Supernatural creatures AU

Creator: Hiaen, Pip, Vivs

Description:

AU where the Isles are populated by a variety of supernatural creatures, living alongside humans.

● Serkonans are harpies.

● Morleyans are water-related creatures: merfolks, selkies, kelpies, nagas, the like.

● Tyvians are werecreatures (mostly mammals).

● Pandyssians are faes.

● Gristol has a mix of elves and humans.

In Gristol, elves are mostly nobility, while humans are the lower classes. The overseers act as the human political/religious faction to match the elven nobility. Some humans mingled into nobility due to trade and relations, and half-elves are not uncommon. Humans are the ones making most of the technological discoveries.

Tyvian shifters can fully shift between human and animal shapes. They can control the shift and retain most of their senses, however their beast form is much less suited for high intellectual pursuits. They’re still bound to the moon cycle. On full moons it's an obligate shift, and the closer they get to it, the harder it is to keep themselves from shifting (especially for the youngest folks). On new moons they struggle to shift at all, and for a couple day before and after, shifting requires more focus.

Merfolks can take a land-appropriate shape for a few hours, but it's tiring and uncomfortable. There’s water everywhere in Morley though, and most infrastructures are adapted to water creatures, so that’s not much of an issue.

Harpies can't change shape at all. They sleep on perchs, so if you want to find a bed you better go to a human inn. Their wings have 3 long fingers archaeopteryx-style, with an opposable thumb. They also floof up under some weather and/or emotions.

Faes have natural magical powers but they’re extremely mysterious. They nearly never leave Pandyssia willingly, and are ridiculously hard to find, and even more so to capture. Most faes you find outside Pandyssia never got the proper magical training and can't do more than basic tricks.

All of the Isles also have a moderate human population, even though Gristol has much more of them. With the migrations between the Isles in the past few decades, it’s not uncommon to find non-native creatures as well, especially in large port cities. Gristol still has the most varied population. Non-native creatures are likely to face infrastructure issues in addition to the discrimination (merfolks and harpies in particular, who respectively need water access and adapted tools).

Harpy fighting:

Birds usually fight by pecking their opponent, taking off just enough to use their talons, or by hitting with their wings (if they have the size advantage). Harpies in this AU don't have beaks, so pecking is out. On the other hand, they have thin fingers on their wings, allowing them to manipulate some objects (though it's unpractical when flying, and these "hands" are pretty weak compared to their feet).

Weapons used by harpies:

Ranged weapons. Since they fly and have cumbersome wings, harpies have rather advanced technologies concerned ranged weapons: crossbows and firearms are both on the table. There are three kind of ranged weapons:
- Hand weapons. Those are crossbows or guns very similar to the ones used by human, except with a handle suited to a harpy's three long fingers. Pros: can be grabbed off a table and used right away, can be lined up to the eye to aim. Cons: can't be used in flight, the recoil hits hard on a harpy's hand.
- Feet weapons. Those are like wristbows or wristguns, except strapped to a harpy's foot. Pros: can be used in flight, doesn't suffer from the recoil. Cons: needs to be equipped before use, can't be lined up to the eye to aim.
- Head weapon. Those are crossbows or guns strapped to the harpy's head like a helmet, with a visor over the harpy's eye. Pros: can be used in flight, always lined up to the eye. Cons: needs to be equipped before use, uncomfortable to use (especially with the gunshot near the ear).

Long melee weapons. Halberd, spears, hooks, stick in a pinch. They're held in the harpy's feet and can be used to fight while flying, without being impeded by your own wings.
Metal claws. Lacks the range of the spears, but is much easier to carry. Also the only weapon that would work in a reduced space, and that needs minimal training to be used. They can cover only one talon, only the front talons, only one foot, or all the talons. Their lengths vary depending if you prefer increasing your range or keeping your movements unencombered.

For Corvo, I'm thinking the latter - a foldable claw over one talon on his right foot.

Pecking is out, but excessively headbutting opponents over and over again is in. Which leads to: horned helmets, used especially for headbutting. Typically with forward-facing horns for bashing your head against someone and effectively goring them.

In Dishonored 2, everyone in Serkonos is a harpy so Emily’s disguise works better than the piece of cloth she had in game. Also, Billie pulls some serious string to find enough food for the Dreadful Wale’s residents.

About hybrids:

● hybrids of non-shifting species just get a mix of both species' features (finding clothes that fit is a hassle as a consequence)

● the tyvian shifting gene is hit-or-miss, either you're a werecreature or you aren't. as a consequence, werecreatures tend to pop up at random in families who have distant tyvian ancestry.

● hybrids of other kind of shifters (kelpies, selkies, the like) have more difficulties shifting

having fae ancestry tends to produce unpredictable results, but hybrids are extremely rare - fae folks don't like to leave Pandyssia, and most Pandyssians who get abducted by force are humans. Daud's mother is an exception in that respect, and to be fair by the time the ship reached Serkonos, she had taken control of the crew.

Half-harpies have bird feet and vestigial wings that they can use to break a fall. They have four fingers instead of three, and stand straighter than harpies. Due to the heavy differences between harpy and humanoid morphologies, they tend to get related health issues.

Emily gets ankle pains if she stands still for too long. Daud had shoulder and back pain up until he got the mark. Both have trouble finding comfortable sleeping positions, and had growth pains in their early teenage years because their heavier adult feathers arrived before their muscle growth started.

