Ispi

Ispi

“I glanced once more at my notes before looking up at the archway, standing above my head with small gears worked into its exterior. Part of the barmy Labyrinthine Portal, where getting lost was easier then offending a Modron. I stepped in, the gears of Mechanus momentarily disappearing behind me, when I saw them. Only in the instance it took me to travel the portal, I saw little creatures out of the corner of my eye, fluttering about in the blankness. Something living in between the Labyrinthine Portal, not here or there. Sodding Mechanus, can’t even travel it’s portals without seeing strange things.”

— Alexar the Tarnished, a planewalker visiting Mechanus

Ispi are mechanical natives of Mechanus, more accurately they are native to the inside the Labyrinthine maze. When one flies into a Labyrinthine portal, it doesn’t come out anywhere else. See, Guvners have theorised that there is some hidden layer of Mechanus that is not a gear, but a dual-dimension of some type, and the Labyrinthine Portal leads to it. No ones managed to get to there though, and it’s curious inhabitants are only ever encountered on Mechanus outside the portals, the Ispi having come through either out of curiosity or by accident. They will fly around Mechanus for months before getting bored and finding there way back into a Labyrinthine portal.

Ispi appear as small mechanical spheres with one eye and two pairs of wings. They have superb magnifying sight, able to magnify their eyes in or out, often seeing danger from miles away. Mages of Mechanus have begun to prize them as familiars for this reason, able to help examine spellbooks and components, and give extra viewing distance to extend a wizards spell range. They can also navigate the Labyrinthine maze perfectly, though they tend to stay there if their wizard is unkind to them or grows boring. Regular portals are often confusing to them, as they are used to the Labyrinthine portals that are their home.

COMBAT: The Ispi are not built for combat, preferring to run a way if attacked, using their superior speed and manoeuvrability to outrun an opponent. In Mechanus with the wide-open spaces between gears and numerous Labyrinthine portals, they can run away fast enough to stay safe. Outside of Mechanus they usually have no chance of surviving unless they are a mages familiar.

When unable to escape, usually being held in some manner, they can emit a small electrical shock from their eye that does 1d4 damage.

HABITAT/SOCIETY: It is theorised that in their layer within the Labyrinthine maze they have some type of society. Glimpses of them from planewalkers using the Labyrinthine always say they’re clustered in a group, but outside of their home they are always encountered alone. If two happen to meet, for example if two wizards with ispi familiars are travelling together, the two ispi will ignore each other completely, as if they don’t recognise they are the same type of creature.

ECOLOGY: The Ispi do not eat or sleep, however it is rumoured if they don’t return to the Labyrinthine Portal at least once a year they will perish.

Source: Jeremiah Golden