Otters, Minks, Fishers, Martens, and Sables

Most popular creatures to pick as a witch's familiar in this universe (instead of cats, which have the same number of chromosomes). These sneaky long creatures can be found curled around their owner or their owner's belongings, or taking control of other people's belongings. With a great amount of training, you can get the critter to steal specific things that you want, although it's frowned upon by the Church. In regions where immigrants from regions that have these animals moved to areas that didn't, the weasel and weasel-esque creatures like these are considered protectors of holy books and sacred places, much as snakes became an essential part of Irish folk art in the real world.

Basic Information

Anatomy

38 chromosomes, based on the weasel family.

Biological Traits

long furry bodies, good at swimming and climbing trees, tall skinny structures, and humans, cuddles each other/ does the "buddy system" when mildly threatened, dashes off and disappears when more majorly threatened. Can carry young on their bellies or crack nuts for food using their belly as a sort of cutting board.

Civilization and Culture

History

Nifitsas came across Empyreans before they came across humans. The flighted Empyreans thought they were little more than a mild nuisance - when you can fly, a little furry dude scrambling around tree branches is of little consequence to your fairy duties. Non-flighted Empyreans were also inconvenienced by them at first but quickly learned they could make excellent companions. They help with hunting and gathering materials and act much like cats (another creature with 38 chromosomes) but are less likely to be the pets of humans than a cat might be, so there's more of the nifitsas to go around. Because they got mixed up with magic from the jump, they tend to have a semi-telepathic emotional bond with their people and will run to their aid in times of need.

Scientific Name

family Nifitsa (Greek for weasel)