Download The Mind of a Sprite

Sprite Physiology
It is rare for non-fey to get a good look at a sprite. The elves and centaurs that are occasionally so
honoured tend not to write books or draw pictures for the rest of the masses. Misinformation is rife
throughout the realms and there is more false data created by well-intentioned scholars than there is any
reliable information.
All sprites roughly resemble elves, if in a slightly exaggerated way. Their pointed ears are a little long and
their build is a little slim, causing them to seem almost to be caricatures.
A typical grig is about eighteen inches in height. From the waist up he is humanoid in appearance, with
light blue skin. Forest-green hair without facial hair is standard. A grig’s upper body is slim in build, with
occasionally well-defined muscles for their size. The grig’s face is, as commented earlier, much like that of
an elf. Both have the almond-shaped eyes, as well as the pointed ears, though grigs physiology tends to
overemphasize these features, making them seem distorted compared to the elves. From the area of the
grig’s forehead close to his hairline come two thin, brown, and segmented antennae, typically eight to
twelve inches in length that curl back over his head, reaching back and slightly downward from there.
Below the waist is a different matter. The grig’s lower body appears to be most similar to that of a cricket,
the humanoid torso rising out of where the head would normally be. This portion of a grig’s body appears
to be covered with a hard brown exoskeleton, with the six legs possessing a light down of brown hair.
While his front and middle legs appear to be the typical three-jointed limbs found on an insect, their hind
legs are specially designed for jumping. Also, extending from the back of the abdomen portion of the
cricket body are two slender sensory appendages called cerci. Each cercus appears to be sensitive to air
currents and aids the grig in his perception of his environment. Along the back of the cricket body are two
sets of wings. Grig forewings are stiff and leathery and grigs are able to rub these wings together in order
to make a chirping sound. This chirping is often used to make quick and simple coded signals to fellow
grigs. The grig’s hind wings, however, are long and membranous and are used in flying. Females typically
have shorter wings than males but this does not seem to noticeably affect their flying ability.
A grig tends to only wear clothing on their humanoid half, usually only brightly coloured vests or tunics.
The cricket portion is usually left unclad, though a vain grig will occasionally decorate the exoskeleton
with either paint or pasted-on jewels.
The nixie, in contrast, represents a far simpler and less alien appearance, despite his aquatic nature. A nixie
usually stands approximately four feet tall, with an overall slim and attractive appearance. He typically has
light-green skin with a fine coating of scales, which are only visible upon close inspection. A nixie
possesses both webbed fingers and toes, with only his thumbs not connected. He has pointed ears, like
other sprites, as well as wide eyes with nictating membranes in addition to their eyelids. These membranes
allow him to see as well both below the water as he would above. He normally has dark green hair, with no
notable facial or body hair on the males. Though aquatic in nature, a nixie does not possess gills. Instead
he appears to draw air directly through his skin while he is submerged. While out of the water he uses lungs
like most humanoids but can also continue breathing through his skin provided it is kept moist.
Because of his need for freedom of movement within lakes and rivers, the nixie tends to wear very little in
the way of clothing, all of which is crafted from brightly coloured seaweed and lake grasses. Females tend
to wear simple wraps, while males wear only loincloths.
A pixie looks the most like an elf of all the sprites, when he can bee seen at all. A normal, healthy adult
pixie stands roughly two-and-a-half feet tall, with pointed ears that are proportionally longer than either
elves or their fellow sprites. A pixie has pale skin but his eyes and hair seem to come in all manner of
colours. From between his shoulder blades grow a pair of gossamer, membranous wings. Despite their
delicate appearance, however, these wings are quite strong and can bear a pixie along with both great speed
and agility.
Pixies tend to be the most varied in their clothing, wearing finely cut clothes of all manner of colours and
styles. Perhaps the only strong similarity comes from their shoes, which tend to have curled and pointed
toes.
Dietary Requirements
Sprites are generally vegetarian, grigs and pixies in particular, subsisting on fruits and flower nectar for the
most part. They do not till the land at all, obtaining all their food from simple gathering throughout the
woods, storing nuts and other longer-lived foods for winter months but otherwise only eating as needed.
Nixies, however, differ sharply from this. While they do on occasion venture through dry land to collect
fruit and tubers, their diet consists largely of freshwater plants, algae, and cold-blooded freshwater animals
such as fish, frogs, salamanders and snails.
