Figurine Magic

For if it appears as one of us, who is to say it is any different?

Developed by a renown emperial artisan with a love of sculpture, this type of illusion magic has become essential to the communication between sylphs and empirials.

"Being able to inhabit a sylph body is great! But not being able to choose said body and being on the end of a long waiting list is... less so."
An empirial on the modern use of living figurines

Discovery

Discovered by emperial Sachu Dorlshre, and further researched by her sylphs partner Fenoria Dosx in a rather sad story of a desperate artist who could never find perfection within her own work.
Sachu began modelling her creations after sylphs not long after meeting Fenoria, who would then become her muse. However, she was maddened by her inability to create something that perfectly resembled a sylph - missing the light behind the eyes, and more closely resembling a corpse, so she thought - so she escaped her homeland to live in seclusion and develop her craft. It was not until her partner finally found her again that the breakthrough was made.
It is thought that an accident during Fenoria's attempts to right the mind of her partner with blood magic was the cause of the discovery. As it Resulted in the mingling of her blood and Sachu's latest artwork. Later that day when a traveller passed by, they checked on the 'body' - thinking it someone in need of help, and where probably rather surprised when it work up screaming.
This was the first time a model had been used to house an empirial's spirit.
Long after this Fenoria continued to experiment and write down her findings on this magic, beginning by finding a way to get Sachu back to her own body. This took longer than planned, and Sachu committed suicide not long after returning to her body. However this did not stop Finoria, and her books where used long after she finally passed away, what is left of the original copies being kept in an undisclosed location.

Availability

This type of magic has been closely guarded by the empirials since its creation. Only a few of the royal line are aware of its true nature. the main reason for this is that as an illusion magic, the spell is broken if you know what you are really looking at. There are few artists capable of creating models that are lifelike enough to create a 'living model' and so those that can are often kept in seclusion by the royals to maintain the secret. However in spite of the secrecy, it has gradually become easier for emprials of a lower status to access this magic. There is a waiting list in every town with an artist good enough, but the true nature of the magic is almost never explained to common folk using it

Utility

The original use of this was simple - to blend in with and communicate with sylphs. This became key to establishing a more 'political' understanding between the races, and continued to allow them to live peacefully side by side as the sylphs learned more military tactics and force that could have proved dangerous to the emperials.
Today it is more commonplace for any wishing to interact with sylphs without the language barrier that occurs otherwise. This includes those empirials partnered with sylphs, as well as scholars, writers, and as a way to travel unseen.

Complexity

As a combination of magics, it is rather complicated to use. Understanding the principles is fairly simple. - blood magic is combined with illusion magic layered over a physical figurine, and from this an empirials soul can be 'moved' to the body, so long as those viewing the illusion believe it to be reality, the empirial is free to use the body as if it where there own.
However using this system requires a good deal of practice as both types of magic are known for having a unique fiddlynes to the necessary mental imagery. This process has been gradually simplified and better explained as more common folk began to use it.