MARCH REWARDS 4 (Patreon)

It's another creepy monster girl~

This time we have a sphinx, or more specifically, a gynosphinx. I have quite a bit of lore on these chunky and creepy cat girls...

Gynosphinx are a cruel and strange creature that appears as a winged lion with humanoid hands or talons, large eagle like wings and human breasts. The Lion can distend it's jaw and peel back it's flesh to "Regurgitate" it's true face which it keeps protected within it's throat. Many creatures don't get to see this second face as they are usually consumed by the first before they get a chance to witness the second. Despite it being a female sphinx, the form is always that of a male lion for some reason.

A Gynosphinx keeps it's other face hidden and uses it's exterior mouth and face as a cover and to attack it's foes or to consume the prey it captures. The nose and eyes of the exterior face are more keen than the interior, and as such the Sphinx uses these eyes to see in the dark and track scents. It's other face is revealed when facing creatures whom wish to indulge in it's endless quest for knowledge, or against those whom are easily swayed by feminine wiles. With her internal face, her eyes can detect liars, and cheaters from a close distance, as well as draw out inner knowledge from the creature, and she can also smell a creature's pheromones, and all the same she exudes pheromones from this face which attract humanoid creatures.

Creatures that have been enraptured by a sphinx are often captured by them and eaten. Creaturs so charmed have their knowledge extracted as the sphinx consumes their thoughts by staring into their eyes and breathing in their soul through the subject's mouth, which they store within an arcane puzzle box. Though the soul being taken grants her additional spiritual or arcane energy, she needs only to maintain eye contact with a creature to begin learning about it and drawing out the surface thoughts from it's mind, allowing her to delve deeper. The sphinx can only hold a minor number of memories and ideas from a creature, however if a sphinx consumes the creature after she has drawn out it's soul, she will gain it's knowledge and memories. Because of this many who battle a sphinx will refuse to look her in the eye, afraid she may begin stealing their knowledge while they speak.

These creatures indulge in mentally enriching activities such as puzzles and riddles, and enjoy seeking out secret lore or hidden knowledge. Because of this they often maintain hoards of lost knowledge or puzzles which they violently protect, and can be found sometimes making lost libraries or wizard towers their homes. Though they are highly territorial, they often will release small bits of puzzles or knowledge to spread legends so as to bring creatures to them so as to constantly bring them a meal and new knowledge, and many will glut themselves on traveling adventurers and grow lazy and round with the passing ages as they grow bloated from knowledge, secrets, and the flesh of man, which leads them to craft their puzzle boxes. Puzzle boxes are arcane repositories where sphinxes can vomit their knowledge back into a storage unit to be utilized in the future. They possess the same arcane technology as the puzzle cubes used to store away devils or control minotaurs, and contain the soul and spiritual power and knowledge of creatures the Sphinx has consumed, and some sphinxes are said to be able to revive themselves through this knowledge if they've achieved a certain level of power.

Though cruel and indifferent towards living things, occasionally they will allow creatures to participate in a battle of wits with them, and make a deal for knowledge or freedom if they would best one of their puzzles or if they are bested by a riddle themselves, and some have even allied themselves with adventurers with the promise of adventure themselves.

They reproduce through humans or humanoid creatures on occasion, Creating beast folk in those regards, but often mate with other creatures to create beasts such as Manticore, Criosphinx, Hieracosphinx, and some forms of Chimera, and can sometimes be found as matriarchs of settlements of creatures in which she is treated as a birthing queen mother. But they more often are found in large harems of sphinx (5-8) whom serve as mistresses to an Androsphinx.

There are some whom have delved too deep into their power and unlocked the true potential of their puzzle cubes and have wittnessed the shining trapezohedron and were driven mad by it's light, being drawn to it's power....