The Starbuncle is a small magical creature from Ars Nouveau that can be found wandering on grass all over the Overworld, and once it’s tamed it becomes the mod’s version of a 
Hopper that walks. A tamed Starbuncle is able to carry items between chests, pick up anything dropped near it and harvest 
Sourceberry Bushes, which is why most players end up with a few of them running around.
Getting one only costs a single 
Gold Nugget, although you’ll need an 
Enchanting Apparatus before you’re able to turn it into something you can place. After that everything is set up with the 
Dominion Wand, and the Starbuncle keeps its jobs, its name and its color even when it’s picked back up as a charm.
Finding a Starbuncle
Starbuncles are able to spawn in any Overworld biome, but only on a 
Grass Block and only where it’s reasonably bright, so plains and forests are the places you’ll usually run into them. They turn up in ones and twos on their own. The Archwood Forest is the exception, as Starbuncles spawn there in groups of three to five, which makes it the best place to go looking if you want several at once.
Wild Starbuncles are shy, and they’ll run away from any player that gets within 16 blocks of them, which can make them quite hard to catch up to. The trick is that they’ll come over for a Gold Nugget dropped on the ground, as a wild Starbuncle goes looking for Gold Nuggets within about 8 blocks, so you’re able to throw one down and let it come to you.
There’s also a rarer Starbuncle that spawns in the same places, which looks slightly different from the normal ones. Giving that one a Gold Nugget works the same way, but along with the usual tokens it leaves behind a Starbuncle Gift as well.
Taming and the Starbuncle Charm
A wild Starbuncle can’t be tamed in the usual way, but it can be turned into a token instead. Once a Starbuncle is holding a Gold Nugget, whether you handed it over or it picked one up itself, it dances for about 3 seconds and then vanishes, leaving behind one or two 
Starbuncle Tokens.
The Starbuncle Token is then placed in the Enchanting Apparatus with four 
Gold Ingots on the pedestals around it, which turns it into a 
Starbuncle Charm. The recipe doesn’t use any Source, so it only costs the Gold. Using the Starbuncle Charm on the ground places a tamed Starbuncle, which then stays there permanently and won’t despawn.
A tamed Starbuncle has 20 health and heals 1 health every second, and it can only be hurt by a player, so mobs, fall damage and lava won’t kill one. That means you don’t need to worry about keeping them safe, even around a mob farm.
If you ever want to move a Starbuncle somewhere else, casting Dispel on it will turn it back into a Starbuncle Charm, and the charm keeps everything about it, like its links, its name and its color. The same Starbuncle Charm is dropped if a player kills it, so none of your setup is ever lost.
Starbuncle Familiar
A Starbuncle can also be bound as a familiar, by performing the Ritual of Binding near one, which is a separate thing from the helper that moves your items. Stats wise, the Starbuncle familiar gives you Speed II while it’s out, and if you give it a Gold Nugget you’ll be able to see Gold Ore through walls for a few minutes, which is handy when you’re mining.
Moving Items
Out of the box a Starbuncle doesn’t do anything, as it has to be told where to take items from and where to put them. Everything is linked with the Dominion Wand, and a single Starbuncle is able to take from and store into as many chests as you like, including 
Barrels, Furnaces and anything else a Hopper can use.
Linking Chests
The order you click in decides which way the items go. To have a Starbuncle put items into a 
Chest, use the Dominion Wand on the Starbuncle first and then on the Chest. To have it take items out of a Chest, use the Dominion Wand on the Chest first and then the Starbuncle, and mixing the two up is the most common reason a Starbuncle just sits there.
The side of the block you click is remembered too, the same way a Hopper cares which side it’s attached to. That matters on blocks like a 
Furnace, where clicking the top puts items in to be smelted and clicking a side puts them in as fuel. Looking at a Starbuncle shows how many places it’s taking from and storing to, and sneaking with the Dominion Wand clears its links.
A Starbuncle carries one stack at a time. It’ll take a stack out of a linked Chest, but only when one of the Chests it stores into actually has room for that item, so it won’t empty a Chest just to stand around holding things it can’t put anywhere.
Filtering Items
There’s a few ways to control what a Starbuncle moves. The simplest is an 
Item Frame placed on a Chest with an item in it, as a Starbuncle will then only store that item in that Chest, and it’ll send that item there before anywhere else. You’re able to use this to build a simple sorting room, with a frame on every Chest showing what goes in it.
