Lamia (Solitary, Large, Magical, Intelligent, Hoarder)
Drains Blood (d12 damage) 16 HP, 2 armor
Reach
A vampiric half-serpent woman that often manages a band of lesser jackalware thralls. A human drained of blood by a lamia will arise three days after death as a jakalware thrall of a lamia unless the victim’s body is burnt or given a proper burial.
It’s fairly clear that the Lamia was a precursor figure to the well-recognized vampires and succubae of modern fantasy and horror literature.
In 1819, the English Romantic poet John Keats composed a poem simply titled “Lamia” that then influenced one of Edgar Allan Poe’s sonnets (“To Science”), which is all to say that there is something about this creature’s origin and character that has continued to capture popular attention over the course of several thousand years. It’s unfortunate that the Lamia’s role in blood-sucking and seducing men has been more or less usurped in popular culture and fantasy by the vampire and the succubus, but at the very least, her essence has survived in recognizable ways in those creatures to this day.
Instinct: Drain Blood
Uses illusion
Seduce and Drain
Summon Jackalware thralls