Hag

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.

Description
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.

Normally hags wore simple clothing like those of female peasants, if more ragged and dirty, but not for a lack of interest in their appearance. In fact, hags were very concerned with their appearance, taking steps to ensure they were at their worst by rubbing filth onto their clothes and accessorizing their gross garb with gruesome decorations. They would modify their clothes with bits of gore and refuse, wear bits of skin and bone, spin cloth from innards and put all manner of litter in their hair, and those were only the things they would wear. They were also known to augment their actual bodies, such as by sharpening their teeth to make themselves more fearsome, picking at scabs to produce weeping sores, and otherwise exacerbating their deformities with nurturing attentiveness.

However, if a hag needed to not invoke utter disgust, they could magically disguise themselves, the exact limits of their illusions being specific to different types. Almost all types could take on the forms of regular old ladies, but some could appear to be attractive youths, diminutive giants and even vaguely humanoid animals like bears. Regardless of what guise they donned or act they put on however, such impersonation would always be superficial, because the physical forms of all hags were merely reflections, the twisted moldings of the ugliness in their own hearts.

Personality
Evil was at the core of what defined hags, an inextricable part of their identity. They were representatives of malice and malignancy, paragons of corruption who took unbridled joy in creating misery and misfortune for the virtuous and content. To simply call them evil was itself an understatement; petty, avaricious, conniving, merciless, abhorrent and oppressive simply scratched the descriptive surface. Their reversed sense of value extended to aesthetics as well, for hags were known to relish their moral and physical ugliness, as well as the horror that they evoked, and be disgusted by the beautiful to the point of disfiguring those who were attractive. Despite embodying that which was horrible and brutal in nature, they still disrupted the natural order, for hags were miserable creatures of scorn and hate that did evil purely for evil's sake.

Unpredictable
Even to immortal beings, hags could be unfathomable in their decision-making and it was almost impossible to predict how they would act at any given time much less during any given day. Making them even less understandable was that hags were keepers of forbidden knowledge that would be better off forgotten, although fortunately they were greedy beings and so typically kept it to themselves. Whether obtained from dark divinations, arcane pacts or from other hags, their knowledge was fearsome and made them even more dangerous than they would be otherwise.

"Want to know a dark secret? Ask a hag. The trick lies in getting the truth out of her."

- Volo

In the event that a hag was acting friendly, or at the very least ambivalent, it was important to remember that hags ultimately didn't care about the the thoughts or desires of anyone but themselves. Like cantankerous grandmothers, hags viewed those younger than themselves with opinionated stubbornness, freely and bluntly saying whatever idea came to mind. These could be lewd jokes or comments at their expense or more threatening asides about various means with which they could be harmed, and by no means were hags hesitant to make good on these statements if made to lose their tempers.

The schemes of hags were patient, their webs of manipulation wide and their understanding of mortal vices, as well as how to manipulate them, great. Sometimes they wished to bring devastation to a benevolent community or destroy some being of good and at others their machinations were a net positive for the multiverse, such as the defeat of a fiend or nefarious rival hag coven. The end game behind a hag's actions and requests, even incredibly simple ones, might only come into play decades later under certain specific conditions, but in any case they almost certainly involved directly or indirectly gaining leverage for some undoubtedly nefarious plot. However, even creatures as indisputably vile as hags were known to show affection for certain things other than themselves, some even going so far as to demonstrate motherly devotion towards others, although by no metric was this a common occurrence, nor did it necessitate such hags be generally benevolent or proud of this fact.

Bargaining
"Hags often appear unlooked for, in moments of great need, because they have been spying and see an opportunity to aid now to set up darker mischief later."

- Elminster 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.

In terms of bargaining behavior, hags could be compared to fiends, both of which used their many resources to make deals with mortals in order to corrupt them, but there was a fundamental difference between the two. Whether devil or demon, fiends typically made deals with mortals ultimately to obtain the soul, a powerful and versatile commodity that would grant them greater status, with the mortal's induction to a particular vile ethos being the means of obtaining it. The emotional state of their marks by the end wasn't necessarily a relevant factor to the fiendish corrupter.

