Nymphlopedia
Entry 67: Skylake Nymphs
Beginning AN:
Oh damn I forgot to make a 666 joke with the last chapter. Or 616. Or 616 for Entry 61. Regardless of the way.
...I guarantee there won't be any 69 jokes with that entry.
"Ow." Sonata said once her head popped out the water. That kept going on, for each stroke. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."
"JUST STOP SWIMMING! PLEASE!" Vince called out, hands cupped around his mouth - he was seated at a cloud at the edge of a massive Skylake. "I'M GETTING SECOND-HAND PAIN JUST FROM WATCHING YOU."
He turned to Tania, who was standing next to him. "Did I tell you about the time she swallowed a Derpfish whole? The stuff done to get that out still makes my skin crawl."
Tania immediately turned green and gagged. "Oh Gaia. No, you did not and I would rather not hear of the details of that."
She lept out and sprouted her vine-ish wing things, fluttering to the shores. There was still a loose Wyverntail nibbling at her heel, which she kicked back in to the lake.
"Alright, fine." She said. "Wuss. They weren't hurting that badly."
Booming laughter was heard behind all three of them.
"OOOOOHHH! HO HO HO HO HO!"
A puff of smoke - no, clouds - from the direction of the laughter, and emerging from it was a Skylake Nymph. Beautiful (unsurprisingly), bluish, hair styled to resemble blowing clouds with occasional 'pools' of darker patches clumped together. If she was wearing a cape, it would definitely be blowing dramatically.
"I see three helpless travellers have wandered in to my domain?!" She said.
Sonata laughed her ass off.
"Well then!" Continued the Skylake Nymph. "Are my pet fishies doing their good job at biting you? They SHOULD!"
"...Okay?" Said Sonata. "No, not really. They're just mildly annoying. I think I'm... outhealing? Them?"
Tania shrugged. "I'm not even Blessing her."
"And I'm okay with that. Because she should save her magic for when danger strikes. Anyway, would you like to join our Naked Empire? We already have a main soldier of the Skylake Nymphs, but you know, there's no rule that we can't have more than one representative. I actually want to finally have more than one."
"Can I just antagonize you instead?" She asked. "The clouds are MY domain! ...Actually, they're the domains of various Nymphs, but I rule the clouds that specifically have lakes brimming with aquatic life in them!"
"You're not kidding about 'brimming.'" Said Sonata.
Another poof, another Skylake Nymph showed up, marching impatiently. Having a small azure-colored sword in her hand.
"Oh hey!" Said Sonata. "Speak of the devil! It's our represen-"
She punched the apparent owner of the fish school in the face.
"Stop putting your fish in my rivers." She told her flatly.
"Ah!" The 'first' Skylake Nymph to poof there jumped back and held her index finger in her face. "But it's not your lake! It's our lake! We rule the clouds - okay not the clouds clouds, just the ones with specifically have lakes brimming with-"
"Leave."
"Ok."
She disappeared, leaving the sword-holding Skylake Nymph to look back in to the lake. She sighed.
"Sorry about that, guys. I'll clean this up soon, and you can swim without being bitten as often."
"Cool, thanks." Sonata said.
"Yeah, you're a good help." Added Vince.
"Be sure the water is of the right salinity!" Tania reminded.
That Skylake Nymph only replied to the latter: "Oh, Tania, I was actually just thinking about throwing the fish at her face. But yeah, I will."
And then she dove in the water.
Skylake Nymphs.
Apart from Harpyfish and Wyverntails, these are the main reason why you should not carelessly go swimming in the sky lakes.
Preferred Environment: Skylakes/"Floating Lakes."
Environment Threat Level: Calm; Severe if Wyverns are in the area. (Note from Sonata: You can blame me for that, I woke them all up by killing the Wall of Flesh, that got them all active.)
Environment Stats: Moist/"rainy." Cool. Moderate-Fantastic. Common above a certain point. Large, "extra-wet" clouds in the sky housing special high-altitude lakes, with a surrounding ecosystem distinct from those of the Skylands.
Other Names: Floating Lake Nymphs, Floatlake Nymphs, "Rain Nymphs" (sort of, there are plenty to not be confused with).
Affinity: Earth.
Color: Light Azure.
Traditional Costume Weapon: Gray cloud-like swirls around their arms and legs, with water appearing to come out of them, but the water itself is also part of their accessories. Enables control over rainwater, water in general, clouds, and being able to change pressure.
Vince's Comment: Okay with the whole "rain and bodies of water in the sky" thing and their airship-based delivery system I was expecting them to be, like, a "death from above" sort of Nymph type. But no, they like flying over you, and then just doing nothing, a lot of fakeouts. Fighting one of this is really confusing. And then you slip on a puddle that wasn't there before beause she or he made it with their water powers. Ugh. Just... annoying.
Sonata's Comment: These motherfuckers are pretty corporate. They own this "Azure Company," it's where Vince keeps fishing up crates when he fishes there from. I'm pretty sure the Skylake Nymphs deliberately dropped a lot of boxes down there as a publicity stunt. It fits them. Their company produces some nice toys. I mean the sex toys, but also their kid toys are cool in design too.
Tania's Comment: Skylake Nymphs.
Nymphae Skylacum.
Nymph Variants have quite the overlap, with Skylake and Skyland Nymphs being two of the most obvious examples. Closer inspection reveals that their biomes are quite different from each other aside from both of them being in the clouds. But the differences in the ecology making their biomes' conditions possible, and the resulting powers from it, warrants the distinction. For one, think of "Skylake" as referring to the part under water. A deep blanket of water would require cloud material to be water-tight, something not all Sky Islands necessarily have. Other changes derive from this: Aquatic plants also grow to be tougher from having a firmer source to grow in, there are plenty of aerial microbes that gather as water is a major source of life, and from there, a patron Nymph that prioritizes dense and tough material, if scattered and with less of large structures than their land-in-the-air counterparts. Skylake Nymphs may seem as harmless as a light rain, but looking in to their magic reveals the potential to hit with the force of an entire lake, drifting along the breeze as effortlessly as the clouds those lakes are carried on. Meanwhile, Skyland Nymphs, which it seems like they have the advantage of being themed around more solids, lack such raw force.
Closing AN:
Yeah for the "scientific name" I just translated "sky lake" and mashed the two words together.
Also good lord this is a mess. Again, I'd probably address stuff like the Affinity if it wasn't for me also wanting to "finish" Run: .GIFocalypse 2-2, which I couldn't even really do. "What Affinity thing" well I already used Wind and Water for the earlier Azure ones so that left Earth and Fire and lakes in the sky that in-game have no fire shit probably shouldn't be Fire. So I went with Earth for the time being.
"Why don't you just double-down on colors and Affinities" No. Yes if I decide to write further than the 102 and make Second Edition a thing (obviously it would be more chapters to this story, I won't add a seperate story there's not really a need to) I would have to but for this set no.