Tallow Sprite

A type of homunculus made from wax and/or tallow mixed with the creator's blood, and set magically aflame. Tallow sprites are quite small, barely clearing four inches high, and basically lack any real fighting skills as their bodies are rather soft and fragile. They have many inherent flame-related powers though, including the ability to centre a fireball on themselves, exempting they and their creator from its effects. Tallow sprites are unfailingly willing to please and love to help - standing or hovering still while providing illumination is one of the tasks they're better at, but they can be taught to provide and adjust heat for arcane experiments, assist with cooking and tending the hearth, and toasting sesame seeds and pine nuts. They speak telepathically with their creators but are otherwise silent.

The materials to make a basic tallow sprite are fairly simple to obtain, and the methodology is not overly complex, yet they are rare homuncli. The reason for this is that while they are very cute and try to be helpful, they are exceptionally good at setting everything on fire. They need constant supervision and careful direction - a wise arcanist will have a specially prepared lantern (perhaps with some stone furniture?) set aside for their companion's comfort, ideally set where it can watch something like scenery or a fountain. Naturally if its creator is itself of a fiery nature (such as a salamander or efreet) the tallow sprite is perfectly safe to keep unsupervised in the house, though a sturdy cage may still come in handy in order to protect it from fire snakes or ash rats.

Types of tallow sprites exist beyond the basic sort, and the materials and efforts to create them are much more exotic and demanding. A cold fire tallow sprite has a body made of whale or seal blubber, mixed with ash from a winter wolf's femur. A hellfire tallow sprite's body can either be made from the rendered fat of an evil outsider, or the wax from the nest of an infernal wasp, but must also be mixed with the blood of someone the creator has murdered (none of this honourable combat stuff either - this is hellfire we're talking about, do it right!) Lastly, it is thought that the first tallow sprite was kindled with Promethian flame, and a few extremely powerful arcanists have succeeded in duplicating the result over the centuries. Some have used a mixture of alchemical quicksilver and the wax from Elysian bees (the source of the honey that makes divine Ambrosia) to form the body, while others report that a body of simple clay and the creator's blood is sufficient but that the fire itself must be kept burning on a single crow feather during the kindling. While a living, ever-burning source of Promethian fire is a tempting lure, the homunculus is an affront to the gods and its discovery is sure to draw divine wrath. 

There are also (unsubstantiated) rumours that a Promethian tallow sprite can outlive its creator's death, whereupon it ascends to demigodhood. Supposedly this apotheosis resulted in the destruction of the civilization that first gave rise to these homuncli.