[image: Digital illustration of a cat-like creature with spiky fur, staring eyes, and a mostly-bald face. It has long quills on its shoulders and a pair of gular sacs, giving it a sphinx-like appearance. Most of its fur is dark grey, but each hair is barred with blue and green.]

to a sphinx as a new world monkey is to a human

the blue/green here is an expression of magic as pigment. the agouti-style patterning throughout its fur gives it a high potential, which is perhaps harnessed to greater effect by its sapient relatives - the creature itself has little need of fae-like power, except to occasionally explode threats