Medusan
Mortal Ancestors of the Dread Gorgoni
The Medusi, in general, are civilized and formal sentients that prefer urban life, solitude, and experiencing beauty and mastery in all its forms. They are usually well-educated as nearly all Medusi watch out for younglings of their race. There is a surprising maternal instinct present in nearly all Medusi that grants a significant amount of compassion and tolerance in their unflinching and often unemotional public façade. Much of this instinct is attributed to the difficulty in bearing Medusi children. The modern Medusi are wholly mortal and yet still possess a strangeness and the stain of their ancestral heritage as Gorgons, albeit rare in these times, still prey on mortals to this day. And just the knowledge that one their wayward sisters is nearby is enough to bring the full wrath of a Gorgon upon a community, a kingdom or anywhere else that they might hide.
Appearance
Medusi are generally pale-skinned, beautiful females that appear to be of Mankind except for a significant difference in their eyes and facial structure both of which tend to be thinner and elongated. They are taller on average than Mannish females and even a proportion of Mannish males. Despite their lack of many Gorgoni traits, a Medusan’s most glaring feature is a scalp of living snakes or snake-tendrils. Coloration of the snake tendrils that serve as hair varies considerably amongst the race and is often matched by the Medusan’s eye color although variations even among the tendrils is not uncommon. The provenance of these snake-tendrils venom also appears to vary between Medusi. Some indication of certain colors certainly appears to be a factor initially. However, Medusi who have participated in ‘positive’ scholarly research have indicated that the existence, nature and potency of any venom within the tendrils can alter during a Medusan’s life and can even be shaped by events and emotions. It has been credibly reported that, amongst Medusan warriors and soldiers, the vast majority of them possess snake-tendrils capable of delivering venomous and often lethal bites whereas such characteristics are less common amongst more sedate Medusi. While nearly all Medusi possess fine features, poise and intellect; their heritage and snake-tendrils tend to dampen their effect on the opposite sex and admirers.While many Medusi involve themselves in academic, artistic and political lives there is a significant proportion that enter into warfare even if only for a few years. Many Medusi have served in armies and mercenary units and served with great distinction. They are natural logicians and excel at strategy and tactics due to an attention for detail. Even more useful is the fact that Medusi are stronger than the average Mannish male and possess significant reserves of endurance. They are hardy, strong and fast which often surprises those who encounter them at the theater or a high-class ball. Medusi are vivacious conversationalists, students of grace and poise, brilliant and logical. And, if angered, exceedingly dangerous. It is a common warning amongst communities that have Medusi populations to state “It’s not the smile that concerned me, it was the snakes.”
Civilization and Culture
History
When the Dark Titans swore allegiance to the Elderwraths, it is known that the Gorgon Queen joined them in their savagery. Throughout the reign of the Dark Titans, the Gorgons visited misery and horror upon the mortal Named peoples. Immortal hunters and executioners, the Gorgon were nigh-uncontrollable in battle; possessed of eldritch powers from their mysterious origins and a soul so black that simply viewing it could petrify a mortal into a lifeless black stone. The Gorgons came in many shapes and forms but always serpentine, always inhuman and always hungry. They were the Shaitain’s enforcers, generals in their armies and served as excruciators and gaolers. The Gorgons were near-immortal. Though the occasional Gorgon did perish, it was only through their weaknesses; each one unique to a particular Gorgon. These chthonic harbingers bore nothing but malice for mortals and were known to stop amidst raging battles to feast on the sweet flesh of their opponents.
In time, the Titanomachia began, when the mortal Named peoples could no longer bear the yoke of their dark masters. As the Shaitan lazily gathered their armies, they ordered the Gorgons to harry the Named with all the savagery they could bring to bear on the rebels. In anticipation of a foul banquet of vanquished mortals, the Gorgon Queen, the equal of any Shaitan, called her sisters to War.
But the Queen’s daughter, Medusa, repudiated the ways of her mother and the Shaitan when the mortal races rose up against their dark masters. Some say it was pride and rebellion against an immortal Queen although others say that the Gorgon Princess did it for the love of a mortal Man. The truth is lost in the madness of those days. What is known is that Princess Medusa spurned the cause of the Shaitan and threw in her lot with the Named Peoples. Alongside her stood her followers, the ancestors of the Medusi, as they joined their Princess in rebellion against the Dark Titans. It was these Medusi, as they came to be called, that held the line and their former sisters from devastating the mortals as they prepared for war. The followers of the Princess fought with fang, venom and sorcery against their own kind and gave mortals the time they needed.
