Character
Name: Kera Sands
Age: 29
Occupation: Student at Greater Dunes University
Subject: Mystics and History

Kera was born in the capital of the South Desert kingdom, still known as the City of Sands in common tongue. But recently there's almost no sands, most of the city is covered in green spaces and Solar panels almost on every roof. The young sphinxling had to compete in a now bustling metropolis. Though at the age where she could read, she found copious amounts of documents about the olden times. Which fascinated her. Her grand-mother, was a child during these so called times of 'antiquity'.

While 400 years is indeed a lifetime, it is not something her parents(hybrid or no) would consider ancient. Speaking to her grandmother revealed even more. How many books were not written by sphinx kind but rather others. And this brought a weight on the young sphinx like never before. To her friends in school, her father even. 400 years isn't a generation. It is a literal epoch...

Coming to terms with the massive divide between her biological clock and most others, the sphinx steeled her resolve to do one thing few seemed to bother with. She wanted to learn about her people's "Ancient" times, sphinx culture and history. She wanted to establish a proper document of what was truly ancient while also seeing how these two diverging outlooks on time co-existed.

By graduation, she was an adept mystic, one doesn't learn about sphinxes without understanding their innate connection to the flow. The very thing that gives them their longer lifespans. Applying for a position at the Greater Dunes University, was not as easy as she had hoped. Positions were few, and the Dean was strict. Though the interview actually went rather well. Dean Rania could see the spark of wonder and exploration in Kera's eyes. The wonder of the unknown, the desire to understand one's history and tradition while eagerly welcoming the new. The elder sphinx couldn't help but smile as she awarded a conditional scholarship to Kera.

The conditions were steep, Kera was locked in contract to achieve her pHD at the university as well as submit a minimum of six findings to the historical library at the capital. Or face paying the university back the entire tuition. The financial burden wasn't the fear here. Would there even be enough new facts to note down?

She still signed of course, but the first few years in the study halls were a trial. Sphinx cultures especially in the west only had Oral tradition, and did not like the idea of others jotting down what they shared. So they shared little. Her task, became more and more obvious. She had to not only learn the past of her kind, she had to integrate and convince the elders across the continent to allow her to finally document their collective history... The Dean had a wicked sense of humor...

Art
Done by the amazing  Arhellis Original Here Please go give them a watch
Kera is mine  Artificer

I adopted Kera because she fit a narrative I couldn't stop obsessing over. The sphinx world I've been playing with, I always think of it in 3 time lines. The past, present and future. The "Current" timeline can be thought of an analog of Earth 1800s
Past? Can go as far back as 60k BCE
Future is our present or slightly ahead.

Cause what's the point of integrating long lived creatures with normal lifespan beings when one can not mess with how those two interactions changes over time!