The White Lady

Farmers, loggers, and others who ply their trade in the rural and wilderness areas around Lichgate often speak in hushed tones of the White Lady.  Some say she is an Old God who still wonders the World looking for men to devour.  Others claim she is the ghost of a long dead barbarian queen, slain by her own tribe for practicing foul magic.  Even more claim she is simply an especially long lived Elf who makes the Hexenwald her home.  All agree that she is both fair and malign, wondrous to behold and dangerous to see, beautiful and spiteful.

She is, if legends are to be believed, attended by a host of orcs who are both her lovers and worshipers.  They are said to follow her word as though it was law, which everyone knows is impossible due to orcs’ chaotic nature. They live for her, die for her, and kill for her.  She is their world and they have no other goal than her diabolic happiness.

Many tales claim that she is a skilled enchantress, able to bewitch men into following her into the deepest part of the wood.  Many ignorant peasants believe that she then uses a wicked spell to turn such unfortunates into members of the half-bestial orc race.  Others claim she simply kills them, or forces them to commit suicide, for her own enjoyment. 

Strangely, few tales describe her meetings with women.  The few sources which do exist claim that she takes young girls into her apprenticeship, turning them into foul witches or, worse yet, elves.

Most folk will not enter the Hexenwald after the sun has set, for it is then that the spirits of the otherworld are allowed purchase on our reality.  Still, sometimes the need arises for a peasant to do so.  They are seldom seen again.

To scholars and city-folk, this is just so much superstitious nonsense.  Why would God allow such a being to exist?  Clearly it is simply the deranged fantasy of some ignorant pagan.  Still, even they are loathe to enter the woods at night, at least not without a prayer written on a scroll in their pocket and a cross around their throat.

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This is largely based on Perchta as well as her association with the Krampus and other traditional Alpine demons.