Supernatural Bullshit megapost
Mar. 29th, 2014 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puffbonnetOkay. So.
Parasol Protectorate has some really weird stuff going on when it comes to supernatural characters, so here is a post explaining it for anyone who doesn't know the canon. As a heads-up, this post has SPOILERS through the end of book 5 of the Parasol Protectorate series.
First off, let's get this out of the way: this series has some serious science bullshit going on when it comes to the supernatural. The actual explanation kind of made my eyes glaze over the first time I read it, so you get the condensed, easy to read version.
In the world of Parasol Protectorate, a soul is something that can be measured. Some people have a lot, some people have a little, and some have none at all. There's no tools for getting exact numbers, but a good benchmark for how much soul someone has is how creative or empathetic they are. The artsy types (painters, actors, musicians, etc.) and really emotional/expressive people usually have a shitload of soul, whereas people with very little soul are generally more reserved, not so in-tune with others, or lack a moral compass entirely. Note how I said 'generally' there, there's always exceptions to this. But those exceptions are pretty rare, and are usually of the "person with a ton of soul was raised to squish down their feelings and be a proper gentleman/lady" type.
Why is soul important? Because you have to have a lot of soul to become a supernatural. There's science bullshit to it that I'm not going to bother explaining, but basically a person loses a good chunk of their soul when they are turned into a vampire or werewolf, and they have to have some left afterwards for the transformation to be successful. Otherwise they die in a horrible way. Because of this, and because of supernaturals becoming a bigger part of everyday life, talk of soul is pretty common. Whenever Ivy is talking about someone's soul, she's talking about this kind of soul.
OKAY NOW ON TO THE SUPERNATURALS
Werewolves: Pretty much your standard werewolves you see in every supernatural story ever. The big difference is that, along with the involuntary transformations at the full moon, they can voluntarily change whenever they want. Also, it takes a specific kind of bite that only an Alpha can do in order to become a werewolf, so just being bitten by a werewolf won't change someone into one. Some Alphas also get this cool power called an Anubis form, which is basically where only their head transforms into a wolf head (this is the form they have to be in to transform someone into a werewolf). While in human form, they can still be picked out of a crowd, as they have visible fangs and pointy ears.
Vampires: They're a bit different from your standard vampires, but still mostly the same. Vampires usually live in hives, centered around a queen vampire. The queen can't leave whatever area she has designated as her 'home,' so the other vampires have to do everything that requires going outside of that area. Queens are also the only ones who can change people into vampires, and they can be told apart from regular vampires because they have two sets of fangs instead of one.
Both vampires and werewolves get the same standard supernatural benefits: super-strength, fast healing, they become ageless, and can only go out at night. They also both have humans who work for them, in hopes of eventually being turned into a vampire/werewolf themselves. Werewolves get clavigers, and vampires get drones. Werewolves eat primarily meat, and vampires drink blood. Additionally, vampires and werewolves can decide to live outside of a hive/pack, and they are called Roves when they do that.
Ghosts: Ghosts are very different from what you would expect a ghost to be. When someone with a lot of soul dies (without any attempt at being transformed into a werewolf or vampire), they linger in the world of the living as a ghost. At first, ghosts are stuck to their body, but their range of movement grows larger as their body deteriorates. However, their sanity starts to slip as their body deteriorates as well, and after a few months (unless the body is preserved in some way) they go insane.
Preternaturals: These guys are actually not supernaturals at all. Preternaturals are special people who were born with no soul at all. As a result, they give off an anti-supernatural field of sorts. Any vampire or werewolf they touch becomes human again (until they stop touching, at least), and the touch of a preternatural is what it takes to exorcize ghosts. Up until recently in the history of the Parasol Protectorate world, preternaturals were used to hunt supernaturals, as they could turn a vampire or werewolf human and then kill them. There is a lot of bad blood between preternaturals and supernaturals, so it can get tense at times. The major conflict of a good chunk of the series is about how the main character is a preternatural and the vampires of London think she's going to kill them all. That should give you an idea of how bad things can be.
Metanaturals: Metanaturals are really, really, really rare. So rare that only two total are known of in the entirety of the canon, including the history of the world which goes back to the times of ancient Egypt. Metanaturals are the result of a preternatural and a supernatural having a kid, and their ability is that they can steal the power of any vampire or werewolf they touch. So the supernatural becomes human, and the metanatural becomes whatever the supernatural was. This effect is temporary, though.
How this relates to Ivy
Ivy is a newly-turned vampire queen. She has also been around vampires and werewolves for years (her BFF is the aforementioned Preternatural that the series is about), and she will be able to identify other vampires and werewolves. Likewise, anyone who is supernatural or can otherwise sense supernaturals will be able to tell that Ivy is a vampire, and if their senses allow for such a distinction, that she is pretty much the vampire equivalent of the big boss/alpha male/wtfever you would call the guy in charge.
For anyone she bites, unless I specify otherwise, she's using her 'feeder' fangs, so there's no need to worry about accidental transformations. That said, if you want your character to die horribly from a failed transformation, just get in touch with me and let me know. Queens usually have good control over fang-use, but Ivy has literally been a vampire for a month tops, so mistakes could be made.
