Harpy

The Harpy race (ハーピー族) is a mono-gendered (female) demi-human liminal race with the body of a human and the wings and talons of a bird. They colonize mountainsides and similar places.

A pure and cheerful race that loves the blue sky and singing. Unfortunately, most of the time, they only sing for other harpies.

Culture
Harpies are migratory beings and a race that embodies the notion of freedom, going where they please, when they please. Being similar in nature to migratory birds, Harpies psychologically can’t stay in one place for very long. However, due to their air-headed personalities they more often then not forget about their "rules" and just do what they please, with that rule being: "Harpies are not allowed to stay a long time in a place. ESPECIALLY at a guy's place."

Harpies have a clawed, opposable digit on the joint of each wing, and the wing at the joint has a "palm" which can curl to some small degree. This allows for gripping of objects, but these improvised grabbers are nowhere near as dexterous as true hands. Since all harpies hatch from eggs, there's a possibility that the clawed opposable digits served to help them crack the inside of their eggshells (pipping) when they hatch as harpies don't have beaks like traditional birds do.

Harpies are mono-gendered and rely on humans to reproduce. Unlike most such races, though, harpies do not simply abduct men for the purpose. Rather, they travel about and find men before returning to the village to lay their eggs after mating, sometimes even finding multiple partners in a single outing to encourage genetic diversity. Despite this, some harpies will occasionally choose a mate for life, and will either move to be with them or else continually return when their migration routes bring them back around.

When human representatives arrived with the intention of including their race in the exchange program conducted through the Cultural Exchange Between Species Bill, a majority of the harpies did not intend on applying due to the various laws they would be expected to follow. However, some applied on a whim, being true to their nature.

Physiological Attributes

 * Lightweight: Harpies are among the lightest of the demi-human races because of their hollow bones.
 * Wings: Because of their wings, Harpies can fly, although they cannot fly if their wings get wet. Harpies' wings are strong to carry both Humans and Lamias over long distances without visible effort. However, not all Harpy subspecies can fly, such as Poltry Harpies or Land Animal Harpies.
 * Mono-gendered: Harpies are a purely female Liminal species, and therefore require male humans to breed.
 * Oviparity: Some harpies lay 2-3 eggs each week. Harpies like the Poultry subspecies, lay more eggs than the regular harpy breeds. In regards to egg size, there's a possibility that fertilised harpy eggs are larger than unfertilised ones (the size of Papi's unfertilised egg in Ch.14/Ep.6 and the size of newborn harpy babies in the arms of their mothers in Ch.28 give some credence to the idea that fertilised harpy eggs and newborn harpies are around the same size as newborn human infants).
 * Childlike bodies: Even when in adulthood, harpies have childlike (or petite) bodies (averaging between 140 cm (4'6") and 157cm (5' 2") in height). These bodies are ideally suited to flying through the air to prevent wind drag. The exception would be Raptor harpies (due to their high protein diet which makes their bodies less juvenile and more like that of an adult human woman's body); and Land Animal harpies (due to their tall stature).
 * Since they don't have hands, one might think daily life would be rather inconvenient; however, their talons and the claws on their wings are sufficient for most tasks.
 * Poor night vision: Harpies typically have poor night vision and thus, rarely fly at night, except for their Owl subspecies.
 * Harpies can be omnivores or carnivores.
 * Like birds, Harpies can not discern glass walls, windows and doors and will actively fly into them while trying to get inside a house.
 * Cold insensitivity: As shown in Chapter 31, at least standard Harpies are immune to severse freezing temperatures. Even with thin clothing, Harpies do not freeze or tremble.

Land Animal Harpy
Land Animal Harpies (陸上種) are a subspecies of harpy adapted for terrestrial life, like ostriches and emus. Their wings are small, but their bodies have evolved to be larger than humans. Using their thick, powerful legs, they can run at incredibly high speeds. Despite their large bodies and sharp claws, they are generally easygoing.

These harpies still have slight frames but are nearly twice the size of other harpies, making them quite tall. Their wings would be a little more dexterous than a common harpy's, as they do not have large pinions to obstruct movement.

Poultry Harpy
Poultry Harpies (家禽種) are a harpy subspecies adapted for laying eggs. They cannot fly and are unable to run at high speeds like land animal harpies. However, they produce far more eggs than other subspecies, and they continuously lay eggs nearly every day. Poultry harpies have a red crest on top of their heads. Unlike chickens, their appearance is natural, not selectively bred. They are very cowardly, or chicken.

Raptor Harpy
Raptor Harpies (猛禽種) are large eagle- or hawk-like harpy subspecies. Their bodies are very similar to human bodies. Though other subspecies are omnivorous, raptor harpies are strictly carnivores. They are proud and difficult to please, an unusual trait among the generally amicable harpies.

