#goddessknight

Both Selene and Derek are harpies however, most of them had to hide their bird-like attributes to avoid getting hunted by humans, and Selene's ancestors and later family (House Altaris (that's also her/her family's last name) came into power as the ruler of them all, they believing disregarding their bird traits make them look good to others and gain favor among other royals, thus ensuring their survival (even if it means stepping over everyone else because at least its not them, right? Though there are still select clans that havent sacrificed their bird traits scattered throughout the world, including Derek's. He’s the last surviving member of his clan after his village was burnt down and destroyed, and he’s been working as a mercenary hired as a guard for for kingdoms, assassin, fought in fighting rings amongst others, all in order to scrape money for himself in order to survive. He hid himself under the name “D3rlord” as an alias and has never revealed his face or his true identity in fear of getting hunted.

He doesn’t get a lot of freedom despite being in a objectively high position as the princesses royal guard both because of his past as a mercenary and under suspicion of him fighting for past enemy kingdoms, and also because her family looks down on harpies such as him, believing them to be “barbaric”, and “dirty”/lesser than them. (They don’t need their bird adaptations because they have servants that cater to them, so they never felt the need to survive) The contract states that he’s under their protection as harpies, but its moreso just a fancy way of saying that he owes all loyalty to the kingdom, even if they don’t give him the same respect back (and won’t bat an eye if he dies either) Granted he is used to this treatment wherever he goes

He doesn’t live in the quarters like the rest of the castle guards despite technically being in a higher position than all of them (because hes tasked with guarding selene directly) instead relegated to a basement in the castle, there are rumors that its infested with rats and that they eat people but theyre actuallt super nice and he’s even friends with them to keep him company, his tribe was very in tune with nature and animals as a way to track their environment (as they were always traveling around/nomadic) and to help them out in battle or everyday life. He is half animal himself anyways, and he can also talk to orher birds as well, Selene can’t as her people lost their abilities as harpies over time, and they mainly pass off as human to gain the favor of other people minus their ears, aside from guards, they arent allowed to show their wings in public, and the first time Selene ever used them was when she ran away to find derek after she got exiled and the night before she was about to get married to a prince from another kingdom (Derek’s more of a disney princess than the actual princess)