Family: Succubus
Type: Fiend
Habitat: Urban areas
Disposition: Lustful, self-conscious, loyal
Diet: Omnivorous; spirit energy
Empusai (emm-PYOO-sigh) are mid-tier fiend mamono with alluring bodies and minor shapeshifting capabilities. Their most defining feature is having one brass or silver leg; individuals with the latter are much rarer and more powerful than the former and therefore are regarded as nobility. Like succubi empusai are naturally gifted magic casters with high libidos, though they are known by some as devourers of flesh. When aroused or experiencing strong emotions trace amounts of mana leak from their eyes and hair to give them the appearance of being engulfed in flames.
An empusa (emm-PYOO-sah) can use her metallic leg as if it was a normal one, and the leg itself provides the extra power needed to not have its high weight hinder her mobility, but she needs to be wary of entering any body of water without proper magical assistance for she will sink like a brick otherwise. The leg is sturdy, cannot bleed, and the added mass makes her kicks pack the biggest punch of any fiend type. Furthermore, the leg lacks normal senses like touch or pain but is an excellent conductor of both electricity and spirit energy, funneling it directly into her womanhood for better or worse.
Empusai have shapeshifting capabilities but cannot shapeshift their metal legs, which confines them to shapes with humanoid legs. They are especially good at mimicking other mostly humanoid mamono like inari or elves. “Wearing” inhuman features, even their own succubus features, costs them a small amount of mana to maintain, so their resting form is that of a human woman. Oddly enough, while empusai can manifest any of the three major succubus features (horns, wings, and tail), for some reason they can never manifest more than two at the same time, which ironically renders them unable to mimic their closest relatives the succubi.
Empusai usually have lustful personalities similar to those of their succubus relatives with the caveat that most empusai are highly self-conscious about their metal legs (though much less so for the silver legged ones). Hence they have mastered the art of covering their legs with dresses, long skirts, and especially thigh-high stockings. To draw attention away from their legs empusai often dress even more scandalously than succubi above the waist, with it not being uncommon for them to leave one or both breasts bare even when out in public.
Being quite shy about revealing their lower halves many empusai have perfected the art of extracting spirit energy orally. They are renowned for their blow-jobs and cunnilingual skills as well as their endurance while deepthroating; an empusa with a gag reflex is rarer than a wurm with a PHD. While giving head might be a good way to extract spirit energy it is less effective at helping them get off themselves, but many empusai are highly reluctant to expose their womanhood and with it their metal legs. Instead, they double down on giving head and forgo their own climaxes. This has gained them a reputation as “devourers of flesh,” though that reputation has also been used by jealous competitors to unjustly paint them as savage cannibals.
Ironically due to its conductive nature the metal leg is a major erogenous zone when an empusa lays with someone who has spirit energy, like a human or an angel. A mere light stroke can send an empusa into a howling orgasm. For the same reason some of the kinkier empusai are into electromancers.
When it comes to a long-term relationship empusai desire partners they feel safe exposing their legs to, though unsurprisingly it varies greatly from individual to individual as to what criteria one must meet for an empusa to feel safe. Nevertheless, a partner that meets her criteria will find that an empusa wife is exceptionally loyal for a fiend type.
Name That Mamono: Baroness Eglantine Athalia
Eglantine, or Elegantine, as she prefers to call herself because that sounds more sophisticated, is a buxom, silver-legged, and fabulously wealthy empusa hailing from the Athalia barony in the great glen region of northern Elizabeth. Her barony only houses a single mining village, but it exploits a highly profitable silver mine which is the source of Eglantine’s vast wealth. Ever wary of evil-doers she has recently forked over a sizable sum to hire a dragon to guard her estate while she is out of town. Elegantine is beholden to the eccentric and powerful vampire marchioness of Kilkelley. She, together with many other local nobles, regularly travels to the marchioness’ estate to socialize, suck up to the vampire, and play high stakes gambling games. For those travels she has entered a covenant with a ronin cambion who provides more than just bodyguarding services while they are on the road. Even though Elegantine rarely wins at the marchioness’ gambling parties she has to keep up appearances and stay in the vampire’s good graces, for falling out of the marchioness’ favor rarely ends well. Thankfully her loyal pussybi maids always manage to cheer her up when she returns home again.
