Hag
Hags are dreadful witches with a terrible past and ancient origins, evil fey linked to primal elements whose vile magic and enigmatic malevolence haunt fairy tales and nightmares. Hags, who take on the shapes of unattractive old ladies, are equal parts awful and horrible, encapsulating everything it meant to be ugly on the inside and out. They are the polar opposite of most Feywild inhabitants, since they are distorted projections of civilized humans who represent nature at its most repulsive.
Hags are embodiments of malice and malignancy, paragons of depravity who revel in inflicting sorrow and tragedy on the good and content. Petty, avaricious, cunning, cruel, repulsive, and tyrannical are just a few of the descriptive words that come to mind. Hags are known to enjoy their moral and physical ugliness, as well as the fear that it evokes, and to be repulsed by the beautiful to the point of disfiguring people who are lovely, demonstrating their flipped sense of worth. Despite reflecting the worst and most violent aspects of nature, hags nevertheless disturb the natural order, as they are wretched creatures of disdain and hatred.
Even for near-eternal beings, hags' decision-making may be baffling, and it's nearly difficult to anticipate how they'll act at any one time, let alone during any given day. Even more perplexing is the fact that hags are guardians of forbidden information that would be better left forgotten, yet they are hungry creatures and so usually keep it to themselves. Their knowledge, whether gained through dark divinations, arcane pacts, or other hags, is terrifying and makes them much more dangerous than they already are.
It's crucial to remember that even if a hag appears nice, or at the very least ambiguous, hags don't care about anyone's ideas or wants but their own. Hags, like cantankerous grandmothers, have an opinionated intransigence against individuals younger than themselves, openly and brutally expressing whatever notion comes to mind. These might be sexual jokes or comments made at their expense, or more menacing asides about different ways in which they can be injured, and hags are not afraid to follow through on these threats if provoked.
Hags' plans are patient, their webs of deception vast, and their knowledge of mortal vices, as well as how to use them, extensive. They sometimes want to destroy a benign society or a beautiful creature, and other times they want to bring about a net positive for the world, such as the defeat of a demon or rival hag coven. The ultimate game behind a hag's behaviors and requests, even the most basic ones, may not appear for decades under certain situations, but they almost definitely entail acquiring leverage for some clearly nefarious scheme. Even nasty creatures like hags have been known to express care for things other than themselves, with some even going so far as to show motherly devotion to others, but this is by no means a typical occurrence, nor does it necessitate that such hags be generally benevolent or proud of this fact.
Despite their numerous faults, hags are not only willing but also eager to make deals with others, but not out of real benevolence. The nefarious busybodies delight in poking their noses into other people's affairs and pitching agreements that require one to either sacrifice one's ideals or do something that renders the transaction eventually unprofitable. The deal is the most delectable way for a hag to murder a mortal since they are participating in their own beautiful degradation, making it far more pleasurable than plain violence or outright tyranny.
Hags and fiends can be likened in terms of bargaining behavior, since both utilize their vast wealth to make bargains with mortals in order to corrupt them, but there is a significant distinction between the two. Fiends generally make agreements with mortals to get the soul, a strong and versatile commodity that offers them higher prestige, with the mortal's indoctrination into a specific nasty ethos serving as the method of gaining it. The emotional condition of their targets at the conclusion isn't always a concern for the diabolical corrupter.
Unlike fiends, hags approach the deal as a hobbyist, delighting in corrupting humans for the pleasure of making others suffer while being unconcerned about their own cosmic fate. Obviously, this was not always the case; fiends relish pain and agony, while hags are known to make agreements for simply pragmatic reasons, even if it does not actively destroy anyone's life.
Hags have at least one fatal flaw - hubris. Hags consider themselves to be the most clever of all beings, and view practically all other species, notably humans and demihumans, as inferiors. While they are incredibly intelligent, their confidence may lead them to mistakenly expose something during conversation that the more careful would not.
If one had to negotiate a bargain with a hag, the optimum moment, if such a thing existed, is when one can provide the hag with something they need or want. Part of the hag's pay for any given job is the other party's pain, thus providing them something they actually want makes the situation more about satisfying their avarice than their sadism. Because hags are not shy about expressing themselves, it is easy to tell when one desires to have or see anything, such as a strange spell, magical item, or somebody with strange magical skills, grabbing the object from the holder's hands to examine it more thoroughly. They will sniff, shake, taste, feel, and hear the object, whether it was a human or not, before putting a mental value on it.