Raptor harpies have patterned plumage, such as found on hawks or owls, and do not have the giddy colors of common harpies or the simple uniform tones of land animal harpies. Raptor harpy wings are more angled than common harpy wings and are more adapted to swooping and cornering. As raptor harpies are purely carnivorous, their increased protein intake leads to their bodies being fuller and far less juvenile in appearance. Raptor harpy wings have very long pinions, and these would likely make them even less dexterous than common harpies.

As hunters, raptor harpies are strong and proud, and are not as easily-impressed by other harpies. Being a predator takes a degree of cunning and consistent knowledge of the terrain and situation, so raptor harpies would be the most intelligent of the harpy species, though that doesn't mean they're particularly smart by human standards.



Owl Harpy
Owl Harpies are an owl-like harpy subspecies closely related to the raptor subspecies. Due to being a nocturnal species, Owl harpies have excellent night vision. They also become more active after sunset and seem to be much more intelligent than their airheaded cousins.

Garuda
Garuda (ガルーダ) are a large Harpy subspecies prevalent in Hindu mythology. Regarded by Hindu lore as the King of all Birds and the mount of the Supreme god Lord Vishnu, Garuda are considered the strongest of the harpy subspecies and are known for their eternal animosity with the Naga serpent race.

Vermillion Bird
Vermillion Birds are a demi-human subspecies of Harpy who are identified by their red pheasant-like feathers, five-colored plumage and being perpetually covered in flames.

Considered to be one of the four mythical animal tribes of China (alongside the Azure Dragons, the White Tigers, and the Black Turtles), all four of which are kept in balance by the Huang Long race, the Vermillion Birds are elegant and noble in temperament and represent the element fire, the southern provinces of China and the season of summer.

In the Manga

 * Papi (Harpy)
 * Papi's Mother (Harpy)
 * Mimi (Owl Harpy)
 * Hakuto (Raptor Harpy)

In the Game

 * Haru (Raptor Harpy)
 * Bima (Garuda)
 * Lea (Land Animal Harpy)
 * Nan Que (Vermillon Bird)

Trivia

 * The concept of Harpies losing their memory after taking three steps stems from a Japanese proverb about chickens forgetting what they are doing after taking three steps.
 * One of The Eight Brothers is dating a Harpy.
 * It is currently unknown how related the Harpy race is with the Yatagarasu and Phoenix races, both of which are similar non-human race, with the former have crow-themed wings and plumage.
 * Their sexual desire for other races is relatively low, except during mating season when they lure men out with their beautiful singing voices, then take them away to their nests. Their ditzy nature may have a hand in that.
 * Kimihito discovered that after Harpies take about 3 steps, their brains will automatically reset causing them to forget what just happened, however, if said Harpy never takes three steps (due to either flying or being carried) they will retain their memory. It is only after the third step that they lose their memory.
 * Even though they are air-headed and often forget about things, they can still remember the men they once loved.
 * A notable mythic theme from Easter Island is the concept of "Bird Men"; human beings with wings, chosen to act as mediums between the living and spirit worlds.
 * Like most birds, harpies dislike scarecrows planted in fields and CDs hung from balconies.
 * During mating season, Harpies will mate with many different kinds of men to ensure a mix of various genes in their offspring.
 * This may suggest that in one clutch, none of the offspring are full-siblings, due to each of them having a different father.
 * The Harpies have their hands as wings, while in other Okayado's work 12 Beast, Harpies have separate functioning hands. And they have male Harpies.
 * Despite being called bird wings, Harpy wings are generally more similar to the wings of other dinosaurs. For example, land animal harpies lack true dinosaurian wings entirely, having arms like an alvarezsauroid. another example would be that raptor harpies appear to lack an outer wing, whereas normal harpies have it, but smaller and without primaries. They also lack humerus feathers. Poultry harpies also appear to have a large opposable digit, which may be a fusion of the digits on the regular harpy. Another thing is that no harpies have feathered alulas (excluding the down on raptor harpy's wing claws, which may actually attach to the wrist), unlike birds. They also appear to have traits of entirely non-avian reptiles, such as a two part, scaly legs.
 * Harpies appear to be more similar to dinosaurs than to humans, and therefore probably have air sacs in their bodies, much like the system that allowed some dinosaurs their great size. Another possible trait are extra fenestrae, such as the antorbital, upper temporal or mandibular ones.
 * Poultry Harpies being flightless is odd, as they are a harpy subspecies based on a bird order without flightless members.
 * With the exception of the flightless subspecieses, harpies hate environments with too many powerlines.
 * Although Harpies hatch from eggs, they have a belly button. This is due to the fact that harpies children are connected to the yolk in their eggs by an umbilical cord. This is also the case with chickens, but the navel soon recedes and can no longer be seen in an adult chicken.
 * Harpies aren't the only liminals to have wings for arms as Sphinges, Phoenixes, Cockatrices, Horus, Quetzalcoatl and Yatagarasus have too.
 * Raptor harpies are said to be the smartest subspecies of harpies (but not by human standards) which is possibly inaccurate since Owl harpies may be as smart as humans and thus perhaps smarter than Raptor Harpies.