Irylid
From Mizahar Lore
| Familiar | |
 | |
| Major features | Orb-like icy appearance, cold, highly reflective |
|---|---|
| Abilities | Exceptionally observant, limited reshaping |
Irylid are a Familiar type from the Darkface of Fyrden. They generally look like floating orbs of a highly reflective ice-like material and are very cold to the touch. They are highly resistant within cold environments but tend to break easily under very hot weather, and fire will quickly damage them. Calm and collected, Irylids are not geared towards combat, but their greatest ability lies in their ability to notice even the smallest details reflected on their surface, making them extremely observant.
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Appearance
An Irylid is composed primarily of water with traces of metals such as silver and aluminium in between the outer layers of ice giving the Familiar its highly reflective mirror-like appearance. On Fyrden, the Irylid is completely frozen, however on Mizahar the core is typically kept in liquid form, much like a frozen lake in winter. A Djed kernel resides in the very center of the Irylid, exercising a mix of attractive and repulsive forces on the water around that resemble a limited instinctual form of Reimancy; this allows the creature to maintain the shape of an orb almost effortlessly and float in the air at walking speed. Irylid can adjust their size by letting themselves evaporate or conversely absorbing humidity from the environment, though both processes take some time.
The Irlyid's sealed form is always static and tends to be simplistic. It will always be made of ice. Gemstones are a favorite as are small ice statues. Irylid with actual knowledge of water Reimancy can get more creative in their choice of form.
Personality
Irylid are as icy as their form implies. They are neutral by temperament, and it takes a long time to make them sway. This makes them stubborn and aloof, as well as slow to make commitments. On the other hand, they make extremely loyal Familiars once their trust has been gained. They are logical, deductive and highly observant. They see much but speak little unless questioned, and even then they can be tight-lipped and evasive. At times, their responses can be infuriatingly vague or coldly critical, though unlike the Kirt they are not cynical or deliberately confrontational.
An Irylid is best suited to someone who is willing to take the initiative and break the ice, so to speak. They are perfectly content with silence if silence is all they get from the wizard, but this can create problems and misunderstandings down the road. Irylid are considered a relatively safe choice of Familiar, but they do not come without their own dangers. Should their opinion of the wizard's intelligence plummet too low, they will feel justified to act as tutors and guardians protecting the wizard from himself - which is just a more civilized way of taking over and enslaving the master.
Abilities
An Irylid can take on the form of any regular polyhedron on a whim. As a tetrahedron has the sharpest corners, that is the form usually chosen in the rare instances they do fight. Most importantly, however, an Irylid sees everything reflected on its surface. This means they have a full 360 degree field of view in every direction, with the ability to distinguish details that would be lost on the human eye. Coupled with their excellent visual memory, the Irylid can be veritable mines of information about their surroundings and it is very difficult to catch one by surprise without resorting to supernatural means.
Irylids are highly resistant to damage when in a cold environment, but their toughness decreases a good deal with heat. They tolerate temperate climates, but can get very weak and small in the Eyktol deserts, for example. While natural climate on Mizahar does not normally have the power to melt an Irylid altogether, except inside a volcano, fire can easily reach the Irylid's killing temperature. Prolonged exposure to such heat must be avoided, or the wizard-Familiar duo may die.
Lifecycle
An Irylid's lifecycle is the same as their Familiar brethren. They grow in size throughout their lives by absorbing material and radiations from Fyrden's environment. When their bodies grow too large, they fracture into two or more "children". These spawn-siblings, as they are called, are entirely new creatures and inherit some of the parent's knowledge, including language, but not necessarity its personality. This accretion/spawning process is halted once they are bonded with a Mizaharian wizard.