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Familiars

Familiars are something of a phenomenon. There are two types that come into existence. The first, and possibly more familiar, is that of the bonded variety. What occurs is that a witch without a familiar is on the constant lookout of an animal that connects deeply with them, but, most importantly, shows a higher level of intelligence than most of its kind. It's said that it's rude to stare a witch's familiar in the eyes but truly it is because of the almost human quality that these creatures have in their eyes, a burning sort of intelligence that's present in the animal even before bonding. As a result, there has become a sort of stereotype in witches familiars being crows and cats due to their higher levels of intelligence and human like behaviors as well as their abundance. Other domestic animals such as dogs are less preferred depending on the type of witch as dogs tend to require more space and have an unfortunate habit of knocking over expensive and hazardous potions before the bonding is completed and their level of intelligence as well as communication has been raised. Cats are the preferred as it is theorized that cats already understand human language and despite the stereotype of knocking over glasses, they are quite able to move through and around treacherous surroundings without knocking anything over.

Pigs have actually been a common familiar in more rural and farm areas because they are naturally quite intelligent and can be quite dangerous once they have fully grown. A high risk, high reward familiar is the raccoon. These so called "bandits" are able to pick locks and solve puzzles outside of bonding and once bonded their dexterous hands come in very useful for whatever witch they are bonded to.

The other type of familiar is more accurately known as a witchling. Since biological witches are female (though they can easily change both sex and gender through magical means) not many of them reproduce with humans (or any other humanoid species). Thus comes into play the witchling. These appear as a sort of sleeper agent. A familiar will show up at the residence of the witch one day and will play the role of the witches familiar for at least one year up to five. In this time, if the witch is ready, the familiar will slowly transform into a sort of gremlin where they appear as a mixture of witch and whatever the familiar was. This stage lasts for about 2 years maximum before becoming closer to a middle school sized child with some of the original familiar traits. From here on, the witchling follows the similar patterns to humans, gradually losing more and more of the traits of the original familiar. However, the origins never truly go away and a discerning eye can tell a crow from a raven witch by the manner of dress and the sheen of the hair.

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Bound/Bonded casters Intro

There are a variety of what are termed "casters" which use the magical abilities of others or allows the usage of physical abilities that would not normally be available to either.

Bound caster - these casters find themselves bound through metaphysical means typically as the result of some sort of magical contact or blood pact made between a more powerful entity and a powerless/weaker entity. The most common example is the cleric or paladin and their god or the atypical warlock. Other examples include bards, monks, and druids. The main differential between these groups is the main purpose of their magic and the entity that the caster is contracted to.

Bonded casters are a varied bunch but the most common is referred to as a druid though some monks, bards, and rangers experience casting through this method. As the term implies, instead of an official contract, there is a conveyance of power that comes from a deep bond. It should be noted that the only type of bonded caster that does not typically show up also as a bound caster is the ranger. These adventurers often find themselves without magic but as they bond more with nature (often through their animal companion) they find themselves able to access more magics.

As a side note, it is important to distinguish the different types of warlock. There are three categories as of this writing: biological (noted in magic juices which produce their own fluid for magic), atypical warlocks (as mentioned about and which have a direct contract with an entity), and the typical warlock (which has a hereditary pact or which has non-human blood*).

* this term was used for biological witches, wizards, and warlocks that had a child that is not with one of their own, however further phenotyping and study has shown the genes that produce magicaiferous glands on various areas of the skin are dominant and that the offspring are no different from their full blooded ancestors.

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Magic Juice

As noted with the witches and the magicaiferous glands located in their palms, some other forms of this glad have been found. Wizards are a varied bunch with the only real measure for a biological or "true" wizard being the presence of these glands somewhere on the body. The sterotypical wizard appearance of an male with a long beard is the result of the most common location of the magicaiferous glands. The glands appear on the face, leading wizards to grow out longer beards which are left unkempt and unwashed so as not to lose and of the magical fluid produced, building up a store as the beard grows longer. Any sort of small animal that happens to be trapped or living in the beard can result in a produced magical creature with often dwells in the beard itself or near the wizard. The number of talking magical creatures increases the closer to a wizard's residence you get. A fortunate side effect of the magic production is a complete lack of parasites such as lice or or mites that may be found in beards. The other location that wizards may have magicaiferous glands are on the forearms, thus resulting in the fashion choice of a long robe with flowing sleeves to catch the fluid. One can argue that the major difference between these two subtypes of wizard can be deemed a mage and a warlock, however many scholarly articles will refer to them interchangeably. For the sake of accuracy, a mage is the subclass of wizard with magicaiferous glands located in the face while a warlock has said glands located in the forearms. In light of recent fashion trends, some warlocks have been opting for collecting devices similar to witches or even stylized gloves.

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Witches

There is a common misconception that witches are merely a human that has gained magical powers either through hereditary means or through contract with a god or other powerful being (though you could contract with a fairy in your garden should you fancy it). There certainly are witches that gain power from others and even humans who do so, but there is a biological difference to witches. That lies in the specialized glands in the palms of witches termed the magicaiferous [magic-bearing] glands. Should you happen to meet a true witch, you may not that the palms are similar to a human's save for a fine coating of light hair (or slight stubble depending on the grooming habits of said witch). These particular glands produce a sort of sweat-like substance that appears to contain magical properties similar to the alchemist's powder base you can find in any potion worth its salt. Along with aesthetic choices, wands and staffs serve a purpose in magic for witches, serving as a collecting surface or even collecting container for the magic produced from the palms. Noticeable are the stylized orbs at the tops of staffs. With true witches, you can see that a fluid has collected within the top of the staff with the witch can draw upon for more powerful spells or in emergencies.