warriorfae

[warriorfae]

Daemons

Daemons are the physical manifestation of a faerie's soul, taking the form of an animal that tends to reflect some aspect of the faerie's personality or nature. A daemon will come into existence when a faerie is born and will disappear when their faerie dies.

FORMS & SETTLING

When a faerie is born, their daemon manifests as a kitten and it usually remains this way for the first year of the faerie's life. A daemon will gain the ability to change form when the child gains a sense of consciousness - it's common for daemons to mimic the form of the faerie's mother and the daemons of other fae in their life until they're introduced to other animals through experience and stories.

After about four years old, the daemons of most faerie children are able to change form skillfully. The variability of a daemon's forms and the speed at which they can change between them is thought to be a good indicator of a faerie's intelligence when they're a child. It's also not uncommon for those children's daemons to be able to change into forms that are purely fictional, coming solely from the child's imagination.

As a faerie matures, their daemon may start to favor certain forms, and will lose the ability to turn into fictional forms. A daemon will usually settle between the ages of twelve and fourteen, sometimes earlier and not generally later. The decision-making process that goes into determining the form a daemon will settle is a mystery to all, including the daemons themselves, as it seems to involve a combination of factors. These factors can include the environment a faerie lives in, the way they are perceived by others, and the kind of person they aspire to become.

Though it is rare, daemons have been known to change form again after a significant or traumatic experience that fundamentally changes who they are. More common is the appearance of a daemon changing instead, such as a red fox daemon's coat turning gray during a period of mourning. This is particularly prevalent in mothers who lose their children.

PHYSIOLOGY

Daemons are not technically physical creatures, because they are the essence of a faerie's soul. A normal dog and a daemon in the form of the dog are not the same species, even if they look exactly the same. In fact, a normal dog wouldn't recognize the daemon as another dog - it would recognize it as a faerie. Even so, a daemon in the form of a dog has the same advantages and disadvantages any other dog does.

INDIVIDUALITY

While a daemon is the essence of a faerie soul, it is also living in a separate body, so daemons still retain some individuality from their person. The will and desire of a faerie is not always shared by their daemon - in fact, it's not uncommon for them to be at odds with each other (it's usually not fiercely so). Arguments can occur on subjects a faerie feels deeply conflicted about, whether they're consciously aware of that conflict or not, which can help them work through personal issues. Because of that constant conversation between fae and their daemons, most of the Folk have a very strong grasp on their sense of self, especially when compared to humans.

BEHAVIOR

It's usually very difficult for a daemon to control the way they express emotion, so they tend to be very reactive in nature, even if their faerie remains impassive. This is similar to the way a human might get very irritated by something but will act as if it didn't irritate them. Daemons cannot help but react to they way they feel, so it's common practice for fae to look at the daemons of others to try to glean whether or not they're trying to hide something.

SEPARATION

Fae and their daemons are unable to separate - at least, not without experiencing a great deal of emotional and physical suffering. It is not impossible for them to separate, but prolonged separation usually causes resentment to fester between the pair. Forced separation almost always results in death for both parties.

The exception to this rule lies with the healers of the Clans of the Courts, who've passed down knowledge of a powerful spell that grants the caster the ability to safely separate from their daemon.

[warriorfae]

The Fae

APPEARANCE

The Fae, also known as the Fair Folk or just the Folk, resemble humans for the most part, with the most notable difference in appearance usually being their pointed ears. Historically, they've also had unusual skin colors - such as blue or gray - and occasionally had animal-like characteristics, like having horns or a tail. However, these more unusual traits became fewer and further between as the fae mixed their bloodline with humans.

Modern fae are identified by their pointed ears and unbelievably beautiful appearance, along with the presence of an animal companion (their daemon). They can also be identified in darkness by the reflective light of their eyes, as the Folk are nocturnal creatures.

The fae are individually known as faeries - the term fae or Folk tend to refer to faeries as a group, inclusive of their different types.

MAGIC & ABILITIES

All of the Folk have some magical ability, varying from great acts of sorcery to cheap party tricks and every shade in-between. Nearly all of their magic is rooted in the art of illusions, movement, shape-changing, and enchantments, though some of the most powerful fae have also dabbled in curses and powerful enchantments with great success.

