SPHINX, The Aerial Warlord Pokégir

SPHINX, The Aerial Warlord Pokégirl
Type: Very Near Human Animorph (Metamorph) (Feline/avian)
Element: Flying/Magic
Frequency: Very Rare
Diet: Human styled foods, leaning towards carnivore
Role: Tactitians, Philosophers and questioners
Libido: Above Average
Strong Vs: Bug, Fighting, Plant
Weak Vs: Electric
Attacks: Feather Shuriken, Gust, Sabre Claw, Whirlwind, Wing Buffet, Slice n' Dice, Fury Swipes, Reflect, Barrier, Teleport, Mana Bolt, Mystic Bolt, Glorious Sun, Dive, Tempest, Vortex, Dive
Enhancements: Enhanced Strength (x5 human, x15 battle), Enhanced hearing (x10), Night vision, Enhanced Stamina (x6), High Intelligence
Evolves: None
Evolves From: Griffon (Mana Crystal)

The Sphinx is one of the rarest, most powerful, most sought after Pokégirls of all time. In the Revenge War, they were high commanders of many Pokégirl forces, leading them to stunning victories over human forces. Based on a mythological creature that originated in the Pre-Sukebe Empire of Egypt, the Sphinx breed proved to be one of Sukebe's finest creations.

Like their pre-evolved forms, the Griffon, Sphinxes have two forms which they can assume. One is a normal, human form and the other is an animal-like, quadrupedal battle form. Each one has different abilities, making the Sphinx a versatile, powerful warrior.

The humanoid form of a Sphinx is the one they were most seen in during the Revenge War. Standing statuesque at an average of 6'5", their appearance is that of a very beautiful human female with pale skin, rich colored eyes and delicate but dense musculature. Sphinxes have been known to file their nails in human form to give the appearance of claws, and the nails do stand up to quite a bit of punishment, but otherwise they are normal. They possess black hair which is usually kept long and in a ponytail, an average of D-Cup breasts, and mounted on their back is a large set of immense, feathered wings with an impressive span of 14 feet. They can fold their wings around themselves like a cape. Sphinxes in human form can occasionally exhibit a lion's tail, but more often than not this is a result of lack of control over their changes. Often Sphinxes have been seen with strange birthmarks on their foreheads resembling ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Translations have revealed nothing, gibberish mostly, but the Sphinxes that show these markings have been known to become violent at attempts to translate them, for fear of the translator “Stealing their name.” In this form, Sphinxes are intelligent, cunning warriors who are excellent planners and strategists. Higher level Sphinxes can also learn magical spells, adding to their destructive potential. Feral Sphinxes have been known to have a slightly more animalistic feal to them, some have fur covering their entire bodies, some have a slight muzzle, others are more like a Lioness than a human and have feline features all over their bodies with fewer human features than feline. A few Sphinx have shown to have cat-like ears, which seemingly does nothing to increase their audio-sensitivity, but it does give them an interestingly wide range to hear sounds as it allows them to change the direction of their hearing focus.

They love to learn, and study everything they can, a personality trait that aided them well during the war. They were well-respected by those they commanded, and in turn respected those underneath their command. They have an unusual personality and speech pattern, in that almost everything they say comes out as a riddle or a question. This, in turn, caused people to have to answer these riddles or questions, encouraging warriors to think, or intellectuals to utilize instinct, all around making those under their command better at what they do by getting them to bring out their own strength. Their ability to form battle plans allowed them to cause quite a bit of damage to humanity during the war and to this day it makes them a valuable asset for just about any tamer looking to not die.

The 'battle form' of a Sphinx is when they are at their deadliest, though it is split between two "types." the first type is more tauric in nature. Their lower body becomes that of a Lioness, taking on the Tauric appearance of Pokegirls such as the Ponytaur and Rapitaur, but with a strong feline body instead of equine. The lower body is strong and low to the ground, giving a lower center of gravity and allowing for greater amounts of balance than most tauric pokegirls are capable of. Her wings stay on her shoulder blades, however they become much larger and stronger, owing the the extra mass and heavier weight they are required to lift form the ground. In this form, they stand at a height of 5'1" and have a length of 9'7" from head to tail. Their muscles become much denser and a little thicker, allowing for greater feats of strength than in her human form could possibly accomplish. Their nails lengthen to become actual claws in this form, allowing them to swipe not only with their forepaws, but with their hands. This does, however, make holding weaponry much more difficult. The second "Type" become a quadruped in the full sense of the word in that she become almost totally catlike in appearance, with the body of a lioness and a still vaguely human face, with an "Eye of Ra" tattoo on the flanks of each of her hind-legs. Her wings stay on her shoulder blades, morphing slightly to compensate for the new body structure. In this form, they stand at a height of 5'1" and have a length of 9'7" from head to tail. Their jaws and claws become thicker and sharper and stronger, becoming capable of tearing through metal. Theses Sphinxes become more savage and animalistic in this form, still capable of speech, but more inclined to roar and rend their foes. They cannot use spell work in this form. This division amongst the SPhinxes is a subject of study amongst several Researchers, owing to the disparity between the "battle forms." it is assumed that one type was meant to be more of a "front-lines" general while the other was meant more for "armchair strategy."

Sphinxes, as said before, were meant to be the warlords and generals of Sukebe's army. Rare even then, they would lead strategic strike forces into human encampments, tearing into their forces with spell work to protect their legions and assuming battle form, flying in and taking out large pieces of military equipment with their teeth and claws.

The Sphinx, however, almost met their end during the War of Revenge. In the year 2002 AD, the Chinese government released what became known as the Monster Flu. The majority of Pokégirls just gained a nasty flu for two days, however the Sphinx proved to have a genetic weakness against the disease. The vast majority of them died horrible, agonizing deaths, nearly obliterating the species, dropping their numbers down to the teens. After a few decades of neglect due to healing wounds in humanity's sense of mercy for a beaten foe, the Sphinx began to make a comeback. As the breed evolves from Griffons who come into contact with a Mana Crystal, formerly believed to be some kind of “blessing” the nature of which was never discovered, several liberal leagues began to form a breeding program for the endangered breed. This was derided as tantamount to treason against the human race by some of the more anti-pokegirl factions, but in the end it proved useful as the breed has been incredibly useful to any Tamer lucky enough to get one. They are far rarer in active Tamer Harems than their rarity would denote owing to the high price they can call due to their capabilities.

It is known that there is a small contest among some breeders to see who's Sphinx can beat the others at a Riddle contest. The Sphinx enjoy this because it gives them an excellent chance to test their minds against someone who speaks much like themselves, and the Breeders tend to take it as a sign of excellence if their Sphinx can win the contest, and they tend to get more customers until the next contest.

In a Harem, Sphinxes strangely make excellent Alphas, their aptitude for command lets them find the best way to deploy resources in the most efficient way possible. Sphinxes tend to enjoy being in command, and will fight for such if they believe that they would be better for the position than any others, but they are just as often happy simply serving as an adviser to their Tamer or their Alpha.

In terms of Taming, a Sphinx will almost always prefer to be on top due to her wings, and like most Flying types, they do like the idea of an aerial taming session. The Sphinx, outside of a combat situation, tend to be very laid back and almost lazy and don't tend to fight very hard against their Tamer or their Alpha's wishes.

Thresholding into a Sphinx is so rare as to be considered impossible. There have onl;y been three cases, all in the same family and there was quite a large amount of Sphinx ancestry in the family by that time.