Medusa

ANIMAL	Hind
SACRIFICE	Deer, hind, stag
OWNS	The Forest Key
OPENS	The Stag Door The Door in the Wood
RELEVANT ASCENSIONS
OTHER NAMES
Serpent-blooded The Snake-Witch Coil-queen

Medusa is an alukite and a member of the Ligeia Club, neither living nor dead. Sulochana states that Medusa is "the oldest of our kind still living (not that she’s alive)" which suggests that Medusa is the oldest extant Ligeian or the oldest from Seglaz-kind of the Carapace Cross, although Dr Ibn al-Adim suggests that she abandoned that part of her that was Carapace. As stated by Peel, "[Medusa] might be the oldest of her kind still living; and she is dead" (it's unclear, whether "her kind" refers to Ligeians, alukites, or the Carapace Cross). The page 'Gawain' in Enigma Phase X stated "One such as Medusa may not be ended easily – not without a wound as grievous as hers". In the Moth Dancer ascension she is described as having "twining limbs" and "dripping arms, which hold a pale Key, twisting like a fanged worm".

Medusa owns the Forest Key that opens both the Stag Door and the Door in the Wood. Her sacrificial animal is a virgin red deer, a hind or a stag. Her associated animal is a hind, which lines up with her sacrifice.

It is stated that seeing her face would be painful, harmful or outright lethal, and that she is usually unseen. She is known to stalk the streets of Budapest, and her presence may be the reason none of the statues in the city have their eyes open.

It is likely, though nowhere stated, that Medusa is a child and/or former Name of the Seven-Coils. The book Medusa's Lament is named for her, and may have been written or inspired by her. The book consists of a poem describing the killing of the Seven-Coils by the Colonel, from a perspective more sympathetic to the Seven-Coils than other books describing the same events. This is also pointed by the shared destructive visage, and the Seven-Coils’ other snake-themed offspring (the Mother of Ants - named for the mythological amphisbaena, a two-headed snake - and the Younger Sisters). This is further supported by one of her epithets being "coil-queen".

Medusa's Riddle

Medusa’s Riddle is "What is Not Seen?", and in the Exile Legacy seems to be answered with the Principle of Moth. When the Exile answers the Riddle and is found by Medusa, they forget an hour of their night and come away with an unhealing wound over their heart. This wound is strong in Knock and Winter and carries the Pentiment aspect, the text for which reads "Perhaps the author of this wound altered her intentions when she discovered who I was". This may mean that Medusa has some respect for the blood of the earth and the heritage of the Flint and the Wheel which that implies.

During the events of Book of Hours Medusa began to appear during the daylight. Some Visitors of Hush House attempt to answer her Riddle and fail when answering "Light" in an unsuitable language or "Me". The Librarian may determine Medusa's fate and Visitors' inspirations by telling returning Visitors correct answers in certain languages:

• If the answer is "Eternity" in Cracktrack - her birth language - Medusa will "enter History" as the other powers of Stone may will.
• If the answer is "Light" in Ericapaean - the language of light - Medusa's nature will be more understandable and perhaps she will be safe to look upon.
• If the answer is "Medusa's Death" in Killasimi - the language of endings - Medusa will finally die and for a time, there will be only six Ligeians left.
• If the answer is "The Carapace Cross" in Henavek - the language that was once appointed as a herald to old powers - Medusa will rejoin the Seglaz-kind of the Carapace Cross.
• If the answer is "The Seven-Coils" in Ramsund, Medusa will abandon the part of her that is Stone becoming something more human or even more mortal.

Other Notes

• Medusa was one of the three Gorgons in Greek mythology, who were generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone.

• Her epithet "coil-queen" comes from the Mr Eaten twitter bot (@Mr_Eaten), which responded to the names of each Ligeian with an epithet. Five were new epithets, while two (Echidna -> Monster-mother, and Morgen -> Sea-born) matched existing epithets and can be taken as confirmation that these epithets are canon to Cultist Simulator (since the bot is dubiously canon for Fallen London and had few ties to Cultist Simulator previously).