Ophanim (OH-fah-nim) are the messengers of the heavens -- their efforts maintain contact between realms and keep them up-to-date on news. It’s a task with little glory in it, but the Chariots of Fire don’t mind. They love their jobs.
An adult ophan (OH-fan), regardless of her actual age, looks like a human girl ranging in age from preteens to mid-teens. Her hair and eyes can be any color found among humans while her skin ranges from ruddy to dark brown, often with freckles. She also has a pair of feathery or fiery wings sprouting from her back. An ophan’s most striking feature is her wheels. An ophan sits at the center of one or more seemingly metallic spinning rings, each of which has many eyes lining its rim, with a diameter slightly greater than her wingspan. An ophan is born with one wheel, and she gains more as she grows in knowledge and power. The eldest and greatest ophanim have nine wheels. Because the wheels are spiritual appendages an ophan can dismiss them into an incorporeal state, but beings who can perceive spirits or auras can still see them. An ophan can always see through the eyes on her wheels; she can see in the dark and has 360° vision in both the horizontal and vertical planes. While her wheels are manifested an ophan can perceive spirits and auras, and some learn to see through invisibility.
The greatest powers of the Chariots of Fire are those that directly tie into their function as messengers. Ophanim are the fastest creatures in the sky of the mamono world -- they can fly at over half the speed of sound, and they have enough stamina to maintain that velocity for up to an hour at a time with no ill effects that a hot meal and a good night’s sleep wouldn’t fix. Ophanim also have faster reflexes than those of werecats, and their airborne maneuverability surpasses that of hummingbirds. They perfectly remember any message they have been charged to carry even decades later, though they forget quickly upon delivery. Ophan elders can compartmentalize their minds so as to hide private information from mind readers. Reading surface thoughts won’t defeat this measure; retrieving a message hidden in this manner is impossible without risking contact with the angel’s subconscious.
Because their duties as messengers often take them away from home every ophan expects to share a husband. In fact it’s rare for an ophan to be a man’s first wife; it’s more common for one to invite herself into an existing marriage. She energetically woos both the man and his wife (or wives) by bringing souvenirs and treats from faraway places. She makes a point of conversing with each member of the family she aspires to join, including any children, to endear herself to them before she makes her move. She also freely offers and/or accepts sexual favors during this courtship period. By the time the ophan proposes marriage her prospective family has already grown to love her, and how much they miss her when she’s gone is exceeded only by how glad they are when she returns.
Name That Mamono: Sandalphon III (SAND-all-fahn)
Despite diplomatic relations between Arcadia and Asgard not being normalized the Lords have kept communication channels with the Isle of Angels open, and it is Sandalphon and her fellow ophanim who make that possible. Sandy -- none of the other angels call her that, but she hopes a human lover will -- carries messages to each of Arcadia’s capitals on a regular basis. Mostly she passes secret communiques to Elizabeth or Amarante and returns with replies. It says much about what sort of person Sandy is that reading those messages has never occurred to her, and this integrity makes her illustrious mother and grandmother proud.
Sandalphon is almost 1,000 years old and has received criticism from her superiors for being a workaholic, so in her over-reactive fashion she has decided that she needs a husband. She knows her messenger duties will frequently take her away from home, so her plan to make sure that her man isn’t left alone and unprotected is to share him with her squadmates. Now all she has to do is find a man on whom she, a tsundere cupid, a dandere valkyrie, and a bakadere sun bride can agree. Sandy hasn’t figured out that she’s the yandere in this mix (though her squadmates have), and she probably never will.
