Mufen

Mufen are adorable cat-squirrel-like magical creatures that appear commonly in the wilds of Lyra and are often used as pets...and snacks.

## Overview

Cute, cuddly, playful, and blessed with mysterious restorative powers, Mufen make the perfect pets for children and people of all ages. Although their oblivious curiosity, clumsiness, and helplessness means they easily fall victim to predators and fatal accidents, Mufen Magic ensures that death is never final for the Mufen. As such, parents can confidently let even very young children keep Mufen pets without fear of accidents.

## Mufen Magic

All Mufen are blessed with a mysterious power known as Mufen Magic. Mufen Magic gives every Mufen incredible healing ability, and tremendous inert magical power. Even though Mufen are squishy and quite easily injured, even extreme injuries heal in a matter of minutes. Mufen Magic goes even further however. Should a Mufen fall to fatal injury, or even be wholly consumed or reduced to dust, the power of Mufen Magic creates a new identical Mufen as a replacement. Although the specific mechanics of this miracle continue to baffle scientists and mages, some interesting properties have been discovered through Mufen experimentation. Most baffling perhaps, is that Mufen appear to spawn seemingly out of thin air, with no known breeding or life cycles. Even in experiments where Mufen remains were isolated and closely monitored, new replacement Mufen successfully appear in random proximity to their remains, without recycling available biomass. It is theorized that Mufen spawning somehow creates new mass from an unknown source. The total worldwide population of Mufen seems to be perfectly stable, maintaining a constant population count regardless of Mufen death rates. Another interesting discovery is that newly spawned Mufen, while physically identical to their fallen predecessor, do not appear to retain any memories from their previous life. Trained Mufen will forget all of their tricks and fail to recognize their owners after respawning into a new Mufen.

## Sweet Enough to Eat

One tragic consequence of Mufen Magic is that Mufens have become a coveted treat of predators, and people as well. Even just a lick or nibble on a live Mufen has proven to bestow curative properties to the taster, and consuming an entire Mufen can bring someone back from the very brink of death, even restoring lost limbs and curing otherwise incurable diseases. For this effect to work however, the gruesome Mufen consumption must be completed with a live Mufen, as the Mufen Magic seems to quickly dissipate from Mufen remains and the new Mufen replacement spawns rather quickly.

Despite their incredible medicinal potential, Lyric law and polite society condemns the consumption and tasting of Mufens in any circumstance. Only desperate, heartless felons would dare consume such an adorable, helpless creature, and this pervasive social norm has largely prevented thorough Mufen experimentation. Those who do eat Mufen claim that they are quite delicious. Mufen consumption has been known to lead to Mufen addiction, and to a mysterious Mufen Madness among those depraved enough to frequently eat Mufens.

## Intelligence

Mufen are thought to be rather intelligent as far as such simple creatures go. While far from genius, Mufen have been known to learn tricks with proper training and seem to exhibit an understanding of basic language. It is also widely believed that the Mufen are able to communicate with one another through a sort of Mufen language, comprised of adorable Mufen vocalizations, body language, and subtle antennae motions.

## Breeds

Mufen come in a wide range of variations, called breeds (although technically Mufen mysteriously spawn into existence without any known breeding). The most common Mufen breed is the Crown Mufen, so named after the Lyric Royal Family. Crown Mufen have blonde fur and red to red-orange antennae.

## Pet Care

Mufen have very simple care requirements and are quite easy for even young children to keep as pets. Mufen can eat a variety of foods, but seem to prefer soft sweet foods, eating mostly berries in the wild and favoring puddings and cakes in captivity. Although Mufen have been known to have aggressive appetites, it is yet unknown how food or a lack thereof affects Mufen health. Mufen do not grow, deficate, or reproduce, and so how their bodies metabolize food is a complete mystery. Likewise, mufen seemingly have no need to hydrate and do not take well to fresh drinking water, but will eagerly drink fruit juice, teas, and other sweet beverages.
Mufen have also been known to eat other mufen in order to accelerate their healing in dire situations. While this is rare behavior, it is not extraordinary. For this reason, most pet owners will choose to keep no more than one mufen per household, as an injured Mufen may choose to consume a fellow Mufen. Although the consumed Mufen do respawn quickly, parents would rather shield children from this unsightly behavior.

## History

Although Mufen have been common on Planet Lyra for thousands of years, and the society of the current age classifies Mufen as native creatures, in truth Mufen actually originate from an entirely different dimension. Like the dragons, Mufen first arrived on Lyra after The First Gate resulted in cosmic anomalies during the Terraform War.