Tempus
| Tempus | ||||||||||
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| Companion | ||||||||||
 Official art of Zerxus riding Tempus, by Hannah Friederichs.[art 1] | ||||||||||
| Basic information | ||||||||||
| Actor | Brennan Lee Mulligan | |||||||||
| Race | Griffon | |||||||||
| Biographical information | ||||||||||
| Pronouns | he/him | |||||||||
| Places | Avalir | |||||||||
| Profession | Steed | |||||||||
| Affiliations | Zerxus Ilerez (master) | |||||||||
Status
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| Mechanical information | ||||||||||
| Creature type | Celestial[1] | |||||||||
| Alignment | Unaligned[2] | |||||||||
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| Stats reference | [3][2] | |||||||||
Appearances
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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[edit | edit source]
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.[4][5]
Biography[edit | edit source]
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.[5] Considering that Zerxus learned to fly using the stars over Cathmoíra to navigate,[4] 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 "Excelsior" (E3x01).
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.[4]
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,[6] and Tempus participated in combat against Lacrytia Hollow, Milus Phren, and the k'nauthi in "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03).[7]
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.[8] Later, Zerxus flew on Tempus to Cathmoíra to see Elias, and during this visit, one of Tempus's feathers was left behind for Elias.[9]
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.[10] He then returned to Elias and his feather, then opened a door into the Astral Sea to reunite Elias and Evandrin.[11]
Abilities[edit | edit source]
Tempus can fly and is large enough to easily do so while carrying Zerxus in his plate armor.[6] He also demonstrated the unique ability to teleport by opening portals between two locations, though Zerxus has never seen this happen before "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04).[10] He is able to travel to the Astral Sea from the Exandria in the Prime Material Plane using this ability.[11]
As a spirit bonded to Zerxus through the paladin spell Find Greater Steed,[12][1] 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.[2] Find Greater Steed also allows Zerxus to communicate telepathically with Tempus.[13][12]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
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.[14] Tempus fugit has a connotation of time being wasted on trivial matters.[15]
Appearances and mentions[edit | edit source]
- Exandria Unlimited: Calamity
- "Excelsior" (E3x01)
- "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02)
- "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03)
- "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04)
Trivia[edit | edit source]
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."[16]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03) at 11:03. Brennan describes Tempus as a "celestial steed". Luis additionally clarified on Twitter that Tempus was conjured by the spell Find Greater Steed: Luis Carazo (@Luiscarazo) on Twitter: "Oh I have the meeting created in my head for sure! I will say that Tempus was conjured by the spell Find Greater Steed. But there's more to it than just that..." (June 16, 2022). (backup link).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Monster Manual, 5th edition, p. 174. Griffon statblock.
- ↑ Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 156. A mount summoned by Find Greater Steed uses the statblock of the chosen form, except Intelligence is adjusted to 6 if the statblock is lower.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Excelsior" (E3x01) from 15:14 through 17:29.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 28:14.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 2:47:46.
- ↑ "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03) at 1:01:30. Tempus makes an attack.
- ↑ "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:40:59.
- ↑ "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 3:54:41.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:08:33.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 5:40:59.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 156.
- ↑ "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04) at 1:05:24.
- ↑ Luis Carazo (@Luiscarazo) on Twitter: "Yes yes yes!!! I was hoping someone would ponder their name!!!" (May 30, 2022) — in reply to: "Is Tempus named after "Tempus fugit"? If so, superb pun, terrifying omen, all things considered (and a good catbird who deserves scritchies!)." (backup link) Follow-up tweet: Luis Carazo (@Luiscarazo) on Twitter: "@caeliat I wanted something that had to do with time. Started with Chronos but that's been used and is already associated with so much, too on the nose. I searched for the Latin name and almost discarded it cuz I thought it was still too on the nose but then saw Tempus Fugit..." (May 30, 2022) — in reply to @Luiscarazo: "@caeliat Yes yes yes!!! I was hoping someone would ponder their name!!!" (backup link)
- ↑ "tempus fugit" at Wiktionary.
- ↑ Clara Daly (@EldritchBlep) on Twitter: "Listen all I'm saying is a griffin made of liquid starlight sounds suspiciously like an Age of Arcanum proto adranach. Also, I love Tempus." (May 28, 2022). (backup link)
Art
- ↑ Official art of Zerxus riding Tempus, by Hannah Friederichs (source). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
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