Harpies

🍄 Overview

Harpies are a race of fierce, martial folk with the wings and lower halves of birds. They reside in the Day Duchy alongside the Florans, and often act as their muscle.

Beneath the martial exterior of the Harpy culture lies a deeply intricate society known for its honor and loyalty. While their fierce, avian nature often commands respect and fear, the Harpies are also a people of profound tradition and value. Their wings and bird-like lower halves symbolize their connection to the skies and their role as protectors of the Day Duchy.

Harpy society is structured around a strict code of conduct and a deep-seated sense of duty. Each Harpy is trained from a young age in the arts of combat and flight, honing their skills to serve as the elite guardians and enforcers of the Duchy's laws. They value honor, courage, and discipline, and their ceremonies often reflect these ideals. Harpy rituals include aerial dances and combat demonstrations that are both a display of their skill and a way to foster unity within their ranks. 

Their homes, high in the cliffs and mountain peaks of the Day Duchy, are designed to accommodate their avian forms, with spacious nests built into the rock faces. These nests serve as both living quarters and training grounds.

In times of peace, Harpies are known for their intricate craftsmanship, producing beautiful, functional items that reflect their connection to both the heavens and their martial heritage. They are also skilled in music and storytelling, preserving their history and legends through song and dance.

The Harpies' role as the muscle of the Day Duchy is more than a mere job; it is a calling and a point of pride. They embody the strength and resilience of their people, ensuring that the Duchy remains a bastion of order and justice under the sun.

🍄 Appearance

A Harpy's appearance is based on a bird. They have human upper torsos and heads, but the rest of their body is defined by avian physique - huge wings with talons for hands, feathered legs, clawed feet, and the feathered tail of a bird.

Design Guidelines

• Harpies often have scraggly, wild or arched eyebrows.

• Their eyes are often intense and brightly coloured.

• Long, hooked noses are common.

• Sharp, almond eye shapes are common.

• Harpies are more likely to wear war paint over makeup, but magic-type Harpies may prefer decorative clothing and makeup.

Clothing

• Harpies are practical and martial, and are often wearing red, black or brown leather armour as part of their outfit.

• They like darker natural colours like brown, red, green, orange, tan, and black. This contrasts with the lighter colour palette of the Florans.

• They don't often wear sleeves due to their wings, so short sleeves or no sleeves at all is common. For Harpies high up in the clouds, fur lined vests help keep them warm.

• Pants are more common than skirts as they need room for their feathered legs and clawed feet. Tunics are common.

• Ceremonial armour is made from heavily engraved steel plates or gold armour over the top of flexible leather. Red sashes and headwear is worn as well. 

• They may also wear war paint (especially when appearing in the Windstorm Arena) on their faces and chests.

• For serious battles, Harpies may even wear leather and steel wing guards to protect their feathered wings.

• They are not a modest people, and bare chests are not blinked twice at - especially when training, sparring and fighting. Clothing is worn more to protect naked skin against the cold mountain air and wind of the Day Duchy.

🍄 Birth, Life and Death

Birth

• Harpies are hatched out of eggs and can look quite horrifying as babies (think of a newborn baby bird).

• As with wildlings, Harpy chicks will take after the breed of one parent.

• Harpies typically lay clutches of 4 to 6 eggs per breeding cycle. Unlike some birds that lay large numbers of eggs, Harpies’ clutches are relatively small, which allows for more intensive care and nurturing of each offspring. 

• The incubation period for Harpy eggs lasts about 4 to 6 weeks. During this time, one or both parents are involved in keeping the eggs warm and protected. 

• Harpy parents take turns incubating the eggs and foraging for food. Both parents are involved in nurturing their young, reflecting their strong sense of family and responsibility. 

• After hatching, the chicks are altricial (born in a relatively undeveloped state) and require significant care. They are fed a diet of simple food and kept warm by their parents. 

• As the chicks grow, they begin to learn essential skills such as flying, hunting, and combat training. Harpies value strong and capable offspring, so there is a structured system in place for teaching them the skills they need to thrive in their martial society.

• The transition from chick to adult Harpy includes significant rites of passage, such as flying tests or combat trials. Successfully completing these trials marks the young Harpies' readiness to contribute to their society as full members. 

• The small clutch size fosters strong family and clan bonds, as the entire family works together to raise and support the young. This close-knit approach helps ensure the continuation of their traditions and values. 

Life

• A Harpy's lifespan is approximately 120-150 years old.

