new story idea i just had while thinking about my “paranormal investigator but with a demon robot sidekick” story:
world where magic exists, but can only be used by robots, because reasons (i actually do have reasons in mind, ive got a couple ideas im hammering out). so people make small animal-shaped constructs as familiars that are sapient enough to cast magic but are dependent on the master they’re bound to, and that’s who wizards are, is people who have familiars who cast magic for them. making a familiar look too realistic or trying to pass them off as just a pet or something is illegal, and so is making a familiar above a certain size category (larger familiars can channel more magic, so really big ones are reserved for certain purposes and are pretty highly regulated). making a specifically humanoid construct is extra illegal, not to mention pretty taboo.
so naturally, the story will follow a humanoid caster who looks realistic enough to pass for human, which is a good thing, because they don’t know who made them or why and it would be very bad for them if they were discovered while they try and figure it out.
