Nymphlopedia

Entry 77: Digital Nymphs

Beginning AN:

Oh lord. For some behind-the-scenes stuff, this chapter was a near set-in-stone idea I had, but most of the ones after that are when my plans kinda fell through, my rough drafts got really rough, and... long story short, where I'm really going to have to double-down on cleaning duity and some rewriting. I even considered re-arranging a few... which is something I might do later? I don't know, I don't really want to scrap some ideas outright, or if I do, I'd only want to do that before I actually publish a chapter of them.

Floating vine-like wires - or, no, wire-like vines? - criss-crossed in the skies above. Electricity danced abound them, and virtual floating screens almost looking like neon signs were everywhere.

"Wow." Vince said. "I don't know if I should be amazed at how good this city looks, or traumatized because it reminds me of the Error."

"No way. No fucking way." Said Sonata. "How didn't I know about... this?! Th-these are- I've heard the name and saw a few using powers, but to know THIS about them... these are porn Nymphs! I- I mean, Internet Nymphs! Which are porn Nymphs!"

"You should probably hide your excitement towards... those things." Said Tania, who was walking down the metallic pathway leading to a... modestly-sized building. It was a 'city' by Nymph standards, but it wasn't a sprawling metropolis. It looked more like a... 'Cyber Suburb,' if that description helped paint a picture (and didn't make painting a picture harder.) "This is a serious negotiation. It could make our remaining deals with the Nymph Variants and finding out about them much easier!"

Sonata rolled her eyes. "We've got most of the Keys to Lindsey's place, we're cracking in at ninety-seven Variants in our Empire, I'm just some cat-sword that I can't find anywhere away from finally finishing my quest to make the Zenith, you're growing new Dryads, and Vince..."

She looked at him. He gave her a deliberately obnoxious wave.

"...Vince doesn't really have anything more to change except find new stuff to sate his bloodlust, which is why the Naked Empire finally set up a proper dojo."

"They can link us with the Ashen Nymphs." Tania explained. "But we might need to look in to the Mountain Nymphs too-"

Then, speak of the devil (at least if by 'speak' one just meant 'using the word "they" to indirectly refer to them'), a Nymph with a faded pink color scheme zipped ahead of them, with long hair split in to eight thin, almost spider leg-looking segments.

"No, not 'might,'" She said, "we will have to talk to Mountain Nymphs unfortunately. And by 'we' I mean I'm sending you three alone."

"Um, wait," said Tania, "not 'us three,' can we leave out Sonata? She's not a very good negotiator - in fact, she might make things worse."

"Yeah, uh-huh, yeah." Sonata nodded. "I was pretty good when this was about wooing, but now shit's gotten political. I know I know that's what happens when you start trying to make an 'empire,' democracy really, and it actually starts taking off."

The Digital Nymph stomped on the ground, sending an electrical pulse through it. It was for something unrelated to the conversation.

"No, no, no," the 'virtual'-themed Nature Warrior said. "I've been in the Internet. You have a certain charm to you that Vince and Tania just... don't."

All three of them stumbled back.

"Wait." Said Sonata. "What?! I have a charm?!"

"I think it's in the sense that you'd like seeing a certain character on TV but would never want to be anywhere near anyone like them in real life." Vince said.

"Yeah exactly I'm like that. I should stay back and be the mascot."

Tania had absolutely no idea what to say and just coughed. "I always thought... I was the... popular one?"

"You're famous for surviving a genocide and apocalypse but Sonata was still always the 'face' of the Naked Empire." Said the Digital Nymph.

"Thank... you?" Sonata replied.

"Meanwhile, Tania, you're more like the side character that took off with unexpected popularity because of her mystery and tragic backstory. Sonata you're 'the funny one.'"

Tania and Sonata just looked at one-another in confusion.

Digital Nymphs.

With the Internet, information can be at your finger tips, and your fingers can also be at their tooth-tips.

Preferred Environment: Digital Space/Internet.

Environment Threat Level: Moderate.

