If you’re having a hard time seeing the text, try the one on a website that uses more than ¼th the width of your screen.

So, yes, I’m making the familiars a free for all ‘species’ you can use if you’d like to. If you want to commission a design from me, feel free to ask, but I have no desire to charge if you want to make your own or have someone else do one for you. I’d really just be happy to see people doing more with this concept than I have the time to do. ^^; I love the familiars and the themes revolving around them. They could make for some really interesting stories or even just cool character designs.

You don’t need to ask if you can make something of your own with the concepts here. If you come up with some ideas for familiar characters and stories, those are your ideas to use for your purposes. I’d love to see/read/hear whatever you end up making though! ^^

I’ve written about the lore of familiars here and there, but not a whole lot. I want to keep things vague enough that if you have some ideas you’d like to play with, you don’t necessarily need to change much. That said, if you’d like a little more:

-Bit’s ref sheet

-Quark’s ref sheet

-Fake news article from the year 2096:

Familiars: Fiction Made Real

Only recently classified as a new category of organism, you may have heard of Bit and Byte before, but over the decades since they came along, more of these 'familiars,’ as they have come to be called, have appeared around the galaxy.

Little is known about them, as they always seem to show up without any memory of their life prior. Their name derives from a commonly used mythological creature, summoned up as magical helper beasts to assist wizards. Most familiars seem greatly attracted to creative exploits, and while they are certainly paranormal by current scientific standards, they’re no superheroes. Outside of the fictional places they create, they are no more powerful than you or I.

Debates in the scientific community rage on over whether our glowing, extra-fuzzy friends could be the key to understanding how life began, or perhaps, the first irrefutable proof that there are forces beyond our current understanding and capacity to measure. Many claim it’s all a bunch of trickery, but few can argue it’s a hoax when they see one for themselves.

Every familiar exists disconnected from their physical body, as their name suggests. They can phase in and out of their form depending on what type of familiar they are. They have not been given distinctive species names because every one of them appears to be unique, sporting a variety of designs and adaptations, with the only similarity being their glowing blood and seemingly magical powers. However, they have been classified into two groups: digitals, who can inhabit electronic devices, and dream engineers, who can visit the worlds of people’s dreams. Some reports indicate other familiars with the power to enter paintings or books, and others get even more silly. These have yet to be confirmed.

Their bodies are extraordinarily simple, built in a way that should not be sustainable to life, and if they find themselves removed from their source of power - which differs depending on their type - that physical reality kicks in and they can’t survive for more than a week. This power seems to keep them alive and healthy. However, even if they die, they come back in a new body retaining their memories.

Looking to the digital familiars, we are able to study how they appear and disappear when “jumping” into electronic devices. The air in the room is displaced, and it’s thought that they are actually manipulating small amounts of matter in the vicinity to integrate back into their body. Scientists theorize that the same principle takes place when any familiar type re-integrates into a new body, and it’s perhaps what allows digital familiars to directly manipulate electric flow.

Much investigation and research has taken place surrounding these relatively new beings, but still there are more questions raised than answers. Most familiars have made it their mission in their lives to discover their purpose, so it seems unlikely that they are an alien threat. Still, there are quite a few conspiracy theorists out there slinging crazy ideas about familiars.

Happily for us all, most familiars have proven to be very handy to have around, from fixing computers to helping insomniacs experience the best sleep of their lives, they are generally quite pleased to put their unique skills to use to help others. Tune in for our short documentary segment later tonight as we follow a day in the life of one of these magical creatures.