Moderators: Bookworm, starkruzr, MrFireDragon, PrettyPrincess, Wapsi
Bookworm wrote:I thought that the Apo were _not_ Sphinx. Isn't Nudge an Apo?
By some accounts she bathed in the blood of virgins, i believeBookworm wrote:Elizabeth Báthory (Erzsébet Báthory), your namesake, has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history (between 80 and 650), so you might want to pause to ponder.
...not unless the human male in question was powerful enough to bind her in some fashion - don't know of any that would even come close to it; I think the 'f$#!ed' reference was more colloquial than literal, calling her weak for being taken advantage of.Fairportfan wrote:A further thought (and a new post because it's not related to previous posts): could her victim's remarks just before she ripped his head off imply that Shelly's dad (however much Phix might have cared for him) was a result of rape?
Nope -the only Greek-style sphinx was Phix:DNTME wrote:What do you mean only female sphinx? According to the story there was another (female) sphinx on duty at the town gate before Phix got that assignment. She was the one doing all the killing. Additionally, Shelly is a female sphinx. I would imagine there are many more out there in the supernatural world as well.Be awfully hard for the only female sphinx to kill female sphinxes.
and Egyptian were male:Wikipedia wrote:There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, an unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Orthus[8] and either Echidna or the Chimera, or perhaps even Ceto;[9] according to others, she was a daughter of Echidna and Typhon. All of these are chthonic figures from the earliest of Greek myths, before the Olympians ruled the Greek pantheon. The Sphinx is called Phix (Φίξ) by Hesiod in line 326 of the Theogony, the proper name for the Sphinx noted by Pierre Grimal's The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology.
And sphinx-like beings in other cultures seem to be almost exclusively male, too.Unlike the Greek sphinx which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an androsphinx). In addition, the Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent in contrast to the malevolent Greek version and was thought of as a guardian often flanking the entrances to temples.
Yes, but the only true facts that they know for sure was that she was involved, there were others that were tried and convicted of it (she wasn't, probably the whole 'noble' thing), and she was subsequently walled up until her death several years later.Fairportfan wrote:By some accounts she bathed in the blood of virgins, i believeBookworm wrote:Elizabeth Báthory (Erzsébet Báthory), your namesake, has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history (between 80 and 650), so you might want to pause to ponder.
Phix seems to have been somewhat submissive in the past.themadkansan wrote:...not unless the human male in question was powerful enough to bind her in some fashion - don't know of any that would even come close to it; I think the 'f$#!ed' reference was more colloquial than literal, calling her weak for being taken advantage of.Fairportfan wrote:A further thought (and a new post because it's not related to previous posts): could her victim's remarks just before she ripped his head off imply that Shelly's dad (however much Phix might have cared for him) was a result of rape?
Note that my link is to the "Folklore" section of the Wikipedia article.Bookworm wrote:Yes, but the only true facts that they know for sure was that she was involved, there were others that were tried and convicted of it (she wasn't, probably the whole 'noble' thing), and she was subsequently walled up until her death several years later.Fairportfan wrote:By some accounts she bathed in the blood of virgins, i believeBookworm wrote:Elizabeth Báthory (Erzsébet Báthory), your namesake, has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history (between 80 and 650), so you might want to pause to ponder.
Bathing in blood just makes it sound more interesting. Personally, if I was really going to want to bathe in virgin's blood regularly, I think keeping the virgins alive would be more useful. Once a month, get thirty/sixty virgins, 'cup' them for a pint or two each, and do your bath. Killing them may mean you get (for a small woman or child) six quarts of blood, but you then can't get anything from them _next_ month.
...I highly doubt that she would be that submissive to a mere human trying to force themselves on her - from what we've seen, she's usually the one who does the stalking - albeit politely.Fairportfan wrote:Phix seems to have been somewhat submissive in the past.themadkansan wrote:...not unless the human male in question was powerful enough to bind her in some fashion - don't know of any that would even come close to it; I think the 'f$#!ed' reference was more colloquial than literal, calling her weak for being taken advantage of.Fairportfan wrote:A further thought (and a new post because it's not related to previous posts): could her victim's remarks just before she ripped his head off imply that Shelly's dad (however much Phix might have cared for him) was a result of rape?
My brain just shorted.Fairportfan wrote:A further thought (and a new post because it's not related to previous posts): could her victim's remarks just before she ripped his head off imply that Shelly's dad (however much Phix might have cared for him) was a result of rape?
I did not even begin to think that, but it could make sense. And to be 'fair' Fairportfan, she did not rip his head off as much as administered a low angled, one handed Skullectomy 
I'm a descendant of the Bathory line so I have a bit more of a passing interest than most. The count was between 300 and 850, making her the greatest mass murderer of young women in history, serial or otherwise. She loved torturing women. She got off on it. Some of the women died of torture alone and had nothing to do with her need for blood. She also got off on the occasional beheading of prisoners, which she did personally. Her downfall came when the common girls were no longer doing the job for her and she started using women of noble linage. It was one thing to kill off the rabble, and quite another to kill the high born. Extremely powerful though she was, there were several who wanted her wealth, the king especially, and that gave them a perfect excuse to finally act and stop it. They didn't care a bit about the peasant girls, just the power and wealth. The king tolerated her because she did a good job of fighting off invaders in her area and she often loaned him money. She didn't actually bathe in blood as such. It was more like rubbed it on herself. She would have needed many more than several hundred to actually bathe in their blood very often. And that several hundred was over the period of years.Bookworm wrote:Elizabeth Báthory (Erzsébet Báthory), your namesake, has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history (between 80 and 650), so you might want to pause to ponder.
Love that Larry Niven's article has not been lost to readers due to time passing. LMAO first time I read it I think others here will as well.As a reference point, may I remind everyone of "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," a logical examination of cross-species intimacy and related problems.
Besides - if the androsphinxes are a different species (which they look as if they might be) ... then it's not cannibalism at all, anyway...zachariah wrote:Cannibalism is a latin term created by humans. Human reaction to the term has been imposed by various sources both relegious and moral codes. It has been practiced by humans many times and many places. So thinking it is sick is just your social up bringing not a fact proven in nature. The main drawback to humans doing this is often it happens where starvation is happening and by then the victems have lost all nutrional value. To really upset people, a lot of people practice ritual cannibalism requalily when taking the bread and wine in church. They symbolize the body and blood of christ you know.
I don't think the Apotropaic sphinxes are a separate species, maybe something more like extreme sexual dimorphism within the sphinx species. Of course if the now deceased lump of protein is the same species as Phix she needs to be very careful of prion based diseases like Kuru which is spread almost exclusively through cannibalism.Fairportfan wrote:Besides - if the androsphinxes are a different species (which they look as if they might be) ... then it's not cannibalism at all, anyway...
It might have been a third party rape where the Apotropaic Sphinxes forced Phix to submit to a human male for their breeding program.TheMadkansan wrote:...not unless the human male in question was powerful enough to bind her in some fashion - don't know of any that would even come close to it; I think the 'f$#!ed' reference was more colloquial than literal, calling her weak for being taken advantage of.Fairportfan wrote:A further thought (and a new post because it's not related to previous posts): could her victim's remarks just before she ripped his head off imply that Shelly's dad (however much Phix might have cared for him) was a result of rape?
