Revision as of 04:54, 21 September 2009

A familiar is an extremely rare piratey pet offered as a prize in special events, such as the Olympic Champions League or certain forum contests. They are only created by the Ocean Masters for special contests. Such events have included tournaments, art contests, literary puzzles, auctions, and duty puzzle bakeoffs in the past, among other things. It's very hard to get a familiar, due to the fierce competition that familiar prizes incite.

Familiars typically act as a clothing item, and can be placed in wardrobes, but not on tailors' racks. They can be worn by non-subscribers, and do not age. When a pirate wearing a familiar has a portrait made, the familiar will appear on the pirate's shoulder in the portrait.

Monkeys, octopi, and ippolitos are monochromatic while parrots and serpents have two colors. The color will depend on the contest: some allow for the winner's color choice within the guidelines, while others will be decided beforehand. A few general restrictions apply, regardless of how color is determined:

Pure white monkey, octopus and parrot familiars are reserved for winners of the Olympic Champions League
Pure black monkey, octopus and parrot familiars are reserved for Ocean Masters and developers.
Monkeys may only be chosen in "natural" colors. See the page on monkeys for more information.
Tan familiars as of June 25th, 2006 were exclusively given out in automated tournaments.
Tan familiars are also given out in impromptu Bake-offs as well as other events where a full color familiar is not appropriate.

Players can have their familiars recolored for 200,000 PoE. Players are not permitted to make their familiars completely black in this fashion (a parrot with only one color as black is allowed, however.)

Tan familiars, white monkey, octopus, and parrot familiars, ippolitos and serpents cannot be recolored at all. Parrots are considered tan if either of their colors is tan; the non-tan color cannot be changed.

If you wish to change the color of your familiar, please leave it and the required PoE in your inventory (not on your shoulder). Then petition with the name and color(s) and the new color(s). The familiar palette shows all possible color combinations for player-owned familiars.

It may require logging out and logging back in to see the effect of a recoloring.

Acquisition

From left: octopus, parrot, and monkey familiars.

Ippolito familiar.

Serpent familiars.

Familiars are occasionally available for purchase. When a player decides to part with his or her hard-won familiar, the general asking price for a colored familiar varies widely from 2,000,000 to 8,000,000 Pieces of Eight. The Ringers auction off familiars on the forums about once a month, one on each ocean; however, in recent months, alternative forms of auction have been explored, such as boat auctions, rag/stick auctions, and rare item auctions, as well as plain old PoE.

Under the new familiar system, regular quasi-weekly tournaments for each carousing puzzle are held on every ocean. These tournaments are automated and not announced beforehand, with top prize of a tan familiar; in the case of a parrot, a tan/other color parrot is awarded. Other "full" familiar tournaments will be held for carousing puzzles, but not as frequently as they have been in past. These tan familiars tend to go for between a quarter and a half of the price of a colored familiar, although the price depends strongly on the color and owner of the familiar.

Ippolitos and serpents are unique from the other familiars in that they are obtained from treasure chests, not contests.

Naming

Familiars can be given a name by clicking on them in the booty panel, and selecting the 'Name yer familiar' option. There is a limit of 18 characters for familiar names. The first name is free, but renames come with a charge of 200,000 PoE and require the assistance of an Ocean Master. If you wish to change the name of your familiar, please leave it and the required PoE in your inventory (not on your shoulder). Then petition with the old name and the new name.

Unnamed familiars may be named.	Selecting the Name yer Familiar option brings up this menu.
Named familiars show up on a pirate's info page.	They are also named in the booty panel.