The Python

The python is a large snake that is the personification of what mortals fear and desire and is from Mount Parnassus in the land of Xanth. Mount Parnassus is also home to the Simurgh, Muses, Oracle, and Maenads. Once the Python had been the guardian of the oracle's cave against the vicious man-eating maenads, but the snake all too often would eat visitors to the oracle. Thus it was banished from the Oracle's cave and now roams the peaks of Mount Parnassus.

Mount Parnassus has two peaks, one with the Tree of Seeds on which the Simurgh is perched most of the year, and the other of which the Tree of Immortality is on. When the Python was banished from the cave of the Oracle, it traveled up the peak with the Tree of Immortality on it and ate a seed. Since then it has been an eternal figure of the mountain and a dangerous predator of women.

The python's gaze can freeze a woman, instilling her with fear and lewd desires. It uses a mixture of male dominance, seduction, and physical strength to overpower and devour its prey. Although it eats Maenads, they come back to life when finished being digested. Humans are not so lucky, but the python does not distinguish between the wild nude maenads and human females. If anything, it often prefers human female prey since they're less vicious, but it will try to get its victims to submit to it sexually first, to remove their clothing if they're wearing any.

The python hates the maenads almost as much as they hate it, and the blood thirsty nudists will often bite and scratch the python in large numbers. In any groups smaller than five the Python has the advantage through sheer size, strength, and its powerful gaze, but against a larger number the Python usually must flee. While it cannot die through normal means, it still feels pain, and it can take many years for some damage to recover.

The python will usually avoid males because it has no power over them, and it doesn't enjoy their flavor as much. If several men get between him and his prey, he will usually back off and find a new target. It's an opportunistic predator and prefers to target lone females or small numbers.