A Siren's Ancestry(No longer canon and needs to be revised)
Sirens for the most part are Greek islanders, or Roman depending on who you would ask. Either way, Israfel can trace his blood line back to Roman times, to when his ancestors flocked on the rocky shores near Italy, luring the sailors to their watery graves along the rocky shore line. However, as his mother and his mother's mother tells him, over time the Sirens found the isle to become small with so many of their kind, and many flew from the ancestral home of the rocky shores, to eck out their own roosts in other less crowded island waters.
His family's roost lies somewhere near the Bermuda triangle, near a natural portal to the world of halloweentown. The island is, naturally, surrounded by rocks and if you were to look from the sky under the surface of the water, you'd find quite a few sunken ships dotting the deep shores. Those the coast of the island is rocky, the island itself is flat and covered with sweet scented flowers, in various shades and hues. This is the island humans encounter, covered in the siren's of Israfel's flock.
Israfel was born and raised on a different island however, along with his mother, grand mother, great grand mother, various aunts and great aunts, cousins, and over half a dozen sisters. The island Israfel lives on is the true roost. It's located in the world of Halloween, and the false island is just the hunting grounds. The natural occurring Bermuda Triangle portal allows his elders to go into the human world to hunt and bring back food. Among his flock, he's one of only 3 hermaphrodites to have be born in their history, though he is the second to take male pronouns. His family's total flock is over 60. He is the 4th from youngest.
His flock is considered 'new world' Sirens, as they have adapted to match their non traditional homeland of Greece. Many of Israfel's relatives have wings sporting native American birds, and he himself sports that of a type of bluebird common to North America. While they are sirens, his flock deviates from many 'traditional' sirens. They lack the ability foresee the future as some of their Roman and Grecian relatives, but, they are as violent as their Indian cousins, perhaps in part due to the high rate of Piracy Israfel's ancestors must have encountered when they first settled on their hunting island they now use.
In his flock's history, hermaphrodites are rare but not unheard of. Hermaprodites are what allow sirens to re-populate when Sailors fail to reach the island...'successfully' during mating season. When Israfel reaches full maturity, he'll be expected to leave his flock and roost elsewhere, as to not interbreed with close relatives and to keep the siren race 'alive'. While upsetting, he understands why he'll eventually be chased off of his birth island, most likely by his own mother.
The relationship of Israfel's family is close, young sirens born in nests with nestmates, (full siblings), and keeping close ties to half siblings and their parent. The 'father' of most sirens is usually dead by the time a siren hatches from the breeding, either from starvation, or, as a result of being eaten to give nutrients to the mother after the breeding has taken place. But how do men get onto an island surrounded by ship wrecks and rocky cliffs and so many have drowned by just jumping in the water? Israfel has been told that the men who arrive on the island are only the strongest of the humans, both in body and willpower, making them perfect mates. Israfel's father was one such sailor. It's also worthy to note that while Sirens breed with humans, the offspring are always Sirens. The human men only provide new genetics to a flock and help prevent poor genes from appearing. Hermaphrodites are born at random, with no relation to how often a flock breeds or ancestry.
Some notable features of Israfel's Flock are:
* Their wings mimic that of common birds native to the surrounding regions.
* They lack the ability to foresee the future, as some Sirens can
* Some of his flock have the ability to turn into their bird forms, at this time, Israfel is not aware if has this ability or not
* All members of his flock are born with 'crow's feet'. Talons are small until they reach full maturity. In human form, many of them hide the fact with shoes.
* They eat the freshly dead and drowned sailors, but when food is scarce they live on fish
* While he maintains close ties to his communal family, by the time he's finished at the Academy, he'll have fully matured, and most likely will not return to his birthplace for very long.