Sparksprites

Sparksprites are small, hovering entities of living flame, anywhere from the size of a clenched fist to a grown man’s skull. Their fire-bodies are loosely held in humanoid shape, trailing glowing motes and gossamer-like ribbons that match the hue of their inner fire. Plasma arcs occasionally crackle across their form like miniature lightning bolts, always in contrasting but radiant colors. Inside, barely visible through the flickering light, floats the specter of a slender winged figure, formless, fae-like, and eerily still. Their flames do not consume their surroundings, but respond with intelligence, refusing to burn nests or trees where they rest. When one is killed and its flame dies, its invisible form may briefly be seen, if captured and ground to powder, its wings can amplify spellcasting dramatically (or catastrophically). Each Sparksprite’s color is said to reveal its ‘personality,’ with red ones being aggressive, blue melancholy, green evasive, yellow playful, orange territorial, and violet... simply wicked.

Sparksprites do not reproduce. They are born spontaneously when large pulses of ambient magick meet fertile natural growth during moments of intense arcane flux, usually in the central depths of the Grandgleam. Life and magick react, and the forest breathes out a new sprite. They cannot be bred or recreated artificially, and even attempts to bottle or clone their essence result in inert husks or dangerous arcane feedback.

• Birth: Sparksprites emerge fully formed in a flash of colored light and residual crackling mist.

• Life: They remain the same size and shape throughout existence, fading slowly as the magick around them wanes or they are hunted.

• End: When the ambient magick can no longer sustain them, they extinguish without warning, leaving behind a faint shimmer and, if not harvested, nothing else.

Sparksprites are only found in the Grandgleam Forest, specifically, within the most magickally potent regions near its core. They cannot survive elsewhere without direct arcane sustenance and perish within hours when removed from the forest. They do not build homes but instead return to certain nests, often gnarled, enchanted tree knots or abandoned bird perches, where residual magick clings. These nests often shimmer faintly with matching plasma arcs and soft hums of energy.

Sparksprites are arcane filter feeders. They drift through the air absorbing raw magick like plankton from the sea. In times of scarcity or desperation, they will latch onto living creatures, especially magickal ones, and siphon the ambient arcane energy suffusing their bodies. In small animals, this is often fatal. In larger beings, it causes fatigue, nausea, or arcane disruptions (such as uncontrolled spell discharges or magical interference).

Sparksprites exist in symbiosis with the magick of the Grandgleam. They do not follow seasons or migration patterns but are more likely to be born after major magical surges, storms, leyline tremors, or spell catastrophes. When the magick thins, they vanish, snuffed like candles. None are believed to survive more than a few years at most.

Chaotic, curious, and seemingly devoid of higher reason, Sparksprites behave more like wild fire than intelligent creatures. They flit erratically through the trees, chase reflections, hover near spellcasters, and vanish at sudden noises. Yet there is a strange playfulness in their motions, some say they giggle or mimic laughter with bursts of sparks. They do not form social groups, though multiple may be born in the same area during arcane surges. Adventurers sometimes follow them unknowingly into traps, as the glowing trail they leave is also used by certain forest predators to bait prey who chase light sources.

They are acutely sensitive to magickal signatures. Sparksprites can detect a spell before it's cast, sense artifacts buried in soil, and react to spellcasting with jittery excitement or defensive agitation. Their vision seems focused on energy rather than shape, drawn to sources of power like moths to flame.