[hider=The Hidden Folk][b]Physical Description[/b]
[indent]The Huldra, or Hidden Folk, can look just like any normal human. Typically, the Huldra are female, but there have been known to be a male every once in a while – for every thirty females, there is one male born. They have no specific height set – though the average for women is 5’6” and the average for men is 6’2” – and they have no specific weight. They can have brown hair, or blonde; blue eyes, or green. However, they typically have features considered ideal: full lips, narrow face, pert nose, and high cheekbones. Physically, they always have a strong attractive appeal to others, whether it is by a magical residue that makes them seem more desirable or by a simple favor in evolution. Some believe that the Huldrefolk’s appearance is always adapting to social standards to allure their victims. Many report that their skin feels silky, like a soft branch freshly stripped of bark.

However, the Huldra have a few defining features that can lead others to identify them, though these identifications are usually hidden. All female Huldra possess a tail alike to a cow’s that swings around their ankles; Huldra have learned how to hide it beneath their clothes. Be cautioned if you see a Huldra’s tail – never tell them that their tail is hanging out, or even mention their tail, as they become extremely volatile upon the mention of it. Another significant identification is the gaping hole in their back. The hole is completely black, like an abyss, and is surrounded by rough bark that slowly smoothes into skin. Male Huldra do not have either of these features, but instead possess moss growing around their body as well as permanent smudges of dirt.

The Huldrefolk are not very fast, but are extremely flexible and inhumanely strong. A single female Huldra can wield the strength of ten men while a male Huldra can display the strength of five. The male Huldrefolk are seen as the weaker ones amongst the Huldra and are treated as second-class citizens.[/indent]

[b]Culture[/b]
[indent]The Huldrefolk have many practices, but they overall value independency. They do not care if a Huldra does bad or does good; they do not care about another Huldra’s morals, but instead they judge each other based on their independency. Complete loyalty is considered idiotic and optimistic: they preach others to be freethinkers and to question the system. However, at the same time, they wish for solitude and so they encourage the questioning of the system [i]internally[/i]. 

The Huldra are known for the hedonistic tendencies and often indulge in things that religious humans might consider sinful. Female Huldra often take many human male “companions” and are known to sleep around, but it is a general rule of the thumb to never invite these concubines into the family. It is considered disgraceful for a Huldra to actually fall in love with a male, be it human or not, and so Huldra are indirectly taught to be emotionless when it comes to such true affection. Humans are always kept in the dark about the Huldra and are often used without their knowing. Much of the supernatural world is kept in the dark about the Huldra considering the Huldrefolk’s emphasis on secrecy – but not necessarily trust. Huldrafolk rather solve it in-house than to air out their laundry and so much is not known outside of their society.

The Hidden Folk are quite hot blooded, but the rudest thing to ever do to a Huldra is point out her tail. The Huldra consider their tail to be a privacy not to show others and those that see it cause Huldra to be embarrassed and fly into a blind rage. It is almost an instinct – the best way to tell a Huldra her tail is showing is to say that her pocket is inside out, or her petticoat is showing – anything that indicates her tail but does not directly mention it.

Not much is known of their origins, though there is a belief that an old human woman once had 100 children, but she never cleaned them. Then, one day, God told her he would come and visit and so the old woman washed half of her children and hid the other half away. When God found out about her treachery, he cursed all of her children to always have to stay hidden.

It is of debate whether the aforementioned God is of the Christian faith or not, so many Huldra do not practice in religion since they do not know who to accredit their creation to.[/indent]

[b]Hierarchy[/b]
[indent]The Hidden Folk live in a matriarchy and many generations of female Huldra can live in one house. However, around the age of fourteen, male Huldra are casted out of the house to find a mate. The Huldra do not live in packs or covens, but instead they live in families of women. Direct descendents live with their ancestors until they wish to leave and create their own family, which might never happen since Huldra do not like the idea of being strapped down. The oldest is always the matriarch and, when she dies, the oldest after her reigns – there are no battles for power as Huldra do not like political feuds. Men are incapable of reigning.

Typically, a female Huldra has multiple concubines, but they never live with the Huldra and are kept unaware of their status as a concubine. This takes human males out of the equation; but male Huldra are usually never taken as concubines or husbands since female Huldra do not want any accidental inbreeding to occur. Male Huldra are often ignored by the others, but in rare cases, matriarchs will consider raising a male Huldra to full growth if she believes him to be worthy.[/indent]

[b]Health Information[/b]
[indent]While vampires feed on blood, the Huldrefolk have a specific diet that often leads others to see them as promiscuous. The Huldrefolk feed on hormones from humans and supernatural – the easiest to access for them is the sex hormones and so Huldrefolk tend to scam unsuspecting humans into bed in order to siphon hormones from them. Huldrefolk usually feed on testosterone, cortisol, estradiol, estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, and vasopressin; though, in rare cases, Huldrefolk have been known to feed on adrenaline as well.

Many speculate that the reason the Huldrefolk are so protective of their tail is because the hairs have magical alchemical properties which have led the Hidden Folk to be hunted down repeatedly in the past. It is a law not to hunt a Huldra, but many poachers still do. However, the reason Huldrefolk are so protective of their tail is because if it is cut at the base, they die immediately. They cannot live without their tails and so they hide it.

The Huldrefolk stop showing outward aging around the age of twenty and will never look a day over for the rest of their life. Even so, their insides slowly age until they deteriorate and die. The longest Huldra lifespan was 300 years old, but the typical life range is 250.
On rare occasions, a Huldra may find herself in love – usually with a mortal who she had tried to seduce but had been seduced herself – and wish to marry. Unfortunately, if a Huldra ever marries, her tail will disappear and she will slowly die, unable to walk or move from bed. More often than not, a married Huldra will become delirious and insane upon her last days.[/indent][/hider]