Fighting for half-harpies:

They can't fly or really take off the ground, so they can't use their feet as their main weapon.
However, their hands are more fitted than a harpy's to handling a weapon - their grip is not as strong as a human's, but they can use a sword.
Their wings are much less cumbersome than a harpy, and can more easily be kept folded while they're moving their arms around. Another reason they can use swords.
Pretty visible on Emily (who has her legs always extended), but they have legs for days. They can't use their talons as a primary weapon, but you can bet a kick from them has both range and power.
They have to rely a lot on dodging rather than parrying, since they're likely to lose their grip on their sword if they get into a blade lock.
They enjoy jumping on their victims from a long way above the ground, since they can break the fall with their vestigial wings and their feet allow them to land on their victims' shoulders without losing their balance.

Characters:

● Corvo’s a crow harpy

● Jess is a elf/human hybrid, more elf than human.

● Emily is half elf, half sparrow harpy.

● Daud is a fae/harpy hybrid (based on a Marsh Owl).

● The whalers are a haggle of... people. some are fish. some are bears. some are birds. all are little fucks who lost their self preservation just before they met Daud.

● Billie's a human…. with some very powerful latent fae lineage that the outsider brings to the surface in DOTO

● Delilah is a half-elf, half-human. she still gets a coven full of beautiful and deadly women. still gets her ass handed to her

● Hypatia is a very kind harpy eagle. Alex is a not very kind harpy eagle

● Jindosh is a grey parrot harpy

● Sokolov is a skinny moon bear

● Paolo is a wererat (have u seen the size of his ears??? thats a rat right there) (he got a tyvian great grandma idk either I just want rat Paolo standing on harpy Mindy's head)

● Mindy is a white bellbird harpy

● Luca is a rooster, the kind that doesn't understand that his roosting is not appreciated

● Thomas is a kelpie

● The Outsider is... something. Non-merfolk who’ve met him will tell you he’s a whale-tailed merman. Merfolks who’ve met him will tell you that this is most definitely not a merman. He’s actually an eldritch being that doesn’t fit into the usual species, but the whale tail is his most prominent feature, hence the confusion. He was human before being sacrificed.

● Lizzy is an eel mermaid

● Havelock is part Selkie (he just has some Morleyan ancestry or something)

● Martin is a Naga

● Granny Rag is an elf

● All the Pendletons are elves

● Wyman's a merfolk

● Geezer's a merfolk too, either barracuda for the ruthless vibe, or coelacanth for the old man jokes

Loser humans gang so far: Callista, Geoff, Breanna, Piero, Samuel, Cecelia, Alexi.

About Daud: fae/harpy hybrid.

Half-fae, half-owl harpy.
Arms and legs are average-sized, with long fingers and feet. He stands slightly hunched.
His hand strength is closer to a human's than a harpy's.
His feet are very agile and extremely strong
His wings and feathers are very bulky.
He's that legendary assassin with black magic but he's also an owl. And owls are like. 90% feather. So as soon as he puts on a shirt the chest feathers get squashed so he just has a huge fluffy neck. Daud here has the most feathery chest in all of Dunwall.
- The Whalers have definitely attempted to slam themselves on Daud's chest and sleep. Daud will tell you he kicks them off every time they try. The senior Whalers will tell differently.
He can also whip his head 180° around, but he's learnt not to do that because it freaks out everyone. He totally does it on purpose when he wants to creep people out though.
Unless you’re close enough to see his ears or the spots on his skin, you can entirely miss his fae traits. In fact, his wanted posters describe him as a harpy - there just aren’t enough reliable sightings of him to report that he’s a hybrid.

Beast form:

He gets kidnapped as usual, they exploit his fae lineage to train him to transform at will into a wolfish, owlish form. It’s nearly invisible in the dark as well as creepily silent, especially given its size.
He started developing that power when he was abducted, and getting the mark turbocharged it into that fluffy abomination. Before he got the mark, it was about the size of a hound. Now it’s larger than a car.
That beast form is quite overpowered, but it’s literally all he can do with his fae powers - he overspecialized, in a sense. It’s also mana-draining. His mark-related powers still work the exact same way.

Finding clothes that fit is a nightmare (and contrary to Emily, he can’t just get everything tailor-made). As a consequence, for years, he made a detour to his victims’ wardrobe and if something miraculously fit him, he stole it.

Fighting style:

He fights in very short ranges and uses all four limbs more or less equally. He's fond of either jumping on his victim's shoulders and slitting their throat with his sword, or grabbing their legs with his foot and throwing them on the ground before finishing them off.
His feathers allow him to move extremely silently. They're also good defense over his chest, neck and legs.
He uses his talons a lot. If he kicks, it's to slice, not to hit.

About Emily: elf/harpy hybrid.

Half-elf, half-sparrow harpy.
Elves have long thin limbs, harpies have long digits that form the wing and the feet, so as a result Emily’s limbs look extremely long. Especially since she stands very straight.
Hand strength is halfway between a human and a harpy.
Her feet are prehensile but toes are a bit too short for complex manipulations.
Her wings and feathers are rather compact.

In DH2, guards hear sound above them and look up to see this bird-ish creature with the global proportions of a stickbug crouching on a lampost and staring straight at them.

Fighting style:

Takes full advantage of her ridiculously long limbs - her range with a sword is unequaled. She can slit a man's throat while his own sword barely reaches her shoulder.
Sometimes, her size is enough of an intimidation factor that she doesn't even need to fight.
Her kicks can easily break bones.