Sythril

Sythril is a large snowbeast who stands at roughly 6'0"/182.88cm at shoulder height. He has dull golden eyes, claws, and two horns that curve and branch into two points at the ends. His tongue and bear-like paws are light pink; his ears are small and rounded. He has two small top fangs and two large lower fangs that poke out. His thick, fluffy fur is off-white with black points and a mix of large spots and stripes that fade out. His ears are black with a white spot on the back. He has a large, fluffy snow leopard-like tail. All of Sythril's fluff hides the muscle beneath and makes him appear more cuddly than anything.
Rarely, Sythril will sit or stand on his hind legs, but he cannot walk on two legs like other creatures.

Sythril has several scars on the left side of his body, over his muzzle, eye, neck, shoulder, and hind leg. Many of these scars, including the large one on his shoulder, were gained in a fight against a massive corrupted beast. Only his neck scars were caused by dire wolves. The right side of his body has no scars.
(Because Sythril's fur and skin is fairly thick, it takes quite a lot for something to become a scar.)

Sythril is omnivorous but prefers a mostly herbivorous diet, as he has few hunting skills. He normally eats things like fruits and vegetables. He is okay with fish but only eats red meat if it is cooked.

While everybody classes Sythril as a "monster" or "snowbeast," he is still a magical familiar by creation and requires magic to sustain himself. He cannot go to places where magic is absent and is strongest where it's constantly present.
Without any magic, he doesn't fade out or die, but he becomes too weak to do anything.

Sythril usually doesn't wear any clothing or accessories outside of work, except for the holidays. During December, he sometimes wears bells, colorful ribbons, and a wreath around his neck.

When working around town, Sythril wears large saddlebags with three seats on top for people to ride on. He uses these saddlebags to carry supplies, like medicine and building materials, and he helps transport people across town during rough weather. He is also the town's "ambulance" and carries the sick and injured to Dr. Malva's clinic.

When working on patrol, Sythril sometimes wears his saddlebags for protection. If he runs into danger, the saddlebags help pad out attacks from dire wolves and other creatures.

Sythril has some Earth magic powers and can cause smaller scale earthquakes if he uses them. He's tough and can lift quite a lot of weight on his back.

• Sythril is naturally strong and can lift several hundreds of pounds.

• More info about the skill goes here!

NOTE: Old info! I'm rewriting this. ;v;

Because Sythril doesn't know his real creation date, he celebrates his birthday on the day that Jeremiah took him in.

Sythril is a gentle giant with a huge soft spot for little children and animals. The townsfolk call him the local "snowbeast." He patrols the outside of town frequently in order to keep potential threats away or to recover any lost townsfolk with the help of Brooke. He looks up to Brooke more than he should, really, and considers him his "hero." Unlike everybody else, Sythril refers to Brooke as "Hale" instead. His tough build and protective layers of thick fur and armored plates prove useful during fights and bad weather. He doesn't agree with the idea of killing or harming others as a solution to any problem and avoids doing so if possible, and he has only been driven to kill a few times when it was necessary to protect others. He may seem like a pushover with his pacifist attitude, but he can pack a punch and send monsters flying with a whip of his tail. Unlike most monsters who live in his world, he is friendly towards Humans and will come to their aid if needed. He loves to let people ride on his back and will help carry heavy loads of supplies for the townsfolk. He is extremely patient and forgiving with people; he's one of the only townsfolk willing to put up with people like Brooke. He believes in giving people second chances, but he will drive those who prove unchangeable away (with a broken heart) if he absolutely has to. His favorite treats are hot chocolate or anything sweet and icy, especially maple taffy. He loves making ice cream and smoothies and spends most of his spare time at home experimenting with new flavors. They don't always work out, but he eats them anyways. He hates letting any source of food go to waste. The ice cream flavors that do happen to work out are handed out for free to the townsfolk. He enjoys sharing what he has and seeing other people happy makes him happy too. While he enjoys a few Christmas or winter-related songs every now and then, he doesn't like it if any of them are played or sung out of season. During summer, he slows in activity due to his lack of tolerance towards heat, but he never complains. He's willing to tough things out for his friends and hates worrying any of them. He loves to chase the little snowbunnies that live in the burrows near the dire wolf forest.

Sythril lives in the northern town of Lusus Naturae. He currently resides in a large two-story house with the town doctor, but he doesn't fit through the main door and has to enter through the shed. The shed itself is considered his room. He spends more time in the kitchen or shed, working on his latest ice cream creations or sleeping. Most of his sweet creations are stored in a large ice cream freezer right by the kitchen entrance. It is large enough to fit an animal or Human, but Sythril has no bodies to hide. He helps out the Doctor by transporting patients and gathering supplies. When something bad happens, he's generally the first to fetch the old Doctor.

