In Greek myth the lamia, along with the empusa and mormo, is part of a class of ghosts, vampires and general bogeymen that prey upon unsuspecting victims and tales of which were told to frighten children into behaving. There are at least three lamiae named in the myths, including the famous queen of Libya.
The myth of the Libyan Lamia is tragic. Lamia was the daughter of Poseidon and a queen of Libya. She caught the eye of her evil uncle Zeus, who seduced her. When her jealous aunt Hera learned of the affair, she kidnapped Lamia's children. Lamia went mad with grief and gouged out her own eyes. Zeus, being the psychotic scumbag that he is, transformed Lamia into a monster who exacted revenge by devouring the children of others.
According to another story, Lamia and Zeus had a son named Acheilus. When the boy boasted that he was more beautiful than Aphrodite, his half-sister transformed him into a monster.
The transformed Lamia would later go on to have new children, who were alternately monstrous and beautiful, named the lamiae after their mother. Their descendants still roam the wastes of the world, killing and devouring those they come across in a perpetual cycle of pointless vengeance. They are not evil in the strictest sense, just driven mad with fury and grief.
From the waist up a lamia appears as a comely woman, but from the waist down they are predatory beasts. A lamia’s lower body may be that of any number of animals or hybrids thereof. For example, the animal aspect may be panther, wolf, vulture, snake, goat, bear, even dragon or manticore! (In previous editions some variants have specific names, such as scyllamia for wolf, dracolamia for dragon, kuchrima for condor, or vouivre for amphisbaena, but this is unnecessary). The beast is determined randomly, with no hereditary descent.
Contrary to popular belief, they do not reproduce by seducing (and later eating) males of the demikind and humanoid races. Their male counterpart is the lamio, who for some reason does not get as much attention in stories because bards are sexist or something. (In Sumerian art, lion-centaurs are called urmaḫlullû if winged and kurību if unwinged.) As a throwback to AD&D, some of them are intersex (both male and female at once). As shapechangers (see my Errata below) lamiae are able to change their sex at will and indefinitely, only reverting to the sex they were born as upon death.
According to an apocryphal tale, the first lamiae could not reproduce for they had no menfolk. Some of the lammasu, shedu and sphinxes among the celestial host took pity on the lamiae. They assumed fleshy forms and wed the lamiae, becoming the lamioi.
Errata: It is not feasible for lamiae to assume humanoid form using the disguise self spell. To rectify this, I give them the shapechanger tag/trait from the succubus/incubus. This allows them to assume the form of any Small or Medium humanoid.
Note: I often drop the monstrosity type as being too vague and meaningless. The lamia would be retyped as fey, in accordance with their 4e fey origin. This comes with additional baggage since my campaign gives more detail to fey and actually justifies their existence as a type rather than taking it for granted.
Relevant Links:
- LAMIA - Demon & Sea-Monster of Greek Mythology - Theoi Greek Mythology
- LAMIA & EMPUSA (Empousa) - Vampiric Monsters of Ancient Greek Legend - Theoi Greek Mythology
- Hack & Slash: On the Ecology of the Lammasu and Lamia
- Le Chaudron Chromatique: Contribution to the ecology of the Lamia
- The Daily Bestiary - Lamia - Tumblr
- D&D Monster ENCyclopedia: Lamia - EN World
- https://marshalldodgsonstoryfactory.wordpress.com/2017/03/30/creatures-of-myth-and-legend/
- https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/10/12/lamia/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lamia-Greek-mythology
- https://mythology.net/greek/greek-creatures/lamia/
- https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-secret-historie-of-the-gorgon-lamia-and-su-monster.667485/
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