A hag will pay a premium price for a bribe that is either unusual or valuable, or at least enough to a rival that she wouldn't want her to have it. This may take the shape of releasing hostages or providing desired information about local legends, malevolent monsters, or mystery magic, and such negotiations are unlikely to end badly. Even better is giving the hag a present without expecting anything in return, especially if the service is provided outside of any negotiating context. The nasty fey despises being in debt to others, and while this type of service is less predictable, it is also less likely to constitute a trap. Even if a contract made with her is easy, appears kind, or is genuinely fair with no strings attached and no harm to anybody around her, a hag's motivations remain hidden and cryptic.
Hags' skills are as varied as they are, but there area few things they all have in common. The hags' frail appearance belies their extraordinary power and speed, since the crones can crush lesser beings one-handed and leap over obstacles with ease. They all have some type of magic, and they are all inherently resistant to it. They are all capable of producing illusions to mask their actual forms. Hags also understand a variety of curses and other terrible practices that enable them to scry, prophesy, influence the weather, and curse people who irritate them.
When hags aren't interested in bargaining and just want to hurt someone, they frequently disguise themselves as human or demihuman ladies, young or elderly but typically defenseless, or as beasts like orcs or Hobgoblin. If her targets are more powerful or numerous than she expected, or if she knows they are too powerful to face directly, a hag will prolong the masquerade to make her victims more susceptible, such as by luring them into a trap or convincing them to make rash judgments. This strategy usually ends with her exposing her true nature and assaulting the victims while they are still alive.
Hags are also known to employ certain magic artifacts they possess on them, whether they have meant to use them from the start or decide to do so afterwards, and given the nature of hags, it is hard to predict what precise tricks they will have up their sleeves. In normal conditions, these resources will be used sparingly, but if their lives are in danger, they will use anything to save themselves. It is preferable to have squandered a valuable resource and live long enough to replenish it than to die and lose everything they have.
Hags usually have at least three escape plans in mind from their lair, one for general dangers and the other two for more specific scenarios such as specific hazards or enemy attacks, in case they get outmatched or just need to flee the premises immediately. These schemes include innate magic, supernatural artifacts and procedures, deception, and the assistance of others. Even if the original mortal is long gone, they will plot to exact icy retribution on the interlopers or their family after escape.
However, before even reaching that stage, hags who are made aware of a severe threat employ every dirty trick in the book to obtain the upper hand. When confronted with a really dangerous force, they prey on braggarts or the merciful in order to be spared, or at the very least buy time. They deceive, bribe, cajole, humiliate, seduce, intimidate, split, and otherwise exploit their opponents in whatever way they think will succeed, depending on shrewdness honed by experience to overcome superior opposition. For instance, a hag could give her assailants some hidden information or a magical item in return for their lives, but withholding portions of the identity or giving instructions that backfire.
Typically, a mortal will have to initiate hostilities because hags prefer to battle those who are unable to defend themselves rather than fight fairly, attacking the weak or asleep rather than the strong and awake. Though a hag's claws are powerful weapons, their favors have defeated many more foes, and if they are resorting to their nails, it means something severe has gone wrong.
When hags make deals with mortals, the full implications are frequently veiled, and the deal-maker in issue may even experience success for a period of time until a downside emerges. Those who come to them may discover that a feature bestowed on a loved one has grown excessive, has caused another defect in them, or has produced a scenario in which the mortal is reliant on the hag. A hag's main negotiating technique is desperation, with the common feature in the bulk of their interactions being that others seek them out for aid even when they are aware of their wicked ways out of sheer necessity. Hags seldom seek out humans to trade with because their drive to make offers and enforce agreements is surpassed by their desire to be in positions of power, which she earns when someone comes to her rather than the other way around. This is especially advantageous if the visitor doesn't want to be seen interacting with the hags, because they are known to sweeten agreements by introducing obvious exploitable flaws, adding time pressure to her list of benefits.
