Nymph

Nymphs are small aerial beings, averaging a 4 inch diameter, with vines, moss, and tiny flowers growing all about their outsides. Inside, a bog-like stew surrounds and feeds a balloon of light, flammable gas. Insects swarm about and through them at all times. If one could observe closely, they would see a myriad of little eyes and antenna tucked in there, but the nymph is seldom still long enough to allow this, bobbing and zipping about with the aid of multiple tiny rotors, fins, and puffs of marsh gas.

Insects which visit the nymph's garden may become subject to its influence. These serve for repair, reconnaissance, and defense though some are "eaten", taken into the body and given over to the bog inside.

Nymphs are driven to observe. They float through wild and desolate areas, watching centuries of seasons unfold, rivers change course, forests rise and fall.

When a sufficient number get together they form a greater-than-the-sum-of-their-parts emergent intelligence known as a dryad. It knows everything its component nymphs know, and can dispatch them to gather more information.

Nymphs and dryads are often very protective of a region they've inhabited for a long time. Some are more free-wheeling and adventurous, skimming through the skies at will, but these have become exceedingly rare with time, and the cautious and reclusive ones tend to live on. They're also quite flammable and have a manic fear of fire and lightning storms.

They both prefer to communicate ethereally, but dryads can usually manipulate air currents sufficiently to produce a breathy voice if needed.

There are tales of aquatic nymphs as well.