While not necessarily a requirement, pixies and grigs also have a long and deep tradition of brewing fine
vintages of mead and wine from the nectar they harvest from plants. These are usually collected during the
spring, and consumed heavily during the winter. ‘Helps blunt the edge of the cold,’ sprites often claim.
The Mind of a Sprite
Sprites represent a strange paradox to many humanoids. On the one hand, they are a long-lived race that
are, on average, more intelligent, wise and charismatic than your average human. On the other hand, they
manage to maintain a whimsical and carefree attitude, seeming more interested in gamboling through the
woods, playing pranks on various humanoids and otherwise avoiding contact with other races, noble or
otherwise.
One thing to remember from the start is that sprites live long lives, only dying of disease or injury. As is
seen with other long-lived races, the time needed for reaching emotional maturity is proportional to the life
span of the race in question. When you are effectively immortal, it means that you have something
bordering on eternal youth. ‘You are only as young as you feel’ takes on new meaning when dealing with
sprites.
When you are perpetually young, the temporal concerns of other races become a little more trivial. The
price of corn, the political stance of a particular baron, or the rise of individual religions is paltry. It is but a
petty drama that you have seen played out before and will see played out again.
However this is not the long-viewed scheming of dragons. Though they have centuries to plot and scheme,
they generally do not. Or if they do, they do not bother doing so against such transitory and short-lived
beings as humans. If a human offends a sprite, what good is it for him to plot and scheme his ultimate,
well-timed revenge? He can instead have a laugh at the human’s expense right then and there with a merry
jape, and retell the story again and again for centuries to come.
This also explains their reclusive nature. The squabbling of shorter-lived races is distracting and annoying.
Why force yourself to live next to a hornets’ nest? This reclusive nature seems to deepen with age and the
older a sprite becomes, the less interested they are in dealing with the more abrupt races.
This is not to say they cannot be serious. They take a dim view of servants of evil, or those who would
dare intrude upon their lands. Their ire is a mighty thing when roused. Just as they can be whimsical, their
anger can rise up quickly if they feel that the need has arisen. They strike swift and sure and then just as
quickly return to their normal carefree ease.
[[[ Box Text ]]]
I scowled at Walnut, my grig companion who had been travelling with me for the past few days. He was
perched on a tree branch and was sucking on the tip of one of his antennae.
‘Damn it,’ I said when I could take it no longer, ‘How can you be so serious one minute, and then be just a
fool the next. Why can’t you just choose one and stick with it for a while?!’
He smirked and let go of the antenna with his lips, allowing it to spring back to its usual place, swaying a
bit before it settled down. ‘Because life isn’t like that.’
[[[ End Box ]]]
Sprite Lifecycle
None of the sub-species of sprite are particularly fertile. A child every fifty years is as fecund as the race
gets and each birth is cause for great celebration. Nixies and pixies both give birth to live young, whereas
grigs produce round, pearl-like eggs the size of a walnut. In either case, the young gestate for roughly a
five months before birth.
All sprites, even the egg-laying grigs, suckle their young. It is typically ten years before the children are
weaned from their mother’s milk and put onto solid foods. For at least a century mothers keep their
children close at hand. The ability to fly among pixies and grigs develops quickly, often before they are
even weaned, and nixies are capable swimmers starting from birth, but sprite parents tend to feel that their
children do not have the requisite experience for dealing with the threats of their world. This represents a
primary reason that sprites tend to move into larger communities when they are with child: other eyes to
watch out for their children.
As the children grow older and are allowed to venture further abroad the only expectation their parents
place upon them, aside from being careful, is to have fun. Some children spend much of their lives doing
just that: being silly and frolicking about. Others, however, follow their natural curiosity and seek to learn
more of the world about them. These more curious children quickly seek out others to learn the skills that
most interest them whether this means understanding the Old Ways or learning how to carve sculptures out
of wood.
At age 300 sprites begin to develop sexual characteristics and by age 500 they are considered full adults.
During this time sprite adolescents go through the expected sexual experimentation. Sprites as a whole tend
not to have the same concerns and mores regarding sexual activity that other races possess. Since
pregnancy is already a rare thing even the remote chance of an accidental conception is a welcome
prospect. Sprites are delighted to have their children learn more about their changing bodies and are
willing to offer any advice they can on the subject.
After reaching 500 they stop aging almost entirely. While they will seem older as the years pass, this seems
more a matter of the persona they project and less a matter of physical development.