What are the capabilities of familiars? Are witch familiars and fairy familiars the same?

Hello! Witch familiars and fairy familiars are very different.

In general:

Witch familiars = highly attuned service animals. A witch familiar can serve as a focal point when doing spells, like a candle or a book.

Fairy familiars = a literal interconnected part of a fairy’s self and existence. They share a mental connection, and are like an extension of the fairy’s soul.

Hi! I hope you don’t mind a couple questions about atronachs, they seem so fascinating. :) One - are they ever anything other than stone (ie metal with electric energy, wood a la Skyrim spriggans, virtually unmeltable ice, etc)? And two - are their elemental powers like ATLA-style bending? Or do they just vary depending on the individual (temporary scrying stones, short-range teleportation from stone to stone, things like that)?

Hello and I AM SO EXCITED to answer such a lovely in-depth question about atronachs! 

1) Atronachs in this game were derived from gargoyles, so stone is the basis of them; however, ‘stone’ can be stretched in definition if the player would like! So an atronach can be stone with silver veins or made of plumbian or amazonite which are metal-containing stones (don’t quote me on that, I’m not a minerologist lol); a spriggan-type could be made of fossilized/petrified wood; an ice atronach could be rock with permafrost, etc. 

2) I envisioned their elemental powers as being like element-bending, yes. That said! Our species are designed to take into account variations in culture, region, tradition, and so forth. So if you have an atronach from a cultural background that uses divination, then using runes or scarabs or a scrying surface might be what that character’s most comfortable use of their powers. 

(Teleportation not so much, but that’s a general game restriction to prevent characters being over-powered)  

Atronachs are a unique sort of species so their powers haven’t been explored quite as much as the more established species’ skills, and therefore the boundaries are pretty flexible!

unicorn utopia

Just updated the FAQ with this info, so making a note of it here as well especially with the town being in the midst of Pride:

Please, no storylines about gay-bashing or racial hate crimes. Use a character’s species or affiliation instead.

While residents of Soapberry have varying degrees of involvement in and/or understanding of LGBTQ+ topics, the town is very diverse (look at most of these characters lol) and so outright homophobia isn’t really a thing. The queer community thrives all year round! Honestly the town would shut down if it didn’t.  XD

Good morning Berryites!

A small admin matter today: Fairy vs. Faerie

As you all know, Fairies are one of the species of character you can play in Soapberry. However, your Mods recognize that there’s a ton of literary ‘fairy’ lore out there that can be utilized for your plots, which we always encourage!

So purely to keep the lore for our game-Fairies distinct from what you might want to use from various mythologies, please use the spelling ‘faerie’ for anything that’s not about our game species. 

To emphasize: you are absolutely allowed to explore whatever mythical concepts of the Fair Folk intrigue you, just be sure to use the spelling faerie to differentiate from fairy (human-sized people with wings and fairy dust). Or alternately, use one of the lesser fae-folk groups (brownies, pixies, gnomes, etc) as they aren’t playable species and are therefore basically fair game.

Any questions, just ask!  :)

is there a cure for a werewolf who was turned into one? same with vampirism? is there a cure?

Short answer: nope!

Long answer: possibly? But only to the extreme detriment/damage (mentally and/or physically) to the werewolf or vampire, respectively.  Therefore a ‘cure’ is a situation that could happen to NPCs for the purpose of furthering a character’s plot.  It would not work for a playable character.  

It’s possible for a werewolf or a vampire character to believe there is a cure, and try very hard to find a one!  But the outcome would be like humans trying to find Utopia; those who try either give up or die trying.

Could a nymph be born out of, say, honey?

A nymph of honey could absolutely be a thing. Honey has enough of a cultural cachet and importance -- beginning since antiquity and especially because it doesn’t rot -- for it to generate an embodied nymph!

Just keep in mind that like all the long-lived species, a nymph can only hold an embodiment for 500 years tops, so they can’t hail from ancient Egypt or anything.  XD

What mythological creature (besides gargoyles) would you compare atronachs to?

In a very broad sense, in nature they’re like the benevolent, clannish versions of dwarves or orcs. Physically they’re taken roughly from atronachs in The Elder Scrolls; in personality they tend to be very attuned to family groups, like the aforementioned dwarves and orcs.

