Hags

NOTE: Known Hags include Annis Hags, Bheur Hags, Green Hags, Sea Hags, Night Hags, and Striga Hags

Basic Information

Anatomy

Hags were almost universally unique in their exact forms and mannerisms, but there were typically common physical traits between them. Generally, hags looked like crooked crones, wrinkled and withered women of unsightly appearance with blotchy skin marred by warts and moles. Their long, skinny fingers were tipped by talon-like nails as tough as steel and as sharp as blades, and their mouths were filled with sharp, blackened teeth and noxious breath. Long, frayed hair ringed their creased faces, but even though their faces were heavy from their malice, the glimmer of sly villainy could still be seen in their eyes.

Biological Traits

There are a variety of subtypes of Hags: Annis Hags are the most physically powerful and feared of the hags, annis hags were ferocious savages with nails and teeth like iron. They were egotistical brutes that saw strength as virtue and appealed to simple-minded beings like children or primitives. Bheur Hags however are the unrivaled mastery of winter witchcraft, bheur hags were blue-skinned beldames that made cold seasons even more harsh than normal. They were cold-hearted crones that reveled in the greed that bad conditions brought out. Then there are Green Hags who are the most duplicitous and hateful hags, green hags used illusions and temptation to lead others to destruction and tragedy. The forest femme fatales sought to poison that which was pure and drag down the civilized world into barbarism. Next are the Night Hags who are the most vile and nightmarish of the hags, night hags were fey turned fiends, so vile even compared to the rest of their kind that they were banished from the Feywild. The fiendish degenerates were soulmongers that traded larva in Hades for power and wealth. Finally there are Sea Hags who are the indisputably ugliest of the hags, sea hags were decrepit piscine women of such hideousness that one could die from looking at them. The aquatic hags sought to defile and invert all that was beautiful.

Genetics and Reproduction

Given their nature as an all-female race, hags had to find other ways to reproduce beyond the conventional methods. There were many tales of the bizarre means through which hags came into the world; some stories reported that they spawned from animals, like cows with venomous milk or snake eggs kissed by virgins, while other processes were more artificial, like being incubated in the coffins of the unhallowed or being poured out from cauldrons of boiling blood. One of the most widely told tales of hag reproduction and most accurate had to be that of the changeling: they consume young infants or rip fetuses from utero in order to become pregnant themselves.

Growth Rate & Stages

Though the changeling born from a Hag becomes a true hag at the age of thirteen, the true lifespan of hags was unknown, and if not literally immortal they were effectively so for many races. At minimum they lived for several centuries and at maximum many millennia, with lifespans comparable to dragons. Hags that had grown very old became known as aunties, although they could also achieve that respectable title by adopting or birthing several children, joining a powerful coven or placing themselves directly under an even older hag. The eldest of the hags, as well as the most wise and powerful, were known as "grandmothers" by their sisters, some of which had strength rivaling that of the archfey.

Ecology and Habitats

Hags typically dwelt in desolate regions with bleak and oppressive landscapes of all kinds, ranging from dark, thorny forests, gloomy, slogging swamps, bone-strewn glens, misty moors, stormy seacoasts, damp caverns, howling mountains, and biting tundras. Specific types had preferred environments but could be found out of them if traveling, part of a coven with more native hags, or if a long-range plan required a long period of time in an unfamiliar region, the lattermost option being most common for older and more powerful hags.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Despite their myriad of flaws, hags were not just willing, but happy to make bargains with others, although not out of any sense of genuine generosity. The baleful busybodies enjoyed sticking their noses in other people's business, offering deals that required one to either compromise their values or do something to make the deal ultimately not worth it. For a hag, the bargain was the most delicious way to fell a mortal because they would be complicit in their own wonderful corruption, making it much more enjoyable than blatant violence or straightforward tyranny.

