Familiars

The Basics
Familiars start out as normal ordinary everyday creatures, housecats, turtles, dogs, birds, fish; plain ordinary animals. Familiars are the ‘title’ of animals who are bonded to magi, wizards and witches, sorcerers and sorceresses, any fairly strong magic user (Or any other name of the thousands that is some sort of magic user). These animals can communicate in their natural tongues but will over time develop the ability to speak in the common tongue and if the magi wishes it, the magi’s own racial language.

The familiar will always have a strong telepathic bond with its magi master. Certain animals may have different abilities or types of magic they specialize in. Familiars when they are able to speak fully will usually refer to the magi bonded to them by their actual name, or by the title ‘loyal.’ Other races can be bonded to each other, though the process is long and difficult, usually painful, and will be seen as odd and confusing by others. NOTE: You may only have one familiar at a time, and these are usually bonded for life.

Familiar Ties and Abilities
A familiar and their loyal will stay loyal to each other to their deaths. If the familiar dies, the loyal is unaffected. If the loyal dies, then so does the familiar. Familiars and their loyal will also be able combine their mana in one magic pool to create stronger spells, pulling the energy for the spells from each other. To be able to create a mana pool or cast spells together they must be together for at least a minimum of 2 years. (2 IRL months, to make sure you show dedication and are not abusing the lore just to be more 'powerful' in magic). ''NOTE: To create a mana pool you must be within eyesight and concentrating in character, the limit is one plot (16 blocks) for OOC reference. To do so, both players will state how much mana they both have and combine it.''

The Familiar Bond
If a loyal is about to die, yet their familiar needs to carry on for some absolute purpose or reason, they can break the bond with their last dying breath, as breaking the connection while near death would require a great deal of energy, bringing you to your actual dying breath. Breaking it beforehand may cause your former familiar to turn against you, which could be fatal, as they would most likely know every single one of your weaknesses and strengths, depending on how much you have shared with them mentally. Breaking it would also cause extreme mental pain for years, especially after having the bond for a long time, as you'd normally be able to sense your loyal/familiar's thoughts and emotions, and that would all be ripped from you. This could cause either the familiar or loyal, or even both, to go insane. In basis, a neverending headache that won't subside for a minimum of three years.

Depending on the strength of their mental bond, a magi and their familiar will also be able to communicate telepathically and even send images after being together many years.

Mental Capabilities (Magical Traits)
Mental Capabilities: Half year (2 weeks) of bonding -- Being able to send images (or basically where you are: forest; mountain; etc. through PMs). Year (4 weeks) of bonding -- Being able to sense emotions, again, through PMs. Year and a half (6 weeks) of bonding -- Being able to send messages (PMs) telepathically in quotation marks. Three years (12 weeks) of bonding -- Being able to sense loyal/familiar's thought process, them still having their own opinions and being their own separate person, but sharing the same mind, almost. To break the bond at this point or farther would cause extreme mental pain. Again, through PMs between the two players. -Unless practiced on a regular basis, the above events can greatly tire both the familiar and loyal mentally, thus weakening both's magical capabilities unless communicating/practicing these skills on a day-to-day basis.