Pukies

Four Pukies of different elements

Pukies (sing.: Puky) are iconic Iserial Creatures in the world of Ceal. They were created as helpful familiars during the Golden Age of Iserialogy. Their creation is often attributed as the pinnacle of Iserialogy, as they use an extremely advanced Frame design that allows them to survive for extended periods of time without Iserial Energy, and without relying on a solitary focus such as an Iserial Crystal.

## Appearance and Abilities

Pukies look like a cross between cats and weasels that glow in a color representing their respective Iserial Element. Every Puky is linked to exactly one element that is determined by the primary element that was used during its creation. This element can not be changed unless the Puky is forced into a state of hibernation (see below), and then revived using a different element. Pukies can regulate their glow to an extent, but can't completely turn it off.

Pukies are inherently capable of levitating both themselves and small objects. Levitating is also their favoured method of moving around. They are, however, also relatively skilled in moving around on all fours.

Pukies communicate telepathically and can thus easily communicate with any Cemarelij.

Pukies are best suited for easy tasks that require mobility, fine manipulation, or mobility. They are not very good at tasks that require physical strength. Pukies are also not very good at fighting, but will still readily support their master in combat by casting simple Iserialogies. Due to these characteristics, Pukies are popular companions of adventurers, and many adventuring parties will eventually end up having a Puky as a mascot and reliable companion.

## Personality

A Puky's personality is initially determined by its element, but will gradually change over the course of its life. However, Pukies of all elements tend to be generally cheerful and helpful.

## Purpose and Characteristics

Pukies were created as a lifeform that would happily fill the role of a familiar to its owner. As such, Pukies were engineered to have an number of characteristics that would let them naturally and readily fill their role. For one, Pukies are naturally helpful and enjoy assisting people with any task. A word of gratitude, a pat or a hug are usually reward enough for a Puky.

Also, Pukies readily imprint on Cemarelij, and will happily follow their masters around and do their best to fulfil the tasks they ask them to do. However, Pukies also have their own will, and will leave masters who treat them poorly in favour of kinder people.

## Lifespan

Though their natural lifespan is unlimited and though they are unusually resilient for such small creatures, they can still be destroyed if their Frames sustain enough damage or they are deprived of Iserial Energy for an extended amount of time. However, before that happens, a Puky automatically enters a state of hibernation during which it can be revived if exposed to a sufficiently large amount of Iserial Energy, such as Crystal Water. A Puky in a state of hibernation loses its usual glow and takes on a dull grey color. If this state is maintained for too long, or if it takes too much damage in this state, the Puky dies.

If a Puky spends an extended amount of time in Hibernation, it may also become despirited - that is, the Spirit and Soul inhabiting it may abandon the Puky's Frame. If that happens, a fresh Soul and Spirit will enter the Puky's Frame if it gets revived, effectively making it come back as a different Puky in an old Frame. This, however, usually only happens if the duration of hibernation exceeds several years, and the Puky's lingering Spirit determines that it's chances of being revived by anyone it knows are low to zero.

Like all lifeforms with long lifespans, Pukies eventually tend to forget their oldest memories, replacing less significant memories old memories with fresh ones. As such, the oldest memories a Puky has are usually the ones that had the most impact on its life in the past. Also, a Puky that enters hibernation will eventually start to lose its memories, so that even a Puky that gets revived prior to becoming despirited will only retain a fraction of its old memories. Once a Puky becomes despirited, all the memories of the previous Puky are lost for good.

## Creation

The process for creating Pukies - which was considerably difficult - was lost as a result of the First Novean War. Since Pukies can't reproduce, that means that all existing Pukies on Ceal today are remnants of the Pukies that were created during the Golden Age of Iserialogy. Over the course of the centuries, Pukies have as such become progressively less common as more and more of them suffered an unnatural death.

However, to this day it is theorized that there are many Pukies hibernating in difficult to access places, just waiting to be re-awakened. For all practical purposes, these can be considered to be newborn Pukies since all Pukies that have been hibernating for such a long amount of time have almost certainly been despirited, and even those that have not will still have lost all their memories.