Even if there is strong evidence of a hag's harmful impact on others' life or popular talk in a community, they will still get visitation from people naïve enough to assume she will act altruistically. Some attempt to invoke the hag code of behavior, unaware that people outside the sisterhood are not afforded the same courtesy, albeit the hag in question may play along for a time before exposing the invoker's stupidity. There are those rare few who continue to trade with hags and whose dealings each hag remembers down to the letter because they believe they are brighter, have fewer distorted desires, or are just less selfish than others before them. A hag's chosen village will run out of compassion after years of gently corrupting mortals one by one, and the people become gloomy and unfriendly towards strangers as a result of their own sorrow. However, hags don't completely extinguish all hope in a community; by offering the tiniest glimmer of hope that she might undo some of her heinous deeds, hags maintain control over the communities they corrupt, and local leaders do everything they can to prevent outsiders from attempting to defeat her.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Some people have the idea that there are only five types of hags. Another aspect that many people are unaware of is that hags may metamorphose into different ethnicities of hags. The reasons for this might be anything; some people believe that through transforming into various types of hags, they will eventually become something bigger. Some hags simply live long enough to complete the metamorphosis by force of will over time, while others use specific tools, such as a ritual or coven, to expedite the process.
Hags are virtually all different in terms of appearance and demeanor, yet they share a lot of physical characteristics. Hags are typically described as crooked crone-like ladies who are wrinkled and withered, with blotchy skin disfigured by warts and moles. Their talon-like nails are as strong as steel and as sharp as razors, and their mouths are packed with sharp, blackened fangs and vile breath. Their wrinkled features are ringed by long, ragged hair, yet even though their faces are heavy with hatred, the glint of cunning villainy can be seen in their eyes.
Genetics and Reproduction
Because hags are an all-female race, they must discover other ways to procreate than the traditional techniques. There are many stories about how hags are born; some claim that they spawn from animals, such as cows with venomous milk or snake eggs kissed by virgins, while others claim that they are created artificially, such as being incubated in unhallowed coffins or being poured out of boiling blood cauldrons. The changeling is one of the most well-known hag reproduction stories.
The manner and timing of the changeling are debatable, but the overall notion is that a hag substitutes their daughters with those of other races in order to maintain their bloodline. Despite having a strong desire to reproduce, hags lack maternal instincts and only infrequently rear their offspring if they intend to utilize them in a coven. Instead, hags must go out and choose a suitable newborn kid to kill and replace with their own progeny, parasitically leeching off whichever race or culture the hag targets while sadistically watching her daughter's growth and influence on everyone around her.
According to some tales, hags will employ kidnapping, disguise, flattery, and compulsion to persuade practically any humanoid male, with humans and half-elf appearing to be favored, to lie with them every century or so. They will quickly know when they are pregnant and spend nine months in a very sleepy condition, relying on their allies to defend them but still being able to fight if necessary, after rapidly dealing with that, more often than not murdering the male afterwards as an inadvertent kindness. The female kid born at the conclusion of this phase resembles a typical member of the father's species.
Another way hags have been known to procreate is by simply swallowing human newborns after taking them from the cradle and giving birth to a normal-looking youngster. Hags are said to occasionally use this method in quick succession to kickstart their own covens, either as members or masters, or believe that eating certain types of children, such as twins, triplets, or the seventh child of a seventh child, will grant their own spawn rare magic based on ancient lore.
A further stated way is to use magic to swap their offspring with those of other races while the original kid is still in the womb, murdering the mother, who was sleeping at the time of the switch, upon birth. This story appears to be more superstitious than the others and has never been confirmed, yet considering hag access to strange magic, it's tough to dismiss their foul witchery.
For the most of their existence, a changeling seems normal, even attractive and healthy for their type, with their real nature frequently a surprise even to themselves. However, when their appearances and personalities are influenced by their genealogy, their hag background begins to surface, yet not even these bullying tendencies and other unpleasant habits are significant enough to make them resemble anything other than a particularly nasty member of their tribe.
Growth Rate & Stages
The period of time that hags stay inactive is reported to vary depending on the techniques employed to bring them into the world, but it all culminates in "the change," the final metamorphosis into one of their kind, which hags refer to as "the change." Young annis hags are often dark-skinned, powerful, and aggressive, young Green Hag attractive prima donnas, and young Sea Hag plain and pale with toxic personalities; those born after nine months typically live until their mid-forties, showing minor predilections up until that pointed towards traits foreshadowing their futures; when the juvenile reaches the mid-forties, more visible physical changes occur until the juvenile is reborn as a real hag. Young hags created from consumed children go through an abnormal adolescence much faster, with the kid only lasting until their thirteenth birthday before converting into a near physical clone of their mother.
Ecology and Habitats
A hag's lair, in whatever shape it takes, is an ugly, frightening thing that is a representation of herself, just like her appearance and power. They deliberately alter Feywild magic to make their residences match their morbid preferences and twisted senses of humor. A dead tree, a cave resembling a skull, or maybe an actual huge skull are all common symbols of corruption and death. They are also made to seem like pubs, ruined towers, mausoleums, huge coffins, and even gingerbread houses at times.
