Harpies

Harpies are an all female race of half-women half-bird creatures. They possess huge wings in place of arms and long, scaly legs ending in razor-sharp talons. Many harpies grow feathers on various parts of their body, most notably on their thighs and a set of tail feathers near their buttocks, though it varies between species. Felaryan harpies are widely known as a giant species and have a reputation as one of the top predators of the skies, feared for their voracious appetite and awe-inspiring swiftness in the air. In truth, harpies come in all sorts of species and sizes. Some about as tall as humans, some only a little shorter than their well-known giant cousins, and some small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Similarly, though the majority of Felaryan borrow their avian features from birds of preys such as eagles, hawks and buzzards, some species take after other birds, such as crows, gulls, and even hummingbirds.

Biological traits

Harpies possess an extremely lightweight skeleton highly adapted for flight. Most of their bones are thin and hollow with criss-crossing internal struts and trusses that make them strong enough to withstand the stresses of taking off, flying and landing. They have a keel extending from their sternum to which their powerful flight muscles are attached.

Harpies possess a complex set of lungs adapted for their high metabolic rate and oxygen demand in flight. Unlike humans, they do not possess a diaphragm and their lungs are proportionally small. Instead, harpies have roughly eight or nine air sacs that store and pump air through their lungs. This allows for a unidirectional flow of air, which allows them to extract a higher concentration of oxygen, and even take in oxygen during exhalation. Thanks to this, a harpy is able to breathe at much higher elevations than other races could. This efficient lung structure is not without its faults, however. Because the sternum must move during respiration, holding a harpy too tightly around the chest can easily cause her to suffocate. Moreover, because they transfer more oxygen with each breath, airborne toxins are more efficiently transferred as well.

The most important sense for a harpy is her vision and they are known far and wide for their phenomenal visual acuity over other races. From high up in the sky, they are able to spot a tiny human all the way down on the ground with near perfect clarity. This is thanks in part to their lens being able change shape more quickly and to a greater extent than a human, allowing them to better focus on an object. Moreover, harpies developed a pecten oculi, a comb-like structure of blood vessels in the back of their eyes. With this structure, far fewer blood vessels are located in front of the retina that would normally partially obscure perceived images. However, because a harpy's eyes are optimized for maximum spatial resolution rather than light perception, they see very poorly in low light. With the exception of nocturnal species, whose eyes are better suited to function in poor lighting, most harpies are forced to adopt a diurnal behavior. Though harpies possess fully functional human eyelids, they still boast an almost transparent and thin nictitating membrane to protect their eyes in flight while maintaining visibility.

A harpy's hearing is their second most important sense. Though hard to tell, their ears are shaped slightly differently to better focus sound. Although their hearing range being roughly similar to a human's, harpies are very sensitive to changes in pitch, tone and rhythm. This allows them to better hear incoming danger and even help them in communication.

Behavior

Felaryan harpies are generally seen by others as a tough race with a terrible temper, and can easily appear as heartless to those who aren't familiar with their strange customs. Similar to fairies, harpies are highly free-spirited, doing whatever they want whenever they want with little regard for consequences. If they want to go somewhere, they will. They won't hesitate meddling into the business of others, and if a harpy desires something, she's probably not going to think twice about stealing it either. That's not to say they are completely insensitive. Harpies enjoy the company of their kin and often form flocks of sorts and are capable of engaging in conventional protective and considerate behavior, though a lot of what is perceived by other races as rude is actually considered affectionate gestures among harpies. Aside from other harpies, they also enjoy the company of dryads and it's not uncommon for a harpy to roost in their branches.

That hedonistic nature has put them at odds with sphinxes, whom harpies tend to despise on an almost instinctual level. Aside from being their greatest rival as the rulers of Felarya's skies, they see sphinxes as a self-righteous mob, full of themselves in how they place their idea of justice above all and impose it on others. The two races have waged fierce wars in the past that blackened the skies and tainted the surface red. Although there hasn't been a conflict of this magnitude between the two races in centuries, harpies and sphinxes still do not see eye to eye, and skirmishes over food or turf aren't uncommon.

It's worth noting that, like fairies, harpies have a bit of a fascination for wearing accessories. Because they lack hands, their selection of apparels is severely more limited though.

Language

Harpies in Felarya tend to despise sphinxes, which they see as little more than a bunch of full-of-themselves and self-righteous morons, and have fought several wars with them. Felaryan harpies in general are seen by others as a tough race, with a terrible temper, famous for their foul language and sarcastic and mocking retorts. They can easily appear as heartless bullies to those who aren't aware of their strange customs. Indeed, most Felaryan harpies have the strange habit of punctuating their sentences with threats and insults. They normally don't mean it at all though, it's just traditional for them to use insults, and it would seem odd and unusual if they didn't. For example, if a harpy wanted to say: "I wish to speak to your sister", she would add a threat, like: "Let me see your sister or face my wrath!" If the other harpy wanted to reply: "She's not here." then she might actually say: "Insolent fool! My sister has more important matters to deal with than speaking to the likes of you!"

Upon hearing that exchange, one might conclude that the two harpies are on the verge of fighting each other, when it's only a casual exchange ! This tradition is deeply engraved in their culture and transmitted down from generations to generations. Some harpies delight in what they see as "proper speaking", inventing striking and creative insults that sometimes become famous among their peers and earn them respect and admiration. The only time they would skip this custom is if they are in a hurry or if they have something very important to say. It's completely natural for them though, and while some harpies manage to hold back their insults when speaking to other races, most of them just don't bother at all.

Needless to say this habit contributes a lot to their reputation as being a rude and mean lot in the eyes of other races. Aul Ne'kmu'm is a well know Harpiologist who dedicated years to study their language and its true meaning. Here are some of his observations.