Unlike fiends, hags approached the bargain from the perspective of a hobbyist, corrupting mortals for the fun of making others miserable and not caring about their particular cosmic fate. Obviously such a dichotomy didn't always apply; fiends generally enjoyed torture and torment and hags were known to make deals for purely pragmatic reasons, even if doing so didn't actively ruin anyone's lives.

Weaknesses
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.

If one did need to make a deal with a hag, the best time, if one could be said to exist, was when one could offer the hag something they needed or wanted. In the mind of the hag, part of their compensation for any given service was the suffering of the other party, and giving them something they genuinely desired made the matter more about sating their greed than their sadism. Because hags weren't subtle about self-expression, it would immediately become clear when a hag wanted to have or observe something, such as an odd spell, magic item or person with bizarre magical abilities, sometimes snatching the object out of the holder's hands to perform more thorough examination. They would smell, shake, taste, feel and hear the subject, person or otherwise, whispering to themselves before finally placing a mental value on it.

A bribe that would be either unique or useful, or at least enough so to a rival that she wouldn't want her to have it, a hag would pay a high price to obtain. This could possibly be in the form of freeing captives or granting requested knowledge regarding local lore, evil creatures or mysterious magic, and such deals were unlikely to have dire consequences. Better still would be to offer the hag a gift without asking for anything to return, all the better if the service was performed outside of any bargaining context. The foul fey hated being in the debt of others, and while this kind of service was less predictable it was also less likely to be a trap of some sort. But even if a deal made with a hag was simple, seemingly generous or even actually fair with no strings attached and no harm to anyone around her, a hag's motivations were still hidden and cryptic.

Abilities
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.

Particularly powerful hags began polluting the environment where they lived, their fell magic and foul nature twisting it just as their own malevolence shaped their powers. In areas where great hags resided, vermin were more frequent, animals were more aggressive towards intruders and strange figurines, fetishes and dolls were known to magically appear.

Combat
When hags were uninterested in bargaining and were simply looking for someone to harm for whatever reason, they often did so in the guise of human or demihuman females, either young or old but generally helpless, or by taking on the form of creatures like orcs or hobgoblins. If her targets were more powerful or numerous than she initially presumed, or if she was aware that they were too strong to directly confront, a hag would keep the ruse going longer to make her victims more vulnerable, such as by leading them into a trap or persuading them to make unwise decisions. This scheme typically ended with her revealing her true nature and attacking the victims while they were still within killing distance.

Hags were also known to use certain magic items they had on them, whether having intended to use them at the start or deciding to later, and hags being what they were it was impossible to know what specific tricks they would have up their sleeves. Under normal circumstances, these resources would be used conservatively, but when their lives were at risks they would use any item in order to save themselves. Better to have spent a valuable resource and live long enough to possibly replace it than to die and lose everything they had.

Escape
Hags always kept at least three home escape plans, one for general threats and two for likely situations like certain hazards or enemy attacks, in mind if they became outmatched or just if the need to quickly vacate the premises presented its self. These plans used a combination of innate magic, supernatural items and techniques, guile and help from others. After escaping, they would immediately plot to serve cold revenge back to the interlopers or their families, even if the original mortal was long dead.

Before even getting to that point however, hags made aware of a serious danger would make use of every dirty trick in the book to try and gain an upper hand. If threatened by a legitimately threatening force, they would feign weakness to prey on braggarts or the merciful so as to be spared, or at least buy time. They would lie, cheat, bribe, cajole, shame, tempt, terrify, divide and otherwise exploit their enemies in any way they believed would work, relying on shrewdness born of age to defeat superior opposition. For example, a hag might offer some secret knowledge or magical item to her assailants in exchange for their lives, holding back parts of the identification or delivering instructions that could backfire with curses or unseen side effects.

Typically a mortal would have to be the one to start hostilities, because hags would rather combat those incapable of defending themselves than fight fairly, attacking the weak or sleeping rather than the tough and alert. Though a hag's claws were dangerous weapons, their favors had fell far more opponents, and if they were resorting to their nails it was a good indicator that something had gone seriously wrong.

Society
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".

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 were 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.

Coven
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.

Motive
Still, the act of forming a coven still came with enough advantages to offset its annoyances for most hags, so they were not uncommon. For one, hags in a coven were able to put together forces with greater variety. Whereas a single hag could trick the dryads in a nearby glade into doing as she wished or bully the resident ogres of an area into following her commands, a coven could martial many diverse forces, the most powerful covens being capable of ruling kingdoms, whether on or behind the throne.

