Fey Cats

"One of the primary non-human races."Silent footsteps, impeccable balance, shimmering visage on the edge of perception. The Fey Cats were a more recent addition to the legally recognized non-human member races of the Grienzen Empire, but are still citizens all the same. They have a reputation for being unreliable, bearers of bad news, and generally untrustworthy, yet they do keep rodents (and the pestilences they carry) at bay.

Legend
As opposed to most of the other non-human races, there is very little in terms of consistent legends regarding the Fey Cats. Stories about them range from tales of friendly felines who lead lost children back home out of the woods, to evil witches in the guise of a cat. At the worst, they've even been said to be devils seeking out the souls of men to whisk off to Hell. They are often said to be an entirely female race, and yet instances of male Fey Cats exist in myths as well. It's also speculated that they are both cats who can sometimes appear as humanoid entities, and that they are humans who can shapeshift into the form of a cat.

The most common element regarding stories about Fey Cats is that they interact most with those humans who have a penchant for the mystical or esoteric. The folktale about a wizard's familiar usually puts it as a Fey Cat companion. As a result, many a superstition exists surrounding encounters with black cats, and Fey Cats themselves are often treated with extreme scrutiny and skepticism regarding their reliability. This is not helped by their seemingly overrepresented participation in criminal elements in larger cities.

Humanoid Form
Unlike Wolfen, Fey Cats do not possess an entirely human-looking form. The closest they manage is that of a human with a feline pair of ears and a tail, along with a feline-style slitted pupils. The most common hair color is black, but some have a peppered brown and black, while white is not uncommon even far before old age. They tend to have bright yellow eyes but blue and green are common as well.

Cat Form
When in their feline forms, Fey Cats appear to be a normal cat, albeit sometimes larger-sized than most domestic cats of similar breed. The most common coloration for Fey Cats fur coats is dark gray or black, but some have white fur and others sport brown and black patterns. This coloration is the same across humanoid and cat forms, as is eye color and appearance.

Capabilities
It is still not clear to the Imperial Magical Research Academy whether Fey Cat abilities are strictly magical or function via a different- currently unknown- mechanism. One thing is clear, and that is the fact that Fey Cats can act as stray Essence collectors, capable of capturing the excess magical energy that human mages expend through spells. This is believed to be the reason why they act with greater respect toward those humans with magical capabilities over others, but it is unclear what process is happening when they absorb vented Essence.

In turn, the Fey Cat's assortment of abilities appear to be more mental than magical, though they are certainly supernatural. First among them is the unmatched penchant that Fey Cats have for illusions, the creation and manipulation of artificial imagery. They are most adept at projecting the appearance of humans or other people, and can do so directly on top of themselves or others so as to provide a deceptive disguise. Through this, they can pose as someone else quite effectively, with the likeness of the facsimile dependent upon the closeness of examination of the original.

The other ability Fey Cats possess is that of telepathy, being able to read the thoughts of others as well as to communicate their own thoughts into others' heads. The effectiveness of the mind-reading depends greatly upon how cooperative the participants are, as only surface-level and actively focused-upon thoughts are legible to a Fey Cat reading an unwilling target. The Fey Cat must be able to look into the target's eyes in order to read their thoughts.

As for the distant communication, the range of transmitted thoughts correlates with how well the Fey Cat and the recipient know each other Increased familiarity yields greater possible distance for the one-way psychic messages, seemingly up to ten miles based on a test carried out with identical twin Fey Cats.

Limitations
Throughout nearly every legend surrounding Fey Cats, one recurring element about them is the ability to kill them using fire, as well as mention of lightning/electricity having a similar effectiveness. It has been theorized- though entirely unproven- that the Essence collection capability Fey Cats possess operates through their fur or hair, and this cannot be turned off, leaving them vulnerable to overloading their capacity for such energy and causing internal damage.

The Fey Cat's ability to project illusions can be defeated in one of three ways. Through the use of a mirror or else looking into some other source of reflection, the illusion fails to appear. Also, normal cats are completely unfooled by the false image created, and react very strongly in a negative manner to these illusions, hissing and arching their backs quite aggressively. And finally, Night Raven eyes see right through Fey Cat illusions.

When it comes to defending against their telepathic abilities, there are currently no known counter-techniques or disruptive materials. Instead, only a firm mental defense and strong willpower can allow one to resist the examination of thoughts, or else simply avoid making eye contact with the Fey Cat.