For more control there’s the 
Item Scroll: Allow and the 
Item Scroll: Deny, which are made from 
Blank Parchment and filled in at the 
Scribe’s Table. If you give one of these to a Starbuncle it’ll only pick up and move what the scroll allows, whereas one in an Item Frame only changes what goes into that Chest. There’s also the 
Mimic Scroll for frames, which only lets in items the Chest has already got.
Picking Up Items and Sourceberries
A tamed Starbuncle also picks up anything dropped within about 8 blocks of it, as long as one of its linked Chests will take that item. It’ll also harvest any ready Sourceberry Bushes within about 10 blocks, as long as one of its Chests takes Sourceberries, and Starbuncles don’t get hurt by the bushes like you do, so a patch of them next to an 
Agronomic Sourcelink looks after itself.
If you don’t want that, putting 
Starbuncle Shades on a Starbuncle stops it picking up items and Sourceberries, so it’ll only move items between the Chests it’s linked to. Starbuncle Shades are crafted from a 
Source Gem between two blocks of 
Tinted Glass, and using the Dominion Wand on the Starbuncle while sneaking takes them back off once its links have been cleared.
Moving Potions
Putting a 
Wixie Hat on a Starbuncle switches it to moving potions instead of items, between 
Potion Jars linked the same way as Chests. That’s useful for feeding a 
Potion Melder or an 
Alchemical Sourcelink from the jars your Wixie fills, and the Wixie Hat is crafted from a Gold Ingot surrounded by 
Magebloom Fiber.
Beds, Paths and Stacking
Magebloom Bed
A Starbuncle can be given a bed by using the Dominion Wand on the Starbuncle and then on a Magebloom Bed or a normal bed, and it’ll go and rest there whenever it has nothing to do. That keeps them out of the way, and it’s also a good way of bringing them back to a spot where items tend to drop.
The Magebloom Bed also works as an off switch. Powering a Magebloom Bed with Redstone sends every Starbuncle bound to it back to bed until the signal is turned off, which a normal bed isn’t able to do. A Magebloom Bed is crafted from a 
Feather surrounded by eight Magebloom Fiber, and it comes in six colors.
Path Blocks
Right clicking a Starbuncle with any block tells it to prefer walking on that block, as long as it’s on the way to where it’s going, and every Starbuncle already prefers 
Dirt Path. Starbuncles are able to open doors and swim, and a tamed one that gets completely stuck will teleport free, so a path is mostly there to keep them tidy rather than to stop them getting lost.
Stacking Starbuncles
Using a Starbuncle Charm on a Starbuncle that’s already placed stacks the new one on top of it, and each Starbuncle in the stack carries its own stack of items. The bottom Starbuncle does the walking and the linking for the whole stack, so a tower of them moves several stacks per trip without needing any extra setup.
It’s worth knowing that a stack can end up taking more items than it’s able to put down at once, as the Starbuncle only checks room for one stack at a time. Stacking works best between Chests with plenty of space, and you’re able to dye any Starbuncle a different color by using a Dye on it, which helps with telling the stacks apart.
Starbuncles cover most of the item moving you’ll need in Ars Nouveau. The next helper that’s worth getting after them is the Drygmy, which gathers drops from the mobs kept near it, and it pairs well with a Starbuncle to carry the drops away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Starbuncles can spawn on Grass Blocks in any Overworld biome, as long as it’s bright enough, usually in ones and twos. The Archwood Forest is the best place to look, as they spawn there in groups of three to five.
The usual reason is that the links were made the wrong way round, so check by looking at it, as it shows how many places it’s taking from and storing to. It’ll also stand still if none of its Chests have room for the item, if a filter doesn’t allow it, or if its Magebloom Bed is powered with Redstone.
Only a player is able to hurt a Starbuncle, so mobs, lava and falling won’t kill one, and it heals 1 health every second. If a player does kill it, it drops its Starbuncle Charm with all of its links and settings still saved.
A single Starbuncle carries one stack of items per trip. Using another Starbuncle Charm on it stacks a second Starbuncle on top, and each one in the stack carries its own stack, so a tower of them moves more per trip.
