TavernLich 324 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Hags, Maidens of Blight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9F1lsULIA -=O=- “Hags, the word rolls off another's tongue and is grudgingly spat out with a hoarse escape. The meaning behind the set of letters is even more so putrid, the very word’s given meaning an insult to their existence. Alas, not many whom have personally understood its true implication are able to even whimper the word, much less explain it; for the encountered presence of such a fiend commonly led to one’s inevitable demise. Such a demise, fortunately, is likely the best escape from the dreadful situation. It is only through the bitter-sweet kiss of fate that these abominations live in isolation, in which only their own kin may provide them with company. They do not hide amongst our own, but, instead, amidst the shadow that is the unknown and uncharted; where no descendant of rational thought dared cast themselves askew from their merry trail to home. Among the rare eccentric thinkers, there are those who let curiosity dominate their uninhibited impulses, guiding them to their possible demise.. or possible quenched thirst of simply knowing. To those, I say: please, go, take your death wish elsewhere; be buried with its sated state in these wretched lands, away, unable to whisk others unto your fruitless endeavors. I beg you, allow your woes of distraught to lack a response, lest the responder fall prey to agony just as you.” The worn slice of paper delivered only these words, the majority of its shape obscured by thick blotches of mud dousing its corners, the author's name inscribed upon one of them: the name “Kreleniel” concealed from plain sight; lying in detriment solitude, far below the peaks of twisted branches that occupy the swamp’s territory. -=O=- “Crones within this damned swamp? There are crones everywhere, boy... Why the tone of surprise? Take a look at your mother, for instance.” Marius Sill’crux and his estranged nephew, Hadrian. Athera, circa 1469. The edges of Embermoore. The murky waters of Embermoore writhed as a lonesome ‘ame trudged through them. Her sun-kissed skin glistened as she passed the occasional breached foliage, of which a bounty of creatures bathed beneath the sunlight’s rays. One such creature, sporting glazed, spotted skin and many orbiting whip-like tendrils approached and stood before her, she didn’t tardy in responding to it with a sharp cry before readily running away. It is through this act of cowardice that her top met with a coarse, scarred thick line of bark and a dull, throbbing pain which plagued her forehead. She felt around within the shadows and hugged the wide girth of the tree, which she had assumed to be a large mangrove, and gave it a harsh kick with her iron-tipped boots in retaliation for her earlier humiliation. She felt the vibrations of the water as various unseen objects fell into the swamp’s nebulous depths, from which she recognized the sound of glass against the consuming surface of water, not unlike the sound made when she gathered water, with a vase, by the nearby river of her homestead. “You damned girl!” the harsh voice rang all throughout the swamp. -=O=- [Translated from Blah to Common] “Beseech the spirits so that we are not beseeched, in turn, by hags in that hellish swamp, else you may arrive within the spirits’ domain early.” Ulghan’Dom and his plethora of children, nearing their voyage across Embermoore. Athera, circa 1480s. Mythos A lone soul passing through Embermoore. It is through the unrestrained gossip of commonfolk that the legends behind hags, those women of the swamps and such, emerged from. Tall tales whispered in children’s ears, in return for their obedience, assume the hags’ origin is a result of the spawn of feminine demons, taking the form of unwed harlots, and sinning men. These stories, based atop antiquity’s sickness of stupidity and backwards logic, traversed all throughout the realm and thrived within peasant dwellings and the hovels of the impoverished and proclaimed the consequences of premarital consorts. Fortunately, such lore lacks accuracy. In truth, hags, otherwise known as Crones (interchangeable dubbings), are “devolved” women having been cursed with Embemoore’s varying sorceries. Studies have sorted them into various, loosely defined categories, namely the elders and said elders’ maidens. -=O=- * * * A newly-anointed hag lurking near her homestead. “No!” The she-’ame cried out as she was thrown across the splinter-ridden floor of the hag’s hut. “Mryttle, why have you so persistently encroached upon my land?” The ghastly hag croaked out, eyeing the broken ‘ame, as she clutched her bleeding breast, the rendered flesh surrounded by rot, a convenient boon of the hag’s touch. The ‘ame refused to respond and, instead, scurried off toward the gaping doorway. As she reached out for the open air, a short-sought freedom, a pang of pain surged throughout her body as a lurking shadow slammed the door shut against her now crippled digits. A covey of shadows quickly rushed the ‘ame. She felt talons, akin to those the hag bore, rake her skin and besmirch her beauty with further rot. The maidens dragged her across the floor and presented her, once again, before the hag, whom now held a crude, rusted knife. -=O=- “We are equipped to fight men bearing blades, not deviants and their sorceries.” The High Sage Mukar, advising the late Tlatlanni Atl. Origins & Synopsis It is through actions of folly that hags were birthed from. A volley of womenfolk, upon arriving within Athera, just so happened to stumble upon Embermoore and, in accordance to their dimwitted matriarch, they decided to settle within the swamp’s heart. Over the years, their children and their children’s children were conceived and washed with the swamp’s waters throughout their days . Each generation, the swamp’s sorceries were woven into the children’s blood. The matriarch of the third generation, the third daughter of a third daughter, finally reached peak deterioration as she devolved into the horrid fiend now dubbed as Hags. As the progenitor of her horrendous race, she was given the ability to anoint others with