Dark, thorny woods, dismal, slogging swamps, bone-strewn glens, hazy moors, stormy seacoasts, damp caves, roaring mountains, and stinging tundras are all common haunts of hags. Specific varieties have favored habitats, although they can be found outside of them while traveling, as part of a coven with more native hags, or if a long-term strategy necessitated a protracted stay in an unknown place, the latter being the most usual option for older and more powerful hags.
Whether it is a naturally treacherous road, magical wards, or disguised prisoners to draw in the unprepared, there is always a defense mechanism in place. They build their dwellings in close proximity to mortal towns, not so close that they are a direct threat, but close enough that a continuous supply of disgruntled souls may periodically come looking for them. The most powerful hags are said to have direct control over their lairs, being able to cross through their walls and magically lock and unlock their doors and windows at will.
Particularly strong hags begin corrupting the environment in which they reside, distorting it in the same way that their own malevolence twists their abilities. The terrain becomes hostile, with trees and vines attacking and tugging passers-by away, and fog poisoning the air while concealing sinkholes and quicksand. Vermin are more common in locations where great hags live, animals are more violent against intruders, and weird statues, fetishes, and dolls are known to materialize magically.
Though hags may be found in both The Feywild and the material realms, many of them choose to live where the line between the two is blurred, allowing them to interact with beings from both worlds. Even if you ignore The Feywild, hags thrive in places where magical energy is abundant and the boundaries between worlds are blurred. A burial ground's ambient magical energy, for example, or a ring of fallen standing stones, might still contain echoes of ancient, death-related power that a hag would want to exploit.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Hags despise being tethered by others and pride themselves on their independence from the rest of the world, especially other hags. Despite their differences, all hags know one another as kindred souls, members of a deadly sisterhood with whom they are inextricably linked. Despite their dislike for one another, hags are nonetheless members of their mysterious sorority and must follow an eternal code of behavior while dealing with one another. When approaching another hag's area, they must always make an announcement, deliver presents when entering another hag's house, and uphold oaths sworn to other hags, at least as long as their fingers aren't crossed.
Hags argue and bicker like any sisters, and at their worst, these rivalries turn into century-long feuds of manipulation and counter-scheming. Because of their sisterly tie, they may reconcile if a source of mutual animosity arises, and while these relationships are frequently cold and emotionless, they are often the closest hags have to "friends." Even an utter hermit of a hag has some awareness of surrounding events, and most hags can be said to have at least some vague, secondhand information about any other hag, because all hags keep at least some contact with one another, trading secrets, gossip, and warnings through a vast network of magic, personal visits, and messengers.
This also implies that hags are aware when a member of their species is assaulted or murdered, and they can react in a variety of ways. Hags who are liked may be avenged, those who owe debts may have their obligations transferred to the murderers, and hags who are disliked or who have debts to hold over others may be joyously dispatched and the killers rewarded with courtesy. Within the species as a whole, all hags are members of a higher pecking order dictated by age, power, influence, allies, and experience. Some of these items are acquired, while others are passed down from the hag who gave birth to them, thus determining a hag's standing is far from fair. Almost every hag understands their status in this confusing hierarchical web, at least to mortal eyes, and competes in the chaotic system to increase it to a suitable level.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Most hags developed magical phenomena that may best be termed as Weird Magic over many generations. This magic manifested itself in a variety of ways, from peculiar ceremonies to magical things, all of which were bizarre and unconventional in the sense that they defied the ordinary norms of magic. It is hard to determine what type of strange magic a particular hag possesses, and even the lowest of them are known to possess some little magical ability. Rituals to alter people, briefly raise the dead, rewrite memories, steal emotions, crystallize blood, or conjure Razor Wind are just a few examples.
Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms
Despite the fact that the former lean toward virtue and the latter toward destruction, both Courts of the Fey, the Hallowed Throne and the Zephyr Throne are fans of pure beauty and so lack hags. Despite their intelligence and sorcery, hags are only tolerated as courtiers if they are weak or modest enough to disguise themselves in a less terrible disguise to avoid contaminating their surroundings. Hags are unconcerned about not being bound by the whims of a fey queen since they value personal independence. Hags, on the other hand, treat fey beings and other strong creatures in general with more regard than they do mortals. Not only are fey creatures stronger than humans, and thus more capable of injuring her if they are enraged or feel deceived in their transactions, but unlike the short-lived humanoids, they can plot retribution for generations. While this doesn't make them treat fey animals any better, because they love testing other beings' tolerance, it does help them moderate their brazen statements and pushy attitudes depending on their understanding of how much an entity can handle.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Their names are given to them by their forefathers, although they are finally chosen by the hag in question; the hag's birth name may influence the selection, and they are generally darkly whimsical. They usually start with a first name and then either a preceding title or a surname name. Last names frequently mix multiple bodily parts, animals, plants, or gross substances, whereas titles may relate to a negative personality attribute, poor sentiment, physical deformity, or matronly status. When in disguise, hags are known to go by several names, but their originally chosen title still persists as their favorite.
Major Organizations
Hags often tremble at the prospect of having to share their dwellings and will not do so under normal circumstances. If anything needs hags to present a united front, such as a shared purpose or danger that they couldn't fulfill or defeat on their own, they will band together to create one of the famed hag covens or coveys. This is only done because it forces the arguing beldames, who were, to be fair, frequently like-minded to some extent, to cope with the difficulty of living with other hags while also suppressing their inherent selfishness and treating one other as equals.
Despite their politeness, coven hags desire to strengthen their own authority, thus the third coven mate is assigned to deal with issues when the other two eventually get into a fight. Hag covens typically have three members, with each hag being a distinct sort, but any grouping of hags greater than that, with the maximum number of hags in a single coven being thirteen, invariably ends in disaster.
Nevertheless, most hags find that the benefits of creating a coven outweighs the drawbacks, therefore they are not uncommon. For one thing, hags in a coven are able to assemble more diverse armies. Whereas a single hag can manipulate the dryads in a nearby glade or coerce the local ogres into obeying her demands, a coven can marshal many different forces, with the most powerful covens capable of governing entire kingdoms, whether on or off the throne.
The other, more immediate benefit is that hags who labor in a coven have abilities that are substantially greater than anything they might attain alone by combining their unique ritual magic. Depending on what objective the hags of a coven are bending their magic towards, they may develop powers such as the capacity to scry, control the weather, command nature, generate diseases, divine the future, or influence death as long as they stay near to one other. Covens with stronger hags can exert even more influence over their immediate surroundings, but only if the hag wishes it, and only at specified times or under specific situations, depending on the hag's strength.
When a coven member is slain, the survivors attempt to resurrect the organization by holding tryouts in which hopefuls compete to show their hatred. In some respects, this is perhaps more harmful for the surrounding area in the long run than if the original hag hadn't died at all, given the region is plagued by natural and supernatural calamities. Uniquely skilled and extremely evil mortal spellcasters, such as Wizard, Sorcerer, and even Warlock, are occasionally invited or permitted to compete for a place in a coven, usually if the hags have a purpose for the peculiar member. They'll make good spies in humanoid communities, for example.
Beauty Ideals
Hags are known to augment their actual bodies, such as by sharpening their teeth to make themselves more fearsome, picking at scabs to produce weeping sores, and otherwise exacerbating their deformities with nurturing attentiveness.
If a hag needs to avoid causing total revulsion, they can use magic to disguise themselves, with the exact limitations of their illusions varying depending on the kind. Almost all varieties can take on the appearance of normal elderly ladies, but others take on the appearance of beautiful adolescents, tiny giant, and even vaguely humanoid creatures such as bears. Whatever disguise or performance they put on, such imitation will always be superficial, because all hags' physical appearances are just reflections, distorted molds of the ugliness within their own hearts.
Gender Ideals
Hags are a single gender species with all members of the species being female.
Average Technological Level
Mummified toads that spray clouds of ink, bottles of wasps that heal wounds, mirrors that burst into clouds of glass, jars of Death Slug, undeath -sensing eyeballs, or containers with memories within are all examples of strange magic goods. Not everything in a hag's house is magical; some possess magical properties, while others are weird animals, tales, and magical artifacts. Because all of a hag's treasure is strewn about her home and their organization system is incomprehensible to everyone except themselves, and is sometimes purposefully rigged to vex thieves, only the hag knows for sure what everything in their home is, does, how to use them, and the trick to using them properly, and whether they are trapped in any manner. They maintain meticulous records of everything they have, and while they accumulate great wealth, sometimes even using it to adorn the skeletons of their victims, their strange magic is much more important because there is a strong probability it can't be replicated or duplicated.