• They degrade as they reach old age - their feathers often losing lustre with grey feathers growing in. Harpies form wrinkles and grey to white hair just as humans do.

• Older Harpies will start to struggle to fly and make have to rely on walking around more or be supported by family members when flying around the Day Duchy.

  • For longer journies abroad, senior Harpies will use winggliders. 

Death

• When Harpies die, they undergo a 'sky burial'.

  • Before the sky burial, the body of the deceased Harpy is carefully prepared through a ceremonial cleansing ritual. This involves washing the body with fragrant herbs and oils, symbolizing purification and respect for the departed. 

  • The body is then wrapped in a shroud made of light, airy fabric adorned with feathers and intricate designs. This shroud is intended to honor the Harpy’s avian nature and to provide a dignified covering for the journey. 

  • The body is placed on an elevated platform or rock structure, located at a high altitude, such as a cliff or mountain peak. This location represents the Harpy’s return to the skies and their final ascent to the heavens. 

  • Before the body is set out, offerings are made by family and friends. These offerings typically include symbolic items such as flowers, fruits, and small tokens representing the deceased’s life and achievements. 

  • Then the loved ones gather to celebrate the deceased Harpy's life and achievements. There is usually a lot of drinking, singing, music and dance.

  • The sky burial rite embodies the Harpies' belief in the cyclical nature of life and death. It signifies the return of the deceased to the sky, where they are believed to join the celestial realms and watch over their kin. 

🍄 Harpy Customs & Culture

Personality Traits

• Harpies are fierce, direct and practical.

• They are also incredibly loyal and loving. They are protective of their loved ones and will do anything to look after them.

• They nurture their young and raise chicks in a large community.

• They are proud and believe they embody the life giving nature of the Sun.

• They are dutiful, honourable, and courageous. 

• They like to get rowdy - wrestling, drinking, arguing - it's all in good fun and the rowdier a gathering, the more successful!

Your Harpy character should have a few of these traits but certainly doesn’t have to have all of them. Please feel free to put a unique spin on it.

Romance, Marriage and Offspring

Romance

• Harpies are romantic and generally do well with both practical, resourceful races, and more frivolous, academic races. They often play the protector or provider role.

• Same sex relationships are acceptable, as are interracial relationships.

• Floran and Harpy relationships are common in the Day Duchy.

Marriage

• Because Harpy families are so large, its important that partners marry into them formally, so they can be officially welcomed to the flock.

• Harpy families often have a clan crest and distinguish themselves from other clans this way.

• They wear formal clothing on their wedding day, including ceremonial armour and weapons, and will gift their partner a homemade piece of textile with the family crest on it (usually in the form of a veil, cloak, scarf or shawl).

• Weddings are lively, rowdy affairs, often with huge numbers of people attending. Music, song and dance and drink are aplenty. There is an official wedding feast.

• Vows are exchanged, and then a symbolic choreographed dance/flight is undertaken by the couple, involving intricate moves on both the ground and in the air. Once the formal, symbolic dance is over, the entire wedding party jumps in to dance together.

• The couple prepares their new nest or dwelling together. This ritual involves decorating their home with personal touches and meaningful items, creating a space that reflects their union. 

Offspring

• Harpy families are often large and split into multiple 'clutches' or generations of children.

• Harpy mothers are no-nonsense but incredibly affectionate and loving. No child is left behind.

• Harpies are pregnant for 3-4 months. The incubation/intensive care period then takes another 2 (ish) months.

• Harpy families are huge and they are a very community centred race. Often, several generations of Harpies will live together, with extended family dropping by to visit often.

Miscellaneous

• Harpies could take or leave gold, but they love gemstones and other shiny objects like crystals.

• Harpies are creative as well as martial. They have a strong tradition of weaving and spinning their own thread, making clothing out of alpaca wool, and embroidering their clothing with colourful thread.

• They also love music and singing and there are plenty of incredibly talented Harpy artisans in the Day Duchy (Starling being one of them).

• Harpies are martial by nature, but are expected to be well rounded. When chicks attend school (either at the Aviary or another more local school) they learn aerial combat, flying, music, singing, dance, and making clothing.

• The Windstorm arena is dominated by Harpy contestants - with a few Wildlings and Stonefolk in the mix too. Florans are rarely seen in the arena.

• Some legendary Harpies are known only by their bird type (i.e. Grandmaster Heron). This is seen as a great honour and denotes a powerful Harpy indeed.

If you have questions about Harpies, please ask them in the helpdesk channel on Discord!