Hag Coven

A hog coven is a community of hags, generally a family cluster lead by a matriarchal figure, and their spawn. The term is also used to describe the land upon which the coven is based, and the area over which they rule. Hag covens have been dwindling for many centuries due to the acts of adventurers and kings, with the largest remaining coven being based in the black forest of Myrkviðr, on the border of Gaules.

Although it is likely that unrelated hags have become grouped together in the past, in modern times it is unheard of for a hag coven not to be made up specifically of closely-related family. Hags themselves class a 'coven' only as the dwelling place of a Hagmother and her offspring, and that hag clusters without this mother-daughter hierarchy are referred to as 'hag dens,' though the distinction between these terms are rarely recognized by other mortal races.

The coven's ruler is the hagmother, whose name is derived from being the literal mother of her coven. Although some covens may have the sisters of a hagmother present within them, (therefore making them the aunts of most of the coven,) this is not a common trait as the fear of upheaval is strong. The hagmother's inner circle often consists of her oldest true-born hags, whose magical potential generally outweighs that of their younger siblings. All hags hold seniority over hagspawn- the interbreeding between hags and other mortal races, regardless of the mother of said hagspawn, (i.e. the most senior hagspawn child of a hagmother is below the youngest and weakest true-born child of a hagmother.)

The hierarchy of the hagspawn is somewhat more fluid, depending generally on how great their abilities are, or how well they serve their masters. The further descendants of hagspawn, (still referred to as hagspawn, seemingly regardless of how diluted the hag genes become,) usually are outranked by the first-generation hagspawn, but this is also not necessarily the case.

A hag coven is held together by a strong hagmother, who through fear and intimidation manages to suppress her daughters and bend them to her will. As no hag has yet been observed to have died of old age, it is presumed that a hagmother is only ever replaced due to usurpation by one of her daughters, or else through her slaughter by external forces.