{SPHINXES} IDEAS

[ThaddeusGrey]

Hey guys, this just occurred to me. Jack was complaining to me a little while ago that when he started an rp with his own original species, people were having trouble designing their characters and art to match the specifications because he didn't have any species refs up yet. There were some pretty hilariously inaccurate designs as a result.
I know some of your races, like the sphinxes and the satyrs, will not necessarily conform to typical classic designs, so I think first things first you guys should pin down specifics on their basic anatomies and get some species refs up, so that doesn't happen to you, and then you don't have to run around foaming at noobs to do it right and they ignore you and everyone gets irritated and snarly.

[ThaddeusGrey]

The Sphinxes' territory:

The sphinxes live in a semi-mountainous, semi-hilly area in the north eastern end of the continent. Much of the land between their mountains is sandy and barren, due to a flood from the ocean ages ago that soaked the land with salt water and left the salt behind when the water eventually dissipated. Once lush valleys and evergreen forests died and faded away to be replaced by sand mixed with salt. The only beasts that remain now other than the sphinxes are stubborn mountain goats, which without the competition of other grazers have diversified in race and spread out across the mountains and sands themselves. They feed on the tough, highland grasses, shrubs, and moss that were the only greenery to survive the ocean flood, high above on rocky cliffs and some scattered plateaus.

The western portion of the Sphinxes' region is the greenest and where many of the sphinx actually live. Rather than true mountains, much of this land is comprised of high-rising plateaus that, like the mountain shrubs, were high enough to escape the worst of the flood. These plateaus are covered with small grasslands and evergreen forests. Many of the sphinxes dwell here, from treetop villages to small towns on the grass to caves delved into the plateau walls. it is the most prosperous area of their land, and some of the larger plateaus are dedicated to farming various vegetables and fruit orchards. Narrow but deep whitewater rapids crash between the walls of many of the plateaus, but these are still polluted with salt from the ocean's flood and not fit for drinking. Many of the fresh water fish that once dwelled in them have died out, but many of the sphinx councils are considering using their technology to transfer saltwater fish from their eastern coast into these rivers to make them useful again. In the meantime, only the quietest parts of these harsh rivers can be used for energy-producing mills operated from inside the plateau walls. Any water used for farming is caught and preserved from the summer rains and snowmelt from winter snows. The sphinxes' farming plateaus are crisscrossed with a wealth of irrigation systems.

The North and northeast of the Sphinx territory is the most mountainous, though even here the mountains are short and stubby, sprinkled lightly with snow all year round and only slightly snowier in the winter. It is from here that the sphinxes gather most of their fresh water, transporting snow in large leather pouches all year round via the largest and sturdiest of the mountain goats they have domesticated. Only snow-harvesters, goat-herders and tenders, hermits, and the deeply spiritual live up here permanently, and occasionally pilgrimages are made to the temples that are carved into the tops of these mountains.

The south and southwest are the largest of sphinx towns, large enough to be cities, sprawling along mountainsides and tops. This is a great hub of sphinx civilization and scientific discovery. It is also a very integrated region, the largest cities having almost as many humans, tyrs, and other races altogether as it does sphinxes. The skies of these stubby, cultivated mountains are dotted with flying machines of all shapes and sizes, from steam-powered monoliths, to personal motor-powered wings. The twin peaks of Alstreuss and Morifaught are connected by great metal struts, bridges, walkways, and air-machine docks. from the largest and strongest of these hang the slums of these two great cities in a terrifying knotwork of rope and wood ladders and paths connecting all manner of pouches, hammocks, nests, and other flimsy constructs that house those that dwell there. Though these slum-dwellers are careful to stay clear of the docks, occasionally a smaller flier that tries to squeeze through the slum nets will be caught and tangled irreparably. These crafts, and often, their owners, will disappear overnight as they are dismantled and sold for parts by the ever-hungry slummers.

The ocean coast of the east is largely desert blending into beach, miles of dry and wet sand stretching north and south between the mountains and the sea. Some pshinxes dwell here, mostly water-adept types like tigers, fishing cats, jagaurs, jagarundis, and asian leopard cats. There is a large trading hub built out on floating rafts a mile out to sea, where the mers come in from the ocean to trade with the beach-dwelling sphinxes. Beach-dwelling sphinxes trade in all things, from fish, nets, boats, oyster-made gems, bone and shell jewelry and tools, to spare parts for machinery traded by airmachine merchants, various types of clothing, to holy items for pilgrims stopping over on their way to the northern mountains.

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