Parasol Protectorate has some really weird stuff going on when it comes to supernatural characters, so here is a post explaining it for anyone who doesn't know the canon. As a heads-up, this post has SPOILERS through the end of book 5 of the Parasol Protectorate series.
First off, let's get this out of the way: this series has some serious science bullshit going on when it comes to the supernatural. The actual explanation kind of made my eyes glaze over the first time I read it, so you get the condensed, easy to read version.
In the world of Parasol Protectorate, a soul is something that can be measured. Some people have a lot, some people have a little, and some have none at all. There's no tools for getting exact numbers, but a good benchmark for how much soul someone has is how creative or empathetic they are. The artsy types (painters, actors, musicians, etc.) and really emotional/expressive people usually have a shitload of soul, whereas people with very little soul are generally more reserved, not so in-tune with others, or lack a moral compass entirely. Note how I said 'generally' there, there's always exceptions to this. But those exceptions are pretty rare, and are usually of the "person with a ton of soul was raised to squish down their feelings and be a proper gentleman/lady" type.
Why is soul important? Because you have to have a lot of soul to become a supernatural. There's science bullshit to it that I'm not going to bother explaining, but basically a person loses a good chunk of their soul when they are turned into a vampire or werewolf, and they have to have some left afterwards for the transformation to be successful. Otherwise they die in a horrible way. Because of this, and because of supernaturals becoming a bigger part of everyday life, talk of soul is pretty common. Whenever Ivy is talking about someone's soul, she's talking about this kind of soul.
OKAY NOW ON TO THE SUPERNATURALS
Werewolves: Pretty much your standard werewolves you see in every supernatural story ever. The big difference is that, along with the involuntary transformations at the full moon, they can voluntarily change whenever they want. Also, it takes a specific kind of bite that only an Alpha can do in order to become a werewolf, so just being bitten by a werewolf won't change someone into one. Some Alphas also get this cool power called an Anubis form, which is basically where only their head transforms into a wolf head (this is the form they have to be in to transform someone into a werewolf). While in human form, they can still be picked out of a crowd, as they have visible fangs and pointy ears.
Vampires: They're a bit different from your standard vampires, but still mostly the same. Vampires usually live in hives, centered around a queen vampire. The queen can't leave whatever area she has designated as her 'home,' so the other vampires have to do everything that requires going outside of that area. Queens are also the only ones who can change people into vampires, and they can be told apart from regular vampires because they have two sets of fangs instead of one.
Both vampires and werewolves get the same standard supernatural benefits: super-strength, fast healing, they become ageless, and can only go out at night. They also both have humans who work for them, in hopes of eventually being turned into a vampire/werewolf themselves. Werewolves get clavigers, and vampires get drones. Werewolves eat primarily meat, and vampires drink blood. Additionally, vampires and werewolves can decide to live outside of a hive/pack, and they are called Roves when they do that.
Ghosts: Ghosts are very different from what you would expect a ghost to be. When someone with a lot of soul dies (without any attempt at being transformed into a werewolf or vampire), they linger in the world of the living as a ghost. At first, ghosts are stuck to their body, but their range of movement grows larger as their body deteriorates. However, their sanity starts to slip as their body deteriorates as well, and after a few months (unless the body is preserved in some way) they go insane.
Preternaturals: These guys are actually not supernaturals at all. Preternaturals are special people who were born with no soul at all. As a result, they give off an anti-supernatural field of sorts. Any vampire or werewolf they touch becomes human again (until they stop touching, at least), and the touch of a preternatural is what it takes to exorcize ghosts. Up until recently in the history of the Parasol Protectorate world, preternaturals were used to hunt supernaturals, as they could turn a vampire or werewolf human and then kill them. There is a lot of bad blood between preternaturals and supernaturals, so it can get tense at times. The major conflict of a good chunk of the series is about how the main character is a preternatural and the vampires of London think she's going to kill them all. That should give you an idea of how bad things can be.
Metanaturals: Metanaturals are really, really, really rare. So rare that only two total are known of in the entirety of the canon, including the history of the world which goes back to the times of ancient Egypt. Metanaturals are the result of a preternatural and a supernatural having a kid, and their ability is that they can steal the power of any vampire or werewolf they touch. So the supernatural becomes human, and the metanatural becomes whatever the supernatural was. This effect is temporary, though.
How this relates to Ivy
Ivy is a newly-turned vampire queen. She has also been around vampires and werewolves for years (her BFF is the aforementioned Preternatural that the series is about), and she will be able to identify other vampires and werewolves. Likewise, anyone who is supernatural or can otherwise sense supernaturals will be able to tell that Ivy is a vampire, and if their senses allow for such a distinction, that she is pretty much the vampire equivalent of the big boss/alpha male/wtfever you would call the guy in charge.
For anyone she bites, unless I specify otherwise, she's using her 'feeder' fangs, so there's no need to worry about accidental transformations. That said, if you want your character to die horribly from a failed transformation, just get in touch with me and let me know. Queens usually have good control over fang-use, but Ivy has literally been a vampire for a month tops, so mistakes could be made.
