Nymphlopedia
Entry 58: Sunray Nymphs
Beginning AN:
Another one I might change because... well, I mean, look at the concept for the Nymph gang right before it.
I'll be completely honest, there's a good chance that the whole "biome magic" thing might be seriously downplayed in the final story, and that the Nymphs there won't be nearly as powerful as they come across as being in the mini-stories. Because, well... this is a bit overly-complex. The powers and stuff are there so that their chapters can stand out a little.
Also my goal with Dave is to try to have a character that annoys the other characters but not the reader. Someone described Hooty from Owl House, a show I plan to watch but later (maybe once I'm caught up with Dragon Prince? That started out just okay but it gets really good near the end of Season 2), like that and my thought was "Shit, challenge accepted, I want to make my own character that also fits that." So if he starts annoying you, that's a bad thing on my part. If he annoys me and not you, well that's the sacrifice I'm willing to take.
"Why don't we just raid the Sunray Fortress in the night?" Asked Vince. "I mean, they're all about solar power and plasma, why not blast them when their main source is down?"
Tania sighed. "If I had a copper coin every time I had to explain this...
"'Sunray' Nymphs draw from stars, not just the Sun. The Sun can interefere with their ability to draw from other stars, so it's easier for them to do that at night."
Sonata was pretty much hugging the Binoculars. (Yes, capital B.) Without actually touching them to her face. For some reason she was also squatting even though there was nothing for her to hide behind. There was a good reason for the Binocular-holding - it was a pretty nice stone fortress. Way better than anything Vince or especially Sonata could make. A stone castle, washed out yellow that fit with the soft and well-lit hills around it. It also had some nice, fancy designs drawn on it. Which included... symbols of the Celestial Prisons, dammit. Nymphs aren't normally even supposed to ally with - whatever. Tania would yell at them for that later. For mindlessly using significant symbols or for actually allying with the Lunatic Forces. Having good faith, she assumed the former.
Also, still unlike the Naked Empire, they had a successfully-built moat of lava.
"So when do we do it?" Asked Sonata. "It's almost noon."
"At noon." Replied Tania.
Sonata was staring intently at her Cell Phone. And...
Boom. Click. 12:00 PM.
"CHAAAARGE!" Sonata shouted, rushing towards the fortress, Influx Waver in hand and raised above her. "YOU WANNA WAR WITH THE NAKED EMPIRE?! YOU GOT ONE!"
At the top of the fortress' middle tower, of course the Nymphs bathing in the high noon sunlight had... well, they had seen the trio the entire time. One in the middle rolled her eyes.
"Looks like they're trying to take this fight to us now. How cute." Said the one in the middle. "They've even sent someone to charge straight at our fort."
"Which one?" Another Sunray Nymph asked her.
"The idiot Nymph with the sword fetish."
"Most of them have swords, either give me the telescope or be more specific."
"The one whose idea was to give them all the swords in the first place."
"Ah, Sonata. Fire."
They merely pointed in her direction and shot beams of yellow light towards her, which felt... uncomfortably warm. It made Sonata shield her face and hiss.
Tania shook her head. "Just because it's the best time doesn't mean it's the time to go in with no plan..." She said.
"I swear." Vince said. "I told Sonata twice before we left that this was just an observational mission. We're just seeing what they're like at their weakest."
Tania sighed.
"And I told her four times."
Sunray Nymphs.
In the absense of the Dryads, many Nymph Variants have tried to fill their job as "Sun Warriors." The Sunray Nymphs are but one, and they take a... direct approach to bringing the Sun's energy down to Terraria.
Preferred Environment: Sunray Hills.
Environment Threat Level: Moderate.
Environment Stats: Slightly dry, below average rainfall. Warm. Moderate-Mundane. Rare. Yellow, sunny hills, not too much to say about them, unless you grow one underground.
Other Names: Ray Nymphs, Sunbeam Nymphs, Sunrise Nymphs, "Star Nymphs" (when that name is not used for Oreads), "Solars." (Note from Tania: ? about that last one. I have no idea.)
Affinity: Fire.
Color: Light Yellow.
Traditional Costume Weapon: Strings around their upper collarbones, adorned with small, low-level lights, making it look like they have necklaces made of glowing objects. (The "objects" are lights themselves.) This lets them channel solar energy specifically from light rays from the sun, or other stars. Advanced Sunray Nymphs can tap in to their magic to raise and lower the hills of their biome.
Vince's Comment: They have a lot of cool plasma tricks but when I spar with some of them, they tend to just... flash bright lights at me? It works, but it's really annoying. Please use sunglasses. Or better yet, try to learn how to fight blindfolded. I mean, the caves we all explore a lot are so dark anyway...
Sonata's Comment: Bfffft gwaa hahahaha sorry all I can think about right now is some maniac who thought she could steal one of these and turn her in to her personal disco ball or something, don't worry, the Sunbeam Nymph kicked her ass pretty good before that plan could come even close to finishing.
...
Um yeah but they live in a kind of romantic spot and I've had some very romantic experiences with them!
Tania's Comment: Sunray Nymphs.
Nymphae Radium.
Dryads and Oreads and their relationship with the day and the night is a little... abstract, if it's even really there at all. For the most part, it was thrown on to us because of the Oreads' history with Cthulhu while we worked with the Sun-worshipping Lihzahrds. Nymphs like these and the Moonray Nymphs take the "sun" and "moon" aspect - most often with the sun - more literally. They bask in the rays of the sunlight, or other stars, for power, but they are not exactly "solar powered" and won't "die off" if they are sealed away from sunlight. (They do, however, get less magic to use.) No Nymph will die if "seperated from their magic source." Otherwise, Sonata's Naked Empire or other planned gatherings of all variants would be difficult, if not impossible. Clothing, especially by cloth or through an eldritch horror, is our only real universal poison.
The Sun is just another star, and because of that, sufficiently powerful Sunray Nymphs can actually draw power from the other, more distant stars as well. In fact, since at night there is less interference from the Sun itself allowing to better focus on the energy from the other stars, strong enough Sunray Nymphs tend to be stronger at that time than at the time. They have been thinking about changing their name to "Starray Nymphs," but some more conservative Nymphs prefer the current name.
Closing AN:
So typing "high noon" for this mini-story reminded me of something: If that gave any "western" vibes, that was unintentional and part of what I'm about to say. I don't really like full-episode genre parodies or anything like that, there aren't going to be any. Sorry if you're still expecting like a "Western Chapter" or especially like a parody of a specific movie, that's gonna be a "no."