semi-active ghost fan

Yes, Ghouls are summoned! But they are still kits when they first kind of spawn in!

Before they do, they are in the Pits but have no memory of that, so when a Ghoul is killed/sent back, they have no idea what's happening.

Summoned Ghouls can only have 1 of the 5 Elements, meaning any Multis are actually born from 2 Ghoul parents! (So when seen as useful, they are just taken from their parents by the Clergy which usually involves killing the parents)

When Ghouls grow up, they have to learn how to control their abilities (like young Ifrit for example would always set stuff on fire on accident) so they aren't just born with that knowledge.

For that reason, when living at the Clergy, they are often given an elder, more experienced Ghoul of the same Element/s to help/mentor them.

Physical Stuff:

All Ghouls are completely Gender-fluid, being able to shapeshift into anything they want to be.

They may have a gender/appearance that appeals most to them or their partner and stay in it for en extensive amount of time.

This ability to shift can however be disrupted by all sorts of physical and psychological factors such as trauma.

(-> additionally, when a Ghoul forcefully converts themselves/is converted into an Element, they also may lose their full/just partial ability to shift)

Yes, Sodo/Dewdrop was originally a Water Ghoul, but was converted to Fire through an excruciating process, so now he can not really shift/control his appearance anymore.

(same thing with Delta (Water -> Quintessence))

Traits!

All Ghouls (regardless of what/how many Elements they are) have this kind of Self-Healing process, that helps speed up recovery of all sorts of injuries.

They are pretty much immune to time. (So yes, Terzo is the one that will die before Omega and it's very sad)

As mentioned, shapeshifting doesn't only come in handy when it comes to Gender, identity and intimacy but also helps in combat/daily life/stage presence. Examples include:

Wings, Multiple arms/legs, control of horn length (while remaining in the basic shape), fang length, hair length.

Some fundamental details that can't be changed by Shapeshifting include:

Eye color, general body shapes/facial stuff, tail, ears, etc, skin and hair color can only shift within the gradient.

Elements!

All of my Ghoul Designs are centered around their Element/something to do with their Element or even Name.

(-> Storm/Cyclone who is inspired by the actual weather phenomenon as an Air Ghoul)

Different Elements means different species variations! (For Multis it's often a complete mix)

Fire:

General: More humanoid, often red/orange or dark/ashy skin tones, usually built very broad and muscular.

Abilities/Important Stuff: Fire Ghouls LOVE the sun, just a couple of hours of sleep in a sunny corner can get them through multiple all nighters!

Ability to create/mold/work with fire, make for fantastic armor smiths.

Can control their body heat, but cooling themselves down requires way more energy than charging themselves up.

Can control their cardiac activity too, like slowing it down or speeding it up drastically in case they ever gotta run.

Eyes: Black Scleras, molten/fire irises, small, slit pupils due to high light intake from sun.

Horn shapes: long but twirly or with a few hooks.

Tail shapes: Arrow Tips.

Ears: More elf-like.

Water:

General: Sirens, fishy, have gills on their neck, skin tones range from deep blue to luscious green.

Abilities/Important Stuff: CAN breathe outside and inside water.

Water magic-

Can communicate non verbally via clicks. (-> cuz how tf are you gonna talk underwater)

Salt Water and Fresh Water or whatever it's called.

(The difference lies in the colors scale with Salt being more on the blue, and Fresh being more on the green side)

Eyes: often glowy, almost hypnotic, swirly, no real pupil.

Horns: straight, aerodynamic, usually reaching back.

Tail shapes: spiny and long.

Ears: classic fish fin/sea people ears.

Earth:

General: Biggest of them all, aside from Pebble lol, more goat/mammal like, bulkier and taller bodies, colors range from dark brown to green ish.

Two types: Bio (tree/plant like) and Geo (stone, rock or gem like).

Abilities/Important Stuff: Healers!, inhuman strength, can feel and replicate Seismic activities.

Eyes: dark, resembling some kind of crystal, goat like pupils.

Horns: also sometimes crystalline shapes, or tree branch like, or ram like.

Tail shapes: smaller, stubbier tails.

Ears: goat/mammal like.

Air:

General: usually inspired by clouds or weather patters, varied shapes, even w little dragon like.

Abilities/Important Stuff: telekinesis, depending on their phenomenon they are either Healers/more calm (Cirrus, Cumulus, Zephyr) or Fighters (Storm, Aero).

Eyes: very light, often no distinct iris but a pupil, usually very big.

Horns: either extremely long and thin or short and thick lol.

Tail shapes: often spiny or fluffly, more dragon like.

Ears: dragon/elf like.

Quintessence:

General: black/dark skin tones, white markings or freckles that look like constellations. Also more humanoid.

Abilities/Important Stuff: (hear me out this will be a lot, I might make another one just for Quint. Lore)

Okay so at the beginning there were just 4 Elements, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, each controlled by a Guardian, a creature older than time itself. They really tried to keep the peace, but that didn't work very well so in the end, one of the Elements was obstructed. Fire. The remaining Elements weren't happy about that so they swore to keep peace from now on, but then- Quintessence rose from the ashes of Fire, and a 5th Element had been created.

Despite Quintessence being strong enough to sustain itself in this world, it's the most unstable Element. Creatures who bear this Element decay. Over time, slowly but surely it will make itself known, and if no one steps in, they might just expire.

(Also the Fire Element can still be summoned ofc)

Now for the actual abilities:

Oneirokinesis (the control of dreams), short blinks or visions of the future, that they don't understand, and that can't help anyone change their fate, so yes it's purely to drive them insane. :)

Eyes: One of the first things that starts to decay are their eyes! Which means they essentially turn fully dark, they also cry ink, yay!

Horns: long, straight, smooth.

Tail shapes: similar to Fire, just that it's that heart tip instead of an arrow.

Ears: elf-like, maybe a bit more droopy.

Anomalies:

(some things that can happen to any Ghoul of any Element, but usually happens more often in Multis)

Multiple tails/tail tips, multiple tongues, up to 2 pairs of ears instead of one, no teeth at all or too many teeth, multiple horns, no horns, just 1 horn (unicorn vibes), extra eye/pair of eyes.

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