Biological Cycle

It was a common belief of some that there were only five kinds of hags, a misconception. Another unknown fact to many was that hags were able to undergo a metamorphosis so as to change into other subraces of hags. The reasons for why could be anything, some believing that by changing into every type of hag they could become something greater by the end. There were also several ways to gain access to the transformation, some hags simply living long enough to do it through force of will over time, and others using certain resources, perhaps a ritual or coven, to speed the process up.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Hags had no desire to be tied down by others, taking pride in their independence from the rest of the world, including from other hags. Nonetheless, despite how different they could be, all hags recognized each other as kindred spirits, members of a kind of sinister sisterhood by which they were undeniably connected. Even though hags didn't like each other, they were still members of their shadowy sorority and as such had to abide by an ageless code of conduct when dealing with one another. For example, they always had to announce their presence when entering another's hags territory, bring gifts when entering another hag's home, and keep oaths made to other hags, at least so long as their fingers weren't crossed. Like all sisters, hags squabbled and bickered, and at worst these rivalries became century-spanning feuds of manipulation and counter-scheming. This sisterly bond meant they might also reconcile, perhaps if a source of mutual hatred presented itself, and while these relationships were largely lacking in emotion, they were often the closest hags had to "friends".

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Hags tolerated little disrespect in regards to mortals because all possessed at least one crippling weakness, that being their arrogance. Hags treated almost all other beings, particularly humans and demihumans, as inferiors, believing themselves to be the most cunning of all beings. This natural sense of superiority was, in some cases, unwarranted, and while they were extremely clever, their confidence could lead them to accidentally reveal something during conversation that the more cautious wouldn't let slip.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Though hags were known to inhabit both the Feywild and the Material Plane, many were known to settle where the divide between the two was thin, allowing them to interact with beings from both realms. Even ignoring the Feywild, areas where magic energy was strong and the lines between worlds was tenuous were favorable to hags. For example, the ambient magical energy of a burial ground or a ring of fallen standing stones could still hold echoes of ancient, death-related power that a hag would wish to capitalize on.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The powers of hags were as variable as they were, but there were several common abilities between them. The decrepit frame of hags belied their supernatural strength and swiftness, for the crones could crush smaller beings one-handed and easily jump obstructions in their path. They all had magic to some degree, commonly being capable of creating illusions to hide their true forms, and they themselves were naturally resistant to magic. In addition, hags often knew curses and other wicked rites that allowed them to scry, prophesize, manipulate the weather, and place curses on those that annoyed them.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Hags typically shuddered at the thought of having to share their homes and under ordinary circumstances would do no such thing. However, if something required hags to put forth a unified front, either a common goal or threat which couldn't be completed or defeated alone, then they would combine their efforts to form one of the infamous hag covens or coveys. This was only done as a necessity since it required the bickering beldames, who in fairness were often like-minded to some degree, to both deal with the inconvenience of living with other hags and suppress their instinctual selfishness to treat each other as equals. Though they behaved with some semblance of civility, coven hags still wanted to increase their personal power, and so the third coven mate served to deal with disputes when the other two inevitably started arguing. Three was the typical number of members in hag covens, most commonly with each hag being a different type, but any grouping of hags larger than that, the maximum in a single coven being thirteen, usually ended in catastrophe.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Because all hags kept at least some contact with one another, trading secrets, gossip, and warnings through a vast network of magic, personal visits, and messengers, even an utter hermit of a hag had some awareness of surrounding events, and most hags could be said to have at least some vague, secondhand information about any other hag. This also meant that hags were aware when one of their kind was attacked or killed, to which they could have all manner of responses. Hags that were liked might be avenged, those who owed debts might have that debt moved to the killers, and hags that were hated or had debts to hold over others were happily sent off and the killers treated to relative cordiality. All hags were members of a grander pecking order both within their subrace and in the hag race as a whole, determined by age, powers, influence, allies, and experience. Some of these things were earned, while others were inherited from the hag that spawned them, so the determinations of a hag's status were by no means fair. In this, at least to the eyes of mortals, incomprehensible hierarchical web, almost every hag knew their rank and vied in the chaotic system to raise it to a satisfactory point.

