What is a Familiar?
Familiars are spirits residing within the world of Eldris. Often, they are the dearly departed bound to the world by unfinished business or strong emotions. Uncommonly, they are shadows left of the magic that a strong mage once possessed before passing or a strong memory that refuses to die. Rarely, they are the embodiment of the energy currents surrounding the world.
Most familiars are weak without a partner and unable to stray far from the place it first manifested or take a more tangible form. Where they first manifest varies from strength of the familiar and manner of death. Particularly violent deaths will cause the familiar to manifest where he or she died. Many who pass peacefully manifest in their home or in a favored location. Familiars do not manifest right after death. They will take days to years to properly manifest in their haunt.
History of Familiars
The degree of emotion at the time of death and the manner of death affect the intelligence and awareness of these spirits. Magical beings are more likely to become spirits, their intelligence in life reflecting in the type of spirit they became. Many simply became spirits of the world, bound to a specific place.
It was in spiritual glades, gatherings of weak spirits, that elves preferred to settle; guided by their craftiness and habit of creating magical implements from the world around them. Finding these spirit rich glades was difficult and involved the use of a dowsing rod constructed of the silvery wood of a holy tree, the hair of a unicorn, and a clear quartz crystal.
Living within these glades sensitized the elves to the flows of the elemental currents. After several generations elves began to develop the ability to manifest magic. Over time they became the first humanoid masters of the magic of the four currents.
Familiars first came to existence sometime after humans became established on Eldris. It is thought that the first familiars were elven spirits who died a violent or unfulfilled death. These early familiars were aware of their passing and limitations. They would exert their abilities to draw in suitable candidates to pass their magic skills down to, either because they were trapped on the world due to the desire to pass down their abilities and knowledge, or as incentive for assisting in completing unfinished business.
In reality, the first familiars were the departed souls of dragons and other creatures with strong magical resonances. The strongest familiars found on Eldris are the souls of these ancient beasts, though many have forgotten their past lives.
These first familiars were able to create a bond with the men and women they selected. In humans, this bond allowed the mage to access magic through their familiar all the while adjusting their body to the currents. By the time the familiars broke their bond and were released from Eldris the humans had adapted as much as the elves had.
Over time, human spirits became familiars, however, the strength of their spirit was not consistent like Fae born creatures. Strength in magical ability and emotions were what determined their strength as spirits. The knowledge of proper bond breaking faded over time, preventing many familiars from passing on to the next life.
How do Familiar Bond with People?
A familiar bonds with a partner by one of two ways. A proper bond is established by the two mutually reaching into the aethyr around them. This may take days of uninterrupted communication between the two as they learn of each other and properly grow the bond. The exception to this is the passing of a familiar’s bond to another individual by the previous partner. This occurs when a familiar is content to serve the family of it’s previous partners. It is the only known way to strengthen a familiar.
An improper bond is formed by forcing the ties upon a familiar or partner through rituals or invasion and perversion of the energies around an individual. A forced bond by a familiar is rare and often only happens with poltergeists or
Shades. This method is favored by Demons.
A bond is beneficial to both parties in most circumstances. The familiar gains freedom from it’s manifestation point and over time regains sentience and strength. A partner’s senses into the aethyr are awakened and slowly trained up by the familiar’s presence. The strength of the familiar does not determine the strength of the caster, though many believe the opposite to be true. A Familiar merely allows the caster to tap into the potential not yet realized by the caster and instills the senses not yet developed by unnatural casting races. The exception to this lies in the Internal Familiar, where the close proximity to the host often lends its past memories and expertise in the magic forces, giving them an unnatural talent and manifestation of strength.
How does a Familiar Manifest?
Once a familiar has a bond it is able to manifest itself around the caster according to it’s strength grade. Through concentration and practice, a caster can extend the range at which a familiar can roam away as well as strengthen it’s ability to manifest or affect the world around it. An alternative to this is to bond the familiar to an object or non sentient being. Many will bond the familiar to an animal. The only reason a familiar would be bound to an object is to protect the caster from it’s constant negative influence (see: black blades).
Once a familiar has been bonded to a physical form they are unable to leave that form until it dies or is destroyed. The shock from the loss of the form leaves the familiar dazed and weakened for several days. Once it reconstitutes itself it is once again bound to the presence of its bonded partner.
