Monster Essays : Harpies

I’ve been weighing whether or not to include harpies in this setting and only decided for sure recently. Two main factors came into play that made them stand out: 1) they’re shitty fliers. Closer to carnivorous turkeys than hawks. 2) I wrote a black harpy named Raven into M.C. Kraken’s because I had to make that joke. Unwittingly, I made her dismissive and cold attitude quite natural for harpies; they can be a little bitchy or tsundere until they warm up to you from being a bunch of mountain-dwelling carnivores competing for food and mates.

The teacher’s comments definitely reflect my own this time…

Dylan Eywind

History of Interspecies Relations II

Living The High Life. A History of Harpies.

**A-. A solid breakdown on biological and sociological reasons for their behaviors. Sort of trailed off into an ending though.**

The connection between humanity and more magically inclined races provided humans with the urge and means to explore even further in their search for other life forms. Having found life underground and undersea, we looked to the skies. The high-altitude demi-humans known as harpies were discovered living in especially high mountains or treetops, hiding out of range of common lines of sight. Magical means of contact were needed to reach them, as harpies tended to be solitary creatures and live in small groups at most.

Harpies are, in short, human upper bodies attached to the body of a large bird. Females stand somewhere between 3 and 5 feet tall, depending on the breed, with variously colored feathers from one family or region to another. Males can grow nearly twice that size. The human elements tend to go from the face to the chest before turning to the feathered lower chest or stomach (generally face and breasts on a female while a slightly higher border on males), but their eyes are significantly sharper than humans.  They are much heavier than true avians, built with more bodyweight and denser bones while still much lighter than humans. This leads to flight being very limited for harpies, only able to stay airborne for short times to support their weight. They are better built for gliding off high spots, leading to their adaptation and preference for high ground. 

Their talons are very strong and precise, capable of every bit as delicate work as a human hand while also proving harpies to be excellent climbers. Their wings are strong and flexible enough to perform simple tasks with proper angling, but they prefer the use of their feet in general. Despite their bird-like bodies, they do possess genitalia and reproductive systems like mammals. They are fully capable of human speech, but internal differences allow them to speak in assorted birdcalls capable of fooling genuine birds.

The vast majority of harpy breeds are strictly carnivorous, reacting poorly to more than minimal amounts of fruits or vegetables. This gives them their notably sharp teeth, and while their fangs indicate them as predatory birds, their thicker, poorly flying bodies make them more comparable semi-humanoid turkeys or ostriches. Roughly 1 out of 15 harpies are female, with males being large enough to possess genuine flight and capable of lifting small horses in their talons.

Culture among their kind is limited as harpies are antisocial creatures. They tend to be possessive and territorial about turf, mates, food and so on given the scarceness and effort involved in collecting these in their higher altitudes. Small clutches may gather in their natural habitat, pooling resources if times are genuinely difficult or they have other need for compromise.

The invitation to join humanity has done much to calm these urges. Given the scarcity of males, harpies resorting to abducting a human, orc or the like as a substitute mate. This leads to less fertility rates but can still produce a standard harpy child. Regardless of the race of their mate, a pregnant harpy is rendered flightless once they grow heavy enough. They must either gorge and hibernate until they give birth or maintain a “stork”: having a friendly harpy or their mate bring them food.

Some of their territorial behaviors carried over as they joined into modern culture. They can come off as aloof, curt or cold in their treatment of strangers, but are very clingy and affectionate with those they become close to. This appears to be a learned behavior from living with their much larger mates, where a harpy would press close to him or even ride him to make use of their flight while also watching for rival females. This has led to harpies who partner with a human or similar-sized creature perching on their shoulder or riding on their back as their weight allows. 

Their aggressive flirting, territorial ways, and fondness towards grooming their feathers (or getting another to do so) can make them socially awkward while also coming off as the head cheerleaders of the monstergirl community, but harpies’ participation in our society has been mutually beneficial. Their knowledge and access to the air takes up little space in human-made communities while providing easier access to hard to reach locations. Their ability to handle most weather and altitudes combined with keen eyes has greatly aided in rescue aid while others find comfortable lives as convenient delivery persons. As usual, what ancient legends once warned us of, the modern world has adapted to love and accept.