These little fae resemble small winged foxes more than humans, and do an important part in powering the magic that keeps the gates protecting the Faean lands functional. They can sense any opening of gates - faean or otherwise - for quite a distance and when in close proximity can keep most gates or portals from opening. The older the creature, the stronger their ability to block unwanted gates.

Gate Guardians have long ears and long tails in comparison with their bodies, and their bat-like wings have a layer of fur over the membranes. The coloration of their coats range from reddish brown, blue, purple and yellow, with runic markings in their fur. Young Guardians lack the thick mane that mature Guardians grow. As they get older, their tails grow longer and longer. Very old creatures have tails often reaching three times the length of their bodies, with faean letters curling down their coat. These letters are actually the creature's own name, which grows longer as they age, so they have continually changing, lengthening names, which helps protect it from certain kinds of dark magic which uses names to gain control over targets.

These creatures are sometimes kept as companions by the fae, much like a human may keep a cat. Like cats, they are quite independent and intelligent, and do not take kindly to being treated like a simple 'pet'. When around non-magical folk, they tend to be quite shy and hide, though if they must be seen, they can change their appearance to that of a similar animal, usually a housecat. Often people who come across Guardians in cat-form notice they seem a bit unnatural, with eyes that seem to know more than they should. If ever you come across a cat like this, very likely it is a Guardian disguised as a cat.

Sometimes they wander out of the faelands, and when they do, they're at risk for being attacked by all sorts of wild beasts, both natural and unnatural. The magic that Guardians radiate is irresistible to many dark creatures, and sadly many are killed and eaten, while a few sometimes escape with the loss of a tail or wing (as seen in the Mature guardian example above). This does not usually affect their magic, but being creatures quite proud of their appearance, it can be an injury quite difficult to recover from.

- Excerpt from Notes on Faean Creatures

Many thanks to hibbary for use of one of her textures for the background! You can check out her texture pack here - http://fav.me/d1ipc6f I used the parchment-type texture with a few minor changes for the background. I painted the creatures in watercolor on white paper, then switched in the textured background digitally.