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The harpies of Siren all descend from a single genetically modified origin but display a dizzyingly wide variation of body type and life history. 

1. Evolution

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Harpies of Siren

Evolution and lineages

Harpies represent a class of Sirenian humans adapted to flight. Genetically distinct from phocids, zelkies, and zeta, harpies are feathered mammals with short gestation periods who rarely inherit their colours/markings from their parents, resulting in a traditional lack of family structure. All harpies are referred to with the 'he' pronoun (taken as a personalised 'it') and are anatomically unisex.

There was only one attempt to create harpies on Siren, resulting a single α-generation which can claim ancestry to all anatomically modern harpy lineages. A-gen harpies like Jaybird [pictured] were designed as a vanity project in contrast with the aquatic experiments, to curry favour with a[n Atomcorp] co-founder as part of their attempted corporate takeover. Harpies were designed from the start to experiment with new "randomiser" gene tech, which was designed to reduce the effects of a genetic bottleneck. 

Harpies were made very brightly coloured intentionally to test this randomisation - offspring would have their phenotype "randomised" at conception, resulting in physical traits which bore no resemblence to their parents. As such, the initial generation of 100 harpies had the genetic diversity of over a million individuals.

Over subsequent generations, the effects of the randomiser (which could only persist in laboratory conditions) faded. A-harpies, which were somewhat clumsy on land and in the air due to their bi-to-quad morphology, began to diverge into bipedal and quadrupedal groups, with the quadrupedal harpies becoming the "longwing" lineage, prioritising active soaring long distance flight over ease of terrestrial locomotion. 

 

Longwing harpies are the true masters of flight on Siren. Many are capable of presistent flight for weeks without ever touching land, taking advantage of the wing streams that develop between land ridges for effortless propulsion. They have additional lift-generating surfaces on their legs, which are used in place of a tail to provide rudder/elevator function. Wing types are almost invariable high aspect ratio (similar to albatross, frigatebird, etc) suited for soaring, or broader types for persistent long range flapping (goose, swan, heron, etc).

Terwy-ef [pictured] is a navigator who usually wears a HUD visor, which serves to hide his pink eyes. He is a "deadly white" harpy, born with albinism at the Spire. Deadly white harpies were traditionally poor fliers due to a lack of structural pigment weakening their feathers, and so face discrimination in some areas. To escape the accusations of bad omens and weak flight, Terwy-ef fabricated an alternate backstory, claiming to be from the West. This works great until he is hired to navigate for an archaeology team interested in exploring the ancient Predecessor settlements in the West...

 

Landstrider or "hopper" harpies are closely related to shortwings despite their much larger size (comparable to longwings). They settled the Dry, an area of the Eastern continent which is not broken by sea, making it the largest area of continuous land in the world. The landstriders at the least numerous harpy type, and the type least likely to be found in mixed groups. Most of them live in homogenous nomadic groups in the Dry, following the rare patches of rain across an area of desert as large as South America. They abandoned flight, which is too energetically taxing, in favour of an efficient hopping locomotion which allows fast and low energy transport across the landscape. Capable of travelling up to 40ft in a single bound and reaching top speeds of 60kmph, landstriders are the fastest Sirenians on land.

They are flightless and adapted to hot, arid conditions, with a panel of bare skin ont he neck for thermoregulation.

Pem-pem [pictured] is a member of a nomadic group that practises the art of "taming" the largest land predator on Siren, millipede-like burrowers who can locate sources of water and plantlife.

Landstriders of Pem-Pem's village glue their feathers together and use them to display painted designs.

 

Shortwing harpies are the smallest of all lineages on Siren, rarely taller than waist height to an unmodified human. They specialise in short bursts of fast, highly manoeuvrable flight, but are not capable of flying long distances without a significant tailwind. Instead, they have more hand and foot dexterity than other harpies, allowing them to construct complex buildings and architecture. The East Spire, which is the most populated settlement on Siren, was founded by shortwing harpies, who now live in high density vertical constructions accessible by flight, though lifts allow flightless people up to the higher levels to participate in the world's only university.

Most shortwings are extremely brightly coloured, with an unlimited range of colour and pattern.

Ami-var [pictured] is an anthropologist studying the history of harpies at the University, and has dedicated his life to a theory of evolution which is, sadly, completely wrong.]

