Nymphlopedia

Entry 43: Crystal Nymphs

"Remember," said Tania as her eyes scanned the glimmering biome, gems of all colors wrapped in crystal cases... also in any colors, "look but do not touch."

"I'm familiar with Crystal Nymphs!" Sonata replied. "Probably moreso than you 'cuz I'm a cavewoman! I've been with them."

That being said, she whipped her head to Vince and sternly told him, "but yeah the Nymphs here are really protective. Don't touch their gemstones."

"But..." Vince said. "We're going to blast them with purification magic."

"It's an unspoken rule that that is fine." Tania explained. "They would want this."

So, they got their powder and glowing hand-magic out - or, Tania did. Vince took the Clentaminator as usual, and Sonata had one of her own, which got her some looks from the other two.

"...What?" She asked. "It's expensive as shit - because Ada's a fucking asshole who cares more about lining her pockets than about saving the environment - but this is a VERY convenient tool!"

"...Okay I should try it myself." Said Tania.

"I've been telling you that since I first pulled the trigger on this." Vince told her. "It's amazing."

And a crowd of glimmering, shiny blue Nymphs walked by, wearing just necklaces with the elaborate spectrums of gems on them.

"Hi there!" Said Sonata. "Sorry, we're self-proclaimed world-purifiers, and we're here to help fight against the Evil Biomes! There's some Corruption around here! That's what we're doing right now!"

"Okay." One of them said. "Aren't you that Last Dryad?"

"Yes!" Tania replied. "We were fighting robotic recreations of Cthulhu's organs-"

"Oh shoot we should probably do something to save the world too." Another one said. "Is there a way we could join you?"

Sonata began laughing. "Awesome! More easy roommates! Yeah, we're doing this thing called the Naked Empire."

Tania leaned forward to hold out her hand, for a shake. "It would be an honor to-"

And then.

During that motion.

Her fat ass ended up brushing against one of the crystal spikes.

That suddenly got all the Crystal Nymphs to scowl at them.

"Look..." the one who spoke first before said again. "But don't... touch."

And everybody else in her group said around the same time: "The second rule of the Crystal Spikes."

"Yeah, that's right!" Sonata said. "'Cuz Rule #1 is always-"

"Sonata! This isn't the time!" Tania replied back to her, blushing.

Crystal Nymphs.

A place with gems right there for the taking almost sounds too good to be true. And unfortunately, it is: most of the time, the Crystal Spikes are guarded by at least one of these Nymphs, and while they don't have much to say about you invading their stashes, they have a lot they'll do.

Preferred Environment: Crystal Spikes.

Environment Threat Level: Moderate. (A good portion of the threat comes from just how sharp the spikes are. Not as sharp as, say, the Jagged Crags however.)

Environment Stats: Dry. Freezing. Moderate on the Mundane-fantastic scale. Semirare. Almost always found in caverns, they are glimmering, cold collections of crystal, with plenty of other gems adorning the walls.

Other Names: Clarity Nymphs, Shining Nymphs, Crystal-Spike Nymphs. Incorrect names include Gem Nymphs, Diamond Nymphs, Amethyst Nymphs, Topaz Nymphs, etc. (For any gemstone.)

Affinity: Earth.

Color: Dark Sky Blue.

Traditional Costume Weapon: Elaborate jewelery, but nothing else. Commonly necklaces, but jewelery around several other parts of the body is not unheard of. This lets them control various gemstones, especially their sort of unique "crystal." To some extent, they can even manipulate ice, mainly especially powerful Crystal Nymphs.

Vince's Comment: For some reason they, like a few other Nymph Variants, have the ability to make their skin transparent, showing all their organs and stuff. I mean, they don't really look like human organs so it's not that disturbing for me. But still. It's pretty disturbing. If some of them want to fight you, just don't let them know that looking at their "internal vines" or whatever they have wriggling around there creeps you out if it does. Believe me, they'll take advantage of that. The Crystal Nymph in the front line of the Naked Empire is a good friend of mine, and she does this just for fun!
Also, you see how sharp those crystal spikes are? Yeah, that reflects on their combat combat too. They like to stab. A lot. Trust me on this one.

Sonata's Comment: Urgh, we Oreads fight with these Nymphs over gems. A lot.

Tania's Comment: Crystal Nymphs.
Nymphae Crystallo. (Wow English... is not that creative of a language compared to Latin, isn't it? Very derivative.)
Crystal Nymphs incorporate spikes in to plenty of their furnature, created weapons, fighting style, and it is even present in some of their more internal biology, having somewhat sharp teeth. (Again, they still pale compared to Jagged Nymphs.) This also serves in stark contrast to their ties to the beauty of the crystal formations that they prize and live their lives around. This clash is something I feel is worth looking in to, but that might just lead to overanalysis, something I have never been told that I do except for by Sonata and Vince. I asked several Crystal Nymphs directly, they just said that to them, spikes are beauty.
I have no idea what purpose turning their skin transparent and exposing their internal organs could have. To be frank, Vince could have easily lived his life without knowing that we look... rather eldritch on the inside. And now he does. Thankfully, this did not change how he saw us.
Good Gaia he still has sex with Sonata like an animal.

Closing AN:

Okay, got a borderline sorta vanilla biome... kind of. The gem caves. But I like the Oreads being the sort of "Gem Nymphs" at the same time. (And the "Ore Nymphs," but not too long ago I just had a metal one.)

Also sorry for getting these late, the mini-stories were also a bit rushed so...