--- ### **Overview** The **Harpies** are the political and social elite of [[Hexa Landing]] — a faction of seductive manipulators, immortal socialites, and vampiric spies who shape the city’s future not with violence, but with whispered secrets, favors, and scandal. They serve as the Queen’s unseen eyes and ears, and often her velvet-gloved hand. A Harpy does not enforce the law — they orchestrate the social consequences of breaking it. Through them, gossip becomes policy, reputation becomes power, and ruin can be arranged with a single rumor. --- ### **Role in Hexa Society** The Harpies sit atop the **Vein Court’s social web**, with influence over nearly every noble house, guild, and bloodline. They administer court etiquette, judge fashion and decorum, and determine which scandals are to be silenced and which are to be weaponized. They: - Control invitations to key events, galas, and Vein Courts. - Maintain influence charts and social hierarchies. - Track alliances, feuds, and broken blood pacts. - Spread or suppress secrets, blackmail, and memory fragments. - Recommend names for _Crimson Warrants_ to the Queen. It is said: _"The [[Vein Law]] is iron — but the Harpies decide who burns on its edge."_ --- ### **Membership and Rank** To become a Harpy is not to be appointed — it is to be accepted. One must earn their place through: - Social victories and tactical blackmail. - Captivating a rival and turning them into a pawn. - Uncovering a truth no one dares admit — and wielding it well. Ranks include: - **Gilded Whisper** – Novice Harpies; agents-in-training. - **Velvet Talon** – Trusted voices in social shaping. - **Crimson Chime** – Senior Harpies with direct court access. - **Mother of Feathers** – The enigmatic matron of the Harpies, said to be older than the Queen herself. --- ### **Relationship with the Queen** The Harpies are **not** the Queen’s servants — they are her instruments. Though formally separate from the [[Blood Crown Guard]] and the [[Ebonclaw Conclave]], they are empowered by the Queen’s will to act in all matters of social stability, bloodline decorum, and [[Vein Law]] precedent. Their most powerful tool is the **Vein Ledger**, a sentient book of scandals, secrets, and violations — its contents updated magically through whispers spoken anywhere in the palace. --- ### **Interaction with Other Factions** - **Elite [[Vein Sentinel|Vein Sentinels]]**: Harpies may recommend targets for enforcement. The Sentinels do not question the source, only the order. - **[[Ebonclaw Conclave]]**: Harpies often counterbalance the arcane tyranny of the Conclave through social ruin instead of open challenge. - **[[Blood Crown Guard]]**: Mutual respect, but the Guard has no use for rumor. However, some Harpies feed them intel discreetly to protect the Queen. - **Guild of Red Ink**: A tenuous alliance. The scribes record what Harpies orchestrate. --- ### **Player Use and Hooks** - PCs may need a Harpy’s blessing to enter noble events or gain audience with the Queen. - A Harpy may offer a secret in exchange for a favor — or use a PC’s memory as blackmail. - A Harpy might help the PCs rise in social rank — or ensure they never rise again. - Killing a Harpy risks not just retaliation… but _social annihilation_. --- ### **Rumors and Secrets** - One Harpy supposedly orchestrated the fall of a noble house through a lie whispered at a masquerade. - The Mother of Feathers may not be a vampire at all — but something older, wearing a dead girl’s charm. - Some say the Harpies control the city more than the Queen ever could — and she allows it, because she must. --- ### **Tone and Presence** Elegant. Terrifying. Alluring. To speak to a Harpy is to wonder if you’re being judged, seduced, or prepared for sacrifice. Their presence turns every conversation into a game — and every compliment into a knife.