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Description
I decided to take a break from the Rocky Horror Exorcist Show to bring those of you interested in GODSPAWN a little somethin’ somethin’, so I finished my redesign of Lamia and did a brief workup of her story (actually I did a full workup, then realized it gave too much away...*sigh*)

Lamia is a fallen goddess, child of the titans Phorcys and Ceto (and thus a half-sibling of Egyn). Now a demon trapped in a mortal body, she wandered Assiah for many years suffering under a permanent, horrible curse before Desdemona found and befriended her. Unfortunately, the curse, being a divine punishment, could not be broken, but she is once again determined to fight against it and aid her chosen allies.

The Curse: Lamia is cursed such that she cannot maintain a vessel permanently (the limit is somewhere around 200 years), so every time her vessel dies, via time or violence, she is forced to find a new one*. The truly insidious part of this curse is how her vessel is chosen: she automatically hops into the body of one of her human descendants, permanently displacing the soul therein as she cannot leave the body again without destroying it. The poor human’s soul is then forced into her old body at the moment of death. The horror of this experience transforms them into a lesser lamia. The old body itself dissolves into ash, revealing a small snake egg, from which the baby lamia hatches (technically as a snake, but the lesser lamia’s spirit instantly possesses and transforms it). Lamia is tormented each and every time this happens, and though it is inevitable she avoids it for as long as possible.

She suffers this curse because as a goddess she was entrusted with the care and tutelage of a godling, but was tricked and failed to protect her ward from a horrible fate (he was devoured). The curse is her divine punishment for this failure.
Abilities: Though stripped of her godhood she still possesses godlike powers of transformation and conjuration. Her specialties are illusions that are nigh impossible to see through—when fighting her, one simply must learn not to trust one’s lesser senses. In the past she used these powers to protect her supplicants, and now, she uses them to protect her allies the same way. She has always seen herself as a guardian, if a flawed one. At heart she is a kind and gentle person, but time and repetitious agony have made her weary and superficially cruel. Like most greater demons, she heals rapidly and can even regrow limbs/hemispheres of her body as long as her heart remains intact.
Even though she is primarily a magic user (and masquerades as a witch), she is absurdly strong physically, especially should she get you in her coils. Besides illusory forms, she possesses three others: possessed human, half serpent, and full serpent. In any of these forms she can sprout feathery wings with which to fly, though she does this rarely (as it reminds her of her glory days). When fighting she is not afraid to wade right in, but she will attempt to control the battlefield with illusions. Though she is very protective of her vessel because of the curse, she knows through experience exactly what it takes to kill her body, and as such fights without hesitation when she knows that her enemy isn’t capable of such things.

As a goddess, snakes were sacred to her and even in her fallen form she has an affinity for them. As such, she can talk to and command any that she comes across, and can summon any number of them (both normal and demon/spirit ones) to act as familiars, spies, or to aid her in battle.

*I can’t remember if I’ve said somewhere already but in GODSPAWN’s universe, the gods and other spirits that are native to or have become allies of Assiah (and Gaia/Rhea) become ‘earth-bound’ spirits. As such they remain on Assiah indefinitely even if they originated elsewhere. This status can be granted or removed by Gaia (unconsciously) or Rhea (consciously). In the case of Lamia, even though she became a demon part of her curse is that she has to occupy another vessel immediately, so she is essentially earth-bound. Her curse-born children also have this designation—they must be sealed or they simply repossess another snake (or human, if they have grown strong enough)--they do not end up in Gehenna.

I will probably add more to this and of course this is subject to change.
Original sketch:

Notes on usage: You can feel free to use the lesser lamia as described here with attribution/links but please do not use Lamia herself without my express permission. I will probably do a write up of the lesser lamias themselves later.

Description
I decided to take a break from the Rocky Horror Exorcist Show to bring those of you interested in GODSPAWN a little somethin’ somethin’, so I finished my redesign of Lamia and did a brief workup of her story (actually I did a full workup, then realized it gave too much away...*sigh*)

Lamia is a fallen goddess, child of the titans Phorcys and Ceto (and thus a half-sibling of Egyn). Now a demon trapped in a mortal body, she wandered Assiah for many years suffering under a permanent, horrible curse before Desdemona found and befriended her. Unfortunately, the curse, being a divine punishment, could not be broken, but she is once again determined to fight against it and aid her chosen allies.

The Curse: Lamia is cursed such that she cannot maintain a vessel permanently (the limit is somewhere around 200 years), so every time her vessel dies, via time or violence, she is forced to find a new one*. The truly insidious part of this curse is how her vessel is chosen: she automatically hops into the body of one of her human descendants, permanently displacing the soul therein as she cannot leave the body again without destroying it. The poor human’s soul is then forced into her old body at the moment of death. The horror of this experience transforms them into a lesser lamia. The old body itself dissolves into ash, revealing a small snake egg, from which the baby lamia hatches (technically as a snake, but the lesser lamia’s spirit instantly possesses and transforms it). Lamia is tormented each and every time this happens, and though it is inevitable she avoids it for as long as possible.

She suffers this curse because as a goddess she was entrusted with the care and tutelage of a godling, but was tricked and failed to protect her ward from a horrible fate (he was devoured). The curse is her divine punishment for this failure.
Abilities: Though stripped of her godhood she still possesses godlike powers of transformation and conjuration. Her specialties are illusions that are nigh impossible to see through—when fighting her, one simply must learn not to trust one’s lesser senses. In the past she used these powers to protect her supplicants, and now, she uses them to protect her allies the same way. She has always seen herself as a guardian, if a flawed one. At heart she is a kind and gentle person, but time and repetitious agony have made her weary and superficially cruel. Like most greater demons, she heals rapidly and can even regrow limbs/hemispheres of her body as long as her heart remains intact.
Even though she is primarily a magic user (and masquerades as a witch), she is absurdly strong physically, especially should she get you in her coils. Besides illusory forms, she possesses three others: possessed human, half serpent, and full serpent. In any of these forms she can sprout feathery wings with which to fly, though she does this rarely (as it reminds her of her glory days). When fighting she is not afraid to wade right in, but she will attempt to control the battlefield with illusions. Though she is very protective of her vessel because of the curse, she knows through experience exactly what it takes to kill her body, and as such fights without hesitation when she knows that her enemy isn’t capable of such things.

As a goddess, snakes were sacred to her and even in her fallen form she has an affinity for them. As such, she can talk to and command any that she comes across, and can summon any number of them (both normal and demon/spirit ones) to act as familiars, spies, or to aid her in battle.

*I can’t remember if I’ve said somewhere already but in GODSPAWN’s universe, the gods and other spirits that are native to or have become allies of Assiah (and Gaia/Rhea) become ‘earth-bound’ spirits. As such they remain on Assiah indefinitely even if they originated elsewhere. This status can be granted or removed by Gaia (unconsciously) or Rhea (consciously). In the case of Lamia, even though she became a demon part of her curse is that she has to occupy another vessel immediately, so she is essentially earth-bound. Her curse-born children also have this designation—they must be sealed or they simply repossess another snake (or human, if they have grown strong enough)--they do not end up in Gehenna.

I will probably add more to this and of course this is subject to change.
Original sketch:

Notes on usage: You can feel free to use the lesser lamia as described here with attribution/links but please do not use Lamia herself without my express permission. I will probably do a write up of the lesser lamias themselves later.