Pondering, Welcome Suggestions

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

I just read a fanfic story where Damien was secretly a werewolf, in deliberate juxtaposition to the Hunter's existence as a semi-vampire. I now find that I have the sudden urge to write at least a drabble in the same vein...

Thoughts, everyone? If Damien was a supernatural being instead of a vanilla mortal (not Vampire, please) what kind of entity do you think he'd be?

EDIT: Am currently abut halfway done with my story; it's hard to say. Anyone interested in being my beta when I have it in a roughly manageable form?

Comments

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

It would have to be something that wouldn't be affected by the Church, or be too easily detected (missing victims/disappearing at the same time every month, etc).


He'd be something that could fight well, and something that was very protective. Maybe a manifestation of the fae itself, like...a dying child's wish for a strong warrior-friend to protect them from the dark, made real?


Or maybe a phoenix? Because having his own source of fire would be very handy-and I definitely think Tarrant wouldn't like it!-and an alter bird form could be hidden from others better than a werewolf or most other things. Church blessings wouldn't ban him, either.

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

Your idea of Damien as a manifestation is interesting, but I can't really see Damien as a fae-born. His humanity, his sense of self, is one of the major plot points of the book, in my opinion - at least, in comparison to Gerald's sheer inhumanity. Then there's the point that he's spent the majority of his life fighting against the fae-born; to make him one himself would be an interesting story, but - well, the Church would know what he was, every sorcerer and/or adept would know what he was from the beginning, and Damien wouldn't be - well, him. He'd be berift of all the defining characteristics that make up the personality we know and cheer for in the books. I just - can't see it happening.

Your description of him as a phoenix is extremely interesting. Again, the trick is to balance supernatural characteristics with Damien's down-to earth personality... Maybe Damien's status as a phoenix could be an inherited genetic trait - but one that was extremely hard to pass on to offspring. A recessive gene, perhaps? With approximately one individual per generation displaying the definitive traits... It would correspond nicely with the attendant 'only one in the world' associated legend, and, besides, humanity's legends impressed upon the Fae would do the rest.

Again, Damien's humanity is one of his defining points; I can see him carefully hiding his status and simply - not thinking about it enough that he doesn't even really remember that he's anything other then an average human most of the time. Partly because the mindset of Erna is heavily prejudiced against the non-human, partially because he very much believes in the Church and all it embodies, and partially, well...

I can see Damien, as a phoenix, be very heavily associated with the solar fae. In which case, Damien would have very good reason to hide his inhuman heritage. As a phoenix, he's essentially a battery for the solar fae, one of the rarest, and most potent, forces on Erna. Everyone would be after him - adepts, the Church, sorcerers, demons, etc - for the power he essentially embodies. Maybe one of his predecessors was the source of the solar fae that the Church used during the Crusade - literally harvested from a living, sentient being, that could see no escape save death.

In which case Damien would never reveal himself. I can see his line of thought being something along these lines - yes, as a solar fae-powered phoenix he could potentially save a great deal of lives, but he could save just as many as a regular human being in the Church. And, in Erna, where Workings make one's secrets so incredibly hard to hide - Damien might deliberately lock away the memory via sorcerous means, force himself to forget. Which is a good explanation for his actions in canon - he literally can't remember.

If this ever came to light, Gerald would be furious. And intrigued. Damien, simply put, would probably be doomed (and maybe in a good way) - he'd be the focus of the Hunter's curiosity, his new pet project. Actually, come to think of it, that's probably simultaneously the best - and worst - place to be in his situation; Gerald's protection would be absolute, but it comes with the price of Gerald being - well, the Hunter.

All things considered, though, I'm still left with a single image - that of Gerald Tarrant, face cold and noble, holding one arm up imperiously as a bird of gold and fire comes to rest on his falconer's glove.

(you have to admit, it's a great image...)

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

Oooh, a phoenix is a possibility. Any chance you'll write that fic?^_^

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I don't think he'd be a werewolf or any creature that would look like a monster in the Church's eyes. Maybe if he had wings like the character Angel in the X-Men then it might be possible. It would have to be something that appears benign if only outwardly. And of course there's the effect of the Fae and sorcery to consider.

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

You make several very good points - though really, this could lead us into a long discussion of exactly what 'monster' means to Ernans. With regards to your other points - I posted a very long reply to one of the earlier comments to this post; you might be interested in some of the ideas I came up with.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

The world of Coldfire is fantasy/sci-fi and with humans being so afraid of the Fae and its manifestations, I can't see anyone being remotely trusting of Damien or any character that is different. In the other continent that the characters visited, the people and the Church there killed all adepts and forced anyone who was subtly different into forming a different country. The main villain in the second novel, sorry it's been a while since I read it, states simply that his country is based upon hatred of the church and its persecution. Never mind the inherent duplicity. The female navigator is killed by a mob because her hair and skin colour were different.