Honestly, when I designed atronachs, I didn’t have any particular mythological group in mind. I was thinking along the lines of a group that looked somewhat rough and intimidating from the outside, but in truth atronachs enjoy things like swapping recipes and joining committees and doing community gardening and sharing kombucha SCOBYs. 

You could probably compare them to the Rock Eater in The Neverending Story, Shale from Dragon Age Origins, and most of all, Lt. Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I mean this first page of Terry quotes is pmuch what you need to know about atronach personalities.  XD

what does it mean for an atronach to go "tharn"?

From our info page on atronachs:

Atronachs have the ability to go “tharn” by sealing their rock limbs while in glyph form, becoming statues with their energy dormant in them. They have normal human lifespans, but in tharn state they will not age for a period of roughly 200 years, after which the energy inside them will extinguish if they do not reanimate.

The term ‘tharn’ itself is borrowed from Richard Adams’ Watership Down -- it’s when an animal seizes up in terror and goes frozen. The basic concept applies with atronachs, who go tharn as an emergency means of self-preservation.

Would it be possible for a witch to keep themselves alive for significantly longer than the average human lifespan via magical means? (And if so what would the limits on that look like?)

The first limit is one of game mechanics: just as the immortal/undead species have their sanity capped at age 500, a witch would also only be able to extend her lifespan till age 500. A male witch wouldn’t be able to do it, being weaker in magic than female witches (the most they could manage is a cap of roundabout 200 years).

The second limit is the ley line that the witch shares. Whoever else is on her line would sacrifice some of their magical ability in order to feed into her longevity, regardless of whether or not she uses an artefact, the assistance of other species’ magic, or solely her own spellwork in order to accomplish this. The other witches’ lifespans wouldn’t be shortened, but their magic would be lessened.

Whether or not the witches on the ley line are related, or sacrifice their magic willingly, or any of those factors, might affect the way that the longevity magic works and if the witch accomplishes the full 500 year extension (it’s not a guarantee).

Like all Big Magic, there’s always a price to be paid. 

Can werewolves turn other species like vampires do or does it only work with humans?

Werewolves can turn humans and witches!  

And vampires can turn humans, witches, and werewolves.

I saw that werewolves only shift after puberty hits because of the toll it would be for their body; is it the same for other shifting species (like merms or selkies)?

Generally it would not be!  Merms, selkies, and nagas tend to shift naturally, because they can have water births.  Especially for merms and selkies, it’s a matter of survival in the ocean to have water-breathing abilities and their fish-tail/seal forms immediately.

There are of course (as always!) exceptions. Seapeople that don’t know they’re a seaperson for some reason, but puberty forces this realization on them.  For example, a merm or a naga might shift the moment they reach puberty and are submerged in water.  For a selkie it might be a bit more complicated, but certainly interesting to explore!

Would you mind clarifying the difference in a witch 'storing magic' in an item vs an item that can store magic?

Witches can’t necessarily ‘store magic’, since their source of magic comes from the living, functioning ley lines that they are attached to. Each time a witch uses their magic, they draw from their dedicated ley line for that power. Basically a witch has to be plugged in to work; they aren’t configured for battery operation.  :)

A magical item facilitates, alters, or supplements magic rather than stores it. The most a magical item can do is provide a small charge, which then drains the item. 

Of course if you have a specific item function in mind, or a particular idea for a plot, the Mods are always happy to work with you to find a way, if possible! Just drop us a message.  

Hi! I'm a friend of Kit's (who showed me the rp) and Riley's, and I'm really interested in your Liberated skeleton (I sent in those anons). I can't join for 2 weeks, but I have questions about the ley lines. How common are they in Soapberry vs other places? As in, are all the characters on one ley, or are there a few to go around, and is that different to other places? If you'd just moved, would you still be tied to the old ley or immediately switch over, or is there a transition time? Thanks!

Hey there! The ley lines in Soapberry Springs (and any other supernatural enclaves that may exist) are stronger and more plentiful than the ones that can be accessed in the Outworld.

Sometimes a particular ley line is claimed by a family, or a coven, or some other group; solitary witches can generally find a ley line that’s not full. However, there will be a transition time as the witches already on that line accept only on probation, to make sure the newbie won’t pull energy from it willy-nilly and affect them all.

Of course there’s no requirement to RP that all out; exploring it if you want to is fine, and so is taking it as a given once your witch is in Soapberry.  :)