It is written in books long forgotten and songs no longer sung that the Gorgon Queen, upon hearing of her daughter’s treachery, vomited from the black sky in a fury. Seeing the Medusi slay their kin and stop the advance of the Shaitan’s forces, the Queen called out to her daughter and the two waged an epic battle between the two armies. While history and myth collide much in the tellings of those days, it is known that this familial duel soaked the ground black with their fetid blood. Back and forth, the Queen and Medusa battled over the course of three days and nights. The Queen, never having faced an equal let alone the prospect of defeat, ripped open a hole to the Void in a means to end the threat of her daughter and those behind her.
In a voice that cracked the ground and withered the souls of all who heard it, the Gorgon matriarch uttered the Queen’s Curse. This Curse tore from the ancestors of the Medusi a portion of their souls and their power. It left them shorned of their greater powers such as their powerful gaze, their bewildering strength and endurance.
It made them mortal.
And the Queen’s Host descended on them like vultures over a ripe corpse. Reeling from the Curse, the Medusi did not falter and held the line for another day and night until the mortals were arrayed behind them. By that time, the greater part of the rebel Gorgons was shredded over the battlefield as, being mortal, they were no match for their eldritch sisters. Only Medusa herself and a handful of others survived this confrontation to be the last ones standing before the Gorgoni Host and know that defeat and death was moments away.
The stories differ on whom it was that led the mortals into battle alongside the Medusi on that day. Some say it was a mortal Pendarus, others speak of the Night Queen and her hope for dominion over the fallen once-Gorgons; either way, the Gorgon Queen was thrown back and the tattered remnants of the Medusi bore the body of the Princess into darkness and mystery.
With the withering of their dark immortality, the remaining Medusi were still a force to be reckoned with and enough of them made it through the Titanomachia to stand in victory alongside their new brethren: the Named. Once the Shaitan were locked away in the City of Brass, the Medusi slipped into the shadows as old hatreds and fears grew amongst the Named.
That was a millenia ago. Since then, the surviving Medusi spread out across the lands and multiplied in their shadowy ways. As the generations slipped by, the Gorgon blood, once fueled by the power of the Void, slipped from their grasp as well. Each generation of daughters was more mortal than the last. Their scales flaked off, their tails withered, their fangs and their eternal hunger drifted into memory.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
All Medusi are female and must procreate with other species to be impregnated. The chances of fertilization are extremely low and often require magical assistance. According to known accounts, the highest success rates are with Mankind, Satyrs and Fae-Blooded individuals. Even then, carrying a child to term is difficult and fraught with risk for both mother and daughter. There is an inordinate amount of stillbirths and mother mortality rates from pregnancy and birth attempts among the Medusi. As such, there is a significant chance of any Medusi being an orphan. When a mother passes away in childbirth, the Medusi community often comes together to ensure a proper upbringing for the child and this can result in receiving education from several devoted “aunts” and “older sisters” throughout their youth.
There are no known births resulting in male or other hybrid lifeforms as is often the case with Gorgoni. A vicious rumor that continues to circulate in less-reputable scholarly circles is that the high mortality rate of Medusi mothers is due to their giving birth to abominations similar to those birthed by Gorgoni. The Medusi, such scholars claim, slay the mother and child-abomination to ensure that the defective bloodline is excised from their race. Such theories are considered nonsense amongst most academics and seeking direct evidence to support such a theory has resulted in the publicly painful and lingering deaths of several radical scholars.
The last known fate of such an academic, Magister Holliard of Hightower Academy, was due to his insistence that the union of Medusi and High Elves was the origin of various nefarious species of Sub-Men. Holliard received discreet funding to undertake research and was found hanging, nude as the day he was born, covered in hundreds of snake bites and very, very dead from the University Gates. While no one was brought to justice, every single Medusan in the city showed up for his burial. They were very respectful and visibly unrepentant.
by Miguel Regodon
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