Arch-Hag
Arch-hags are ancient and immortal entities—sorcerous crones whose power rivals that of archfey, demon lords, or even lesser deities. They are the epitome of the hag race, elevated far beyond their common sisters through cunning, cruelty, and covetous mastery of forbidden lore. Wreathed in dread and mystery, arch-hags weave their influence across realms, striking pacts and curses that twist the fates of mortals, monarchs, and even gods.
Unfathomable in motive and malicious in inclination, arch-hags are never wholly predictable. They may help one day and hinder the next, offering a boon that sours with time or a curse that proves, in hindsight, to be a twisted gift. To make a bargain with an arch-hag is to dance on the edge of a blade.
An arch-hag may be born of a coven’s dark ascension, rise through devouring her rivals, or be the first of her kind—the prototypical crone who remembers the world before it was tamed. Some claim arch-hags were once archfey who fell to corruption, or that they are elemental echoes of night, decay, and loss, given flesh through eldritch sorcery.
They are immortal in the true sense—unaging, deathless unless utterly destroyed, and capable of returning through contingencies woven in soul-threads and cursed bloodlines. Every arch-hag is unique, shaped by her obsessions and the dark domain she commands.
Legends of arch-hags often involve:
- Curses that span bloodlines.
- Cauldrons that boil with prophecy.
- Disappearances of entire villages.
- Forgotten bargains that return with interest centuries later.
Some say that every hero marked for greatness is shadowed by an arch-hag’s curse, just waiting to hatch. Others believe arch-hags can no longer truly create, only twist—so they must steal from mortal dreams to preserve their magic.
They are featured in lullabies, warnings, and superstitions across cultures. Names are rarely spoken aloud, and offerings are left at forest edges or under black moons to appease their gaze.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
While lesser hags may disguise themselves, arch-hags often embrace their grotesque grandeur. They are towering, gnarled figures—skeletal or swollen, draped in fetishes, moss, bones, or shifting veils of shadow and cobwebs. Their eyes burn with unnatural color: red, violet, gold, or void-black, and their voices echo like wind through dead trees or whispers in a sealed tomb.
Each arch-hag’s appearance reflects her sphere of influence:
- A Blight-Hag might weep toxic sap and walk with roots for feet.
- A Sea-Hag Matron may be bloated with brine, teeth like coral.
- A Dream-Hag may shimmer and flicker, her features impossible to focus on.
Arch-hags are reality-shapers in localized domains. They command powerful magic—curses, illusions, transformation, and fate-twisting enchantments—and often warp the world around them. Their domains may exist in forgotten corners of the Feywild, fetid swamps in the mortal world, demiplanes spun from nightmares, or decayed pockets of the Lower Planes.
Where they dwell, the land itself may behave strangely:
- Time might loop or fracture.
- Emotions may sour unnaturally.
- Shadows may whisper secrets best left buried.
They may form coven-thrones, powerful trios where each member is an arch-hag, or rule alone as dark queens of solitude. Despite their chaotic nature, many arch-hags follow personal codes, superstitions, or taboos—binding themselves to obscure cosmic patterns or ancestral vendettas.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
An arch-hag’s lair is an extension of her will:
- A crooked cottage that walks on stilts of bone through shifting mist.
- A drowned manor beneath a haunted lake, its windows always watching.
- A living thorn maze where paths change with the dreamer's guilt.
These lairs are often protected by animate guardians—enchanted objects, bound spirits, cursed beasts, or enthralled mortals. They may contain libraries of blasphemous prophecy, cauldrons that whisper, or mirrors that show not reflections but unmade fates.
Civilization and Culture
Culture and Cultural Heritage
An arch-hag may pursue any number of aims: revenge against a forgotten god, the unraveling of a kingdom’s royal bloodline, the rebirth of her youth through stolen years, or simply the satisfaction of watching a perfect plan unfold over centuries.
Despite their malice, they are rarely chaotic in the sense of randomness. Rather, they are predictably perverse—obsessed with irony, poetic justice, and long-spun cycles of cause and effect. Many delight in challenging mortals with riddles, games, or tasks that reveal deeper flaws.
Above all, arch-hags seek control through chaos—not the raw destruction of demons, but the slow, deliberate unraveling of confidence, certainty, and legacy.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Arch-hags are infamous for their bargains. They offer spells, knowledge, cures, revenge, or transformations, often in exchange for items, deeds, or prices that seem symbolic but carry immense weight. A voice, a memory, the name of a stillborn child—such things can fuel magic far beyond mortal comprehension.
These bargains are binding and worded with cruel artistry. Even when fulfilled, their consequences echo through generations. A hero may gain a sword that always strikes true—yet never again know peace. A kingdom may rise under a hag’s blessing—only to fall the moment its ruler utters her forgotten name.
Their power over destiny is formidable. Some hags weave threads of fate on looms made of bone and spider silk. Others feed on regret and possibility, changing the course of lives simply for amusement—or vengeance.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Though isolationist by nature, arch-hags frequently employ pawns. These may include:
- Covens of lesser hags who revere them as matriarchs.
- Mortals marked from birth for servitude—"hagspawn" bred for cruel destinies.
- Warlocks who forge pacts in desperation or ignorance.
- Fey, fiends, or undead creatures bound by debt or spell.
Some arch-hags even influence mortals subtly, posing as helpful old women, midwives, or seers—planting ideas and warping beliefs through generations. In their webs, no action is without purpose.
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