I think a phoenix might be possible as Damien's alter ego as the commentator above said. But Erna is such a xenophobic society that life would be difficult for anyone who is special. Damien gets harassed just for being a sorcerer and all adepts left the church after Gerald's excommunication. There's a lot of politics involved which the novels didn't explore.

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

Damien's character seems very earthy to me -- I can see him having a connection with an elemental spirit, like stone or water, that resulted from an accidental fae communion in childhood or adolescence. Something almost (but not quite) beneath his awareness, or that he knew about but always attributed to being able to wield magic, and assumed all magic users had those elemental connections, too. It would be something that Tarrant woudl find FASCINATING, both that Damien had that something "extra", and that he wasn't aware of it being anything special.

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

'Practical' is one of Damien's defining characteristics. And you raise several very interesting points - however, what exactly do you mean by 'fae communion'? I'm not quite sure I understand what you're getting at. When Damien Works - well, he's got a whole grab-bag of tricks, but the one that comes up the most often would have to be Healing. I'm not sure how a fae-link would work in that instance.

The idea of Damien having something 'extra' is fascinating to me as well! And the idea of Tarrant interested in Damien - well, that's a delicious image. Though you might want to check out some of the other comments to this post; we've come up with several interesting ideas.

[laryna6.livejournal.com]

Given that faith is also one of his defining characteristics, one possibility would be that he's the local version of Aziraphale (angel from Good Omens). That would also work because Aziraphael and Crowley have an 'arrangement' like the one Damien and Gerald develop. Being an agent of Biblical god on that planet with its engineered church would be interesting.

Alternatively, belief in God often comes with belief in agents/messengers of God, aka angels in the same way the local church ended up believing in a hell & ultimate evil. The god Gerald created is a character in the books (and he's awesome~), so it would be interesting if Damien actually was sent by God to defend the church against Calesta and redeem the Hunter/his creator's creator. Faeborn, but in the image of man and there to serve mankind/experience the trials they face in order to understand Gerald's difficulties in overcoming them. And of course there's the issue of Gerald's pride: I doubt he'd react well to finding out that Damien decieved him or that it was all a setup.

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

...Damn you. Damn you to the pits of the Unnamed's Hell! I had my heart somewhat sortof set on writing a phoenix!Damien story, but your comment has essentially spawned a muse that crept up behind my phoenix!Damien idea in a dark ally, knocked it on the head, and gleefully stole the spotlight.

Now I have Crowley!Gerald and Aziraphale!Damien taking up space in my head, and am struggling to balance - and remain true too - two of my favorite universes. I've already written a thousand or so words of the story, and I think I'm only about halfway done. Right now, Gerald is scarily amused by everything that's going on, which is rather freaking Damien out - he was fully convinced that the other man was going to vivisect him at the first available opportunity. To quote my own fic -

"Fortunately, Gerald seemed to be amused by the entire concept. If that wasn’t a miracle, Damien didn’t know what was."

I don't think that Damien's going to be Faeborn, but belief - and the Fae's reaction to it - is definitely going to have an impact on him. And God is making a sort-of appearance, don't worry.

[laryna6.livejournal.com]

I could say I'm sorry, but that would be lying. Really looking forward to this~

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

I'm seconding (thirding?) the idea of an angel of some sort. It makes sense with his religious background and his unshakable belief in God, though I'm not sure how to wrangle this if he hasn't been born that way. It does make an interesting parallel with Gerald if you think of Damien as someone like the archangel Michael (kickass warrior as that one is) and Gerald as some kind of manifestation of Lucifer, first among the celestial crowd until he fell. (And he's called the Light-bringer, too, and the smart one among the angel set.)

[owleyes-arisen.livejournal.com]

You might want to check the reply I recently made to another comment on this post. Congratulations. You have sucessfully participated in spawning a new muse, constructed in the form of Gerald Tarrant, who keeps staring at me.

...in other words, a sort of semi-fusion with Good Omens is currently ongoing. Since I finally am on vacation, it's my feverant hope that I'll actually be able to work on it sometime soon. I honestly don't know when this is coming out, though I hope it's within the next year or so.

...and yes, you will have semi-angelic Damien. His status is - kinda complicated. And basically God stealing a trick from the Other Side, to Gerald's slight amusement.

Here! Have an (unedited) snippet! I don't suppose you might be interested in beta-ing this when it's actually a fully-fledged fic?

“ˆGerald – “

“Set off on a quest into the Rakhlands to rescue the soul of an innocent woman that you hardly knew – “

“I didn’t go alone, you should know that, and Cinnai was hardly the paragon of virtue they’re all depicting her to be – “

“Fought a crazed sorceress in her very lair – the aptly-named House of Storms -“

“And nearly died in the process.”

“Hush, Vryce, I’m still talking.