If there is one thing that can be said about hags, it is that they are incredibly inventive, and the legends about their strange modes of transportation are mostly true when it comes to travel. As a humiliating price for their agreements, they sometimes ride atop huge pigs, goats, or cows and change sentient individuals into animals like giant birds. Others arrive in and ride on huge copies of bird nests, woven baskets, and mortars, as well as clay figures, tombstones, cauldrons, and butter churns. Frequently, only the hag in question can use their mode of transportation, and they will only let another entity to use it in exchange for something incredibly important.
The mystical jewels known as Hag's Eye, constructed from gemstones of varied price and the genuine eye of a hag's victim, are an iconic aspect of hag mythology and one of their most effective inventions. Hag's Eye need a whole hag coven to make, yet the intricacies of their construction are perhaps changeable. The ritual for making a Hag's Eye is believed to take anything from an hour to three days to complete and necessitates the coven's undivided concentration. This period is spent in a profound state of concentration and meditation, which precludes them from doing anything other than eating, drinking, and sleeping, and anything that interrupts the process forces them to restart.
The life essence of all hags in the coven is bonded to the eye at the conclusion of the ritual, allowing all members of the coven to see what the eye could see, the eye being able to see in the dark. A Hag's Eye looks to be a semiprecious stone on the surface, but its actual shape is a horrible, disembodied eye. Hag's Eye aren't difficult to shatter, and doing so causes immense emotional suffering for all of the hags in the coven, as well as temporarily blinding at least one of them for an entire day. Creating a new one initially needs at least a day for the blinded coven mate to recuperate, and it must be done at least three days after the eye is destroyed, according to some stories.
Hag's Eye are frequently coated in varnish and put into pendants, rings, medallions, brooches, and other accessories before being delivered as presents or keepsakes to unsuspecting foes and victims, allowing the hag to track their every move. They're also typically provided to a hag's minions, familiars, and animal friends, who utilize them to keep an eye on their deals, assist them in patrols, and converse by mixing their effects with spells. According to reports, a single coven can have anything from one to a practically endless number of Hag's Eye, allowing them to use a magical surveillance system to maintain watch over their domains.
The seething cauldrons from which hags toil trouble are just as iconic as the Hag's Eye, blending evil ritual and cannibalistic feast into a perverted type of crazy alchemy. Within the screeching, writhing soup of primordial ooze grow horrific monsters and potions known as Hag's Brew, which are created using the same principles as a Hag's Eye. Hags participate in the filthy ceremony once a month, on the night of a full moon, which begins an hour before midnight and concludes an hour after. It makes them stay within 10 feet of each other for the whole month, and it stops them from creating Hag's Eye or utilizing their coven skills the next day.
The Brew of Black Eyes, a thick, black substance given to those sent by a hag to track something important, requires a coven of three different types of hags and a sliver of hag tongue to grant the drinker arcane sight, darkvision, and the ability to see invisibility, and then there's The Brew of the Beloved, a steaming, sickeningly delicious mist that seduces most animals that inhale it, forcing them to follow the creator coven's directions, even if the victim won't do anything if given many orders at once, and making it necessitates at least one Green Hag member. The Brew of Kreaya's Blessing is also noteworthy. It turns creatures that drink it into fiends for a week before virtually irreparably reducing their vitality.
Depending on the sort of mixture, all hag brews need the sacrifice of a sentient creature as well as a variety of other horrifying components. For example, The Brew of Black Eyes necessitates a sliver of hag tongue, The Brew of the Beloved necessitates the warty scalps of each creator as well as the hair of a dozen fair maidens, and the Brew of Kreaya's Blessing necessitates a blood-stained idol of the hag pseudo-deity as well as ample portions of the creator The brews of hags might potentially have some negative side effects. The Brew of Black Eyes causes nightmares, preventing the drinker from resting properly and allowing the hags to coerce them into telepathic conversation. On the other side, The Brew of Kreaya's Blessing makes any person who drinks it comatose for several hours and steals much more of their fortitude.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Common Dress Code
Normally hags wear simple clothing like those of female peasants, if more ragged and dirty, but not for a lack of interest in their appearance. In fact, hags are very concerned with their appearance, taking steps to ensure they are at their worst by rubbing filth onto their clothes and accessorizing their gross garb with gruesome decorations. They modify their clothes with bits of refuse, spin cloth from innards and put all manner of litter in their hair.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Hags are believed to be spiritual in that they have their own set of beliefs, the most well-known of which being The Rule of Three. The Rule of Three is a notion based on the observation that many kingdoms and strata in nature are ordered in multiples of three, and hags and other witches were known to embrace it. As previously said, everything comes in threes, good, terrible, and bizarre. Many spells are cast by repeating a word three times, and covens require at least a trio to function. Despite the fact that the earliest hags claim to have invented it or at the very least named it, hags' narcissism and lying nature make this implausible.
