Yaga, the Hag Countess

Yaga, the Hag Countess
by Havard
from the Mystara Message Board posted 30 April 2004.

Name: Yaga, The Hag Countess. Baba Yaga
Lesser Deity (Empyreal of Entropy)
Portfolio/Interests: Evil Fairies, Hags.
Symbol: A Black Cauldron
Home Plane: Fairie/Spirit World
Alignment: Chaotic Evil.
Worshippers: Evil Fairies, Hags, Goblins, Hobgoblins
Cleric Alignment: CE, NE.
Domains: Chaos, Trickery, Evil, Luck
Favoured Weapon: Quarterstaff

Illustration: An illustration of Yaga appears here.

Yaga is an ancient Crone. When the world was still young, some fairies decided they did not like Oberon's rules. These were still fairies at heart, but their trickeries almost always had fatal results, leading to death and misery for their mortal victims. Oberon decided he wanted no more of this and banished these fairies. The Banished Fairies formed their own Fairy Court, known as the Unseelie Court. Its leader was known as Yaga. Eventually, Yaga became an immortal under the sponsorship of Nyx. Nyx remains Yaga's ally today. Yaga sees Oberon (Faunus) as a rival, yet the two are treat each other with civil resentment rather than open war. The two simply have different attitudes to what fairies should be like. Yaga avoids contact with other Immortals as much as possible and rarely gets into Immortal politics.
The Dymrak forest contains many gates to Yaga's part of the Spirit World and the Witches of Dymrak are her servants. After WotI, Yaga may spread her influence into the dead forest that once was Alfheim. On the other hand, Alfheim Elf presence in Dymrak may drive the Hags from that region entirely.

Appearance:
Yaga appears as an ancient twisted human female. She lives in a hut standing on large chicken legs, which allows the hut to move around at Yaga's command. She sometimes appears riding a flying broom.

Dogma
Yaga teaching is that of solitude. However, should anyone venture into your place of power, they are at your mercy, and cruelty is only appropriate.

Church and Temples
There are no Temples to Yaga. Her clerics are Hags and their huts are the closest to a temple of Yaga there is.

Note:
The Hag Countess appears in the Book of Vile Darkness, and shares many of characteristics with Yaga, although the two are not entirely identical.

Further Ideas:
Yaga's Unseelie Court may be developed further. There are as many evil fairy races as there are good ones. Wood Imps often follow Yaga, as do Hags (who are also considered Dark Fairies).

-Havard