History:

Originally coming from Egypt, the Sphinx is widely known about in modern day culture, thanks to the famous riddling monster popping up in just about anything to do with fantasy. However, since it’s crossing to Ancient Greece, the Sphinx has been constantly evolving; far past anything media has imagined.

To begin with there were three types of Sphinx: The Androsphinx (The most commonly seen in books and movies, with the body of a lion and the head of a man); the Hierachosphinx (The body of a lion and the head of a falcon); and the Criosphinx (the body of a lion and the head of a goat). Although the latter two fell into obscurity, the Androsphinx remained strong, eventually evolving into the Grecian Sphinxes seen in the story of Oedipus; the head of a woman, the body of a lioness, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a serpent’s head. Naturally, there weren’t only females of this race around at this time, or they would have died out alongside their Egyptian cousins.

As time passed and the Greek Empire fell, the Sphinxes had to evolve once more – to survive against the Roman Legions sweeping across their land. In time, they began losing their more animalistic traits; it wasn’t just their heads that were of man anymore.
By the time the Roman Empire fell, the Sphinxes had been humanoid for centuries. And so they have remained until this day.

Politics & Biology
Sphinxes were never the most organised types. They were quite happy to laze about, eat humans or test heroes with riddles. As it is to this day – they have no government, no rules, and no hierarchy. If a Sphinx happens to meet another, it is usually a pleasant greeting, as many have gone back home to Egypt at this point. Therefore, you could consider yourself either very lucky or unlucky if you stumble across one in a place that is not their homeland. It just depends on how hungry they are. As for enemies, Sphinxes have not made many – but they are not dear to Werewolves, or vice versa. Makes sense, as the animals attributed to each as of cats and dogs – and you know how well they get along.
The only thing that they have agreed upon as a species is that their existence should not be made known to the human world. However, there’s no way of knowing things will remain this way, considering most of the Other species are well aware they exist.

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Naturally, along with their true form, they have lost plenty of other attributes. Speed, strength and dexterity have all fallen – but when compared to regular old humans, it’s hardly something to scoff at. They are quite capable of ripping a body limb from limb, or even toss a car if they put a lot of effort into it. Speed and agility are beyond human standards, making them fantastic climbers and runners. Additionally, their senses are stronger than humans – although not quite on par with Werewolves. They also have a more animalistic form they can bring forth – teeth can elongate into horrific fangs, the jaw dislocating itself to open the mouth wider; eyes take on a glowing tint which can vary between different Sphinxes, but the majority remain either gold or red; and nails sharpen into black talons, sharp enough to claw through metal. Some can even sprout large, feathered wings, although the transformation process is not an easy one.

However, it is here that their strengths end. Through evolution they have developed a series of weaknesses to fairly obscure things, one of which being olives. It’s unknown how it came about, but as they lost their animalistic form, olives became toxic to them in all of its forms. Basically, they avoid olive oil like the damn plague – in certain amounts it will cause pain, in others it will incapacitate. It would, however, take an entire vat of the stuff to actually kill a Sphinx.

Other weaknesses are not as odd as their olive “allergy” – mainly their healing factor. Despite their physical strength, their skin is almost as soft as human’s, meaning you could quite easily kill one if you caught them unawares. They do heal faster than humans, but it is often still quite slow when compared to other supernatural creatures. The worst is when their wings unfold, should they have been born with them. They sit beneath the skin of their back, so it takes some considerably painful ripping there to let the wings come loose.

Another notable thing about Sphinxes is that their blood is both toxic to most Other races (Barring Werewolves; another reason they don’t get along), and it has several magic qualities. Certainly enough to interest the Witch community. As for the toxicity, it’s not virulent enough to kill a Vampire, for example, but certainly incapacitate one.

Additional notes: Are immortal, and eat humans. :D