History
The hags are a race with such murky beginnings that all that can be known with certainty is that they began in the Feywild, and that they may have existed in some form from its birth as representations of nature's harshness. Because they are a race of egotistical boasters and downright liars, everything they claim about their alleged ancestors is at best their distorted vision and at worst an actual falsehood. They haunt folklore from many civilizations, and while there are a few common stories, determining their authenticity is difficult.
Kreaya was supposed to be linked to night hag, green hag, and annis hags, and the three varieties certainly appear to be related, but it's difficult to tell which ones are the degenerates. Willonia, a Dryad who disobeyed nature by consummating with a hunter she was supposed to punish, is said to be the original green hag, according to a narrative shared by elves and orcs alike. According to some, all hags are descended from a race of bigger Sea Hag. The Silat ethnicity can only reproduce by mating with Ogre Mage and having female children who are Silat.
The presence of "proto" races that mated with the gods to create current kinds is a common concept in giant mythology, and proto-hags are one of them. In other stories, Eruer was claimed to have married with a massive Ogre who utilized sorcery to mask her ugliness, giving birth to hags. Sikaros, the hill giant leader, was reported to have bred the different runts of early giant broods, as well as contributing to the degenerate stock by mating with various earth-bound monstrosities (including Medusa-like hags) and Kreaya herself.
Despite these varied myths, there is one hag origin narrative that encompasses not just the many green hag, annis, and Sea Hag, but also the hag proto-goddess Kreaya. For what it's worth, this tradition is backed up by a long-held story among Ogre and hill giant, which may hint at the actual origins of hags.
According to legend, numerous terrors lurked in the shadows when Valine was young and dark, and the terrified races sought protection from what went bump in the night. The moons were created in answer to these requests, along with Kreaya, a queen who could command the light. Kreaya was a silver-haired beauty whose adoration spanned the globe and who was constantly courted for her favor. She made the most pious and pleasing priestesses her daughters and bestowed upon them abilities that they were to utilize to elevate her position. To spread her good news, her prophets were given the power to walk on water, Kreaya's melodies gave her defenders the power to protect other worshipers from harm, as well as lovely voices to entice more into service. She was feared and admired in her prime, but success develops complacency, and complacency breeds failure.
Kreaya's shortcomings were visible from the moment she first arrived. She was as mercurial as the moons themselves, despite her beauty, and she picked her followers partly because the beauty of their shapes reminded her of her own. She eventually became apathetic and careless, indulging in devotion to the point of gluttony while offering little in return to her devotees. All save her chosen daughters went when other deities emerged, the rest bitterly abandoning her in favor of accepting new patrons while insulting the aloof moon "goddess". Kreaya was blissfully ignorant of her diminishing devotion until her everlasting beauty was shattered by her first wrinkle. Kreaya's good sense was overshadowed by her rage, and she went on a killing rampage, slaughtering hundreds of her former supporters as the moons' children waged a violent campaign.
Though it was a terrible period, it was only a phase; Kreaya's angry response was imprudent since her younger competitors had considerably more aggregate devotees than she had, and those who weren't slain were sent to the world's gloomy wilderness. Kreaya was weakened by her outburst because, despite hoarding her strength, she was fatigued and her beauty was shattered, leaving her a pale mirror of herself and driving her to retreat to The Asylum. Her water-walking prophets became Sea Hag, sweet-voiced melodies became green hag, and mighty defenders became annis hags as a result of the malevolence imbued in what was once her blessings. In more modern times, the hags, still wicked entities driven by old vengeance, plot to inflict pain on mortals. Never actually the moon goddess of Valine, Kreaya now exists, just full of rage, within The Asylum, using her residual powers to destroy the mortal races she sees as traitors and to obliterate the rising stars, which she regards as imposters who have taken her place.
Common Myths and Legends
Hags have such incredible hubris that they consider their sorcery as a challenge to the gods themselves. When given the opportunity, they blaspheme deities and frequently refuse to recognize the forces that be. When specific circumstances arise, such as a benefit to themselves, hags are known to set their egos aside and pray to gods sympathetic to their predicament. While there is no such thing as a hag pantheon, there are several hags venerated as gods who don't have anything to do with one another. All of these are based on hags that once dwelled on Valine, although the truth of the historical figures has long since transformed into myth.