The most 'essential' use of their magic is called glamour, something that can be used both consciously and unconsciously. Usually unconsciously, they use glamour to heighten their ethereal beauty and to make their clothes and jewels seem more magnificent and beautiful. But when used consciously, they can easily trick humans with illusions, and even fool other Folk if clever enough.

All of the Folk are immortal. Though they will age on pace with humans from birth, once they reach maturity (about 25 years old) they will stop aging and maintain their youthful appearance and strength for eternity. Despite this, fae are not invulnerable to death - they still quite susceptible to illness, injury, and accidents. The only type of death the fae can avoid is death by aging.

WEAKNESSES

It is well-known that fae are vulnerable to cold iron, and not just the cold iron of a knife - any iron at all will do the trick, as contact with it will burn their skin instantly. Unfortunately for humans, this changed after the Second Iron War, when the barrier between the human world and Faerieland crumbled and became physical, in the form of the Starless Sea. A swim in the Starless Sea causes any creature originating from Faerie to become impervious to the usual burning effect of iron. Today, the Folk are as vulnerable to iron as any human would be - which is to say, it's only especially dangerous when it's pointy!

Though iron no longer burns, certain herbs like yarrow are poisonous to faeries, and salt will render their magic ineffective.

Additionally, the Folk are completely unable to lie, which conflicts with their proclivity for trickery. The closest they can get is to express what they believe to be the truth.

DAEMONS

Each and every faerie has a daemon - a physical manifestation of their soul, taking the form of an animal. Humans believe the Folk do not have souls and this finds some truth in the existence of daemons - fae do not have souls inside their bodies as they exist outside their bodies only.

With this comes a significant vulnerability - if harm comes to the daemon of a faerie, that faerie would be hurt along with it. Consequently, if a faerie's daemon is killed, the faerie would immediately die with it. During the Iron Wars, it was a common (and abhorrently cruel) practice for humans to force fae into compliance by seizing their daemons.

Within Folk society, even touching another person's daemon is seen as a great and terrible taboo, to the point any accusation of it occurring results in immediate exile from their Court or Clan.

The relationship fae have with their daemons is slightly akin to the relationship one might have with the voice in their head that narrates their thoughts, but it's also something more than that. A faerie and their daemon complete each other - one is not whole without the other.

A daemon and their faerie are able to communicate both verbally and non-verbally - they share physical sensations like pain and cold as well as emotions like fear and desire. It's unusual for a daemon and their faerie to dislike each other, but it's not something that's unheard of. In each and every case, their relationship is something that's deeply complex and personal. Additionally, fae usually have heightened senses, as their daemon's senses can be used as an extension of their own.

More details about daemons can be found here.

[warriorfae]

about this blog

Hi, I’m Swift! You may also know me as Kat or Mari. I’m in my late twenties and I’m still into Warrior Cats for some reason, so now this little side-blog exists! I’ve always had lots of ideas for a fantasy Warriors human AU, all revolving around magic and daemons (à la His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman).

In this AU, the Clans are populated by faeries - the kind you hear about in those dark folklore stories - and they have a long, strained history with humankind, which acts as this world’s equivalent for both kittypets and Twolegs. For the last few centuries, the magic the fae are able to use has significantly weakened, to the point where the Clans are getting worried their magic will disappear completely over the course of the next couple decades. In a world overrun by magical beasts, where the fae are pact-bound to protect humans, the loss of magic would spell doom for both faeriekind and humankind.

And that is where I begin the Fae rewrite of Into the Wild! The premise is very similar, and most of the core plot points and story beats from the first book remain the same. However, after the first book, I cannot promise I’ll be reusing any story beats from later books! I have a lot of bones to pick with the Warriors series, and I’m using this rewrite as a way to fix some things here and there as well as write some more interesting plots that I wish had happened. This is less of a rewrite of the entire series, and more of a rewrite of the premise of the series, a premise I believe - to this day - is actually very good.

Inspirations for this rewrite include: His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (along with the movie!), Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West, and (of course) faerie folk-tales.

If this project interests you, feel free to follow this blog! You can also ask questions, if you like! I do plan to post chapters to AO3 as soon as I get around to writing them, and I’ll post a link to that here once that happens.

Thanks for visiting! <3