races as well, but much less commonly. If the vessel is in a bad situation (stormy seas, in poor repair, sinking) harpies will sometimes launch an attack before attempting contact.

Harpies are often looking for specific things to add to their nests, but exceptionally pretty things will often catch their eyes. Harpies know every detail of their nests, and can recall everything they have to offer as trade. They will leave the vessel and return with things the potential buyer is interested in, or coin if it is wanted instead.

Harpies have incredible memory, and not only do they know every inch of their nest, but they will recognize any traders they come across a second time, and often remember their names. Harpies will never attack a merchant who has made good trades with them before, and thus those merchant are often hired to travel on vessels travelling through harpy territory. Many harpies know three or more languages, depending on where they live.

Warfare varies from nest to nest. Some nests specialize in ranged warfare, especially those with access to guns and crossbows. Other harpies wield melee weapons, most commonly spears. Most harpies carry small shrapnel explosives that they use to wound their foes without damaging goods in the ship’s hold. Harpies rarely use fire, for risk of damaging those goods. Shields are rarely employed, but when they are they are often large, light, wooden shields used for blocking arrows and other ranged attacks. Harpies will often drop their shields as soon as they land, preferring to fight with two hands. Whichever weapons are chosen, harpies tend to fight from a range to avoid risk of injury and disfigurement, but can be brutal up close with their claws if need be. Harpies fight using either hit and run tactics, or blitz attacks, and tire quickly when exposed to prolonged combat.

Harpies attack vessels in groups of 4 to 10. If a harpy becomes too injured, it will retreat slightly and watch its companions battle, helping as it can from the backlines. If too many harpies are wounded or killed, they will all retreat, abandoning the raid. When defending their nest from invaders, harpies will exhibit the same tactics, valuing their lives above their material goods.

Harpies wear armour made of leather and other light materials, sometimes with small pieces of metal attached; they need to stay fairly light in order to fly. Their bones are semi-hollow and quite brittle but the weight reduction allows harpies to fly more easily.

Magic is almost never used in battle. Only a few harpies, all of them sorcerers acquiring their magic by accident, have ever been recorded as using magic is battle. Harpy flocks often have at least one arcanist, usually an elder, but she often only knows divination spells, and uses them to alert the flock of danger. In some flocks, a sufficiently powerful arcanist will peer at incoming vessels and identify them as merchant or warship, attempt to recognize any individuals or insignias, and decide whether the vessel should be raided, traded with, or ignored.