A sort of list of ghoul headcanons i have! Its a big ol thing with mostly anatomy sooo read under the cut :3
Forms and glamours
Ghouls typically have four stages to a glamour. Well, three to four.
Stage glamour:
What it says on the tin, the whole mask and everything, they look akin to humans anatomy wise (with some exceptions, i.e if a ghoul is mutated, but more on that later) but the mask is in fact, well.. part of their anatomy. They just have a second 'face' under that looks akin to their human glamours. This glamour is specifically provided for when an instrument is tied to them, and lasts for how long they play and then about an hour. It can also stack from past practices and whatnot, so depending on how long theyve been there and bonded, it can in fact vary.
Full glamours:
Carbon copies of human anatomy (again, with some exception), you cannot tell the difference between a ghoul and a human if they are glamoured like this. It is, however, extremely taxing to do so, and will end up tiring them out quickly. Depending on how much they do it, however, they can increase the duration. At the bare minimum, its about an hour before they have to turn back.
Unglamour 1:
This is, essentially, the more humanized versions. They look more like how people portray demons, with the horns and tails and other unhuman features, and features can vary from type to type. Such as:
Water: Fins, Scales, Tail is sort of like a fish.
Fire: Dragonlike in appearance, slits in eyes, tail is absent of a spade.
Earth: Goat, Deer or Elklike in appearance. Most earth ghouls have hooves, but can also have normal legs if they so wish. Tail is spiked and has a spiked spade.
Air: Fluff and fur on some spots (Knees and below) Their tails resemble a lion's. Some air ghouls have wings, but they are rare, and pretty small.
Quintessence: Space-like in appearance. Most older Quintessence ghouls have their bodies put together, but you can find small wisps emitting from the younger ones. Due to their matter not exactly being the most.. stable, they can in fact shapeshift!
Multi: Varies wildly, depending on proficiency of element, or what elements they were raised with back in the pit.
Unglamour 2:
Monster-like in appearance, you do not want to engage, as when the ghouls are in this form, they are most likely hunting. Forms can vary wildly, but still following the rules of the criteria above.. just, more. Quintessence is the only one with a major difference from the ones, as they are masses of dark matter. If you look closely, you can see specks that look almost like stars.
Element stuff:
Fire:
Fire ghouls are the most common ghouls in the pit, along with water. They can be found all around the pit, and can vary from pitborn to those who were human.
Earth:
Earth ghouls are in tune with the nature and, well, earth sround them. They can sense the weather (depending on the severity, it can in fact turn into a migrane) and have a bit of control over the plants around them.
The earth ghouls are the ones that were closest to the earth, its rare of them to be seen deeper in the pits. Most of them are humans turned ghoul.
Air:
Air and Earth ghouls typically are in the same areas, though they're typically born in the pits, unlike the earth ghouls.
Water:
Water ghouls are essentially like fire, there's a surplus of them in the pits, and can vary from pitborn to people that were once human.
Quintessence:
Quintessence ghouls are.. a peculiar type of ghoul. Exclusively pit-born, if you could even call them that. Really, they come from an area outside of it, a void. They dont have actual physical forms before summoning.
Their powers are upon the belief that humans had that dark matter, or the element quintessence, could cure any ailment. They're, by far, the most powerful type of ghouls, as this power allows the most skilled to tap into someone's mind, and due to their own lack of solid form, they can shapeshift at will.
Multi:
Multighouls are seen wildly different in the pits than in the surface. As, well, there isnt any way to channel certain elements in the pit. So, theyre considered to have no element. However, with the ability to channel certain elements in the ministry, multighouls possess the ability to have multiple elements, although their abilities are much more limited, and purely based on their proficiency with the instrument correlating with the element. They are pit-born exclusively, with a recessive gene that causes the ability to use multiple elements.
Instruments
Instruments are the main channel of elements. When given an instrument, a ghoul can bond to it, giving them access to their stage glamours. They can replenish energy, however, sleep is more efficient. Each ghoul has a specific one theyre bonded to, however it can change, and they can have multiple.
Transitions and mutations
Transitions are only available without risk to ghouls that have the multighoul gene, but are not multighouls.
Sodo had the multighoul gene, Delta, sadly, did not. (Even then, quintessence transitions are tricky.)
The ritual performed to do so causes extreme pain, and puts the ghoul subject to it out of commission. This process varies depending on the element they are transitioning to. Only the quintessence ritual requires the presence of other ghouls, and one cannot be sure what they do.
Mutations, well, there was only one instance of it occuring. (And FUCK YOU IM INCLUDING MY OC'S LORE IDC I AM CRINGE I AM FREE.)
Typically, summoning rituals need no other animal, mammal, creature, or any being in the circle. However, there was one time where a mistake was made, and a spider crawled in there.
The ritual was attempted to be cancelled, however, it was too late, summoning a ghoul with the features of the same spider.
Mutated ghouls cannot glamour well, as their mutations cannot go under glamours.
Whether they were like this before or not, nobody knows.
