(Note: Like other types of beastmen, the sirens of the Grat'han coasts are presumed to owe their origins to sorcerous activity, or to the realization of human myth through pantheonic intervention.)
With the obvious exceptions of their enormous wings, taloned feet, birdlike tails, and feathers, the seashore sirens of Grat'ha are very nearly human in appearance -- it might be even more apt to say elven -- both in the features of their faces and the basic bone structures of their bodies, with the important exception that all their bones, birdlike, are hollow, and typically more slender than a human's. Seashore sirens have no hair anywhere on their bodies -- even their eyebrow ridges are bare, and their eyelids have no lashes -- but typically have thick, hair-like crests of long feathers growing back and downward from the tops and backs of their heads and necks. Their wings too are covered with feathers, as are portions of their backs, typically spreading from their wings (protruding from the same areas as human shoulder-blades) down toward their waist, by which point the feathered area normally extends all the way around so that their entire bodies from the waist down are usually covered in feathers, until the base of their talon-feet. Like those of elves and giants, their bodies rely upon sorcerous energy for the ability to function and to fly, and their bodies are therefore more fragile in death than in life. Black Steel personnel have to date encountered only female sirens, and nothing is presently known about males -- not even whether they exist at all, or how sirens might reproduce.
The sirens of the Grat'han coast are primarily but not exclusively nocturnal, and seem to prefer to make their homes -- or perhaps merely hunting camps -- in high, forbidding, inaccessible coastal locations; the most successful choose craggy peaks that are difficult to reach by land or sea. Detritus in these homes suggests that their diet consists primarily of fish, complimented with a smattering of land animals, occasionally including human beings. Sirens are of course best known for their singing -- songs that were once believed to be wordless as birdsong, but that have been discovered, in at least some cases, to comprise a complex language of emotion. The sirens' songs are famous for their supernatural allure, and in fact Theril has observed them and found the songs themselves interwoven with enchantment -- a "spell" whose weaving appears to be built into siren heredity as much as are their wings and feathers. It has been speculated that individual sirens sing slightly different enchantments, each unique in the fashion of human voices, but Theril has not as yet made enough observations to support or undermine this theory. Certainly the core spellweave is identical in all known cases, with an effect meant to overwhelm the senses of any living animal within its range and draw them toward the source of the singing. The audible song itself of course varies from siren to siren and from moment to moment; as far as Theril can tell, the nature of the verbal song has little or no bearing on that of the spell that is woven through it.
The most successful sirens probably survive primarily on such fish as fall under the enchantment (whether the enchantment penetrates the water or whether only leaping fish are affected has not yet been closely studied) and throw themselves ashore, and animals that stumble over precipices in their attempt to move closer. Lone creatures are always in greatest danger from seashore sirens' songs; living beings naturally resist sorcerous effects, so there is usually safety in numbers among social animals (and especially thinking beings) as creatures that have not fallen under the spell can shepherd, stop, or protect those who have. While seashore sirens can be vicious fighters if cornered, they normally prefer to flee through the air when confronted with forceful resistance, though some will attempt to gather stones and hurl them from the air at animals or people who try to fight them without effective ranged weapons or the means of flight. Sea birds are not believed to be specially immune to the sirens' songs, but of course are not subject to the hazards of grounded or sea-going creatures moving blindly toward the source of the songs, and apparently are not eaten by seashore sirens. Avian behavior in response to siren songs has not yet however been observed in detail.
Long assumed to be of simian intelligence at best, sirens were exterminated or driven out when they made homes in the regions of human settlements, but the Rat Pack (who else?) recently had an opportunity of dealing peacefully with a highly successful group of seashore sirens living on a particularly inhospitable crag just off the Grat'han coast in a little-traveled corner of Thornton Bay. They reported that the sirens used thrown rocks to deliberately start an avalanche to block the Rat Pack's path of advance, displaying a level of tool use and planning far beyond animal means. They also showed signs of mourning and possibly funereal rites for their dead, and further efforts resulted in communication and even negotiation through emotive song. Some still believe this enclave is unique in this respect, perhaps in effect representing a new species, but whether for this enclave alone or for some or all of the rest, the seashore sirens of Grat'ha must be counted among the thinking beings of the world. Whether they can wield magic beyond or apart from the spell intrinsic to their song is as yet unknown.
