Morning Myth – Lamia and Infidelity

A Cautionary Tale

 

I was looking at the lamia yesterday. Now there is an interesting tale of which I knew only a smidgen. Lamia was a queen in Lybia of whom Zeus grew overly fond. The two had many children. Hera, not delighted by this turn of events, kidnapped all Lamia’s children and did something with them. 

As with most Greek tales of that age, there is nothing but suffering for all. Lamia went on a bender and started kidnapping and eating children. She could also appear very beautiful and had an appetite for luring men into ‘uncompromising’ situations, killing them and then drinking their blood or eating them. These were/are unending benders. Her actions either turned her into a monster or she was later morphed into one by Hera or others.  

Lamia was also cursed and could never close her eyes. This prevented sleep and kept her constantly obsessing over her lost children. She lived in eternal anguish. Zeus did two things for Lamia as assuage the tragedy of her life. The first was to giver her second sight so she could see into the future (which, in all honesty, sounds like a punishment rather than a gift) and the ability to remove her eyes. The latter allowed her to sleep I suppose and not obsess over her children.

Over the ages, Lamia became a byword for various types of creatures of the night that kidnapped children and lured men into situations they would have been better off avoiding. Some essential elements of the Lamia remained solid throughout this time. She was evil, kidnapped children, and killed men. 

Reading up on the Greek myths, as opposed to northern Scandinavian and Mongol mythologies, I have come to the conclusion that Greek men of that age had a significant issue with fidelity. It seems to me that most stories of woe begin with an affair or involve an affair of some type. Imagine that, a whole mythology based around infidelity and cautionary tales for those who engage in such. Though it seems unfair that the women seem to be the one’s being punished more often than not. 

I find myself growing fond of these evil beasts - yet again. At some point in my gaming career I started to create personalities for the beasts the players were supposed to kill. These would, over the years, become quite elaborate with long back stories, motivations, and a host of ancillary material. I also found myself more and more reluctant to allow the players to kill some of the beasts. 

One in particular is a Lamia named Antione who decided to take revenge upon the whole of mankind for an injustice. She has, what is called, the Black Menagerie. Antione is one of my favorite villains and no one, in 40 years, has ever slain her. 

Those write-ups are what prompted Steve to ask me to do the series for the patreon account. In that, I do a weekly 1k word mini-adventure. The latest is muck dwellers and mudmen. I don't care if anyone slays them.

In the Castles and Crusades Monsters and Treasure we have a lamia and a queen lamia. The queen lamia is more akin to Lamia whereas the lamia are more akin to later renderings. below are a couple of adventure ideas.

Adventure Hook: A local baron's son has gone missing. The baroness hires the party to go to every bar and tavern in the area to roust him out and return him before he creates an unexpected heir. The problem is, he is not in any bar or tavern but has eloped with a lamia.

Adventure Hook: A wealthy merchant hires the party to escort her to a far away city. It would be a long journey and she wants more protection than she has. She is, of course, a lamia and has set her eyes upon one of the characters for feasting.

Lamia (This is a chaotic evil magical beasts whose vital statistics are HD 9d10, HP 65, AC 20, BtH +9, and Move 60 feet. Her primary attributes are mental. She wears a ring of polymorph self, ring of mind shielding, bracelet of charm, +3 necklace of resistance, and +2 vest of protection. She wields a +3 poisoned dirk, +2 dagger of wounding, or attack with two claws for 1d4 damage each in combat. She carries iron bands of binding, a potion of invisibility, a potion of heal, potion of ethereal jaunt, and 20,000gp in coin and jewelry.)

Interested in the Lamia? I would suggest beginning here.