Creatures That Choose You (Aether skies D&D campaign setting)

February 20, 2026

Aether Skies/ At The Gaming Table/ Roleplaying Games

Unique Pets of the Aether Skies

In most fantasy worlds, pets are simple things: dogs, cats, horses—maybe something exotic if magic allows it.

In Aether Skies, nothing is simple.

The sky is saturated with aether. Dreams bleed into reality. Engines hum like living things beneath the great Aether Barrier. When creatures adapt to this environment—or are shaped by it—they become something more than animals.

Pets in Aether Skies are not owned.

They are kept. Courted. Endured.

And sometimes… they choose their people first.

Why Pets Matter in the Floating Cities

In a world where:

The ground is unreachable
Storms erase entire districts
Cities forget their own past

Small, living companions become anchors.

Pets in Aether Skies provide:

Emotional grounding in a transient world
Early warning signs of instability or aether surges
Cultural identity within different sky cities
Narrative leverage for GMs

More importantly, they reveal how people survive the impossible on a daily basis.

You can learn more about a city by its pets than by its laws.

Aether-Touched Companions

These creatures are shaped by proximity to engines, conduits, and concentrated aether fields.

1. Driftcats

Semi-translucent felines with faintly glowing eyes, Driftcats can momentarily reduce their weight, allowing impossible leaps or effortless vertical climbs.

Popular among skyship crews
Curl around aether conduits to “warm” themselves
React violently to unstable aether

GM Use: A Driftcat hisses or flees seconds before an aether surge or dimensional breach.

2. Lantern Koi

Small floating fish that “swim” through open air, their bodies glowing with shifting bioluminescent patterns.

Kept in open-air tanks or tethered glass spheres
Colors shift in response to emotional energy
Considered illegal in Theopholis due to “unsanctioned symbolism”

Narrative Hook: A Lantern Koi goes dark for the first time in generations.

3. Cogfinches

Tiny mechanical-avian hybrids originally designed as maintenance aids. Over time, they developed quirks resembling personality.

Nest inside machinery
Sing diagnostic “songs” when systems are stressed
Often inherited instead of purchased

Cultural Note: Among engineers, losing a Cogfinch is considered a grave omen.

Creatures of the Storm

These beings thrive in atmospheric instability and drifting aether currents.

4. Cloudleeches

Gelatinous ribbon-like organisms that feed on excess atmospheric aether.

Found clinging to skyship hulls
Harmless when fed, destructive when starving
Illegal to transport between cities

Some captains keep them intentionally as living stabilizers—others consider them parasites waiting for an excuse.

5. Windhounds

Lean, long-limbed beasts with translucent flanks that allow wind currents to pass through their bodies.

Used by scouts and high-speed couriers
Bond to a single handler
Howl before skyquakes or sudden pressure shifts

Windhounds are status symbols… and liabilities.

Dream-Touched Companions (Haven’s Legacy)

In cities where memory fractures and dreams linger, some pets blur the line between imagination and life.

6. Somnolents

Small, plush-like creatures stitched from fur and shadow.

Manifest during deep sleep
React to nightmares by shifting shape
Disappear if emotionally neglected

Some believe Somnolents are fragments of dreams given form.

7. Memory Moths

Pale insects drawn to strong recollections.

Feed on emotional resonance
Leave behind “echo dust” that triggers vivid flashbacks
Common near individuals with fractured identities

In Haven, killing a Memory Moth is considered sacrilege.

How to Use Pets in D&D Without Slowing Play

Pets in Aether Skies are narrative tools, not stat blocks.

For Players

They don’t need combat mechanics to matter
They can signal danger or emotional shifts
They can be comfort, complication, or clue

For GMs

Use pets as environmental sensors
Let them react before NPCs do
Put them at risk sparingly—never casually

A threatened pet raises stakes instantly without requiring initiative rolls.

Cultural Attitudes Toward Pets

How a city treats its animals reveals how it treats its people.

Orashul: Pets are curated, fashionable, and tightly regulated
Granglehold: If it doesn’t serve a function, it doesn’t last
Theopholis: Animals are symbols first, companions second
Kerfluffle: Everyone’s pet becomes everyone’s responsibility
Haven: Pets are treated as equals… or warnings

In Aether Skies, companionship is political.

Adventure Hooks Involving Aether-Touched Pets

The Missing Familiar: Pets across an entire district vanish overnight.
The Pet That Knows You: A creature recognizes a PC it has never met.
Illegal Breeding Ring: Rare aether-touched animals are being trafficked.
The Inherited Companion: A pet refuses to leave after its owner’s death.
The Creature That Shouldn’t Exist: A hybrid pet begins destabilizing reality.

Final Thought: Companions in a World That Floats

In Aether Skies, everything is temporary—homes, alliances, even memories.

Keeping a pet is an act of defiance.

It is choosing to care for something small and vulnerable in a world that devours the careless.
It is being remembered by a creature that does not care about rank, titles, or debts.

And sometimes, when the engines falter and the sky goes quiet,
the first warning isn’t a siren—

It’s your pet, suddenly afraid.

Thanks for reading.
Until next time—stay nerdy.