Nymphs (concept - From Utopian Ashes)

Aether carries with it a distinct potential for consciousness, even if it lacks a physical body to attach itself to. The ethereal closely parallels the material, and all of its various forms of matter; likewise, consciousness is not the same universally either. There are levels to it.

"Nymph" is a somewhat restrictive label given by humanity to conscious entities that are born from the congregation of a particular type of aether. What humanity, the bestowers of this title, does not know is just how widespread these "nymphs" technically are; they extend from single atoms, brimming on the precipice of awareness and thought, to stars, galaxies, and even the universe. The "consciousness" these beings possess is logarithmic, to say the least - a nymph formed from a tree is magnitudes more aware and autonomous than a nymph formed from an atom.

The categories for nymphs are similarly restrictive. They are defined by the type of aether they are commonly born from:

• Dryads: nymphs formed from the aether of trees. For a normal tree, it takes about 3,000-4,000 years for a dryad to form. They typically have access to plant magic, and can even modify their own bodies to resemble them.

• Nereids: nymphs form from water. Sometimes there is a distinction between nereids and naiads, where nereids are born from the ocean and naiads from rivers. They have access to water magic.

• Oreads: nymphs formed from rocks and mountains. They have access to earth magic.

• Sylphids: nymphs formed from lightning and storms. They are also called sylphs. Sylphids are much rarer than the previous three types of nymphs; almost all of the sylphids in existence were born from the storms that engulfed the skies following the War of the Aitherons. They have access to lightning and wind magic.

• Lampads: nymphs formed from fire. On Telluris, lampads are probably the rarest beings, since flames almost never continue for the necessary amount of time. They have access to fire magic.

• Keres: nymphs formed from the souls. This is where the restrictiveness of these categories begin to make themselves known. There are two ways a "keres" is born; one is when enough lifeforms die in a specific location - their collective souls will coalesce into this being; the other is when a human or some other non-corrupted creature lives for an extremely long time - a keres will be born from their single soul. The second example is very similar to a dryad, and indeed dryads can be considered keres by this definition. Like dryads, keres possess magic pertaining to the type of creature(s) they were born from. Keres also possess the memories of all the souls that comprise them.

In addition to their specific abilities, nymphs typically have to ability to change their appearance and absorb surrounding aether to strengthen themselves, specifically free aether or aether similar to their own. Magic is second nature to them; it comes as instinctively as breathing for anyone else. There are also very few ways they can die. Their aether can be absorbed into a more powerful counterpart, and their consciousness dissolved with it. Or, they can be wounded by the aether of the Void Sovereign and his mutants, for even they are not safe from his antithetical views towards existence.