Harpies

A harpy about to catch an unfortunate explorer... Picture by Gamera1985 from his Deviantart gallery

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Harpies are half women half bird creatures that have wings instead of arms and claws instead of feet. Some of them have feathers on parts of their body as well, though this varies a lot from one species to another. Felaryan harpies are usually about 80 feet tall but shorter races also exist.

Harpies are voracious and one of the top predators in the skies of Felarya. Preferring to fly over mountains and plains, they have excellent vision and hearing, and can spot prey from extremely far away. They have been know to be a bit cruel towards their prey when hunting in group, often playing games with their food involving dropping and catching. Being without hands, harpies are extremely agile with their mouth and tongue. Unlike when in a group, a lone harpy is cautious. When confronted with a large group of humans, she will usually just swoop down on them with a wide open mouth, snatch one or two, and then fly off to find a quiet place to digest her meal.

Harpies from many different worlds are known for their bad tempers and their sarcastic and mocking retorts, and Felaryan harpies are no different. They are prone to anger and often quarrel amongst themselves. They 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.

Harpy language

Most harpies have the curious habit of punctuating their sentences with threats and insults. The curious part is that they normally don't mean it at all, it's just traditional for them to use insults, and it would seem odd or even impolite if they didn't. The only time they skip this custom is if they are in a hurry or if they have something very important to say.

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 you might conclude that the two harpies are on the verge of killing each other, but that's not the case at all. The tone of the sentence gives subtle information about its real meaning. Some harpies are known to use extremely sophisticated insults with almost all the real information being in the tone of the insult rather than the actual words. Needless to say this habit contributes a lot to their reputation as being very rude in the eyes of other races.

Known harpies

Erica

A trio of harpies playing with their latest catch. Picture by RMSephy from his Deviantart gallery

Demon Harpies

This species of harpy is blood red in color from head to claws, the stereotypical color of demons, hence their name. Demon harpies don't actually have any demon blood in them though, nor do they live in Hell. They can mostly be found in the Jungle of perils. They are easily the most dangerous species of harpies in Felarya, as they are extremely fast, much more aggressive than the common harpy, and their feathers can become as hard as steel in seconds while remaining very light, making for a very efficient improvised shield. As if that wasn't enough, demon harpies are good spell-caster with a powerful magic focusing on curses and the temporary disabling of their target.

Rock Harpies

Rock harpies are mostly found in the Great rocky fields. They are quite similar to common harpies, except they are usually slightly larger, have beige-orange colored feathers, stronger claws and are well versed in wind magic. Their magic is what makes them especially scary; for example, if a traveler tries to hide in a rocky crevice the rock harpy can just place her mouth over the opening and vacuum out what is inside.

"Nice catch ! Keep it up or I'll skin you alive!" Picture by Zephrania from her Deviantart gallery

Golden Harpies

This rare species of harpies possess shiny golden skin, golden or bronze feathers, blond hair, and astounding beauty that often matches a succubus's. They are usually very greedy and attracted to shiny things. The seasoned treasure hunter knows that if they catch a glimpse of a golden harpy, chances are high there is valuable treasure nearby.

Golden harpies are naturally fond of jewels and gems, and they love to wear bracelets, amulets, earrings, and other trinkets. They are vain and take great care of their body, literally spending hours washing their face, combing their hair, polishing their claws, and lustering their feathers, often drawing sarcastic comments from less meticulous species of harpies.

A human caught by a golden harpy has a small chance to escape if they can bribe the harpy, usually with shiny treasure of some short. There's only a small chance of success however, as golden harpies are cunning, mischievous, and firmly convinced that eating humans is healthy for them and good for their figure.

Seagull Harpies

A species of roughly human-sized harpies, living mostly around beaches, coastal areas, and various islands of the Topazial sea. They are mostly harmless to humans, but posses very loud voices and a very crude language, even by harpies standard ! The way they speak reminds a bit of pirates.

They are scavengers, often sneaking off with a novice fisherman's catch if he isn't on the look out. Some of these harpies however, have been hired by people to carry goods and other things across seas and they generally get the job well done. Seagull Harpies are one of the best long distance flyers in Felarya, and they're very fast, able to swiftly navigate through the air above the sea, though they are a tasty prize for mermaids and other creatures below the waves.

Lamina harpies

This species can only be found in the Lamina mountain and are one of the smaller species of harpies in Felarya, being only 40 feet tall. Their appearance is similar to normal harpies except their feathers and human hair are usually jet black or brown in color, and their claws are of a bright red and extremely sharp. Their human skin also has a darker tone. Lamina harpies are excellent flyiers, and very few other species can match their speed, agility, and grace when it comes to flight. Their smaller and lithe bodies allow them to perform aerial acrobatic maneuvers with the utmost of ease. Lamina harpies however, are one of the more cocky and arrogant species of Harpy, and they largely pride themselves in their aerial abilities.

They are fearsome fighters and the sharpness of their claws combined with their speed makes them incredibly dangerous. They usually travel in groups of four, and when in battle they perform high speed strikes at near blinding speeds, and most of the time their opponents can’t even keep up with their movements. Lamina harpies are very social creatures and likes to have an audience. They will even perform little aerial shows for adventurers before they swoop down to gobble them up.

They primarily eat the fruits that grow on the shrubs at the higher altitudes of Lamina, though. These fruits provide tons of energy and are very healthy as well. In fact, some Lamina harpies enjoy these fruits even more than they enjoy a nice lil’ human. When the storm season comes, they moves down to lower altitudes and switches their diet to the animals in the region. Humans are more prone to be eaten when the storm season comes.

Banshees

Banshees are a species of harpy that seem to have branched off from all other harpies a long time ago. Unlike their birdlike cousins they are more related to bats, with long, pointy bat ears on top of their head, large webbed bat wings, and feet with toes bending the other way to allow them to hang upside down when sleeping in trees or caves. They are usually around 65-75 feet tall with tan or dark brown skin, ears, and wings. While they love the darkness of Evernight forest, banshees sometimes dwell outside of it, and some rare specimens have been seen as far away as the Ascarlin mountains.

Much like normal bats, banshees have poor eyesight and use a sort of sonar to help them find their way and locate prey in darkness. They constantly emit little clicking sounds that are known to damage nearby electronic machinery. Their name come from their main weapon which is a powerful sonic wave that can be focused at prey, paralyzing it for a short amount of time, just long enough for the banshee to swoop down and grab it. The method is not unlike that used by crystal mermaids, albeit less damaging for organisms, and much more devastating against electronic devices.

Banshees are very social creatures and rarely live alone. All of them know each other and they usually gather in large numbers in huge caves or giant trees. They don't put nearly as many threats and insults into their speech as do other harpy species, which tends to give them a nicer reputation among other races.

Credits goes to Moonlight-pendent for the idea and design of Banshees and seagull harpies.