Harpía
Description
[Warning: Explicit Content]Harpía, Harpy or Man-Eaters are just a few of the names assigned to these predatory single-sex bird-women. Their origin is contested, especially one variant told by the followers of Helőre and contested by those of Sárbolc. It is no secret that the Divinities can be cruel or uncaring towards mortals, sometimes they simply follow their instincts. It is said that the first Harpy Matriarch was a beautiful sárbolszégian woman who drew the eye of the Deceiver himself. But as she was already married she refused his advances. The rest cannot be said in any elegant way, as he forced himself on her. Devastated, hurt and disillusioned she ran from home and tried to jump of a cliff. But as she fell Helőre took pity on her and gave her flight. So she became the first of the harpies, but while she was shown pity, hate still burned in her heart like a piece of coal. She retained her beautiful voice, allowing her to lure in others with her beautiful song, and take advantage of them to rape the menfolk as she was used once. She also took every opportunity to deface monuments and images dedicated to the Gods who forced her in her terrible position. She taught the same to her off-spring, who do the same to this day still. They are hateful creatures, but with a tragic origin. Harpies resemble women with wings sprouting from their backs and legs that end in taloned feet. Typically these resemble the wings and talons of a vulture, although there are a wide variety of harpy subspecies resembling other avian species. Harpies are not cleanly creatures, and as a rule one can gauge just how dangerous a given specimen is by the rankness of her odour. The more successful a huntress she is, the more layers of gore cake into her feathers and the fouler she smells. Indeed, among the more social varieties of harpy, an individual's stench is one of the most important factors determining her place in the pecking order. A harpy's den is one of the foulest places in all the world, second only to the immediate vicinity outside a Harpy's den. While the remains of past victims will litter both inside and out, a Harpy at least has the decency not to relieve herself inside her own den. Of course, the most well-known hallmark of the harpy is her enchanting song. No matter how vile and hideous a harpy's visage is, her song is capable of entrancing an individual and bending them to her will. This song can be used to lure prey away from companions and into an ambush, or to leave the victim so captivated that they walk off a cliff in their distraction. As a single-sex species they are reliant on human males, but this is no trouble for them as they are also carnivores. Often they combine the two needs in a single gory activity. Men are just a slab of meat to them, that may incidentally also grant them off-spring at times. When a prey is incapacitated, harpies often start competing and showing off to determine the pecking order, and who gets to mount and feed first. One month after mating, a harpy will lay a clutch of two to four eggs, which hatch three months later. Members of the aerie take turns warming the eggs, allowing the mother to go out and hunt. After hatching, baby harpies reach adolescence at ten years of age, and full adulthood at seventeen, often helping to raise their younger sisters until they are old enough to have children of their own.
Intelligence and Behavior
Harpies are social creatures, who band together in large tribes known as aeries. While aeries have a loose hierarchy based on stench, physical size, and other dominance cues, there is rarely a centralized leadership and harpies demonstrate a remarkable cooperative spirit unless directly competing for a resource. From time to time however, tribes may band together behind a singularly strong individual, called a Harpy Matriarch. Harpies have strong maternal instincts, and have even been known to adopt human girls at times. Even if they cannot participate in the song and hunt, they are still treated with the same tenderness as a harpy child. Occasionally there have been reports of soldiers who have cleared out a nest of harpies, only to find a blood-splattered child crying for her lost 'family'.Statistics
[5th Edition D&D]For regular harpies, refer to the Monster Manual.
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