Hello all, Pixel here with our third entry, this time following the Harpies. This third of The Fallen Star Bestiary should delight readers as much as it should get them excited for the next to come in this ambitious, group project.
Entry 3: Harpies:
Harpies, commonly referred to as the defenders of the sky, are large winged birds that inhabit the higher altitudes of our world. They possess a facial structure very similar to that of a human, and have blue feathered wings that extend into hues of red as they conjoin with the bow of the wing. Many have speculated that due to their uncanny resemblance to a human, they must be of demonic descent. However, intensive studying of these creatures has led us to a different conclusion. There is evidence to suggest that both humans and harpies shared a common ancestor, one adept at climbing. Some members of this species were earth-bound, and have thus evolved to become masters of the land. Thus, they have evolved into humans, utilising the resources around them to their maximum potential. However, tiring of their arboreal lifestyle, others longed to take to the sky. Many have perished after jumping off of the very trees they inhabited in a futile attempt at flight. Gradually, these gradually came to possess increasingly avian features over the generations, until the development of functional wings, leading to the harpy we see today.
These airborne scavengers have the potential to cause a great deal of hassle to the inexperienced. In another parallel to humans, harpies possess a mixed adeptness in the fields of strength and stamina, though they excel in the field of speed. Locating a harpy is easy to some degree, though taming a harpy requires an entirely different set of skills, and proves to be a far more difficult endeavour.
Location and Tracking:
Harpies are not an easy foe to track. Reaching their realm can be quite challenging, but remains possible to this day. Pillaring, or so the method is referred to as, is a valid way of reaching the extreme altitudes in which these creatures dwell. This method involves the utilisation of a great amount of blocks, primarily those that are abundant in the world, and those that would normally be discarded. Notable examples of such blocks include dirt blocks and stone blocks. Pillaring is achieved by standing on a block and both jumping and piling blocks vertically on top of each other. Sky Bridges, the horizontal variant, can also be a useful resource when observing and engaging harpies, as you are prevented from falling and likely meeting a grisly death.
While locating a harpy is an easy task, tracking them is a different matter entirely. On reaching the sky, every harpy that is near the player is immediately alerted to their presence, proceeding to swoop at the player with their razor sharp talons, potentially inflicting serious injuries. Becoming swarmed by these creatures is not uncommon, but they can be dealt with as long as one does not hesitate.
Taming:
Harpies are devious, vicious creatures and are as such are difficult to apprehend. Their extreme agility and speed allows them to avoid capture with ease. When the harpies glide down to initiate attack, their wings become fully unfurled, exposing the tender flesh underneath. Firing an arrow at this precise moment allows one to incapacitate the beast, though one should be careful - this causes them a great deal of pain. Assuming the struggle occurs on a Sky Bridge, they should land safely. At this point, one must make haste towards the harpy and muffle its mouth. This is a necessary task, for if not performed in time, the harpy will emit a screech, rivalling that of a banshee’s that serves as a rallying call for its brethren. In this case, capture ceases to become a realistic venture, and one is strongly advised to retreat.
Once captured, the harpy will do everything in its power to escape. There have been many cases where a harpy has escaped due to the carelessness of their captor, only to later return with its kin. In order to remedy this, you must concoct a potion composed of a portion each of moonglow, daybloom and blinkroot, in addition to one harpy feather. It is recommended to have some harpy feathers on hand at the time of brewing, for obtaining a feather from the captured harpy can prove to be difficult - a harpy treasures its plumage above all else. After allowing this mixture to brew for two nights, it is ready for consumption. The harpy will be reluctant to ingest the brew, but will eventually give in after copious attempts. Alternatively, you can boil the mixture to concentrate its contents, and dip the arrowhead of a dart into it, and fire it at the harpy. In either case, the mixture will serve to tranquilise the harpies, having an effect similar to that of alcohol on humans, though the latter method tends to cause unconsciousness for a period up to 12 hours.
Following this, the talons of the harpy must then be blunted, and the harpy must be contained with the use of a large cage. Henceforth, one can devote their efforts to gaining obedience from the creature. This process is the lengthiest of them all, for due to their feral origins and nature, love and care is not sufficient to obtain its respect, though they will no doubt serve to accelerate the process. You must commit to the necessities of the harpy, including but not limited to feeding the creature, healing it of its injuries, and allowing it to exercise daily whilst bound to a post or on a leash. Over time, you will form a mutual bond with the creature, and it will come to depend on you for its survival, becoming self-sufficient at night as it feeds on the rodents and the zombies in your general vicinity.
Combat:
The primary attack of a harpy is to eject feathery projectiles at any figure it deems to be a threat, including the player. The intelligence of a harpy can be clearly seen from the fact that it has an innate sense of strategy, always seeking to gain a height advantage, and awaiting the presentation of an optimum angle for a swooping attack, and the fact that it only engages a more powerful foe in groups. Harpies can also utilise their superior speed and agility to perform attacks in extremely rapid succession, though this is reserved for life and death situations. Though very effective when executed, this causes a great deal of fatigue to the harpy, and will likely render it unable to fight back for significant periods of time. However, their general unpredictability and tendency to fluster their opponents works in their favour as they use this to their advantage, knocking their foes off balance.
Habitat & Alimentation:
Harpies, as stated previously, are only found in the sky regions at an altitude of approximately three hundred and sixty blocks and higher, but it is possible to lure one to the ground. Harpies are much like vultures in their habits and hunting methods in that they have an excellent sense of sight and smell, often being able to spot prey from kilometers away, and that they are scavengers; they consume whatever they may find. Unlike vultures, however, they are not exclusively carnivorous, but are in fact omnivorous, able to sustain themselves with berries and other flora. Being a scavenger does not mean that they cannot hunt, however. They primarily hunt smaller animals, critters, and the occasional, zombie, which, due to its less than impressive agility and poor intelligence proves to be easy prey for a harpy. As a general rule of thumb, anything either larger or more intelligent than a zombie has the potential to badly injure and perhaps even kill the harpy as it acts in retaliation to an attack. It has been documented that harpies that are unable to hunt resort to cannibalism, though this is met with much disapproval from the flock.
Harpies are larger winged birds that inhabit the highest altitudes of Terraria. They are commonly referred to as the defenders of the sky. Legend aside their facial structure is very akin to humans, with skin-like properties. They have blue feathered wings which extend into hues of red as they conjoin with the bow of the wing. Many have speculated that due to their unlikely similarity with human facial composition they must be of demonic decent. However, intensive studying of these ravenous creatures has led us to a far different conclusion. We believe somewhere along development of the human species it took a wrong turn and ended out like a bird (comparable with over microwaving your popcorn so it ends up being something different entirely).
These flying scavengers are a hassle to deal with if an attacker is inexperienced, but that is a little irrelevant. Harpies are mixed in just about everything, really. Locating them is easy to some degree, but getting them down for the taming method can be a large deal if one is not too careful. Then there is the food and habitual based aspects of a harpy's life, which takes an important place regarding survivability.
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, maybe some theories can be cool as something to read..
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