The Guild's Manual of Monsters: Nymphs

Nymphs: The spirits of beauty.

What are Nymphs?

Nymphs are beauty and perfection given form. The product of something subjective brought to realism. They are spirits, elementals of beauty.

A nymph usually looks like a humanoid woman, but multiple people describe her differently. Albeit, their description fails to meet reason.

Nymphs usually get mixed up with Dryads and succubus, but they couldn't be more different. Dryads and succubus are conventionally beautiful, really, really attractive. Nymphs, on the other hand, are unreasonably attractive.

While the latter two {Dryads and succubus} usually resort to charm spells to keep their target chained after they are discovered. Nymphs don't need such tricks, they don't even bother hiding their true nature, and no one cares.

A nymph's beauty is beyond words, unreasonable, perfect, and immaculate. Their skin glows, their eyes flicked with light, and their thick silky hair dance in the light breeze.

They are the epitome of perfection. Vibrant hair, radiant skin, perfect teeth, and gentle eyes. The silk robe they wear glows with magical light, adorned with silk threads and rainbow hues of unearthly existence. They contort perfectly to the nymph's body with each move.

Nymphs are so beautiful, that when you look at her face, hands, or legs, you go blind. Literally, your brain fails to comprehend the unworldly beauty and short circuit. That causes a stroke which you won't wake from until hours have passed, and even then, your sight, is forever lost. It's like shining a laser at a camera. It isn't built to handle such pure luminance.

But, in the case you were fortunate...or, unfortunate {Depending on how you like it} to see a nymph in the nude, you would instantly die.

Monster hunters usually wear bags over their heads when hunting Nymphs. They cover their sight just enough to be able to make out vague shapes. That is why, they don't see the beauty of the nymph and go blind or die. {We'll talk later about why people want to hunt nymphs}

Also, be careful out there. Regardless of sexual orientation, women are also affected by the nymph's beauty power. They will go blind and die the same way.

The funny thing is that you don't even need to look at a nymph directly to be affected by her beauty, as it isn't magic they use at will. Even reflections can blind you. Things like scrying orbs used for spying would also transfer the effect. Countless wizards have died, accidentally peeking at a bathing nymph while searching for monsters or ingredients for their magic. There are no shortcuts here to escape the effect.

The only way to survive it is to have a nervous system strong enough to handle the beauty, be a nymph, or a high spirit. Creatures like dragons, archdemons, and archdevils, the great elemental spirits or the spirits of the wild.

Another note that separates nymphs from succubus and dryad is their lack of sexual drive. They aren't interested. As far as the world can go, they can't get pregnant. They don't reproduce like humanoids in any way.

No, this takes me to my next point, how are they born? As spirits of beauty, they are born from places of unearthly beauty.

As I said, Nymphs are essentially, elementals, and they behave as such.

{How am I going to explain this...} There are places in the world that are just, beautiful, and perfect. Unearthly places of land where the breeze flows just right, where flowers bloom with the right colors and aroma, where water is as clear as air, and where the sunlight shines with the perfect warmth. The golden deserts, the pure white arctic lands, and the crystal-filled caves of marvelous beauty. Those are the places where nymphs spawn.

In those places, they form out of thin air. Sometimes spontaneously appearing, and in others, slowly manifesting as a mirage, and then a reality.

There are no restrictions to where the nymph can spawn, beside that it must be perfectly beautiful and breathtaking.

People usually get the wrong assumption that nymphs can only spawn in forests, but that isn't true. They spawn anywhere, as long as it's perfect. Deserts, mountains, ocean floor, volcanos, anywhere is possible.

Nymphs aren't bothered by the lack of air, nor do they need it to survive. They can't drown, and the pressure of the ocean can't kill them, nor does natural fire or lava. The latter two, as long as they spawned in places with such natural elements.

They also don't need to eat, or sleep, nor don't have a set lifespan.

The nymph and the place of beauty that spawned her are inter-connected. If that place were to be defiled, the nymph would shrivel and vanish. And if the nymph were to be gravely injured or killed, the place she spawned from would crumble, or even get cursed.

The curse usually manifests as a ghostly figure that hunts the ones who killed the nymph and their descendants until the place of beauty is restored, and the nymph is revived. It is one of the most powerful curses in nature.

If you were an outsider {Not the one who killed the nymph or defiled the place of beauty} and you restored the place and revived the nymph, lifting the curse. Two things would happen.

The curse on the killer or the deflier would double in power, and can never be broken.

You, who restored the grove would get a blessing from the nymph. Such blessings change from one person to another, but the baseline is an immunity to the nymph's beauty and any charm magic.

Throughout the ages, seeking corrupt lands to cure and gain the nymph's favor has become a custom of heroes and legendary adventurers.

Currently, Alcott Demorian, the dragon slayer and mediator, is the only known man to gain the favor of more than one nymph. He got the favor of four nymphs at the same time, and only he knew the nature of the blessings he got.

Nymphs always care for their bodies, bathe daily, and make sure they remain perfect, for any shift to their beauty could destroy their grove.

Finally, why would people want to hunt nymphs instead of seeking their blessings? The reason lies in their treasures, or technically their bodies.

A nymph rarely has any material wealth, besides whatever love-crazed people gave them. Their true treasure is their bodies, especially their hair, spit, and tears.

Their hair can be woven into clothes to give the wearer a powerful charisma buff, popular among kings.

Their tears are the core component of the love potions. Powerful charm items.

And lastly, their spit can be used to create the knockoff of Gracie's spit potion, a powerful aphrodisiac. The real deal is said to make even stone fertile, while the knockoff only gets the flesh moving.

****

Nymphs rarely are forced into conflict, but when they do, they usually rely on their beauty to blind or kill people by flashing them. If that failed, they are still powerful druidic casters.

Legends have it that nymphs can be named by their source, like if they spawned from a Genius Loci. Those names can grant them power, or blessing from the lands.