Firesprite

Firesprite
Location	Korcari Wilds
Affiliation	Firesprite
Appearances	Dragon Age (tabletop RPG)

Firesprites are a diminutive race of faerie-like creatures that only dwell in the Korcari Wilds. Only a single colony of them remains by the time of the Fifth Blight.

Description

The firesprites are an ancient, dying race of minute proportions - about four inches tall. They are humanoids with yellow skin and insect wings, and close inspection reveals that they have compound eyes, like a housefly. They also have two antennae. Firesprites don't wear clothes and their bodies emanate a musty yellow glow. In spite of their humanoid legs, firesprites don't seem to walk, instead flying everywhere. They prefer hovering to standing. They also don't seem to speak; instead they constantly sing. Their songs affect the moods of those around them; it isn’t clear whether this is intentional.

Most Chasind know stories of the “little people of the swamps,” which occasionally appear to humans as tiny, glowing creatures. Some Chasind have heard of “swamp lanterns,” made by imprisoning a firesprite in a portable cage or lantern. Unfortunately, no one knows what the firesprites need to have in order to survive, so many firesprites have died inside their lantern prisons.

Firesprites have no interest in the affairs of other races, and keep to their own company, having no interest in regular food or in shiny objects. The only way to attract Firesprites in the Wilds is by brewing a strange noxious soup with such a great stench that it can make regular men vomit from the smell alone. The Firesprites have no interest in actually eating the soup, but they are attracted by the smell of it, because it smells like Shadowmoss.

Shadowmoss

Firesprites' sole source of sustenance is a mossy substance that glows a sickly green, referred to by Chasind as "Shadowmoss". It only glows in places where the sun cannot reach, such as in caves or grottos, and even then it is only found near the actual communities of Firesprites. The Shadowmoss' stench is even more potent than the soup that can be brewed to attact the Firesprites. The true nature of Shadowmoss is that it is excrement; specifically, it's the condensed excrement of a guardian serpent, creatures that act as protectors of Firesprite communities.

Guardian serpents

The guardian serpents are 40-foot-long greenish silver snake-like serpents with a prehensile body and tiny legs. It has two wicked horns on its head that it uses to gore victims before swallowing them whole. The guardian serpent itself is a magical creation of the firesprites. When it dies, one of the firesprite's young becomes the next guardian serpent. Over the millennia, the guardian serpents have been destroyed and the firesprites that each supported along with them. Now, only a single colony remains. The shadowmoss left over when a guardian serpent dies is the only thing that sustains the firesprites long enough for a new guardian serpent to mature. If this shadowmoss is taken away, then the firesprites will be doomed to starvation and extinction.