Typhon those surrounding Python. Although the Delphic monster killed by Apollo is usually said to be the male serpent Python, in the "Homeric Hymn to Apollo", the earliest account of this story, the god kills a nameless she-serpent ("drakaina"), subsequently called Delphyne, who had been Typhon's foster-mother. Delphyne and Echidna, besides both being intimately connected to Typhon—one as mother, the other as mate—share other similarities. Both were half-maid and half-snake, a plague to men, and associated with the Corycian cave in Cilicia. Python was also perhaps connected with a different Corycian Cave than the one in Cilicia, this one on the
Serpent Men ruled from behind the scenes for a time, but were again discovered, defeated, and cast out in a secret war. However, they later repeated this tactic. Soon, they added the front of a Snake Cult religion, which gained power and influence within Valusia while the Serpent Men used their abilities of disguise to murder or replace each reigning monarch. Their power is eventually broken by King Kull, formerly an Atlantean barbarian who had recently conquered Valusia, and the Pict Brule the Spear-Slayer, whose society was aware of the Serpent Men's infiltration. After the destruction of Valusia, the Serpent Men escaped