Average Technological Level

There are four major "weird magicks" that Hags practice: Items, Vehicles, Hag Eyes, and Hag Brews.
Over many centuries, most hags discovered certain supernatural phenomena most aptly described as "weird magic". This magic took on a multitude of forms, ranging from unique rituals to magic items, all of which were strange and unusual in the sense that they didn't follow the normal rules for magic. It was impossible to know what kind of weird magic a specific hag might have at their disposal, and even the lowest of them were known to have access to some minor supernatural power. Examples included rites to transform others, temporarily resurrect the dead, rewrite memories, steal emotions, crystallize blood, or invoke razor wind. Weird magic items could be things like mummified toads that spewed clouds of ink, bottles of wasps that stitched wounds, mirrors that shattered into clouds of glass, jars of death slugs, undeath-sensing eyeballs or containers with memories inside.
If a positive thing could be said about hags it would be that they were extremely imaginative, and when it came to travel, the stories of their odd methods of conveyance were largely true. Sometimes they rode atop giant pigs, goats, or cows, and transformed sentient beings into animals like giant birds as a humiliating price for their deals. Others rode in and on clay statues, tombstones, cauldrons and butter churns, or giant versions of bird nests, woven baskets, or mortars. Often only the hag in question could use their transport and would only let another being use them in return for something extremely valuable
An iconic part of hag mythology and one of their most potent creations were the magic items known as hag eyes, made from gemstones of reportedly varying worth and the real eye of a hag's victim. Hag eyes required the effort of an entire hag coven to craft, although the details of their creation were possibly malleable. The ritual for creating a hag eye was said to take anywhere between an hour to three days to complete, and required the full attention of the coven to complete. This time was spent in a state of deep concentration and meditation, that prevented them from doing anything besides eating, drinking and sleeping, and anything that disrupted the process forced them to start over again. At the end of the ritual, the life essence of all hags in the coven was bound to the eye, allowing all members to see what the eye could see so long as it was on the same plane as them, the eye being able to see in the dark. Superficially, a hag's eye appeared as a semiprecious stone but a truesight revealed its true form as a monstrous, disembodied eye. Hag eyes weren't particularly difficult to destroy, and doing so caused all hag's in the coven great mental anguish as well as temporarily blinding at least one of them for an entire day. Creating a new one first required at least a day for the blinded coven mate to recover and had to be done at least three days after the eye was destroyed, some reports stating they could only make one once per month.
Just as emblematic as the hag eyes were the bubbling cauldrons from which hags toiled trouble, combining wicked ritual and cannibalistic feast into a depraved form of mad alchemy. Within the shrieking, writhing soup of primordial ooze rose grotesque monsters and potions known as hag brews, the creation of which was based on similar principles to the creation of a hag eye. Once each month, on the night of a full moon, hags took part in the vile ceremony, which started an hour before midnight and ended an hour after. It required them to stay within 10 ft (3 m) of one another the entire time and prevented them from making hag eyes that month or using their coven abilities the day after, the brewing having already expended all of such magic. There was the Brew of Black Eyes, a thick, black substance given to those sent by a hag to track something important which required a coven of three different types of hags and a sliver of hag tongue to grant the drinker arcane sight, darkvision, and the ability to see invisibility that which was invisible for a week. Then there was the Brew of the Beloved, a steaming, sickeningly sweet vapor that charmed most creatures that breathed it in, compelling them to obey the orders of the creator coven, although the victim wouldn't do anything if given multiple orders at once and creating it required, fittingly, at least one green hag member. Also of note was the Brew of Cegilune's Blessing, temporarily turning evil creatures that drank it into fiends for a week before permanently debilitating their vitality almost irreversibly. There are other brews supposedly, though such knowledge is kept secret.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Hags were said to have their own incredibly ancient language, but also spoke various others such as Common, Giant, Draconic, Sylvan, and various demihuman tongues. Their names were given to them by their predecessors, but ultimately decided by the hag in question, the birth name potentially influencing the decision, and they were usually whimsical in a black comedy sense. Typically they consisted of a first name and then either a preceding title or last name to follow it. Titles might refer to a negative personality trait, bad feeling, physical deformity, or matronly position, while last names often combined different body parts, animals, plants, or gross substances. Though hags were known to adopt different names when in disguise, their originally chosen title was still their favorite.

History

Hags were horrible witches of wicked intent and ancient origin, dark fey tied to primal forces whose foul magic and mysterious malevolence haunted fairy tales and nightmares. Equal parts hideous and heinous, hags embodied what it meant to be ugly inside and out, taking on the forms of unsightly old women. They were the antithesis of Feywild natives like the eladrin, for they were warped reflections of civilized beings that epitomized nature at its most repugnant

Genetic Descendants

• Minor Fey
• Striga Hag

Scientific Name

Fey

Origin/Ancestry

Feywild

Lifespan

Effectively Immortal

Conservation Status

Under order from the old Kingdom of Man, and later by the New Bloods, the Witchslayers, and the Holy Order of the Light: They are to be killed on sight.

Geographic Distribution

• The Feywild
• The Freelands
• The Island of Avalon
• The Shadowfell

Related Ethnicities

• Avalonian