 

2. Anatomy and Physiology

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Harpies of Siren

Anatomy and physiology

 

Despite large differences in limb morphology between the three main harpy lineages, their internal anatomy does not differ. Like Earth birds, harpies have very thin pneumatised bones and a system of air sacs which are used in active respiration, a reduced & simplified rib cage and pelvic girdle, and a pelage of feathers arranged in distinct tracts.

Fig. 1 - the skull and facial morphology of a typical harpy, using a landstrider as a model as their short feathers make the surface anatomy more obvious. The degree of bare skin on the face varies between individuals. The dentition is convergent with a bird's beak, with teeth reduced in number until only four incisors remain, which form shearing and crushing structures. The loss of an incisor can significantly impact the ability to eat, so dental care is often prioritised. Unlike the other people of Siren, the cervical vertebrae meet the skull at its base.

Fig. 2 - a depiction of a landstrider. Their colours tend to be a rnage of brown, black, and agouti feathers, with noticeable red iridescence at certain angles. All harpies have coloured sclera and dark irises. The bare skin can be any colour; for longwings, it is most commonly a dark blue-grey.

Fig. 3 - wing morphology. The hands split at the wrist at a y-shaped junction (3.a). The grasping hand is mounted on a ball and socket joint which allows for an extreme range of manoeuvrability in shortwings (3.c), but is not structurally suitaed for load bearing to the extend of a comparatively-sized unaltered human hand. The first harpies had five digits, but the fifth has been lost. There is a strong propatagium, which in longwings is slightly ossified, affording less limb flexibility outside of flight (3.b). The weight-bearing hands of longwings have greater structural strength than those of shortwings and the wing is overall more robust to withstand a quadrupedal take off, but do not have a great degree of flexibility. The ability of the two hands to swivel independently of one another is what allows the hands to be used at all without fouling the flight feathers. When not in use, the wing can be in a folded state while allowing the hand and arm a full range of movement.

Additional text: Fig. 2: This expression of feather cover is a form of sun protection. The bite really hurts.

Fig 3a.: Common wing limb anatomy. In landstriders, the grasping hand is the same length as the wing hand.

Fig 3b.: Weight bearing longwing hands. The metatarsals are elongated and reinforced.

Fig. 3c.: Folding wing mechanism (shortwing). The alula (wing thumb) has a similar range of swivel motion to the entire grasping hand]

2.1. Genetic redundancy

All harpies of Siren have levels of genetic diversity which are unusually high for a single individual. This varies by population and ancestry but a harpy usually has the requisite genetic material to express multiple different phenotypes. The feather coat of a harpy is the location of this confusion, as my studies of the genetic engineering notes of Atom corp have proved. According to the engineers, the feather coat is a genetically distinct individual comparable to "the organelles within a cell" which "reproduces asexually independent of the host". I do not know what this means or what its implications could possibly be.

Pictured above is a simplified diagram of a longwing harpy exhibiting what we call paradox markings & the four patterns that go into this unusual presentation. This type of patterning is a form of mosaicism unique per individual and is the result of the body trying to produce all of the patterns stored in its genetic code at the same time. Paradox markings occur in about 1 in 100 harpies which is in fact more common than anyone truly realises, it’s just that most of the time they are very small (an odd feather here or there) or largely unnoticeable (is that just a different shade of grey or a completely different coat pattern?). Paradox markings can be as simple as two different patterns with relatively large simple patches (including bilaterally split patches), or as complex as tens of patterns all blended together so that the end result looks like static (the image of the shortstrider harpy below has sectoral paradox markings!).

In longwings, which tend to come in shades of grey, paradox markings reveal why this is - the multicoloured markings are only one of a possible 4 phenotypes, the majority of which are shades of grey, thus without the paradox expression, one might never know that within each individual is hiding such an unusual pattern. In shortwings, where all potential expressions are equally eye-catching, paradox markings are far less dramatic. 

According to the geneticists, this quality of harpies is another method of bypassing the Authorities, who would otherwise stipulate that a founding population of genetically modified Humans must be numerous enough to avoid any genetic bottlenecking or inbreeding. By developing this modification, Atom corp could produce founding populations for vastly reduced costs, starting with only a few individuals instead of hundreds. While the risk of inbreeding depression are greatly reduced, the ethical circumstances (of incestuous pairings by necessity to propagate the population) resulting from such a small starting population are quite frankly horrendous.

 

 

3. Longwings

These are the largest of harpies and often the heaviest, and well-known for their monopoly over certain Predecessor artifacts which some of us would really like to get our hands on some day. Alas.

