Yig, God of Lamia
Family: Divine/Reptile
Habitat: Outside Percieved Existence
Disposition: Motherly, Protective, Lascivious, Sometimes Wrathful
Diet: Food of the Gods
Often known as ‘The Mother of Serpents’ Yig is the primary Deity of the Lamia race. Their mythos often states that The Creator, although it remains unclear if this is the Chief God or the Demon Lord, mated her and the result was her giving birth to the Lamia race. Although she is primarily worshipped by the Lamia, Echidna, Medusa, and Basilisks have been known to hold her in high regard. Often the story explaining the different breeds of snake-like mamono is attributed to Yig fornicating with other Dea Monstrum and giving birth to different kinds of daughters.
The main centre of worship of Yig is usually found in hotter regions, such as the lamia who live in the desert regions although it isn’t difficult to find at least small shrines dedicated to her inside the more temperate-based snake Mamono areas as well.
Yig herself is commonly depicted as Lamia-esque, only more magnificent. From the waist down, she has a snake-like tail with a rainbow of different colours, constantly shifting in the light as she moves. Each race of snake Mamono inherited one of the colors as her children. Her top half appears similar to a human, but a faint rainbow pattern of scales runs up under her abdomen up to her breasts while a larger pattern stretches up her back, down her arms, and around her collar like jewelry. Her waist is trim, although there is a thickness to it as only a fertile woman can show. Her breast are also depicted as full and large, yet without sag. They are always uncovered as lessons of the Yig Faith claim that not only are breasts the vessel in which a child receives their first meals of love and nutrition, but also a sign of how fertile and healthy a woman is to a potential mate. Thus breasts should be proudly presented and are revealed in all depictions of her.
Her face is again, a thing of beauty, easily matching the depictions of the Chief God’s subordinates. Her hair holds the same rainbow sheen as her tail does, but is often one solid color, although it is not the same color for very long, or so it is said. It cascades down her body like a curtain, only her bangs curled and framing the sides of her face. Her features are perfect for attracting men and her beauty is what all Lamia aspire to match. To be considers ‘as beautiful as Yig’ is considered high praise to Lamia’s beauty. Saying it to a Basilisk or Medusa is a very fast way to earn that Mamono’s affection.
Yig’s doman is two-fold. In Lamia culture, she is considered the goddess of fertility, but also the patron of children and is often prayed to for the safety and health of newborns. Often what religious acts have been witnessed by humans revolve around these two domains.
In terms of fertility, rituals held in (for lack of a better term) churches of Yig have a soft bed built inside the coils of a Yig statue. There, a couple wishing to have children will make love amidst the chanting and prayers of the other practitioners. Often the festivities result in multiple couples embracing in sexual acts, vigorously attempting to become pregnant. The ritual seems to be in fact true, as Lamia birth rates rise prominently in the months following the monthly rituals.
Rituals which bless children with Yig’s protection are a much more refined affair. The child, usually a newborn, is cradled by her mother and father in a pillow within the coils of Yig’s statue. There they speak a prayer asking for Yig’s favor, led by a priestess, presenting their child to the statue with an offering of food, valuables, or even a bundle of flowers in poorer cases. Since the rituals are done in the day, sunlight bathes the child and perhaps gives Yig’s protection. Cases of sickness or other natural ailments which would harm Lamia children are unheard of, and deaths of Lamia children from either accident or design also are low, so perhaps there truly is magic in the ritual. Although the Order would claim it is because the Lamia are masters of stealth and hiding away from their forces.
Although Yig is benevolent and loving to the Lamia, her followers, and those who love them, Yig can also be harsh on those who would dare try to harm them. Her mythos is filled with stories of how she punishes those who would try to harm her children or even mistreat regular snakes in general. Fortunately, unless they are unforgivable acts done against Lamia, Yig has been proven to be merciful to an extent.
The most famous tale of Yig’s means of punishment and mercy is a tale about a married couple who are quite miserable in their lives. The man is deathly afraid of snakes, which earns him scorn from the villagers and his wife is often mocked for her husband’s cowardice. One day, the husband stumbles onto a Lamina and goes into hysterics, nearly driving the innocent Lamia girl into her own, fearing she has harmed the man. The man’s wife comes and sees the Lamia and attacks her with a knife, believing the Lamia is trying to steal her husband. She wounds the Lamia before she runs away, sobbing and wondering what she had done wrong.
Later the village warn the pair that in attacking that Lamia for no reason, they have invited the Curse of Yig which would doom them. The village prompty ostracizes them as if they already dead. The couple are frantic to protect themselves and conduct a number of rituals. However, these rituals fail as Yig is in the right and boldly storms into the house in a human-sized form.
Yig was ready to punish the humans who would dare harm one of her precious children, but soon saw the man’s phobia and the woman’s misery in their situation. So deciding to be merciful, Yig uses her powers to transform the woman into a beautiful Lamia, so that she may be happier in her life, but leaves her lustful and frantic for love as a punishment for the anguish she visited on the other Lamia. The wife jumps her husband, who is naturally fearful. However, with Yig’s oversight, his fear is forgotten and he embraces his wife’s new identity and beauty. Together they move to Yig’s kingdom where they couple constantly and give birth to many children, filling their home with love and happiness where none existed before.
Although The Order vehemently denies Yig in any form, like all the Dea Monstrum, there is in fact evidence of Yig’s existence. One noted account The Order wished to suppress was an attempted assault on a Lamia village. The Order’s forces more than tripled what resistance the Lamia could make, so in desperation they prayed to Yig for help.
In a flurry of heat and angry hisses of snakes, Yig appeared as a giantess, looking down on The Order and what they were attempting to do to her children. Hissing in a snake-like tongue, all of the natural snakes in the forest emerged and also ones which could never have journeyed to that area from across the world. The snakes attacked the soldiers and not one of them could kill the reptiles that assaulted them, somehow their scales resisting sharpened steel. The soldiers dropped from the snake venom, knocking them out. Only a third of the forces escaped, but likely only because Yig allowed them to leave so to spread the warning.
As this tale spread Yig’s fury in the modern era, it also spreads how promiscuous she is. Of the soldiers who fell, Yig took them to her kingdom which those who returned, was in appearance to a jungle with a castle which was built underground, but to an architecture none of them could describe as it defied common sense and understanding. Unassuming on the outside, but inside was hot with all of Yig’s daughters constantly copulating with her past and current lovers. Yig kept them all as her lovers, having sex with all of the captives and turning them into her happy paramours. All women she captured were transformed into happy Lamia who were embraced by their new sisters as they took any man who caught their fancy. She was quick to forgive them all of their crimes against Lamia and was happy to show them by taking them to bed again, and again, and again…
The ones who returned, all appearing at different places in The Order’s territory, all told the same story, but expressed quite happily that they wished to return, as they wished to be back in not only Yig’s embrace, but also of their Lamia wives who they copulated with and the daughters that would soon be born from their unions. The Order shut these men away for cleansing and re-education, but by dawn the next day, they had vanished, leaving only their clothes and a small statuette of Yig, her arms out as if expecting a loving embrace.
More on the Pantheon of Dea Monstrum: http://monstergirlencyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:715347