The other, more direct advantage, was that hags working in a coven obtained powers far beyond what they could achieve alone through a combination of their individual ritual magic. So long as the hags of a coven remained close to each other, they might gain powers such as the ability to scry, control the weather, command nature, create plagues, divine the future, lay wicked curses, defeat some goodly champion or manipulate death, depending on what mission they were bending their magic towards. Hags in a coven could craft scrying devices known as hag eyes. Covens with more powerful hags could gain even greater control over their immediate environment, but only if the hag in question desired them to and possibly only during certain time periods or under specific conditions, depending on the strength of the hag in question.

When a coven member was killed, the survivors tried to recruit a replacement to keep the group together, effectively starting tryouts where applicants competed to prove their malice. In some ways, this could be more dangerous for the surrounding area in the long-term then if the original hag hadn't died at all, as natural and supernatural disasters plagued the region. Sometimes uniquely gifted and particularly wicked mortal spellcasters, like wizards, sorcerers and even warlocks, would be invited or allowed to compete for a spot in a coven, typically if the pair of hags had some use for the unusual member. For example, they would make an excellent spy in humanoid settlements, although given the hag opinion of mortals this was possibly a dangerous situation.

Lairs
A hag's lair, no matter it's form, was an unpleasant, disturbing thing which, like her form and magic, was a representation of herself. Normally there was some element of corruption and death; a dead tree, a cave resembling a skull or possibly an actual giant skull. At other times they were more obviously manufactured, resembling taverns, ruined towers, mausoleums, giant coffins and even gingerbread houses. There was always some defense system in place, whether it was a naturally dangerous path, magical wards of disguised captives to lure in the less prepared. They made their homes around mortal settlements, not so close as to be an obvious threat but close enough that a steady supply of malcontents could occasionally come seek her out.

Language
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.

Relations
While typically solitary, hags occasionally felt a desire for companionship, something they typically sated by collecting servitors. In no sense were these entities friends; the hag either charmed the servant or had some way to threaten its life, either magical or mundane, and would insult and beat them at a whim. Even ordinary animals were retained as minions, commonly for the purpose of self-defense, a task for which bound mortals were the most delightful pawns. Innocent folk were an excellent defense against righteous opponents and their unassuming appearance allowed them to act as a hag's eyes and ears, whether they were acting as spies or representatives. Typically a hag's minions could be divided into two groups, the first being servants like constructs, undead creations, unintelligent vermin and other things that a hag could trust to unquestionably obey their orders and protect her home.

The other type were brutes, mercenaries under a hag's employ with free will that ran errands, roughed up assigned targets, patrolled unimportant areas and otherwise attended to laborious tasks beneath the hag's personal attention. Though hags were known to employ ogres, the term brute was generally misleading since hags preferred employees willing and capable of cunning cruelty as opposed to strong but stupid bumblers. These could be other evil giants, werebeasts, dark fey, sneaky creatures like bugbears, kenku and doppelgangers, or other strange monsters like ettercaps, gargoyles, and aberrations. They were also known to augment their minions, whether brute or servant, giving them magic items and disguises or, whether intentional or not, twisting them into villainous fey versions of themselves. These wicked parodies were given powers befitting the hag's nature or that the hag thought would be useful, like limitless stamina, resistance to a certain element, transformations or teleportation.

Hags were curious about other beings of power, including other hags, dragons, fiends, genies, and sometimes even mortals of great power, and had some small sliver of respect for those with accurate knowledge of such beings. Given their magical and political prowess, dangerous beings might be under a hag's sway, whether returning a favor or paying off a supernaturally enforced blood debt. Hags were known to put themselves in servitor positions, offering their dark knowledge to powerful evil entities, but whether as oracles or simple advisors they were typically unfaithful to their masters if presented with a chance to usurp. Conversely, the heinous deeds of hags earned them powerful enemies, good-aligned dragons and giants being known to hunt them and kill them if given the chance.

