Heraldic Servant Overview

A god may reward a successful quest by granting a heraldic servant to a deserving noble house or a champion in that god's service. The servant becomes part of the family's coat of arms and passes to the heir when its first bearer dies. All are highly intelligent (High or better), provide services on demand and grant special powers. Twenty-one types are known, 18 of them now serving bearers along the frontier coast while the rest survive in legend and family lore. Reports may mention the same type more than once, but every servant is one of a kind, shaped by a god for a single family.

Each servant has an inactive form and two active ones. The inactive form is the figure on the arms, placed however the family likes, as the main charge, in the crest or as a supporter; one emperor's eagle, for instance, spreads its wings and tail to split his shield into three fields. However many times it appears in the design, only one servant can be called. The first active form is a flawless rendering of the animal at human scale whatever its true size, with powers roughly matching the real creature. The second is a humanoid that keeps telling traits, so the dragon stays scaled and clawed with a dragon's face. A servant seems to step straight out of the arms when summoned, and must touch the arms to rejoin them, which is also how it can be transferred onto different arms.

Servants fight with natural weapons in natural form. Those out of their element, such as a baroness's dolphin, float in magic fields that let them move almost normally. AC and hit points are the same in both active forms, though attacks may change, and every servant's magical powers work in either form unless noted. A servant fights when ordered and automatically defends its bearer while active unless told not to. Since it is a great mark of prestige and can be slain, though only while active, it usually serves in safer roles such as herald or envoy.

Only the rightful bearer, the original recipient or, later, whoever leads the family, can summon it, at any time. If three straight generations prove unworthy in the god's eyes, the servant is taken away until two straight generations prove their worth. It also serves as its bearer's familiar. While it is active, a telepathic link reaching one mile lets them share thoughts and senses, and the bearer functions as one level higher in every way, whatever the class, and gains the servant's spell immunities and an equal amount of magic resistance. Other powers appear under each servant.

With the servant inactive, the bearer keeps the extra level and magic resistance only by carrying its coat of arms in person, and gains nothing else unless a description says so. Leaving the arms behind or the servant ranging too far carries no penalty, but if the servant dies the bearer loses every bonus and two levels permanently. A slain servant stays away until that bearer has died and the next generation takes charge, then reappears beside the deathbed.

Heraldic servants are wholly devoted, never seeking freedom or betrayal, and are either neutral or share the bearer's alignment. They prefer natural form but never resent being made humanoid. Magical beings, they need no food or sleep, collect no treasure though they may carry the bearer's valuables, and never gain experience. One might be met in any land, but bearers seldom let them wander far.