Common Familiars

An ânias is a magical familiar, an entity paired with a sorcerer who enhances, powers, or otherwise benefits the magic cast by its kinvar. An ânias may be, but is not required to be, a pet or a companion animal, a mundane service animal, or an emotionally-bonded partner. What distinguishes an ânias from all of these creatures is its participation in magical spells and rituals. Some familiars may be able to create minor spells or magical effects on their own, while others function as energy sources for their kinvari. Not all arcane animals that serve as companions are magical familiars; remember, an arcane animal is simply an animal that requires mana to survive, like arcanthers.

Artificial Familiars: Servitors or Ersatz

The majority of arcane familiars in the wide world are crafted or created in some way. Whether a mechanical construct powered by magic or an animated crystal statue, enchanted objects are one of the easiest familiars to find or make. In the realm of alchemy, one gets a different sort of artificial elemental, usually of the liquid or gaseous type.
Most sorcerers' first familiars are artificial, as many spells, rituals, and/or alchemical potions to create them are widely known and safely standardized by expert mages over the centuries.

Examples of Common Artificial Familiars:

enchanted, usually flying objects, such as:

old tomes

elegant quills

miniature cauldrons

tiny orreries

hanging astrological mobiles

small, usually ceremonial weapons

magic-powered mechanical creations, such as:

articulated metal figures of kinvari or animals

clockwork or wind-up toys

small wheeled wagons or carts

animated statues or figurines, such as:

carven crystal animals

handmade wooden, clay, or cloth dragons

kinvari dolls or puppets

toy or plush animals

ambulatory alchemical semi-solid solutions, such as:

small, barely-shaped oozes/puddings

serpentine or many-tentacled crawling jellies

ghostly gaseous figures, such as:

localized swirling vapors in the vague shape of animals

animated smoke silhouettes that resemble authentic spirits

seemingly two-dimensional shadow kinvari

Mana Dervish

artificial familiar crafted from refined mana
standardized, well-known ritual of creation

3’ high. Headless tornado-like funnel shape loosely attached to a pair of wind-tunnel arms with tentacular flexibility. Its shifting body resembles a wind elemental or dust dervish, actively rotating without generating a strong breeze; its whirling "dust" is a gleaming amethyst in color with occasional refractions of pearlescent pink. The palpable texture of its body is a rapidly-moving silt stream, gently resistant to pressure or piercing. Cannot speak or make noise beyond a breezy shushing. Capable of lifting or levitating most lighter objects or small creatures, generally less than 30-40 lbs.

Generally seen as a practical magical assistant for both arcane scholars and sorcerous experiments. Each conjuration retains its memory and cannot be “dismissed” without being destroyed. Intelligent in the sense of can understand and follow specific, semi-complex directions. May display some slight variations in “personality” or demeanor, especially over a long period of time.

Necrotic Familiars: Revenants

In less tasteful corners of the world, one may find undead creatures playing the role of rote servant. It is taboo in nearly every civilized society to raise kinvaren remains from the dead, but there is no such restriction against raising the remains of animals or even smaller arcane creatures like vollies (Felis volarus, winged cats). For those uninterested in animating a simple object or figurine, an undead familiar is a perfectly obedient servant, empty of an individual soul and only puppeted by arcana.

Not all necrotic familiars are shuffling horrors, despite their reputation.

Many a humble mage has uplifted the fresh, unmarred remains of a beloved companion animal with magic, and few are the wiser that the flesh is no longer living of its own accord. However, regardless of the mage's motivations, most kinvari react with disgust, disdain, and/or horror upon discovering that a familiar is undead.

Beyond such potentially-sympathetic intentions falls the very worst offense against the definition of a familiar. A homunculus is a fleshcrafted familiar, a necrochemical creation that resembles no natural creature whatsoever. A sham of life and a mockery of nature, these abominations may slither, shuffle, or silently float in accordance to whatever body parts and alchemical essences comprise them. Those who use such offensive creations would be wise not to let such a secret slip into the light of their more humane brethren's sight.

Familiar Spirits and Elementals: Wights or Daimons

Frequently considered the most legitimate and powerful type of familiar is the conjured spirit or elemental. These entities possess some degree of intelligence, autonomy, and their own agenda, making them exceptionally useful but also potentially problematic if their personalities do not match the magician's.

Spirit vs Elemental: what's the difference? Almost nothing, truth be told, except for an elemental alignment - a spirit is a neutral or non-elemental entity, whereas an elemental is attuned to (and limited by) its elemental alignment.

Most nonphysical entities come to reside within small- to medium-sized creatures or, occasionally, objects. Many elementals retain their obvious elemental alignment and are prone to causing damage to physical objects as a result; imagine a water elemental soaking one's spellbook or a fire elemental getting into one's wardrobe. Familiars like these tend to remain within their physical forms for long periods of time unless an unexpected disaster occurs or their magician dismisses them from service.
However, some nonphysical entities create their own unique manifestation within the physical realm, using their personal arcana and anima to coalesce a tangible form. These are usually powerful and often unstable entities - most often, they are elemental spirits or kinvaren ghosts. Familiars like this may manifest and demanifest at will, which may or may not align with their magician's preferences. Additionally, their manifestations may be palpable but purely arcane, or they may actually form lifelike seemingly-mortal bodies for themselves, though this is rare.
Example: Ember the fire arcanther kitten.

