Man Hopper

Description

The Great buzzing din in the skies is not truly a swarm of locusts —or is it? The creatures from afar seem to be gigantic grass-hoppers, as large as men; or in this case women. Yet instead of an insect's head, there rises from the creature the belly, torso, arms and head of an amazingly attractive humanoid female. Her hair is wild and green, yet her elegant eyes and delicate features are contorted in an ictus of murderous rage. The beautiful, awful fairy notches an arrow...

The Fey known as Man Hoppers have proudly embraced the derogatory title, and the role that comes with it – that of the locusts of mankind. As normal locusts prey upon vegetation, Man Hoppers prey upon men themselves. Periodically, these horrible, spiteful fairies fly forth in great swarms from the deep woods, setting upon rural villages and feasting upon all that dwell there.

Part of the reason for the Man Hoppers undying hatred of civilization and the civilized is that while they are Fey, their existence depends upon humanoids. The only food that can nourish a Man Hopper is the fresh blood of mortal men. Their all-female species cannot replace numbers lost in war and violence without capturing mortal men as breeding stock. Their feelings of superiority, combined with these limitations produce a great bitterness.

The culture of the Man Hoppers reflects this anger; they are great artists and sculptors, their themes invariably dealing with the downfall of civilization, and wholesale slaughter of humanoids. They prepare sumptuous, yet horrific viands from the fingers, eyes, and organs of their mortal victims, though they cannot survive without fresh blood. The only reason they do not attack more often is that the chaotic creatures have difficulty organizing around any single leader, and even when they do, powerful lieutenants are needed to hold the Swarm together; almost any endeavor begun by Man Hoppers dissolves into murderous treachery.

They are often more successful alone. Using their supernatural powers to transform themselves into young women, they travel freely, gaining tactical information about communities to raid, and using feminine charms to dupe foolish mortals into breeding the next generation of Man Hoppers, and their own destruction. These horrors can grow to be a terrible menace; and thanks to unwitting men, they breed almost as fast as the insects they resemble. Mortal men come to regret such liaisons, for the unspeakably cruel fairies take sadistic delight in returning with their sisters in force, and slaying their former lovers; to avenge their pride at depending upon mortals for survival.

Combat

Man-Hoppers prefer to travel in great swarms as they boil forth from their sylvan lairs to lay waste to civilization. They begin with their invisibility spell, so that even while their swarm might be heard, witnesses will not be certain of the danger as the invisible fairies fly forth to despoil their target. They arrange themselves above the village of their choosing, and fire their sleep-poisoned arrows at the people below. Those mortal men that survive both the arrow-wounds, and resist the sleep magic are hunted relentlessly in efforts to capture them alive, for these men are considered the heartiest breeding stock. The remainder of the victims are usually drained on the spot, for their blood does not long provide nourishment if stored.

Alternate Form (Su): Man-Hoppers infiltrate communities by using a variant of Polymorph Self, but limited only to female humanoid shapes. They can be either medium or small-sized. In larger cities, some remain in their guises as women for years at a time, working lies and exulting in treachery.

Blood Drain (Ex): Man-Hoppers cannot survive unless they consume the fresh blood of mortal men. To sustain themselves, Man-Hoppers often attack their humanoid prey, attempting to drain their blood while the target still lives. When doing so, they make a grapple check as though they possessed the Improved Grapple feat, if successful, tiny fangs extract large volumes of blood from the victim, resulting in the loss of 1d4 points of constitution each round until the Man-Hopper is removed. They cannot use Improved Grapple in any other attack.

Immortality (Ex): Even more insidious, the unprepared have little hope of true victory against a Man-Hopper swarm. Even when slaughtered utterly, or disintegrated, their magical nature causes them to rematerialize, returning to life in 1d4 hours, unless killed by iron weapons.

Sleep Poison (Ex): Man-Hoppers naturally produce a poison that induces sleep in humanoid targets. This poison can be applied to weapons, and is usually applied to shortbow ammunition. Anyone suffering damage from a Man-Hopper's natural weapon, or her arrows must succeed at a DC 13 fortitude save or fall asleep for 1d4 hours unless disturbed.

Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day—faerie fire 1/day, invisibility, sleep. Caster level 4th.