The Familiars expansions adds custom wooden meeples which represent familiars (bears, hawks, lions, dromedary etc) which players can acquire from the outskirts. Familiars are played together with a follower, and will give players extra abilities, for instance: Immediately take back your follower Gain 2x cubes Send opponent followers back to the outskirts. When a player has used a familiar, at the end of the round, that familiar is returned to the outskirts so that it may be acquired by other players. —description from the publisher