Moon Woman

Moon Woman
What is her connection to the moon?
Information
Alternate Names/Spellings	Dama Luna, Damaluna, Donna Luna, Donnaluna, Moon Girl, Moon Lady
Origins	Medieval Legend
Alignment	Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Good
Element	Earth, Gravity/Space/Void, Light
Species	Humanoid
Appearance	Normal Woman, paler complected

Origins

The Moon Woman is one of a race of creatures with origins in the mythology, legend and folklore of Medieval Europe. In particular, accounts of their existence are first recorded by the likes of Conrad Lycosthenes and Ravisius Textor (and Aldrovandus, who would come to cite the former two men).

Appearance

The Moon Woman looks just like any other human woman of her time, race and land of origin. The color of their eyes may be any that is common among humans (though, Black and Brown Moon Women may display eye colors uncommon to their ethnicity, including gray and purple). The color, length and texture of their hair may be any that is common among humans (though, Black and Brown Moon Women may display hair colors uncommon to their ethnicity, including stark white). Likewise, she can be any height, weight or body shape that a human female may normally be.

The Moon Woman appears, for all intents and purposes, normal. Though, while many have a complexion common among human women--those which humans refer to as 'White', 'Tan', 'Brown', 'Black', etc--some Moon Women may appear particularly pale, leading many to mistake them for Vampires or the like.

Behavior

A Moon Woman often seems alien to those around her. In places where such attitudes are not the norm, the Moon Woman may be quiet and terribly shy, or quirky and eccentric. They are said to be deeply spiritual, highly philosophical, fiercely compassionate and remarkably clever.

They are also fond of riddles, and have little fear of the strange, the mysterious or the unknown. In fact, these pique curiosity, and pose a most welcome challenge to the Moon Woman.

Enraptured, she dances in the pale moonlight...

They tend to prefer the strange and exotic over the mundane of everyday life, in the societies where they often find themselves. As such, they are deeply fond of books, and often keep not only book cases, but pads of paper on which to write down their own ideas.

As one might expect, they are also deeply enamored with gazing at the moon.

When they catch sight of the moon (regardless of its current phase), they could easily get lost, for hours, with rapt attention in awe of its beauty and majesty. They may even be inspired to revel in its glory with a dance.

It is, then, no wonder that many Moon Women worship moon-based deities--Artemis, Luna, Hecate, Selene, Thoth, Khonsu, Chandra, Metztli and others.

And those of Judaeo-Christian faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc) are still often known to keep track of eclipses and the various phases of the moon. They may even still celebrate lunar holidays held by Pagans and other faith traditions.

Abilities

It is not impossible for a Moon Woman to exhibit an unnatural beauty, grace or charisma. Some may even display some supernatural talent, bestowed by and/or dependent upon the moon's influence. Yet, none of the former are attributes to be automatically expected. The only common trait shared among Moon Women is their uncanny reproductive capability.

While they are sexually compatible with many of the 'typical' sentient species (Human, Elf, Dwarf, etc), the mother's genes will entirely override any outstanding genetic factors that the father may possess. As such, Moon Women will always give birth by laying eggs. And any babies hatched from a Moon Woman's eggs will unquestionably grow up to be Giants.

Depiction of a Moon Woman hatching Giants...

There are even believed to have been cases in which a Moon Woman might produce eggs through parthenogenesis--that is, without need for a mate or sexual partner. Again, this is said to be somehow connected to the moon's influence.

Weaknesses

Moon Women are incapable of producing others of their kind. Their pregnancies can only ever produce Giants. A Moon Woman herself can only ever arise from the moon's influence on a pregnant human woman. And cases of their births are said to be exceedingly rare.

What's more, few Moon Women ever develop any true superhuman abilities, besides their Giant-producing capacity. Thus, many of them are as vulnerable to harm as mundane humans.

Unfortunately, Moon Women also face a considerable risk of developing mental illness, regardless of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It is believed by some that the commonality of mental illness among Moon Women is what led to phrases such as 'lunatic' and 'moonstruck'.