Nymphlopedia
Entry 18: Song Nymphs.
Sonata blew another note in her crudely-crafted flute. Despite covering up different holes in the instrument, the note still sounded the same. Like a weird honk.
"S-Sonata." Vince said, a much more carefully-made saxophone in his hands. Both of them were sitting on a log in the middle of a blue-tinted swamp, the flowers themselves naturally having what sounded like a few quiet notes playing, all of them mixing together to create a nice ambiance. Sort of like how one cricket chirping is annoying, but plenty of them together is pleasant to listen to. But this was happening in the day. "Yeah, I think you messed up in a step. It's not working as an instrument."
"Isn't that the point though?" She asked. "Aren't we supposed to be playing badly to piss off the Song Nymphs and get them to criticize us? It helps that we really are that bad, so relax, we're not lying to them."
"I mean..."
"I'm just mad at myself, my name is all musical-y but I'm bad with music!"
"Making an instrument is a lot harder than playing one. ...I think?"
"I'm bad at both!"
"Didn't you name yourself because your parents just kind of disappeared so early in your life you don't even remember them?"
"I'm trying to see if I can get some allies and more fuckbuddies here, now's not the time to go over sad backstories, Mr. Lost-a-Home or whatever."
"...Fair."
Perfect timing for some sky blue Nymphs to come swimming at them from the swamp mud. In V-formation, that looked bad.
"...You know you can just ask, right?" One of them on one of the 'wings' of the V-formation said. She got up first, and quickly cleaned the cerulean mud off her breasts. "Stand anywhere and shout, 'HEY! NYMPHS! FIGHT ME!'" She clasped her hands over her mouth. Like she was offput by her own volume or something. "Or... what is it you want...?"
Sonata shrugged and hopped off her log, joining that Nymph in being waist-deep in mud. She felt a few nibbles at her legs, but ignored them.
"Well, sorry to sound like I'm playing mindgames when I'm really not, but results are still results, right?"
Song Nymphs.
These Nymphs have exceptionally good ears. Ears for music, and ears for finding people to claim their own.
Preferred Environment: Song Swamps.
Environment Threat Level: Moderate.
Environment Stats: Wet. Warm. Moderate on the mundane-fantastic scale. Uncommon. Swamps with a blue color variation dominating its plant life and even its mud, with plenty of plants and animals that play distinctive "musical" notes.
Other Names: Music Nymphs, Sound Nymphs, Singing Nymphs, "Swamp Sirens," "Sirens."
Affinity: Wind.
Color: Bright Sky Blue.
Traditional Costume Weapon: Small shells around their lower arms. Can play music notes when pressed in the right way, akin to an instrument. Aides them in controlling both soundwaves and mud, and to a lesser extent other forms of "waves" as well. They can even command water.
Vince's Comment: You would think that from a light musical-themed biome, the Nymphs that are connected to it would fight with luring songs or something like that. No, not really! They're straight forward "drag you to the blue mud and beat on you down there."
Sonata's Comment: Funny enough, they're not that big of fans of actually singing. Go figure. Maybe it has something to do with their neighboring animals being unable to shut the fuck up. I don't even like "normal" birds in the "normal" forest. URGH, SHUT UP, STOP CHIRPING! What? Being a nature person doesn't mean I have to like EVERY ANIMAL. You'd be surprised. They like instruments though! In both the dirty and the non-dirty way.
Tania's Comment: Song Nymphs.
Nymphae Sonus.
Their vocal range is expanded enough to be able to mimic not just several voices per Warrior, but also many sound effects. The applications of this are obvious: Decieving not only their sapient enemies, but tricking wildlife to be their food by mimicing the mating calls of the various toned and tuned species that live in the Song Swamps. Many of them have jobs making sound effects for entertainment. I appreciate this blend of nature and technology.
Closing AN:
Day 6, done!
If you're having trouble picturing this biome, I think a good start might be Waterfall of Undertale? Probably not though.
So in Run: .GIFocalypse, I decided to lump up the "electrical character" (well I mean she wasn't the "electrical character" so to speak back then but she is now) with the desert region, and the "sound character" with the swamp region. As well as, in the rewrite, lumping "spirit stuff" with "cold zone," with the soul powers going to the original ice user.
What's a good way to fill out extra biomes? Why, split up the "element" with the overall environment of course! So yes, just like how there's both deserts and an electrical area (except that wasn't an electrical desert so to speak... plus, there might be at least one other "electrical" biome if I can make it stand out, maybe even two... I think I shot myself in the foot by saying that Volt Nymphs also have a tie with thunderstorm clouds, that's like two different biomes with one Nymph type, a little odd considering this story's general "pattern"), and I already split the ice and "soul" themes with the past few chapters. Here, I'm splitting sound with "general" swamps.
Oh, I said the Desert Nymphs were the first vanilla biome. Right, um... that's sort of true and not? The "Magma Lakes" were supposed to be the magma layer of the Caverns of the vanilla game, but... I don't know, I don't like how "fire biome" and "land of the dead with tormented souls" are synonymous in the vanilla game with Hell also having fire critters and plants, so I kind of "moved" some of that upstairs just a little bit. Imagine that in some update or whatever you can also find lava/fire/obsidian plants growing around lakes of magma. That's pretty much just this "biome." What would be even cooler is if there was some special sort of lava-related stone, you put that and/or a ton of lava on the surface and you get this Surface Feiry wasteland biome, that's also the sort of thing I had in mind with Magma Nymphs, but... I'm just getting lost in random ideas there.
So that nobody asks: "What about Sonata getting a Derpfish in her? The third arm?" Yes, those were resolved. The process for either of them... wasn't pretty, putting it mildly.