Embermoore’s sorceries and they, too, would be made hags in her image. Their bodies dried up with age quickly and their skin was soon littered with lesions, blights and various other growths; however, such grotesque looks did come with a boon of sorts. The hags were granted powers of unimaginable kind, only rivaled by other beasts of yore. Fortunately, for those descendants who dwelled nearby such creatures, the destruction of Athera, and with it Embermoore, sapped the hags’ powers and left them weak in comparison to their former glory. Powers & Abilities - Considerable Strength: While cursed with an elderly woman’s body, hags are given strength to compensate for this. A hag could, possibly, rival a strong, large man in terms of strength. - Elongated Claws: These claws forever replace their nails and may reach half a foot in length depending on their age. While not able to match steel and aurum blades, these claws can certainly tear and rend flesh with ease. - Accursed Touch: Whatever a hag touches, whether with her claws or her hands and feet, are made rotten and grotesque. Wounds from a hag’s touch will begin to fester immediately and would be painful to the touch. This not only applies to others but inanimate objects as well. The earth that they tread on will pale and crack and so on and so forth. It is likely because of this ability that common beliefs depict hags within disgusting, roach-infested hovels. In addition to this, whatever concoctions and potions hags decide to make are made volatile and unprecedentedly chaotic. Potions will offer powerful effects but crippling consequences (i.e. a blighted potion of swiftness will gift the user with the abundant speed and dexterity of the gale winds but will soon result in extreme frailty and brittleness of the bones). Naturally, hags are resistant to these detriments but are far from immune. - Petrifying Breath: Like the famed mandragora plant, found coincidentally within swamps, a hag’s breath can potentially knock a person unconscious, depending on their size (smaller people will be affected faster and easier while larger folk will be more resistant). Men have made jests about this uncanny ability of theirs, assuming it is due to their lack of hygiene. While, in truth, your average hag will lack common hygiene, this ability is actually made possible due to bulbous glands within their windpipe that release a substance very similar to a mandragora’s spores. - Corruption of Wildlife: In liaison with their touch, a hag’s very presence will disturb any nearby lifeforms. Both plants and animals will cease to behave rationally. Dogs may bark at thin air and birds may collide and crash into things without any apparent reason. - Sturdy Skin: A hag’s skin is hardy, like riveting chainmail, and can be tough to pierce through but not impossible. What little amount of hags remain only boast a mere fraction of their past power and now thrive within the underbellies of society, living off their respective taproots, a piece of petrified wood originating from Embermoore itself. These taproots, although sturdy, are vulnerable to all manner of destruction. And, with their destruction, the hag bound to it, too, shall be rid of their powers, and collapse into a puddle of rotten flesh. For at least a handful of seed weeks the hag will remain reduced to a puddle of flesh, enough time for their taproots to mend itself and reappear elsewhere. As a measure of precaution, elder hags surround themselves with lesser or younger hags, most being called maidens or handmaidens. These maidens protect their elder and one another by a bond made through a process known as anointing. Usually reserved for an elder hag, anointing a mortal is a secretive ritual that many maidens themselves do not know much of. By whisking a woman away into their clandestine ranks, an elder hag would then bind a piece of wood across their victim’s bosom. By pairing it with her elder taproot and soaking the wood in her own blood, the wood is made corrupt and will slowly be made into a taproot. This is a lengthy process and will take at least a seed month to be made into a standard taproot. This is process is quantified into three stages: fledgling, maidenhood and elder ascension. Stages Fledgling: At this time, the young soon-to-be fully-fledged Hag has but a fraction of their powers, the ones they harbor usually being diminished and weak. Maiden: During this stage, the woman would have fully-manifested as a Hag, her powers having grown away from sheer impracticality, and her visage now infested with the many deformities that their kind bear. Elder: After years of maidenhood, a maiden may be taught the anointing process and be made an elder. Whereas the maidens make up the bulk of the sisters,the elders take on the guise of their godmothers, reigning from the top of their respective group, or coven of hags. She often appears to be larger, stronger and far more appaling than her lesser kin. Appearance An elder hag stalking a nearby field. Hags, much like antiquity's tales, appear as grotesque women aged beyond their years, physically. As a hag grows older, they come to bear the appearance of a monster. Their flesh sags, various growths and lesions, including plantlife (moss, weeds, shrooms, etc) are dotted all over their body, skin pales and their bones become brittle despite their strength. A coven of hags, two maidens at their elder’s side. Behavior, Habits and Tendencies Hags are naturally volatile creatures. As such, they tend to lurk in the nearby woods of a town or settlement, rarely venturing out far from their dwellings for fear of persecution. It is because of their natural, craven natures that hags are able to survive in their current states. Along with their obvious physical changes, once a woman is made into a hag, their minds are forever warped. While their personalities may remain, a hag will always veer toward villainous, or at least chaotic, tendencies. In addition, hags are considered blights of the forest by all those who associate themselves with nature (druids, dryads, fae and so on and so forth). Those who are closely associated with nature are able to somehow track and find these hags quite easily. It is