Environment Stats: Average wetness and temperature. Fantastic. Very rare (Digital Spaces)/omnipresent (internet). Mainly metallic areas that have 'natural wires' running through them, rife for creating holographic projections. Originally found deep underground, but some of the Digital Nymphs had been moving them to the surface. When the Internet came to be, these Nymphs used their powers to silently influence it underground, but as the bridge between Nymphs and other races shrinks, they have become more open about that. Digital Spaces also normally have wire-like mechanics that allow for fast travel through them, or even on occasion, other locations.

Other Names: Internet Nymphs, Hologram Nymphs, Popup Nymphs, "Virtual Nymphs" (this is inaccurate).

Affinity: Wind.

Color: Dull Pink.

Traditional Costume Weapon: Bands/"removeable tattoos" on their arms and legs resembling bold pink, yellow, and cyan lightning bolts, made of pure digital energy. Helps them in commanding and travelling through electronics or other electrical-related items. For elite Digital Nymphs, this includes commanding lightning, or summoning lightning storms from clouds even when the clouds themselves are thin and have no rain.

Vince's Comment: I've been scammed by one of these! I'm STILL pissed at her for doing that! If only I could actually FIND her! And tell Sonata a hundred times that she's banned from the Naked Empire! ...Oh, right. Fighting. Well, be light on your feet. And DO NOT PUSH ON ANY STRANGE REAL-LIFE POPUP WINDOWS! That fucking porn ad...

Sonata's Comment: HOW.
WHAT.
Aren't Nymphs supposed to be NATURE?!
WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?!
I'm sorry, I can't really make sense of this. I kinda recently found out about this Variant, since there was not Digital Space in my home island (at first, but as part of Project Unite Biomes, yeah, we've got little islands of every artificial biome. Terraforming rocks, pun unintended) and I wasn't very Internet savvy on account of not having a computer for most of my life, but... yeah. I don't get it. I'm not really sure how there's such a thing as a "natural cyberspace."
And, yeah, Ashen Nymphs are even worse with this...

Tania's Comment: Digital Nymphs.
Nymphae Cyberus.
Digital Spaces are a peculiar biome theorized to have first been made from one patch bordering a Volt Lake and a Steel Gathering near the dawn of the world. This combination just happened to create "wires," which sparked a small virtual package, and this somehow expanded to the point of being considered its own biome. The Nymphs here tend to keep to small colonies, but migrate often, setting up new, artificial Digital Spaces. Their bodies are especially conditioned to move to an electronic form of pure data and back at will, as they have "codes" as part of their own cellular structure, allowing for their atoms to easily be transformed between the two forms at will.
Virtual Spells allow for digitizing anybody, regardless of how organic or even inorganic their makeup is, albeit with more difficulty. The results outside of Digital Spaces are not as exciting as that sounds, usually just looking at aimless code with no magic behind the curtain. The "physical internet" is mostly made by Digital Nymphs.
They used to be one of the least-populous Nymph Variants, but since the creation of the Internet, they appear to be undergoing a recent population boom from mass land expansion.

Closing AN:

Way back in Escape From Fanservice Island (ick), I had a Nymph .GIFfany. Or, a few Nymph .GIFfanys.

Now, finally, I'm turning that around with a .GIFfany Nymph. Well... going by the canon show I mean.

Also I swear I came up with this before Chapter 2 of Deltarune came out. Like, Vince's comment was written before I knew about the Poppup enemy.

Anyhoo I actually finally did write most of this chapter's story on the prior day. And I decided, since we're fast-approaching the end, I thought it would make for an interesting surprise to have one of the "eariest ones" of Part 4 be one of the last stories chronologically. And heck, I haven't decided yet, but it might even be set quite a bit after the short story that would be before it chronologically. So, yeah, the last two "numbered" Nymphs of the First Edition are finally revealed, Mountain and Ashen, both chronologically and in entry number order. It's not too much of a spoiler though I mean in just six days they'll be in the dropdown menu.