Mortals
When hags made deal with mortals, the true consequences were often hidden, with the deal-maker in question sometimes even enjoying success for a time before a drawback presented itself. Those that came to them could find that a trait bestowed on a loved one had become too extreme, created some other flaw in them, or created a situation where the mortal was dependent on the hag. Desperation was the best bargaining tool of a hag, the common factor in a majority of their dealings being that others sought them out for help even when aware of their wicked ways out of sheer sense of necessity. They rarely looked for mortals to bargain with because their desire to make offers and enforce deals was outweighed by their love of being in positions of power, something that she gained when someone came to her instead of vice versa. This was especially useful if the visitor wanted to avoid being known to have dealings with the hags, adding time pressure to her list of advantages, and they were known to sweeten deals by including obviously exploitable loopholes.

Even when clear evidence of a hag's negative influence on others lives was plain to see or common gossip in a town, they would still receive visitors from those foolish enough to believe she would show altruism. Some tried to invoke the hag code of conduct, not aware that those outside the sisterhood got no such courtesy, although the hag in question might play along for a while before revealing the invoker's folly. Out of a belief they were smarter, had less distortable desires, or were simply less greedy than those before them, there were those occasional few who continued to deal with hags and whose deals each hag remembered down to the letter. After years of slowly corrupting mortals one at a time, a hag's community of choice would run out of benevolence and the residents would become grim and hostile towards outsiders as a result of their own misery. Yet hags didn't completely crush all hope in a community; by providing the slightest glimmer of a chance that she would undo some of her foul works, hags kept leverage over the communities they corrupted, and so local leaders did what was in their power to stop interlopers from trying to defeat her.

Fey
Though the former leant towards good and the latter towards evil, both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the fey were admirers of true beauty and so both were relatively absent of hags. Even with their knowledge and magic, hags were only accepted as courtiers in courts if they were weak or humble enough to create a less hideous guise to prevent them from staining their surroundings. Given their love of personal freedom, hags had no problem with not being bound by the fickle whims of a fey queen. However, compared to their dealing with mortals, hags dealt with fey creatures, and other powerful creatures in general, with greater respect. Not only were fey stronger than mortals, and thus more capable of harming her if they were angered or felt cheated in the dealings, but unlike the short-lived humanoids, a fey creature could spend centuries plotting vengeance. While this didn't make them behave more pleasantly towards fey creatures, since they enjoyed trying the patience of other beings, it made them temper their blatant comments and forceful attitudes based on their knowledge of how much an entity would tolerate.

Religion
Hags saw their magic as a challenge to the gods themselves.

Ecology
Hags reproduced by a horrid ritual that involved capturing and devouring a human infant. Within one week, the hag gave birth to a seemingly normal human daughter. The offspring retained her human appearance until her thirteenth birthday, when she suddenly transformed into a hag identical to the one who birthed her. Some hags raised their offspring personally, while others returned the child to their parents and sadistically watched her growth and horrific transformation.

Environment
Their typical dwelling locations consisted of bleak and oppressive landscapes, such as dark swamps, dark forests, and stormy seas. Often, the hags' presence turned the vicinity of their dwellings into aggressive and virulent environments.

Subspecies
Annis
 * They were the most physically powerful of the hags.
 * They were the most physically powerful of the hags.

Bheur
 * Hags who lived in cold regions. They had the power of winter at their disposal.
 * Hags who lived in cold regions. They had the power of winter at their disposal.

Green hag
 * They were hags that used their magical powers to lure innocents into their traps.
 * They were hags that used their magical powers to lure innocents into their traps.

Hagspawn
 * The male product of hags mating with humans.
 * The male product of hags mating with humans.

Hannya
 * A variety of hag from Kara-Tur.
 * A variety of hag from Kara-Tur.

Night hag
 * Hags hailing from the fiendish planes.
 * Hags hailing from the fiendish planes.

Sea hag
 * Hags found in and along the shores of the sea.
 * Hags found in and along the shores of the sea.

Shrieking hag
 * Monsters that roamed desolate plains and wastelands and loved to deceive travelers.
 * Monsters that roamed desolate plains and wastelands and loved to deceive travelers.

Silat
 * A variety of hag from Zakhara.
 * A variety of hag from Zakhara.

History
Hags originated in the Feywild and later migrated into the Prime Material plane, with the exception of night hags, who were exiled from the Feywild and relocated to Hades, from where they later spread to all the Lower planes.