Old woman living in the woods

The following is based on a real person that actually did that

Are you having trouble assimilating into aristocratic upper echelons of Hungarian army as a bastard, is your birth status and mere upsetting the moral fabric of polite society? Well, there might be a solution. Claim that your daddy is an actual dragon! Oh, no, no, he didn’t leave you/not acknowledge your existence, he’s just busy being a dragon. Worried about people questioning anatomy? Well our dragons are different, they’re practically human ram/pike (a fish)/snake hybrid, but they are dragon. Why else would dragons take maidens into their castles if not to have heroes as sons. All the conviniance of having Zeus as a parent without any of those Hera comications. Get your new backstory by just repeating it to people often enough, until it sticks, and go by the humblest of names Fiery Dragon the Wolf, how humble

Kuga-Kuma.

There were many ways the Plague was personified in Slavic mythology. An old woman, a young woman. But she was seen as a fairy like creature from the woods who brought justified death when people would become too heavy for the Earth. She wasn’t burdened by morality of the dying just the number. But the situation wasn't always dire, there was a way to save a sick child. When a child gets sick, a fresh new outfit would be made and the child would be presented by one or two women for the Plague to except them as their godchild. If she would do so, she’d be bound by this new role to be a godmother instead, protect and spare and save the child's life.

It's not really death, it just sounds cooler

It's two separate concepts, Plague as in Čuma, as in Kuga, as this slavic fairy/demon/goddess who is a mute half woman, half goat, who lives in a distant land where she and her kind have husbands and children, and whenever humans as a collective become too heavy for the Earth she comes to spread disease alone or with her child

The other thing is, you can't protect adults from her, but if a child is sick there a way to protect that specific child, several women would make a shit for a child and pull the kid through it, to recreate birth (this is just one source, others sugest that the kid just wore the shirt) and you beg the Plague herself to become a godmother and therefore spare the kid

Now that's a fairy godmother, and if that kid didn't have parents, she'd kinda have to adopt, and I like that story, since it's one of my favourite dynamics, a child and a badass

Death and her daughter

Chuma or kuga is the personification of plague in southern Slavic mythology, she is often considered a goddess instead of a demon.

She is pictured as a deathly pale woman with long white hair and a flowing white dress and goat feet. Mentioning chuma was avoided, so euphemisms kuma (godmother) or teta (aunty) were used.

Chumas were believed to live in a far away land at the end of the world where they have their husbands and children, and from there they set out to infect people. They are ambivalent creatures, and they bring plague when humans become too heavy for the Earth. They hate dirtiness and are especially eager to infect a dirty house, hence if plague would appear in the vicinity, it was believed that every house and its occupants must be thoroughly cleaned; which was a useful belief that actually helps with real plague. Offerings of food, clean water, basil and a comb could also be made to her.

Razkovniche is the Bulgarian-language name for the real plant Marsilea quadrifolia, which shares some features with the legendary raskovnik.

In Slavic folklore, the raskovnik or razkovniche (Serbian Cyrillic and Macedonian: расковник; Bulgarian: разковниче [rɐsˈkɔvnit͡ʃɛ]; Russian: разрыв-трава; Polish: rozryw) is a magical herb. According to lore, the raskovnik has the magical property to unlock or uncover anything that is locked or closed. However, legends claim it is notoriously difficult to recognize the herb, and reputedly only certain chthonic animals are able to identify it.

Being an adult with disposable income is really fun, because I get to spend it on really old books

I'm going to slowly upload the whole thing here