Though sometimes called harpies of the river Pond Royals have nothing in common with them, as far as can be proven at least, but that has not stopped the many folk tales aboutt hem. These stories and myths range from them being cursed monarchs who can be turned back to human with a kiss, to them luring in human males to lay with them and while none of these stories have even been confirmed they stubbornly persist for some reason. It is not even certain where their alignment lies or if they are even a kind of monster, spirit or kobold and depending on the source they are considered a blessing or a nuisance. More research needs to be done on Pond Royals to fully understand and classify them so the information in this entry may change over time as new findings are discovered.

The reason for their name and the folk tale about cursed monarchs likely stems from their appearance since these creatures decorate themselves with gold and silver jewelry and often wield some kind of scepter in the form of a silver spoon or fork, fancy quills, jeweled enchanting rods or candlesticks, and they often hold court sat upon a rock or tree stump hidden between the reeds along the shore of many rivers , lakes and ponds. How they obtained these items is unclear since none of the wealthy folk have reported any thefts in areas where a Pond Royal was sighted and anything found missing never seems to match the description of the adornments worn by the local Pond Royal. Often the Pond Royal will have a small treasure trove beside them or hidden nearby but the source of this treasure is at least not a mystery since some farmers or travelers will gift a coin or two to the Pond Royal believing it brings them good fortune. Occasionally the Pond Royal will hand out some coins to less fortunate folk who find themselves lost in the reeds.

A recent discovery has shown that all Pond Royals appear to be female which likely has led to their comparison to harpies even though there is no proof of them luring in males, aside from male kobolds perhaps who are still in their base form. It is that which has led some researchers to conclude that Pond Royals are some as yet unknown kind of kobold which only has females who need male kobolds to reproduce but no spawn puddles have even been found to support that theory. The comparison to harpies and the tale of them being cursed princes and princesses has led to some humans attempting to kiss a Pond Royal to test the reality of these tales. Any who did attempt this might have regretted that soon after as the Pond Royal secretes a slimy substance to keep itself moist, and though it does not appear to be poisonous it may make a person quite ill for a time or even have halucinations as one researcher found out after managing to kiss one. (though the creature did not seem to appreciate the sudden unprompted gesture...)

Pond Royals do not seem to posses any language and seem to mimic speech with random sounds, but curioously any who interact with them always seem to understand the intent of the "conversation" somehow, and the Pond Royal seems to understand any known human and beast folk language. Despite a number of attempts to question Pond Royals about themselves the creatures are remarkably tight lipped about revealing anything about their kind, even if it might help reduce distrust in them from some folk. Some folk distrust them enough to put out a bounty at the local adventurer's guild, a request which will go unanswered by most adventurers and monster hunters due to how weak and powerless Pond Royals appear to be but for green adventurers they are a tempting target to make some easy coin not just from the reward but the added bonus of the looted treasure and jewelry which can fetch a decent amount of coin for such an easy job. Most adventurers however simply refuse these jobs out of moral objections since the creatures seem to be harmless and some believe as well that Pond Royals bring them luck somehow if left alive when encountered. they don't appear to have any signiffican magical ability and physically they are weaker than a human child of their size as far as could be observed, so it seems laughable that they could be much of a threat to anyone.

Whatever the truth may be recent findings seem to point towards these creatures being quite harmless and no concrete proof has been found thus far of any evil intent, and they do not appear to have any organized society or culture. This makes research all the more difficult since all but the most avid scholars seem to find Pond Royals too mundane and boring to continue studying for long, but fortunately there are still a handful of interested scholars studying these creatures.


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