What are the Types of Familiar
Weak
A weak familiar manifests as a general presence in an area with a drifting conscience. It is unaware of the situation it is in and simply ‘is’. They are often prone to the emotions that were strongest in life, but in general exist in the moment, it is what it is. It is able to follow things around and generally move unseen. Creatures with higher perceptions of the spiritual world will be able to sense almost the location of a familiar, but even this sense is a general idea of where it is rather than an exact location. It can reach out and communicate to others who are more in tuned with the spiritual world or vulnerable through extreme emotions (e.g. a lost child wandering alone at night through a dark forest would be vulnerable due to the level of fear they are feeling).
Middling
A middling strength familiar is able to take on a more tangible form. They are vaguely aware that they had another life, flashes of memories, and swings of emotion, but generally know the now most. They are prone to fits of temperament or sadness when a memory of its past life manifests. It appears as a distortion of the light (heat vapors from a hot surface distorting the air), a faint ball of light (will of the wisp), or a drifting vaporous mist. The ability to communicate at this strength varies, the lower end able to speak to one person directly while the higher end would be able to communicate incoherently with the immediate area, usually as sounds, a few words strung together, or imposed emotions.
Strong
A strong familiar often manifests as a poltergeist or haunting. These familiars are the most aware of their situation and often do not take kindly to it, making them angry and dangerous. They are able to manifest a form of vague humanoid proportions and tap in to the rawest of their magic to manipulate objects. This often results in small fires starting, temperatures dropping or rising unexpectedly, strong gusts of wind, warping of the ground, objects being hurled, doors slamming and sealing, glass shattering, and so on. They are able to communicate in words and appear to the immediate area or a single person as they chose. Often these familiars are bound by strong or arrogant mages, but when one suitable for the poltergeist is not found mages and priests will seal them in an object, creating a ‘black blade’, named for the first known performance of this ritual. A poltergeist will not bond easily, often retaliating against the mage or wielder of their item. They may even try to possess the caster and force their soul out of the body to take it over permanently.
Divine
Divine familiars rarely manifest and do not bond unless there are dire circumstances facing the world. Balance is required to be kept between the forces of nature. Both natural disasters and man made disasters can cause the bonding of an elemental spirit, often months to years before the disaster strikes. This is due to the constant rippling of time every ten years from the god of death re-entering the plane of existence. Elemental spirits are much more powerful than normal familiars, bonding of these spirits to man creates an avatar of that god on the world. When the bonding process begins the spirit grows weak, unable to give or do more than their partner can handle. Everything between them is a joint effort, the limitations imposed by this designed to keep the partner from being overloaded by the power and burn out too quickly.
Internal
The final manifestation of a familiar is the internal familiar. When a bond between familiar and partner is expectantly ripped apart, (usually by the death of the partner) the familiar gets overwhelmed and swept up by the currents of the world where they drift until they are able to find purchase on something. Most of the time this is a location or a summoning by another person, but sometimes this is the body and soul of a new born. Many would argue that this is a kind of reincarnation, however, it is more akin to having two souls in one form. With non sentient beings, the animal is overridden by the familiar.
The familiar is still weak in this state and unable to perform any magic until a proper bond is established with a mage. With a sentient being, the familiar will share the body with the host. The weakest familiars seem to become one with the host, unable to separate itself from the other soul until the death of the host. Middling strength familiars are able to remain separate and watch through the eyes of the host with some communication through memories, feelings, and whispers. The strongest of familiars are capable of full communication by touching on the hosts mind. At times, the familiar is able to take full control of the body for a short time. This sometimes manifests as a multiple personality disorder. Malevolent familiars will often work against their host and wrestle for control of the vessel. In all cases, the host is capable of utilizing magic as if it were a natural talent.
Other Uses
While Familiars are useful for establishing new magical bloodlines within non-magical beings, races with magical talent and connections have found further use of the spirits. Weaker familiars are abundant and perfect for imbuing objects with enchantments with less resources and magical energy. This stagnates the growth of the familiar in a traditional sense, however, the familiar does grow into it's role. It performs the task or duty it is given diligently, to the exclusion of all other pursuits. The utilization of the familiar is dependent upon the familiar's elemental affinities and composition.
Examples of enchantments are:
Fae Curses
Singular spell enchantments upon an item (Staff of Fireball, etc)
Constructs (Warforged)
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