Fire arcanthers are technically pure elementals, but have genealogies and generations like ‘normal’ cats. They can also resemble aeldmanes, but Ember is a young arcanther-shaped one from a long line of elementals taking feline form, so she is very cat-like and does not waver from her kitten shape. Because of this, she can actually take a physical not-flaming form as a fire-bright cub that is hot but not painful or damaging to the touch with suede-like “skin” - but it takes concentration, and as a kitten, that’s not something she does well or for long. She has very sharp, hooking, hot claws. Adult fire arcanthers can control the intensity and size of their flames, but like baby venomous snakes, it takes time and age to master. Fire arcanthers of any age can also control (to whatever extent) nearby flames and can breathe/spout fire. They are intelligent elementals but usually non-verbal; they have unique personalities and usually very striking quirks and characteristics (more due to their fire alignment than due to their copied arcanther nature).

Arcane Creatures: Daimons or Wardes

Many naturally-arcane creatures may be persuaded to serve as a kinvar's familiar, with or without a lifelong empathic bond. Animals like Abyssal hounds and arcanthers require long-term dedication and emotional commitment, while creatures like wingsnakes and vollies are more flexible in the duration and intensity of their relationships with their kinvari. This type of familiar is the most likely to be a passive assistant in magic, helping with physical needs and the detection of certain types of magic energy rather than actively casting spells themselves.
The commonest arcane creatures that may be trained as familiars are listed below:

leyfinders, a specific subspecies of wingsnakes with the highest known sensitivity to ambient/environmental arcana of any wingsnakes

flickerfish, a type of seemingly-aquatic creature that "swims" through the air and is only found in the most arcana-dense locations; they appear to be native to the spirit plane and manifest as semi-tangible translucent animals that vaguely resemble jellyfish and octopi

vollies, Felis volarus, winged cats

arcanthers

Arcanther cub: She’s about 20 lbs of soft, squirmy kitten with very sharp claws and teeth. She is a flesh-and-blood animal, but her fur is “the color of magic” - a beautiful mottled medium-purple with lighter, pink-tinged undersides and pink appaloosa-style markings on her rump and haunches. She has pearlescent pink eyes that glow faintly even in the light and a stripe of pink-tipped longer fur that runs like a full-body mohawk from the back of her skull to mid-tail (somewhat cheetah-cub-style). Her nose and pawpads are (non-magical) pink, as is the inside floof of her long, pointy, tuftless ears.
Arcanther matron: 5’ at the withers, sleek and powerful and long-bodied. Her fur is a crystal-pattern gradient between light amethyst and pearl-pink with a darker mask of violet around her face, paws, and tailtip. Her eyes are silver-ringed amethyst with a hint of pink around the slitted pupil, and her claws look like rose quartz. She has silver whiskers and lives in a light, bare-minimum harness made of soft leather that serves as a scaffolding onto which a rider can tie themselves - no saddle most of the time, but she can and will accept a heavily-padded seat for longer trips. She’s enormously strong and fleet, and most notably - rare with arcanthers, she has enough control over arcana (“wind magic”) to run on the air itself as a form of flight. She does not like running above the treetops, although she can go as high as she can breathe, and she can’t soar like a winged mount can, so her form of flight is not as energy-conservative (but is just as swift).
Hippogryph: 6’ at the withers, appears to be a combination of deer and hawk in build. Enormous wings, front legs end in lethal talons, hind legs end in cloven hooves, tail is leonine and partially feathered. Head, neck, chest, and forelegs are feathered; back, stomach, and hind legs are furred. Moderately-sized rack of antlers crowning the avian head. Can move at a gentle but relatively quick canter; can fly strongly and is comfortable soaring for long periods. Not the fastest on ground or air, but an excellent creature when one needs both modes of transportation in one steed. Oldwing’s particular breed has striking coloration - white fur, black hooves, and iridescent oil-slick-black feathers with white edges and tips. Large, brilliant blue-and-purple eyes and pale off-white antlers.

Some of the spirit fragments in arcana-inundated areas, especially places where The Shattering hit the hardest, may also be drawn to magic users and be willing to serve as familiars. These fragments, frequently manifesting as a random body part from the creatures or kinvari they once were, are considered lesser familiars with no inherent self-awareness or self-identity. They are permanently physical but can be used as potent sources of extra arcana or elemental conjuration.

False Familiar: Elothien

elothien

DANGER: DEMONS

Demons are alien creatures that are comprised of, and only subsist upon, Eldritch energy. They can manifest in semi-corporeal or wholly physical forms if given enough permission and power, but the anima and arcana that would normally be part of a living thing are replaced by only Eldritch.
Some feckless fools would seek to summon and bind lesser demons for their use as familiars. Such is a way to die quickly or, worse, have the anima of one's very soul subsumed and converted into Eldritch energy. Beware these heinous creatures and their false obedience to a mortal master.

DANGER: ANIMA LEECH

The anima leech will complete the soul link within two weeks of first encountering its new host. A finished soul link cannot be unwoven without both killing the anima leech and sucking all of its remaining anima out of the host’s soul. Even then, such a procedure brings high risk of damage, madness, disability, and/or death to the host.
As a parasite, the leech will not directly harm its host, but the interlinking of life force between a kinvar and a small “animal” will dilute the kinvar’s inner strength and will decrease or entirely negate a magician’s magical power. A sufficiently strong-willed kinvar, magician or not, may be able to adapt over time to this new system and recover their strength and abilities. Where the anima leech takes barely a score of days to permanently afflict its victim, however, this recovery can take anywhere from six months to two years. A leech will live as long as its host does.
Some few powerful magicians in the Shattered Isles have turned this parasitic relationship around and built it into a more mutual symbiosis. In addition to recovering whatever skill or strength they lost when the anima leech fused to their soul, these magicians utilize the extended anima system to further their arcane might. At this point, a leech will be called a familiar--though obviously not all familiars are leeches--and any deleterious effects of the leech will have been negated entirely. The advantages of these magicians and their soul-partners are numerous, but rarely do any non-natives understand the origin of those seemingly useful familiars.

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