Sphinx
Sphinxes have the body of a large cat of any species, wings sprouting from behind their shoulders, and the face of a nurlak. Those who encounter sphinx have said the wings of a female sphinx are feathered, while the wings of a male sphinx are draconic.
They are an extremely rare Mystic to come across without actively seeking them out while travelling ancient caves and old temples and shrines. They guard ancient treasures and cities and deny people entry unless their riddles are answered.
They are most common in Kutu, though they tend to be aggressive to the point of punishing wrong answers with death; a dramatic difference to the regular offerings sphinxes ask for. The sphinxes from the Rendi are known to be some of the kindest sphinxes, though their riddles are the hardest. They tend to simply turn wrong answers away instead of punishing them like most sphinxes.
They seem fond of avio people, and instead of forcing them to answer questions sphinxes will have avio tell them new riddles that they haven’t heard before. As avio riddles are overly complicated this makes gives sphinxes riddles that can be near-impossible for other races to answer.
Kel’di Sphynx
There is a unique race of sphinx found in the dassen kingdom Kel’di. Often, they are referred to as sphynx, with a Y instead of an I. They are rather different appearance-wise from regular sphinx. They resemble dassens more than they do nurlak, and their wings are only ever draconic regardless of their sex.
They live on the magical floating islands of the kingdom; though their homes on the islands are rarely uncovered. Instead, they are mostly seen during their visits to the ground-dwellers.
They will approach scholars, and instead of asking riddles they will converse and ask questions about science and magics that the scholar is well-versed in.
If they are satisfied with the scholar’s answers to their questions they will allow the scholar to ask their own questions. However, they take great offence if asked anything about the floating islands, and will cut the conversation short if they are mentioned.