The Harpies are the gossip-mongers, the rumor mills, the status givers. They are the word in the wrong ear, the ones who can make a vampires unlife miserable for the sin of wearing an ugly tie or returning an insult. Many of the best (the most observant, the sharpest tongued, the wittiest) Harpies are elder age, although not a few talented ancillae hold their own in these halls of hidden power. Neonates are rarely anything more than assistants and apprentices to established Harpies, simply because they are too new to the nuances of unlife's etiquette to understand what's happening. A neonate who attempts to ascend to full Harpy status too soon finds her betters turning on her mercilessly; most have the ambition verbally flayed right out of them by this treatment. If she's lucky, they'll simply let her embarrass herself.

Harpies are rarely appointed outright. Those with the necessary skills were often part of the elite social scene in life, spending their lives as famous gossips, dilettantes, and socialites. As in life these social butterflies hover where the beautiful people can be found, and simply fall in doing what they did before. They are unimpressed with preening, demonstrate remarkable insight into both vampiric and human nature, and can boast an unerring ability to see through pretense and pose.

A leading Harpy may choose to name an assistant or two, particularly in a city with a sizable Kindred population. After all, even the best Harpy can barely hope to keep up with things when there are Elysium's occurring both at the Academy of Fine Arts and at the local Hard Rock Café. A major metropolitan city , may contain at least 6 Kindred who are considered Harpies. In smaller cities as few as 1 or 2 may hold the position. Most Harpies tend to be of social clans, such as Toreador and Ventrue.

Not only interested with who said what to whom, Harpies are also interested in the intricacies of Kindred etiquette. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things, and the Harpies make sure things are done right. Someone on the Harpies hit list often finds himself banned from all the premiere social gatherings, and it is not all that difficult to incur this sort of ostracism. Rudeness, crudeness, speaking out of turn, showing disrespect or blatant stupidity---all of these can place a vampire squarely in the Harpies crosshairs.

While some might sneer that the disapproval of a few "old biddies" doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, the Harpies (and their victims) beg to differ. In an era where the most recent news can be passed instantaneously between Harpies along a web of gossip that staggers the imagination, the Harpies in one city can assure an offender that he receives a less-than-cordial welcome in any city he visits. It is the Harpies who assist with the brokering of and recording of prestation deals. Harpies are often called on to assist their Princes when dignitaries visit. In these modern nights, the Harpies are busy indeed, dealing with the ramifications of email as a proper method of correspondence, the propriety of requesting an elder to step through a metal detector or the polite way to suggest that a potential disease carrier take himself to the lab for testing.