#askspright

[loominggaia]

My theory about the very first vampire is that they were a gnome or spright, since we know they can be vampires but I imagine it's hard for a bigger vampire to bite a gnome without killing them. Maybe they're still around and nobody knows because people their size are easier to hide.

This makes a lot of sense to me! Vampires are known for their mastery of stealth, and who could be stealthier than a doll-sized person?

Like mosquitoes, those wee 'pires!

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[loominggaia]

A secret thriving civilization of sprights is uncovered in Mogdir? This population being the descendants of survivors of Titania’s genocide, the only expedition that survived and adapted to the new world. What’s the reaction to this discovery?

Once they were discovered, I don't think this population would last long. Nefarious individuals would scramble to capture these sprights and sell them to Morgause. Most of these thugs were probably hired by Morgause in the first place...

World Athenaeum researchers would want to study these sprights, and might just capture them themselves under the guise of "protecting" them from Morgause's goons. Either way, these poor fae would not get to keep their freedom.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

Do you believe that if sprights would have had a better chance at long term survival if their ancestors simply migrated to different lands instead of being concentrated to a singular location? Cause that trick seems to have worked well for the Roshava and Gnomes.

Sort of. I think that was definitely a big factor to their extinction; they just couldn't escape Titania's conquest.

Other species were able to get off the continent in large numbers just as things were getting bad, either by boat or flight. But sprights were uniquely frail and just didn't travel long distances well in these conditions, so those that did try to leave largely died before or shortly after making it to other continents.

Roshava got lucky because not only were they naturally tough, but their homeland was on treacherous ground that other peoples didn't want to cross (the canyons). They didn't suffer many attacks on their native region, so their populations were free to grow without major warfare or strife. Plus, this location was abundant in resources and centrally-located, so they could freely migrate in all directions. There were no natural barriers like icy mountains or oceans standing in their way. Just the canyons, which they were uniquely-suited to climbing with their four arms. The roshava could leave their native region freely, but foreign peoples couldn't really get in.

Gnomes were even smaller than sprights, but actually much tougher and more adaptable. They could survive long journeys on the sea or in the sky, and they tended to do well no matter what environment they landed on at the end of the journey.

Even if they did successfully migrate, I don't think sprights would have done very well in other lands either. They were not very adaptable because they were too tailored to their native environment. They were a very delicate species that got snuffed out before they could realize their true potential.

Had Titania left them a lone for a couple thousand years, sprights probably could have grown into a force to be reckoned with. Instead, they got smacked down right out the gate.

Their extinction ultimately boils down to bad luck. They suffered a perfect storm of shitty conditions that just snowballed over time. Titania's conquest, Morgause's rise to power, the volcano erupting, Green Witch taking over the last third of the continent...these were all big factors too.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

I saw that old outdated post about sprights that says they were created by Titania, and I wonder of any of that stuff applies to adhene now? Like the parts about courstship being female-dominated and them being fetishized by elves?

What we now know as "adhene" were originally called "sprights". I decided to change this and make them two completely different creatures. Now, adhene are a type of faery (monster) and sprights are a near-extinct species of people.

I imagine that courtship was largely female-dominated in most spright cultures. I'm sure they're fetishized by some, probably by gnomes more than anyone, being a similar size and all. Sprights have a naturally delicate body structure that no gnome can achieve no matter how much they diet, so I think that would make them all the more appealing to gnomes.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

What would happen if extinct races just came back in large amounts?

Long-term, I think they would all just end up petering out again. These species went extinct for a reason; because they couldn't adapt to the changing world around them. So I imagine they would be poorly-adapted to Gaia as it is today.

Short-term, Etios Nation would make an effort to protect the gnolls and hogmen, probably by devoting a sanctuary to them on their land.

The World Athenaeum would try to develop a vaccine for the strain of rabies that wiped out the gnolls and jab as many of them as possible as quickly as possible.

I could see Mogdir Kingdom, Seelie Court, and the Unseelie Court setting up special refuges for sprights.

Evangeline Kingdom and Zareen Empire would make an effort to house orcs, maybe by building special protected districts for them until their populations were deemed stable.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

Cool that we learned about the courtship rituals of the 15 living peoples and the Orcs, but we still hadn’t learnt of how to woo the Gnoles, Hogmen, and Sprites. How do you flirt with those 3 extinct peoples?

Unfortunately most of these species went extinct before the World Athenaeum could study deeper aspects like this. Much of their cultures and ways of life remain a mystery.

Even the sprights in Morgause's sanctuary don't offer accurate answers, because they are living in an unnatural environment which is causing them to behave in unnatural ways. Morgause's sprights suffer from prolonged stress, aggression, depression, and high rates of violence towards their own species, including high rates of infanticide. They don't court eachother like they normally would in the wild, so the Athenaeum sees no point in studying them.

