Sylphs

**Sylphs** are a rare and reclusive sentient species of Fey with few major or minor colonies worldwide. They originated in Kaniros and were the species to first create an Empire, the Empire known as The First Empire and sometimes as the Empire of Kaniros.

## Etymology

The word is believed to be that "sylph" is from a hyper-urbane respelling of an ancient neologism *silves*, this connection to the root *silva* ("forest") is supported by the use of *sylphs* as a synonym for *schrötlein*, a word for a tree spirit or especially an earth spirit.

## Morphology

Sylphs were shorter than humans, standing from 4'7" – 5'4" (1.45 – 1.65 meters) on average, and were lighter, weighing from 130 – 180 lbs. (59 – 82 kg). Even exceptionally strong Sylphs looked rather slim compared with other races, looking athletic rather than muscular. All Sylphs were fair-skinned rather than dark. Most Sylphs had dark hair, with silvery hues common. This hair was often worn long and loose. Some rare specimens, like those of the Kanir family, exhibit a rare extremely bright pink colour.

Sylphs eyes were most commonly green or blue, other eye colours were also not unheard of, though rarer. The Royal Kanir family exhibit an extremely rare red eye colour.

For Sylphs, sex and marriage are one and the same, and it is that bodily union that achieves marriage. Sylphs generally lose interest in sex after they've had children. Sylphs come of age at around a hundred and ten years old and generally marry after another century. Because of the eternal nature of Sylph souls, they do not divorce or have multiple marriages. Sylphs have no taboo against incest, as marriage among siblings is seen as acceptable. In Sylphs, this does not result in degradation from strong bloodlines.

Sylphs are (generally) unusually beautiful in face and body. There is little physical difference between males and females except that which is required for reproduction. Sylphs do not require sleep but are able to enter a waking meditative state to regain their strength which means they can be exhausted and tire. Although the Sylphs are more resistant to adverse environments and lack of food than Men, they can succumb to them thus Sylphs do require sustenance.

### Ageing

Unlike Men, Sylphs, are immortal and grew at a decelerating rate throughout their lives, very young Sylphs matured at a rate comparable with humans but during adolescence slowed to a near stop until about 110 years of age, at which point Sylphs were considered mature. Following this century of growth, their bodies stopped ageing so that they do not seem to become elderly or die of old age. They can be killed by physical injury, however.

Sylphs would continue to age chronologically until the age of two hundred and fifty years, their ageing process would then restart and ten years later a Sylph would reach what is seen as Adulthood. During the ten following years, Sylph men would grow a few centimetres and their penises would gain another inch. In the case of women, their breasts would become even more pronounced and afterwards their ageing process would have ended forever.

Legends, however, speak of the third stage of a Sylph's age, according to these legends, upon reaching ten thousand years of age, a Sylph would develop their first wrinkles and become the most venerable of their species.

## Society and Culture

The Sylphs have developed a very advanced and civilized culture. Art, music and literature show unsurpassed creativity. In terms of temperament, they are both soft-spoken and gentle. They are extremely tempered to the point that they are slow to anger and have the remarkable ability to maintain their concentration without being distracted by emotional responses. Other notable personality traits include being inquisitive and creative as well as being quiet, they also looked upon monogamy as a quaint and impractical, practice. Once a Sylph decides on a course of action, they are not easily swayed from that decision. Positive emotions such as happiness, love and pleasure are very important to them, while negative ones such as anger, fear, or depression are shunned. Sylphs are known to dress in wildly colourful or revealing attire. It was common to see Sylphs wearing shockingly bright shades of various colours in wildly designed or skin-tight clothing with bizarre colour designs, patterns, and symbols. Sylphs also tend to wear seductive clothing. In terms of governance, the Sylphs elect a Monarch or an Emperor, this Emperor is then tasked with upholding a bloodline of his offspring to rule them for all eternity.

## History

The Sylphs are an ancient species, they evolved from the Arch-Sylphs, one of the two first humanoid species on the planet along with the Fael, where only Dragons can claim a longer lineage.

## Language

Sylphs are known to be Multilingual, They have a language of their own, which is said to sound like elven and faerie languages, but share no vocabulary. A language, very hard to learn by common races. Thus, In order to converse with the other species, they have acquired the knowledge of their languages especially the shared language, Basic.

## Technology

They had developed a reputation for being one of the most skilled designers. This partly stemmed from the fact that they saw everything as a work of art rather than being a simple tool or weapon. Their technology was notable for being unique, yet comparable to that of the other races. While their ships were significantly different from those of other races, they were, in fact, more efficient in design. However, such vessels tended to be extremely difficult to construct.

## Arch-Sylph

Before the species of Sylph came to be, there existed a race of Proto-Sylphs, referred to as the Arch-Sylph. This race existed for the 14 000 000 000 years that predated the first empire, and were prominent during the early and middle Aurora but faced a sudden decline in population in the later years, the species becoming sterile was partially to blame, otherwise the race slowly became the Sylphs, Arch-Sylphs were nevertheless seen sporadically for millennia, some surviving into the Rex Mors age.