Tempus

Tempus is the griffon companion and mount of Zerxus Ilerez. He is a visibly magical creature whose body is made of starlight and magic that appears as liquid, amethyst gemstone filled with constellations. Tempus also briefly appears in Zerxus's recurring dream.

He is a celestial spirit bonded to Zerxus through the paladin spell Find Greater Steed. As a non-player character, Tempus is played by Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Description
Tempus is a griffon, a creature that is half-eagle and half-lion, made of starlight and magic. His body is made of cool, amethyst-colored liquid gemstone filled with stars and constellations. He is cat-like in his mannerisms.

Biography
Tempus is the griffon mount and companion of Zerxus Ilerez during the Age of Arcanum and has been since before the events of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity. He lives with Zerxus in Avalir in the Tower of the First Knight, which has been outfitted with a large window to allow Tempus to fly in and out of the suite. Considering that Zerxus learned to fly using the stars over Cathmoíra to navigate, it is possible that Tempus has been a companion to Zerxus before he came to reside permanently in Avalir at least seven years prior to.

Tempus is in Zerxus's recurring nightmare involving Elias, Evandrin Alterra, Asmodeus, and Pelor during a battle in Avalir. In the dream, he appears as a reassuring presence after Zerxus looks into a hole that Elias is fishing in and sees the stars over Cathmoíra. Tempus settles down near Zerxus and Elias, and Elias temporarily props his fishing rod up between his talons.

Throughout the events of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, Zerxus travels around Avalir and Cathmoíra on Tempus, most notably to attempt (and fail) to clear his head after his nightmare and after failing to receive a letter from Elias as Avalir approached Cathmoíra. He also sends Tempus to scout around the city while he attended an eve of Replenishing party at the Plazzao Por'co, and Tempus participated in combat against Lacrytia Hollow, Milus Phren, and the k'nauthi in.

As Zerxus spoke with Evandrin in the Astral Sea, Evandrin said that he can sometimes see through Tempus and suggests that he can communicate to Zerxus through this bond. Later, Zerxus flew on Tempus to Cathmoíra to see Elias, and during this visit, one of Tempus's feathers was left behind for Elias.

Tempus helped fight Vespin Chloras and the Taxmen at the Astral Leywright. As Zerxus lost consciousness after an attack by a Taxman, he commanded Tempus to flee. Through Tempus, Evandrin reassured Zerxus, and Tempus grabbed the Taxman, teleported from the room (demonstrating this ability for the first time), and destroyed the Taxman by dropping it. He then returned to Elias and his feather, then opened a door into the Astral Sea to reunite Elias and Evandrin.

Abilities
Tempus can fly and is large enough to easily do so while carrying Zerxus in his plate armor. He also demonstrated the unique ability to teleport by opening portals between two locations, though Zerxus has never seen this happen before. He is able to travel to the Astral Sea from the Exandria in the Prime Material Plane using this ability.

As a spirit bonded to Zerxus through the paladin spell Find Greater Steed, Tempus uses the standard griffon statblock in the Monster Manual. Griffons have advantage on Perception checks relying on sight and make two attacks, one with his beak and one with his claws. Find Greater Steed also allows Zerxus to communicate telepathically with Tempus.

Behind the scenes
Tempus is named in a pun after the Latin phrase "tempus fugit" (literally "time flees" or "time escapes", most commonly translated as "time flies"). Luis Carazo, who plays Zerxus, initially considered "Chronos" but discarded the name, feeling it was "too on the nose" and already commonly used. While searching for the Latin word instead, he almost abandoned "Tempus" as well for the same reason until he came across the phrase. Tempus fugit has a connotation of time being wasted on trivial matters.

Appearances and mentions

 * Exandria Unlimited: Calamity

Trivia

 * Clara Daly, an illustrator for Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, wrote on Twitter: "Listen all I'm saying is a griffin made of liquid starlight sounds suspiciously like an Age of Arcanum proto adranach."