Lamia

Lamias are an interesting monster. Half-beast they may be, they still retain a humanoid intellect and have a nice little mystery baked into them. What cursed them? Why do they despise gods so much? Why the lion of all animals? Why the matriarchs? Just by asking those questions, you lay solid groundwork for a narrative centered around them, small or big.

They don't have that much going for them in terms of unique abilities, save for their Caress, but possess a good range of spells that makes them viable for social encounters, where the party might be completely unaware they are talking with a Lamia at all.

Or, you know, they could use their magic to wreck everyone's day. That's an option too, given how they are usually pretty angry at... everything.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - The Promise

The Gilded Spire was once regarded as the most stunning city in the world, ruled over by a wise queen and overflowing with riches. The tales of its grandeur spread far and wide, inevitably drawing the attention of those that would take it for themselves. Once The Spire was known 'cross the world, it did not take long for it to become a place of constant war and death.

As the queen grew desperate, she pleaded with the gods to aid her and save her people. They promised her the power to defeat her enemies and that they did. Alas, gods are capricious beings and envy is not beyond them, The Gilded Spire threatened their majesty, at least in their own eyes.

So both the queen and all of her loyal subjects were turned into bestial monstrosities. This indeed granted them the power needed to defeat the attackers, but in turn, also made them feared and rejected by all of their former allies. Soon after, the Spire fell into ruin.

Now the Consort of Beasts—the queen's new title—is leading her people into a new age, one where she promises to be free of the gods and their schemes. Amassing wealth, knowledge, and armies, she bides her time atop the ashes of her city, preparing for the right time to strike and eradicate any sign of the deities from the face of the earth, lest they decide to right the wrongs done to her and her people.

This is the queen's sole goal and motivation—the Promise made the day she was betrayed.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Order and Change

On the Twice Forgotten, Thrice Forsaken continent, two peoples are locked in an eternal war.

On one side, the centaurian Archivists, all of them male, all with the lower bodies of herbivores, consider themselves the guardians of order and keepers of ancient knowledge. On the other, the all-female Speakers, consider themselves both the voices and instruments of radical change and unfettered progress.

One unforeseen event will bring this endless struggle to its first ceasefire in a hundred years, though; a group of strangers has landed on the shores, and within a day, their bodies have morphed into bodies of Minotaurs and Satyrs, which both groups worship as progenitor gods...

Hook 3 (TJ) - The Price of Freedom

The Sisterhood of True Freedom offers an escape; a life with no responsibilities and no rules. This cult, lead by a lamia matriarch, selectively pursues and recruits from the disillusioned, overworked masses of the booming textile industry. Those that take the Sisterhood up on this offer are never seen again, but rather find themselves reduced to bestial instincts and baser ideas, "free" in the ignorance of an animal-level intelligence, subject only to the lamia matriarch.