Sythril was created as a magical familiar - to be a magic user's guide and companion for life. It was normal for some magic users to create their first familiar upon reaching their teenage years, as magical familiars intended to be a form of aid. Because he was much larger than the standard familiar and created specifically for heavy labor and as a protector, he was left to mature in the chambers for longer than the others.

Unfortunately, Sythril's future owner would die along with many others when the corrupted beasts attacked their tower, causing the entire structure to break and collapse into the mountain.

The magical explosion afterwards would permanently change the landscape around them and force half of the mountain range into an eternal winter, while the other half remained in an eternal summer. It halted all forms of magitech throughout the tower's ruins, causing the magic core to remain present but cut off power supply to the rest of the structures, including the chambers where Sythril and other familiars had lived.

Without anyone to wake him and the magic core barely functional, Sythril remained in his small, child-like form, preventing him from aging further, and slept through the next two years, unaware of the world outside.

Around two years later, a young Sythril woke up to various loud sounds of rubble being moved around. Instead of being greeted by his creator and owner, he found himself surrounded by darkness and trapped behind a collapsed wall. He couldn't sense the warmth or familiar magic of his creator and instead felt a cold, icy chill flowing through the room. His heart sank as he realized what it meant: that his creator had long passed before they could even meet. The tower was already in ruins, with the only remaining source of light being the faint glow of the magic runes across the floor and walls.

Sythril sat in the dark room, an ownerless magical familiar, not knowing what to do. All magical familiars needed an owner - that was what he believed. Without an owner, they had no purpose.

With his small claws, Sythril made an attempt to dig himself out through one of the small openings in the walls. As he dug, he caught sight of a light blue glow moving through the hallway on the other side, which only made him more desperate to get through. He could sense that someone else was in the area - a magic user, and he could hear them moving the rubble away from the other rooms. They were the only two present. He couldn't sense any other familiars around, meaning that the magic user was alone.

Sythril desperately threw himself against the wall, not wanting to lose sight of the first person he's ever seen, and managed to break his way through. He ran after the person, hoping they could take him as their own, but he found climbing the stairs difficult and was left behind. As he had only recently woken up, he was still figuring out his legs and flopped up the steps.

Still, Sythril was determined to catch up and could still trace their path through the hallways by the magic runes that would light up in reaction as they passed by. He ran as fast as he could, climbing all the steps, until he found himself in a brightly lit hallway of the upper floor. The upper floor was much more intact than the lower floors, where everything was dark and falling apart. Everything seemed clean and even mostly repaired, except for the thick layers of ice holding the ceiling together.

At the end of the hallway was a lounge area, where the magic user had stopped to take a break and was now sitting on the couch, with a sad expression. Sythril let out an excited squeak upon finally catching up to the person - a mage named Brooke - and leapt straight towards him.

Instead of landing happily in his new owner's lap, Sythril collided with the couch cushions as Brooke was startled and dodged him. The entire thing had caught him by surprise. Sythril stared up at the mage, confused, and Brooke was equally confused at finding another living creature in the ruins.

Sythril wasn't able to communicate yet, and the best he could do was try to get Brooke's attention. He nuzzled up to Brooke's hand but was left even more confused as the mage pulled away. He jumped off the couch and tried to cling to Brooke's leg, but he was quickly pulled off and placed back on the couch. No matter what Sythril tried, the mage was rejecting him and seemed even sadder now.

When Brooke suddenly turned away and began to leave the lounge area, Sythril let out another squeak and chased after him, only to run into a closed door. He cried outside the door and tried to squeeze his paws under it, but he got no response.

After a while, Sythril went back to the lounge area, dejected. He noticed a small red paper bag of goodies on the coffee table, pulled it down, and began to rummage through it. Inside, he found a small container of cookies and a thermos. He managed to pry off the lid on the container and ate all the cookies. The thermos was more of a struggle, but he eventually figured out how to unscrew the top. It was filled with hot chocolate, which he quickly drank up. He didn't know why there was food here, but he enjoyed it.

Sythril began to feel tired. The exhaustion from digging through rubble and running up all those stairs had caught up to him. He climbed up onto the couch and decided to sleep. He shivered as the room was cold, but he curled his tail around himself to keep warm.

