Bartleby

Bartleby most frequently appears to be a black cat—but there’s something subtly off about her. Maybe it’s the purple eyes. Or that her limbs aren’t quite the right length. Or that her tail seems to have fewer joints than it should, making it oddly segmented. Or maybe it’s that her shadow is frequently something other than a cat.

Bartleby has no sex organs. Felix claims that she chooses to present as female, though how this would differ from presenting as male for a being who has no obvious gender expression at all—and who’s ontological status as a living being is itself debateable—is completely unclear. Bartleby is an infernal creature of some sort, but she’s neutral rather then evil. How does that work? Nobody knows!

Well, Bartleby might. It’s not always clear to Felix whether she doesn’t know something, or just doesn’t want to say. One of the things that she’s never articulated is her fondness for the person she considers to be “her wizard.” In truth she’s very fond of him indeed — he gave her a name, after all, and several interesting shapes to wear. She likes having a body, a physical presence on the Material Plane... and everything that comes with that physicality, like sight and hearing and taste. Maybe especially taste. Felix feeds her, and because she isn’t really a cat, she can eat all kinds of things. She’s particularly fond of licorice candy.

Bartleby is very protective of her wizard. If the shape she is wearing is damaged beyond using, she can return to spirit form, and wait for Felix to recreate it. But humans don’t work that way. If Felix were to die... well, Bartleby isn’t going to let that happen. And so she most often perches in cat-form on his shoulder, eyes glowing an unnatural purple, looking out for anything that might threaten her dear wizard.

Alignment: Neutral

Ideal: To enjoy what the Material Plane has to offer.

Bond: Felix Vance is my wizard, and I’m his familiar. My loyalty to him is unshakeable.

Flaw: I’m not from the Material Plane, and there’s a lot about it that I don’t understand.