Cloudreader Sphinx

The popular view of sphinxes for most people puts them in a poor light, casting them as hulking monsters laying inscrutable plans to frustrate and torment mortal creatures at every step. Such legends and stories are popular, but rarely reflect the truth of the matter. While sphinxes are difficult to understand, these creatures hold themselves to different standards than the rest of the world, and what may seem a frustration to others might be a necessity for a creature which thinks on time spans similar to dragons. Few sphinxes attempt to do what others view as good, but there are many which work toward the benefit of the world in ways only they can begin to understand.   Herald of Fate Of all the sphinxes, the one which comes closest to being on the side of good is the cloudreader sphinx. These large creatures are just as enigmatic and mysterious as others of their kind, but are more willing to be patient with shorter-lived creatures, and more willing to work alongside them to ensure the best course of fate comes to fruition. Ensuring that fate properly passes is the major goal of these creatures, who spend hours or even days gliding along wind currents, studying the formations and patterns of the clouds. From these periods of meditation a cloudreader sphinx can draw incredible conclusions, foretelling even the most unlikely or hidden of events. Unlike other sphinxes, who might offer no hint of what their magic foretells, a cloudreader sphinx is likely to warn a village or city of impending disaster, so long as it believes the warning will not interfere with what it believes is the best course of action for all the rest of the world.   Aidful Ally to Harmful Presence More than providing warning to the common people, a cloudreader sphinx might in rare moments choose to lend aid directly to those involved in upcoming events which it believes important to the fate of the world. Adventurers are most often the recipients of this aid, and if a cloudreader sphinx believes the success of a particular group is important to keeping the world in balance, they may choose to travel with them for a time, lending assistance where they can. But just as a cloudreader sphinx might attempt to travel with a group as an ally, they may choose to do so as a hidden enemy, secretly sabotaging the plans of a party, costing them a rare treasure or a large reward. A cloudreader sphinx does not do such things maliciously- if they choose to disrupt an adventurer’s plans, it is only because they believe that should those plans have succeeded, the fate of the world may have taken a turn for the worse, however slight.   Immortal Devotees While a cloudreader sphinx’s ability to study the clouds for clues to the future comes to them naturally, the rest of their magic does not. Others of their kind study ancient texts and forgotten rituals for power, but a cloudreader sphinx is too focused on maintaining fateful balance for these studies. Instead, these sphinxes derive their power from worship of the gods, particularly those gods most involved in aspects of the world such as time, luck, fortune, or balance. Most other sphinxes choose not to worship the gods, believing that doing so would be to admit themselves inferior to another being, but the cloudreaders have no such qualms. Instead, they view the gods as the ultimate source of balance in the fate of the world, akin to powerful forces which must act only in the gravest of circumstances, lest they risk upsetting the balance they seek to keep. For this reason, a cloudreader sphinx devotes themselves to the gods, drawing on the divine power of the deities to act as a nigh-immortal extension of their will, acting in the gods’ stead when they can not risk it.