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Hecation Witches are hideously ugly, female with ancient facial features, have various horns of flesh and bone on their head, and their mouth is armed with very sharp teeth. They have snake-like tentacles in place of hair and leathery, rough skin, brownish grey in color. Their breasts however have thin skin and so they always wear armored cups to protect them. Their body is somewhat humanoid from the head to the torso, and their hands are clawed like a cat's. They have a large snake tail from the torso down. These witches have black feathered wings and can fly, pushing up off their coils to spring into flight. Hecation witches are often called Harpies and are named after the Gorgon Hecate of Greek Legend because of their appearance.
These witches are never friendly to anyone who enters their territory, but their own kind, and dwell in isolated areas, often castle, shrine, or temple ruins, in small clans. When they are friendly to anyone outside of their territory, it is only to glean information, or because they are curious about someone, and most often to lure a victim into their clutches. They sometimes keep other races as slaves, eating those which prove too disobediant. These witches can eat anything a human can, but have a strong taste for human flesh, and prey on the beautiful and handsome out of envy. They guard huge hordes of treasure and valuable enchanted items and often take on the guise of beautiful women to prey on handsome males who they lure into their clutches in order to produce children, or simply to make a meal of. The men they choose as their victims are always very attractive. It is their way of punishing others for their vanity and beauty.
These cursed witches are always female. They were created out of a curse and can only increase their population through the terms of the very curse which made them. A new witch is born when one of these monsters brings a male willingly into her lair, kills the male as he sleeps and eats all but the bones. Nine months after eating the male, the witch gives birth to a daughter of her father's race who will mature into a beautiful woman.
Hecation children, always female, are born with every appearance of their father's race, and are human and mortal until 'their first death' which triggers the curse which turns them into a Hecation Witch. This first death does not weaken their spirit (does not use a resurrection) but there is a slight chance that the process of being reborn as a Hecation Witch will kill them (5% chance). The power of a very ancient curse resurrects them as a hecation witch. However old the Hecation daughter is when she dies, her physical health is restored to its prime when she is raised anew as the monstrous creature she is fated to become. Until that time comes, these females live among their clan, often serving their clan as their mother and elder sees fit (they are always treated well unless they disappoint too many times), and are taught the craft and paths of their clan. Those who may have the misfortune of running across these clans often mistake these beautiful women among the monsters as slaves, rather than daughters. These daughters almost always love their mothers and clans deeply. The daughters are only ever disrespected or abused if they are impossibly disobediant. If they prove too defiant, they will be eaten by their own mother.
If a Hecation daughter is sired by a vampire, demon, lycanthrope, or other kind, it may postepone her rebirth as a Hecation witch, but whatever she becomes, she will become a Hecation when she dies. These witches do not appreciate their daughters being taken from them however, or leaving, and will seek them if they should forsake their heritage and attempt to elude their fate. Quite often a Hecation daughter's mother will decide when it is time for her daughter to make the transition into a Hecation Witch. Rarely a Hecation witch will take pity on a daughter and send her into the world in secret to escape her fate. This is forbidden and can lead to the execution of the mother if discovered.