Fairies

In the Magical Warrior Diamond Heart universe, all creatures under the "fair folk" mythological umbrella, (merfolk, elves, etc) are simply "fairies", as well as many mythological creatures like dragons and unicorns. More traditional dragons fall under the "beasts" umbrella and are among the kaiju-like megafauna that roam the planet.

Overview

Fairies are beings that inhabit Glimmer. They're marked by their ability to shape-shift and disguise themselves. Fairies use sentence-enders, or verbal tics. Fairies are physically compelled to use their tics, and it causes a lot of physical stress for them to suppress it. Stress can cause a fairy to lose control of their shift as well, causing even the most talented shifters to slip. Fairies are also known for their affinity toward tricks and mischief.

Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting is the signature ability of fairies and the baseline spell they're all able to perform. Fairies typically use shape-shifting to take on a taller human form, especially in Chalcedonia where the cities are built with taller creatures in mind. A shapeshifted form visible traits from their fairy form is considered an incomplete shift. Shape-shifting magic, while the norm for all fairies, is still considered an advanced form of magic, and many fairies can't achieve a fully shifted form. However, most fairies can achieve a shift extremely close to their ideal by choosing which traits can be ignored and which are the most important for them to hide, such as tails and digitigrade legs.

Typical traits that fairies might still retain when shifted are unusually shaped pupils, unusual ears, facial markings, fangs or talons, an unusual amount of body hair, and padding on their hands and feet.

Fairies can rearrange the traits they choose to shift for convenience, for example, hiding a tail by giving themselves fur covered legs and pawpads instead.

Reproduction

Fairies don't reproduce via sexual reproduction. Pure-blood fairies are hatched from eggs that appear during the month of Blooming. The length of incubation depends on factors such as subspecies, time, and weather. Nobody knows what causes a fairy egg to appear.

Fairies can reproduce with humans as they are genetically closer to humans than any other race on Glimmer. Biological sex is not a factor in fairy/human reproduction and half-fae can develop in either a human uterus or a fairy egg. They can not reproduce with Luminae.

Young full-fae are known as fawns, and young half-fae are known as nymphs. Fairies develop rapidly in infancy and slow during childhood and adulthood. Fairies have life spans about three times that of a human. Magical ability varies from fae to fae, but half-fae typically have less magical aptitude than full-fae, but much more than humans. They are less magically sensitive than full fairies as well. Mixed race fairies are always genetically half, regardless of how many generations apart they are from the ancestral fairy.

Abilities

Fairies are sensitive to magic, and are able to sense dark energy. They can hover and teleport as well and being able to shape-shift. They are generally limited to being able to shift between a human and a fairy form, although stronger fairies have more freedom in how their human form appears and may shift into different forms all together.

Trivia

• While the majority of fairies are from the capital, there are a few fairies who are not. Opal is one of the few Glimmerian fairies in the cast who is not from Chalcedonia.
• Diana is the only fairy in the cast who actively suppresses her verbal tic, this causes her shift to be less stable than other fairies.