For the next few days, Sythril would stick around the lounge area. He had no idea how to leave the building and was too scared to go back down into the darkness. Every time Brooke would walk into the lounge, Sythril would chirp happily at him, only to be awkwardly dodged by the mage again. He noticed that the mage lived alone in these ruins. There was nobody else around. He always looked so sad and lonely.

Eventually, Sythril learned to be more quiet and to stop surprising Brooke. He began to notice how uncomfortable the mage seemed around him, and how the mage refused any physical contact. He couldn't tell if Brooke didn't like him or if it was something else. Just to be safe, Sythril decided to keep his distance.

Over time, Brooke did become more comfortable around Sythril, enough to sit down on the couch with him, but he never spoke and wouldn't even reach out a hand to the familiar.
(In fact, Brooke speaks so little that Sythril was convinced he might've been mute for a while. lol)

As the mage began to interact with Sythril again, this only made Sythril want him to become his new owner even more. Over and over again, Sythril would keep trying to get closer to Brooke, only to be pushed away. He seemed unsure of taking on a familiar companion - as if he had reasons to not want one.

Sythril found himself going hungry again, because there wasn't much to eat in the ruins. Even if familiars didn't really need food, he still didn't like starving.

The next time Brooke brought cookies to the lounge, Sythril begged him for some, and, to Sythril's surprise, the mage give him the cookies. That same night, he also gave Sythril a blanket to sleep with.

Early the next morning, Brooke carefully rolled little Sythril up in the blanket and carried him up and out of the ruins. Sythril doesn't remember much of that time, because he was still half-asleep. He only recalls feeling the fresh, cold air as they left the caves into the open fields and seeing snow for the first time. Even outdoors, there was no sign of other people and barely any wild animals wandering around.

By the time Sythril was fully awake, Brooke had walked all the way out to a house, which they entered. Inside was an older man, who was surprised to see them. He slowly got up from his chair and began to walk over to them.

"Brooke...? What is that? Where did you-"

Instead of saying anything, Brooke gently placed Sythril down on the floor before the old man. Sythril had barely registered what was happening until he heard the front door close behind him. Brooke had left him in this house with a stranger. He quickly turned around and cried out, clawing at the front door.

The old man was quick to pick up Sythril and try to comfort the crying familiar. "There, there," he said in a soft voice, "there's nothing to be afraid of. I won't hurt you."

Sythril looked up at the old man. He didn't know what to do.

"Why don't you stay with me for now? It's much safer here than out there." he smiled gently. "I'm Dr. Malva. Do you have a name, little one?"

Sythril didn't have a name. His owner was supposed to name him.

"Are you hungry? How about we get you something to eat first. We'll figure everything else out later."

Sythril would have preferred to stay with Brooke instead of here, but he did feel hungry. Cookies weren't enough. He gave a small nod.

After Brooke left, Sythril found himself in the home of Dr. Jeremiah Malva. The doctor treated him well and always provided for him. It was much more comfortable than the ruins.

Dr. Malva assured Sythril that Brooke hadn't abandoned him. The mage was simply giving Sythril a better place to live.

The doctor was the one who named Sythril.

While living at the doctor's house, Sythril would meet Ulysses, who was also living there. Ulysses would begin to take a great interest in studying Sythril and helped Dr. Malva figure things out.

Ulysses would slowly begin to teach Sythril how to read and write.

Sythril also grew up a little in that time.

Despite Dr. Malva's orders, Sythril found a way to open the front door and managed to leave the house.

Sythril encountered a corrupted beast for the first time.
(and he kept the horn piece from it, much to Brooke's dismay)

Because Sythril had spent so long asleep, his body had been left behind, but, now that he was finally awake, it decided it was time to catch up. Dr. Malva and Sythril found that he had been growing quite faster than they expected. Sythril went through a massive growth spurt within the span of less than a year. He became a subject of interest to magic researchers.

Eventually, he couldn't even fit in the main house without squeezing in through the doors. Sythril ends up making the extra storage room into his own room, because it had more space.
(don't worry, they got slightly larger doors in the end lol)

At this point, Sythril began to question his role in life. The doctor eventually tells him that nobody expects him to live up to his role as a familiar, and that he doesn't have to live for the sake of others. Instead, he asks Sythril what he wants to do - for himself - and tells him that, magical familiar or not, he can choose to do whatever he wants.

Sythril decides he wants to start training so he can be stronger and protect other people.

Sythril and Brooke encounter the same corrupted beast from over a year ago. Sythril fights it and wins.

This is where Sythril got most of his scars.

Crystalwake was founded later that year. Many people arrived to build the town together, and Dr. Malva somehow became their unofficial town leader.

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