 

3.1. Active soarers

[Image text: Wing shape differs by flight style but there ar two broad groups: active flapping and active soaring. All longwings are optimised for efficient long-range flight rather than manoeuvrability.

These high aspect ratio wings work well at efficient active soaring over the water. They cannot take off from flat ground, however.

The propatagium-supporting tendon is extremely robust & the elbow locks allowing for the wing to remain open effortlessly. Longwings can sleep while flying because of this.

There are four digits though the fourth is vestigial. Some individuals lack a fourth digit. The fine curved claws enable the harpy to cling to vertical surfaces, which are more common than continuous flat ground. Walking on flat ground is less comfortable for them.

The body weight is so low that two claws on each hand is more than enough to painlessly support the body.]

 

3.2. Active flappers

 [under construction]

 

3.3. Navigational Visors

Longwing harpies are blessed to have heads with roughly the same size, shape, and proportions as Predecessors, which allows them to wear the ancient headgear left behind by the first settlers of Siren. The particulars are expanded upon in this page.

 

 

4. Shortwings

In the interest of declaring all potentially conflicting interests, I will admit to being one of the subjects of the above image (Qedi-var, in the bottom left). As an anthropologist I am not new to describing people with a certain detached air, as though describing aliens or animals, but it is difficult to be objective in this case as the shortwing experience is all I will truly ever know first-hand. I am pictured here with my rival Ami-var and the language-scholar Tektei-vas as we show the latter party a "memory" core precursor artifact. More on that elsewhere.

The most notable trait of shortwing harpies is our high caloric requirements with which we sustain our rapid flight _{although I myself am flightless}. We cannot glide or soar effectively and thus must expend a large amount of effort to fly. As such we eat more frequently than other Sirenians and our diets largely consist of starch. This can be harvested in abundance from the reed-beds in the coast regions in which we are most common.

My rival Ami-var is the subject of this unflattering 'peeled' portrait by an aspiring scholar of anatomy trying to imagine the anatomy of a shortwing minus the feather coat. The mammary glands are not supported by the keel and breast muscles but rather located below the ribcage. It is important to note that we do not have claws, only fingernails.

4.1. "Shortstriders"

It’s fairly common to see people like this (mixed shortwing and landstrider parentage) around the dry breaks in the north-eastern dry.

Shortstriders can’t fly, can’t glide well due to bone density, and can’t hop efficiently on the flat (though their vertical jump is usually excellent). This one, a dock marshal, uses his beacon and reflective headgear to guide ships into port at night. he wears shoes which act as assistive devices to support his feet and stilts to make him a little taller (and more important-looking). The reflective disk is made from iridescent leviathan scale. Due to the micro-structures in the scale, light is thrown back similarly to a high-vis vest or a cat’s eye on the road. He can warp the surface of the scale and its reflective propertiies by increasing the tension of its housing bracket (operated by a screw on the side), and in conjunction with his beacon providing the light, can make flashing signals at approaching ships.

This person also displays a paradox marking around the neck as described above.

4.2. Divers

Diving shortwings from the northern sea of Siren. This region is far distant from nearly all of Siren’s major population centres and is home to descendants of survivors of a historic ultra high tide event. These events are rare and often catastrophic on Siren, caused by the synchronisation of enough of the planet’s moons that ten or more are exerting a tidal pull in a single direction. New landmasses and seas will form in the wake of such an event, and in the case of these shortwings, who would normally live within a fifteen minute flight of a coastline, their land was drowned.

5. Landstriders

[under construction]

 

6. Gallery

A portrait of perhaps the most famous of our longwing harpies at the Spire, Postmaster Mia-kef. I owe him a personal debt and we are close friends. He personally holds the record for highest number of complete circumnavigations around the globe, beaten only by long-dead harpies in service of the hall of faces. Mia-kef operates the precursor visor Signastoo.

Shortwing youths from the spire. These are almost of an age at which they can choose their scholary subject or craft clan; six years old. Old enough to work!

A pair of portraits featuring myself and my expedition companion Terwy-ef. He is an active soarer and operator of the precursor visor Scrappercharlee, although on this occasion he did not navigate us particularly effectively. We were lost and separated from Huarvaa on our attempt to find the first settlement site in the Western continent.

Some more examples of wing length variation among longwing and shortwing harpies, proving that you can indeed be a long-winged shortwing or a short-winged longwing.