Illumin Drabblings

Dumb idea sparked from seeing heart-pupils in full-iris eyes as part of a character design in an animation meme: illithid counterpart, but cuttlefish based. Are purely emotivores/psychivores instead of eating brainmeats; potentially bioluminescent? The term illumins or illuminids came to mind. Similar-ish in basic structure (symbiotic/consensual ceremorphosis instead of parasitic?) but rather than tall/gangly/emaciated in appearance, smaller spritely forms? More hobbit-ish propensity for roundness or gnomish exaggeration to physical features than the human-but-smol of standard halfling

Mechanical balance ideas for Illumin feeding: while an illumin can feed from any sapient creature, but this is only just as satisfying as bare-bones rations would be to a person.  Typically an Illumin will find a sapient of compatible temperament and personality to Link(? terminology pending) with.

This is a symbiotic relationship, as while once a week at least the illumin needs to feed (inflicting one level of Exhaustion until a long rest is completed), they're also able to provide one or more of a variety of passive buffs to their Linked while within a relatively close proximity, chosen at the time of feeding.  (Perhaps something akin to sorcery points, where the illumin can choose between one powerful buff or a few smaller ones?)

Other things to consider: Can illumin Link with multiple people?  They are a psionic race, but are they telepathic?  Or are they just empathic, with any psionic communication through emotive impressions/images?

Perhaps being Linked allows an illumin a full telepathic link, but it's not as 'filtered' as normal telepathy, with both the illumin and their Linked having a constant background 'feel' for the mental/emotional state of the other?

Idea on Illumin ceremorphosis: They do ceremorphose like illithids do, with a key difference; it's more of a symbiotic fusion than parasitic consumption.  Illumin communities often form in proximity to likeminded communities of Small-sized humanoids (halflings, gnomes, rarely near particularly peaceful-natured clans of goblins) with which individual Illumin find partners to Link with.  When a member of the partner community is aging or otherwise drawing close to the end of their life (outside of cases of dire emergency due to ethical concern, more on this later), the neighboring Illumin offer their form of ceremorphosis; their offspring are by nature nonsapient and need a host organism to mature, and in bonding with the host they transform them into a young-adult Illumin regardless of the age of the original host, with the host's mind kept completely intact.  The larva essentially integrates its remaining physical form into the host's brain post-transformation as the organ which the newly-born Illumin converts psychic energy into nutrition.  This allows an aging or otherwise soon-to-be-lost member of the partner-community to continue to aid their home community, and prevent the loss of potentially valuable knowledge, while allowing the illumin to grow their numbers as a species.

The ceremorphosis transformation has a stabilizing/rejuvenating effect; even so far as healing permanent paralysis and regrowing lost limbs, and restoring lost senses.   This means that no matter the age/condition of the host, their reborn self is as capable as any other newly-born Illumin.

Due to not wanting members of the partner-community to feel pressured, Illumin will not offer to ceremorphose those who would die due to traumatic events, unless it is broached first by members of the partnered community, and the individual had previously expressed willingness to undergo the transformation.  In some more longstanding paired communities, there ends up being some manner of 'living will' tradition that if something were to happen to someone, they have given standing consent to be ceremorphosed, and thus reborn as an Illumin.