One day I'd like to write some stories that take place in Gaia's ancient times, and then I'll explore deeper into these aspects of extinct species. For now, I'll leave these things up to fan conjecture. ;)

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

If the sprights were more populous and not the slaves of Morgause, what exactly would they excel at, compared to the rest of Gaia’s peoples? What type of jobs and Magic’s would they do well in?

That's a good question, and I think there would be multiple answers depending on where the sprights are. Because of their small size, they're part of the group known as "wee folk" which is comprised of gnomes, pixies, abatwa, and of course sprights. Wee folk kind of have their own little culture and ecosystem separate from the larger species.

If gnomes are the "humans of wee folk", then sprights were like the elves. Physically weaker than gnomes, but better at learning a wider variety of spells. Plus, female sprights can fly which is a major boon. Before Titania's conquests, sprights had largely dominated among the wee folk, especially in the southern mountains before the volcano erupted.

Basically they were the biggest fish in their little pond...then they suddenly got thrown in to an ocean of sharks.

If such tragedy hadn't befallen them, I think sprights would have filled niches that other wee folk currently do. They would make good spies, dentists, surgeons, tailors, and messengers especially. They would basically be smarter, stronger, and overall superior versions of pixies. Pixies, after all, were Titania's (somewhat failed) attempt to replace sprights. Unfortunately pixies have naturally low IQs and bad temperaments. Sprights do not have these issues, they're quite intelligent and reasonable.

So I think if sprights made a comeback, they would quickly lead to some kind of mass pixie-displacement in society. I could see pixies eventually becoming some kind of lower, subservient class to the sprights, the way that kobolds are to the drau, the drau are to the adhene, and the adhene are to elves. They'd just slide right into the societal hierarchy.

[loominggaia]

What if the sprights were given anxiety medication? If such a thing exists in this world anyway.

There are actually a variety of anti-anxiety solutions on Looming Gaia! These range from magic spells, potions, natural herbs, and synthetic pills.

Now, none of these solutions are perfect. Each one has its own pros and cons. I imagine Morgause's finest mages have tried many things to help the sprights' anxiety, but supposedly none of them are working or the side effects end up being too much to bear.

For example, dreamleaf is a popular drug for managing anxiety. But long-term use can cause permanent memory loss, psychosis, and other problems. The sprights can't really function in the wild if they're doped up on drugs all the time, so Morgause is trying to find more creative solutions to stop their pseudo-male phenomenon from triggering.

Morgause doesn't realize that she could solve the whole issue by just releasing them to Spriggan's Sanctum, but she doesn't want to do that because she would essentially be handing troops over to her enemy, Green Witch.

[loominggaia]

what are the options for transitioning in looming gaia? theres the magic transmutation angle, which i assume is accessible enough if you live in an area where magic is legal. but what about stuff that exists in our own world, like HRT? is it the type of thing like, oh these magic civilizations can do so much magic shit but they still dont know about how bodies work, or is it a thing and we just havent seen them in the stories?

i got to thinking abt this because. and im probably over simplifying this. but theres got to be a way to.... stop, sprights from changing sex. like something akin to puberty blockers or something would probably do the trick. but then again spright biology is probably SUPER different from human biology, so it wouldnt be that easy of a fix considering theyre going extinct

Good question! I talked a little about options for sex reassignment in this ask from a while back.

There most likely IS a way to stop the pseudo-male phenomenon that female sprights experience, but unfortunately because they're so rare and closely-guarded, World Athenaeum researches haven't been able to study them enough to find a surefire method. Morgause's own mages have been working on it for centuries, but so far haven't found success.

Since the phenomenon is triggered by stress hormones, I think the focus has mostly been on finding ways to keep them calm and preventing the issue before it even begins. I imagine various drugs and spells have been tried, but each would have their own side effects that, for whatever reason, make them not viable long-term.

[loominggaia]

I feel extremely bad for those sprights. Is there anyway that the Unseelie could possibly help their population come back?

Ironically, the sprights would probably do really well if Morgause released them into Spriggan's Sanctum. They'd be under Green Witch's protection then, and the Courts couldn't bother them. They'd be living a lifestyle very similar to their traditional ones.

But Morgause won't do that, because it'd be like handing troops over to her enemy. She hates Green Witch and she'd rather chop off her own hands than give anyone anything that could be used against her.

[loominggaia]

So just as gnolls died out due to an over abundance of furry cringe the Sprights died out due to getting involved in culture wars and in a massive show of LGBT support the females all went through mass gender reassignment surgery to better fight the culture war

Anon you are destroying me. How dare u come into MY HOUSE and be absolutely 100% correct

(the sprights were actually inspired by some animals which pretty much do the same thing and switch sexes under certain conditions. I just took that idea and cranked it to 11 as an excuse to extinct-ify them)

[loominggaia]

I remember that Morgause has a few Spright’s in her palace. Why exactly does she have those sprights?

Pure vanity and show of power. But she tells everyone she's "preserving" them, basically keeping them there for their own good. Which is kind of true, unfortunately. They'd probably die out if they were released back into the world.