Kreaya, an angry hag considered to be the first of her kind - with a grievance against the beauty of the godtouched and any of the myriad mortal races that followed them for their beauty - is venerated by many as the hags' patron deity and was treated as such even when still present on Valine. She produced new abominations and employed profane magic in her spiteful plots in the early years of Valine. Despite having adherents who extolled her virtues while cursing and sacrificing her foes at gruesome temples, hags have little affection even for one they view as a goddess. Most hags dread her and avoid praying to her because of her cupidity, fearing that she will demand knowledge, magic, and other goodies they'd prefer retain for themselves, but they couldn't refuse her.
Kreaya herself couldn't care less about the hags' eventual destiny, distrusting them and considering them as nothing more than instruments to satisfy her rage. Given this patron-benefactor connection, it's no surprise that she had to sell souls to Bulir the Envious to gain enough power to keep herself alive, given that she knew she had no true divinity and cultivated the impression solely to settle her grudges.
Apart from Kreaya, the archfey Salgond, the so-called Mother of Witches, and the archdevil Jackavoag, sometimes known as the Duchess of Hags, were also unpredictable. Salgond was a cunning trickster whose future actions and methods were beyond even the gods' comprehension, therefore she was only dealt with with caution. She hung around with the demigods but avoided harming children or other sentient creatures to avoid provoking the lesser or even bigger gods' wrath, but there was nothing anybody could do to assure a successful encounter with her. She was said to have educated the witch Eonanti and was known to have Night Hag guests and annis hag maids.
In contrast to Salgond's irrational thinking, Jackavoag was, surprisingly for a hag, a lawful person, but less so than other archdevils and nonetheless prone to whim. The highly powerful Night Hag aspired to be a genuine deity and was likely responsible for her own death in a botched effort at apotheosis, however whether she perished or not is disputed. She regarded smaller Night Hag as sisters and maintained a variety of hags in her stronghold of rolling boulders.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
While hags are usually alone, they do occasionally need companionship, which they usually satisfy by accumulating servitors. In no way are these beings friends; the hag either charms or threatens the servant's life in some way, magical or ordinary, and will insult and beat them on the spur of the moment. Even ordinary animals are kept as minions, usually for self-defense, a role for which tied mortals are the most enjoyable pawns. Innocent people make good defenders against righteous opponents, and their modest look allows them to serve as a hag's eyes and ears, whether as spies or agents. The first group of a hag's minions are servants such as constructs, undead creatures, vermin, and other things that a hag might trust to fulfill their instructions and guard her house without inquiry.
The second sort are brutes, free-willed mercenaries employed by a hag to do errands, beat up specified targets, police minor regions, and perform other hard jobs under the hag's personal supervision. Though Ogre are known to work for hags, the word brute is a misnomer because hags prefer servants who are eager and capable of subtle cruelty rather than powerful but foolish bumblers. Other types of evil giants, Lycanthropy, dark fey, cunning creatures such as bugbears, kenku, and Doppleganger, or bizarre monsters such as Ettercap, gargoyles, and even one of the many aberrations might be among them.
Hags are also known to enhance their minions, whether beast or servant, by giving them magical trinkets and disguises, or turning them into wicked fey versions of themselves, whether intentionally or unintentionally. These evil parodies are granted powers that suite the hag's temperament or that the hag believes will be advantageous, such as inexhaustible endurance, resistance to a certain element, transformations, or teleportation.
Hags are inquisitive about other powerful entities, such as other hags, dragons, fiends, genies, and even powerful humans, and feel a tiny amount of respect for individuals who have precise knowledge of them. Dangerous beings may be swayed by a hag due to their magical and political prowess, whether they are repaying a favor or paying off a supernaturally imposed blood debt. Hags are infamous for putting themselves in servitor roles, lending their dark wisdom to great demonic creatures, but whether as oracles or simple counselors, they are usually disloyal to their masters if given the opportunity to takeover. Hags, on the other hand, have made tremendous enemies as a result of their horrific acts, with metallic dragons and giants known to hunt and kill them if given the chance.
by Rob Taylor
Hag
Lifespan
The real lifetime of hags is unclear, however they are essentially eternal for the less long-lived species if not literally immortal. They survive for several centuries at the very least.
Related Organizations
Related Myths
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