Nymphlopedia

Entry 29: Blood Nymphs

"Feel the blood of the land mix with the blood in your veins. Feel the pairs of blood synch up, under the everchanging sky. Feel the blood of the land mix with the blood in your veins. Feel the pairs of blood synch up, under the everychanging sky."

"Are you fucking SURE these aren't cultists?!" Sonata asked, hiding in some deep red bushes along with the rest of her usual trio. Not Crimson bushes, although one would be forgiven for mistaking the two biomes.

The gathering of dark red Nymphs, half submerged in a thick blood-colored lake, repeated their two lines with an injured one of their own deep underwater, surrounded by the rest in a circle.

"I mean. They are a religion. Not a cult." Replied Tania. "Picture this as a... a... um..." she really trailed off there. "Don't you have any celebrations for Pan?"

"Me? No." Sonata shrugged. "I just believe Pan exists. I don't have any ceremonies or anything or believe we need to gather around. That's it. I just think the creation lore is real. I also believe in the Torch God, but I don't really do anything to him either."

"No the Torch God is real!" Vince broke in, speaking up. "How else do you explain the FIREBALLS we had to dodge! That's not a belief, that one's a FACT!"

The Blood Nymphs stopped their chanting. And looked over to the trio.

Also, context, it was pitch-fucking black. This was happening in the middle of the night. The only lighting was from dim, red-tinted torches, flickering around the lake and in the faces of the trio.

Rustling behind the Human-Dryad-Oread trio - a huge crowd of Blood Nymphs were there, behind them. Placing their hands all over their backs and shoulders.

"Traveller." One of them said. "Derooted Tree. Redeemer From the Caves. What brings you here?"

"Honestly?" Answered Sonata. "We got lost without a lot of our supplies. So we went here as a shortcut back to the airport. Yeah, we're just-"

"We do not offer healings for free, you know. We only heal our own under dire cases, as is here."

"I know! I didn't want that! I was just... uh... Tania, you're better at explaining things, why don't you-"

Sonata wanted to give Tania a light shoulder-bump, but without much focus, she wound up hitting a wide-eyed Vince instead. Vince jumped a little back in response, landing right in the water. That made the Blood Nymphs sigh.

"You know there's a lot of leeches and shit in there, right, and you have to be properly equipped to handle that?" Another Blood Nymph said.

"Oh DAMMIT!" Vince cried.

Blood Nymphs.

Don't be fooled by the ominous red lakes: they have good healing properties, but the Nymphs... about half of them want explorers to drown, the other half want them to get better.

Preferred Environment: Blood Lakes.

Environment Threat Level: Beneficial if known how to use; Moderate otherwise.

Environment Stats: Wet. Cold. Fantastic. Rare. Special wetlands of a deep, rich red color and their surrounding flora and fauna, almost looking like they are made of blood or under the effects of a Blood Moon. The water has healing properties - if used right.

Other Names: "Blood Moon Nymphs," which is innacurate.

Affinity: Water.

Color: Dark Red.

Traditional Costume Weapon: Small, thin "trickles" of blood around their bodies. Aides them with channelling to the blood (and other fluids) of living beings and equivalents to cybernetic creatures, the blood-like waters of their biome and some others, liquids in general, and the plants and animals native to the biome. The Blood Moon can strengthen their powers, but only slightly.

Vince's Comment: Puppets are a small hobby of mine. But I don't like being a puppet. I wouldn't even think about training with one. I know I should, in case any rogue Blood Nymphs try to attack me, but still. Ick.

Sonata's Comment: There has to be something dirty about controlling one's blood. But the only ideas I can come up with are all fucking horrifying. I like my romance safe, happy, and consensual, you know?

Tania's Comment: Blood Nymphs.
Nymphae Sanguis.
One of the rarer Nymph types, and easily confused with Bone Nymphs, they can command almost any being that has blood and plenty without through careful manipulation. To a lesser extent, this applies for other internal fluids. Despite the strong visual ties, they have no direct relation with the Blood Moon, and do not directly provoke the undead to attack like a Blood Moon would. (The Blood Moon makes them stronger by indirectly increasing blood-related entities, giving more of their natire biome elements around to use.) No, they can not induce symptoms related to menstruation either. As frustrating as they may be to challenge some times, this is purely because of their personalities and could apply to anyone, rather than any ability.
(Sigh.) I don't particularly like their representative in the Naked Empire, okay?

Closing AN:

No, this chapter and the last one being next to eachother was not intended to be a Witcher Blood and Wine reference. But I'll keep it that way unless I want to rewrite one of them entirely. (Which, no, would have nothing to do with whether or not I'd like that being a "reference.")

Yeah the mini-story here might get a bit of a rewrite (well it'd probably be more of an "addition") to actually focus on the "bloodbending" which, obviously to anyone who saw Avatar, that is in fact the inspiration for their powers.