NOMIMI: 飲み (のみ) drink + 耳 (みみ) ears

Nomimi are a semi-open species--please feel free to make your own for personal use, but if you want to sell them please run them by me first, and of course credit me for the species!

OVERVIEW

Nomimi are the familiars of witches--creatures magically awakened using the witch’s favorite drink as a focus. Nomimi come in as many forms as you’d generally expect a witch’s familiar to--cats, ravens, and mice being the most common, but things as exotic as wolves or deer aren’t unheard of. As they are magical constructs, they cannot reproduce and do not require sustenance, but otherwise their bodies function normally--they can be injured, get sick, and even die just as any human can.

In personality they can vary, but are generally understood to be loyal to their witches. There is some debate as to whether or not they have ‘souls,’ if their emotional depth is on par with a human’s, but there are many witches who would tell you that their Nomimi are just as expressive and feeling as themselves, perhaps even more so. Relationships between Nomimi and humans are not uncommon, but are viewed mostly as a transactional relationship rather than an emotional one--a witch marrying and settling down with their Nomimi would be seen as exceedingly strange.

PHYSICAL TRAITS

In their humanoid forms, Nomimi resemble humans, but have several traits that make them obviously inhuman unless they go through effort to hide it. All Nomimi retain some parts of their animal form when in humanoid form--these differ depending on species but range from ears to to tails to wings, and many other things in between.

The most distinctive feature of any Nomimi is their horns. These horns are usually made of material like porcelain or ceramic, and have a small hole from which the scent and steam of their focus drink exudes (no need to drink from their horns though--they can easily conjure a more standard cup of the beverage on command). The steam the Nomimi exudes can be started or stopped at will and has a healing effect, but only for their witch.

Most horns have a teacup-like pattern on them, and this pattern repeats on the non-human parts of them as well (tips of ears, wings, tails, etc). They vary in length, but most are fairly short, as longer ones would be impractical. A Nomimi’s horns are the center of its connection to its witch, and breaking or damaging them similarly damages their connection--in severe cases even cutting it entirely. Repairing them is a time-consuming process, but is a fairly common procedure taught to every witch during their education, as their delicate nature means it’s more likely they will break at some point than not.



NOMIMI AND THEIR WITCHES

The Nomimi, using its witch’s magic, is capable of utilizing simple magic and can transform at will between a humanoid form and an animal form. It also maintains a constant emotional bond with its witch, sharing thoughts if the witch wishes it but otherwise having a simple awareness of the witch’s general mood and status. If the Nomimi is cut off from its witch, either through the witch’s death, the breaking of its horns, or some other extraordinary means, it loses its magical abilities and remains fixed in whatever form it was in at the time of the severance. It is possible that another witch could adopt the Nomimi thereafter and re-establish their magical connection, but the process would be extremely difficult and likely to have complications for both parties.