because of this that hags often make enemies with druids and their ilk, often hunting them along with the fae and dryads. Due to persecution, hags dwell and make company with others hags nearby, effectively forming a coven. A coven of hags, compared to their lonesome variants, are far more aggressive and confident in their skills, making them a stacked threat even against the most skillful of marked-men and hunters. Weaknesses - Aversion to Aurum & Silver: While they do not share the same weaknesses to such substances like most vile creatures, the mere sight of aurum or silver will pain a hag and strike fear into them. - Vulnerability to all things Mundane & Immundane: Hags can be slain like any descendant, whether it be through the arcane, deific or by a sword through the heart. - Destruction of Taproot: The taproot is the source of their powers and should it be destroyed, so too would a hag. A hag will be reduced to a puddle of flesh for multiple seed weeks until their taproot is mended and reappears elsewhere, without the memories of their deaths. - Tracking: Hags can be tracked by those who are closely associated with nature (fae, druids, dryads, etc). Purpose Hags are playable creatures meant to easily provide villainous or chaotic interactions with anyone, whether that be through combat, trickery, or anointment. Additionally, they are damaged by weapons of all shapes, sizes and types, you do not need to be a paladin or a cleric to fight them; furthermore, to enable their accessibility to the populous, Hags can be tracked down by “those associated with nature” (Druids, Dryads, etc). The purpose of this is to give everyone a chance to find them, especially Druids and Dryads, who have risen in activity and thus provide plenty of potential for abundant RP. In conclusion, we WANT people to come and interact with us and we've given people the tools to do so, saving them the time of having to gather a month’s worth of information only to have to continue chasing creatures. -=O=- * * * Mrytle struggled against the combined efforts led by the Hag’s maidens to no avail. She lashed out in desperation and bore her teeth in predatory vehemence. “Release me!” She pleaded as the hag strapped a fragment of wood across her breast. “You shan’t be so impudent to your elders, girlie.” The hag retorted, contorting her finger inward to prick at her palm, as she lathered the shard of wood with her own blood. “Please,” Mrytle began to ball, globules of tear and sweat collecting just beneath her chin. “You needn't struggle, dear.” the hag turned to her side and placed her own taproot beside Mrytle’s, it's dreadful pores lit with a malignant, green light. Myrtle twitched and contorted in pain, her jaw unhinged to allow out a pent-up scream, her irises previously filled of both vigor and fear, now d the positions of the maidens’ shadows promptly inching towards her feeble form. Alas, Myrtle’s vision waned as she felt a darkness envelop her. She laid there, limp and unmoving, her life now at the complete mercy of the Hags. -=O=- Red-lines -Due to their corrupted nature, they are unable to be truly “good”. -Accursed touch takes a while to fully infect the wound, no rapid spreading. -A tainted potion’s drawbacks still affect Hags, just not as much as they do regular mortals. -They may not “Corrupt” animals & wild-life to their will, only provoke them to disorder. -Hags are largely incapable of magic altogether. This is due to their newfound bodies having been corrupted by Embermoore, thus severing their bond with genus, mana and so on and so forth. -They are disease ridden, and thus thoroughly infertile. Co-written by: Matheu3 & Tavernlich 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TavernLich 324 Author Share Posted July 15, 2016 Oh! Great lore! Definite +1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matheus 525 Share Posted July 15, 2016 wow v nice lore +1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimmothy 188 Share Posted July 15, 2016 I like it +1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonslayerelf 653 Share Posted July 15, 2016 HAIL LORD NURGLE 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quavinir_Twiceborn 1042 Share Posted July 15, 2016 ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ ################################################################################################ 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################################################################################################ I like it. +1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destroyer_Bravo 1052 Share Posted July 15, 2016 girls only? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marimbamonk 1498 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Love it. Yet another awesome creature to add to LotC's arsenal. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matheus 525 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Just now, Destroyer_Bravo said: girls only? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
𝙻𝚞𝚟 XO 3072 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Interesting, but with all of the current uproars of 'female only things' making it gender neutral is probably for the best. Other than that, wonderful piece good job. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manicfairy 178 Share Posted July 15, 2016 +1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areln 199 Share Posted July 15, 2016 +1, seems pretty neat 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBR 1484 Share Posted July 15, 2016 16 minutes ago, Luvbug said: Interesting, but with all of the current uproars of 'female only things' making it gender neutral is probably for the best. Other than that, wonderful piece good job. Wouldn't be a hag then Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
excited 10834 Share Posted July 15, 2016 u got my support if these are et creatures only Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manicfairy 178 Share Posted July 15, 2016 I would want to play this. why does everything have to be et only ****** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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