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Mutatis demon
(Daemonium mutatis)
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In a room full of screens and radios sits the bejeweled incarnation of chaos, nor man nor woman, not human nor divine. A knife on the table (what it might have been used for?), and a burning book in hand. Of course books, inheritance of a slower world, are not loved by chaos... a cascade of informations: a life that's afraid of silence and boredom. Questo è il terreno di caccia di un mutatis.
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ORIGINS
Mutatis are the youngest of the seven species of greater demons, originated by the union of luciferians and fae.
Despite being the most recent out of the seven, their magical prowess and the affinity to luciferians (which have been considered as the "prince species" of Hell for most of the infernal eras) places them rather high in the demonic hyerarchies; even above
carnalis demons, even though they derive from the fall of the same angels and are quite more ancient than mutatis are.
Regardless of the influence coming from an "external" species, mutatis are considered to be infernal creatures in their own right.
APPEARANCE
On the topic of hiding among one's preys, mutatis are advantaged like few other demons: they have two main forms that they master since they're little more than newborns, but their fairy blood and the quick-change ability of luciferians allow mutatis to easily change their looks or deceive others' eyes.
Truth be told, there's no doubt that mutatis are the demons that possess the most devastating magic potential of the whole Hell, along luciferian demons.
These creatures have a peculiar relationship with their own body, which they perceive as a fluid, malleable extension of their conscience; mutatis show an incredibly high psychological resistance to change, and they're comfortable assuming many shapes that are very different from each other: phenomenons like dysphoria,
dysmorphophobia, and body image disturbances are practically absent among the
representatives of this species (which, to varying levels, could change those parts of their appearance they don't like at will, anyway).
So, how does one recognize a mutatis demon?
We have mentioned two "main forms" earlier; mutatis take them on when they're relaxed or when they wish to know someone or be recognized by them (see behavior), and they show a series of traits that make them immediately identifiable as mutatis demons:
∙ Mutatis are bipedal.
∙ They only have five limbs: arms, legs, and tail.
∙ Their hands have five skillful fingers, one of which is an opposable thumb. Both hands and feet have claws.
∙ Mutatis have differentiated teeth that tell them apart as omnivores, but the canines and adjacent teeth tend to be quite sharp.
∙ They have very dark skin, almost black, often more on the blue spectrum than on the pink one.
∙ They show big, dark horns of variable shapes, similar to caprine or ovine horns.
∙ They have red or blue irises, of intense colors, while the sclera is black.
∙ The ending of a mutatis' tail looks like an arrow tip.
Once one understands they're in front of a mutatis demon, it should be possible to also discern which basic form they took on.
These two forms have name of agnus diaboli and puer diaboli.
The puer diaboli
form is the one mutatis take on more frequently to interact with human beings or other anthropomorphic creatures: while keeping the fundamental traits that we have just listed, they have an overall humanoid appearance, with head and limbs similar to those of a Homo sapiens.
The agnus diaboli,
instead, is often more extensively covered in dark fur, and it barters a human head and feet for a more animalistic version of them, like clawed feet or hooves, while the muzzle is often more or less akin to an ovine one.
They're able to speak, if they so wish, in all of their forms.
The average height of a mutatis demon is of 1.80 m (around 6 ft), and once they reach the adult age they stop showing sings of aging, reason for which it's pretty difficult to estabilish the number of years a mutatis has on their shoulders by looks alone. What could look like a big, experienced, consumed mutatis could actually be a little demon just out of adolescence, while a mutatis that appears like a young, ethereal creature that just surpassed the threshold of puberty could actually be a pluricentenary demon.
Cases of intersexuality and ermaphroditism are frequent among mutatis.
They seem to have a certain affinity for gold, and it's not rare for them to adorn their bodies with jewels made of this metal.
Subspecies/races
Since it's the youngest and most chaotic species among greater demons, mutatis don't have any particular subspecies yet.
However, some characteristics in them could be a clue to the makeup of their ancestry and its fairy blood percentage: when, for one reason or another, the "variety" of fae to which they're linked is identifiable with sufficient clarity, the term "mutatis from [insert name of the fairy]" (as in mutatis from janas, mutatis from nymph, mutatis from leprechaun etc...) is of fairly common use.
BEHAVIOR
Sociability and communication
Mutatis can be often seen in company of creatures of other species, be it demons, humans, lycanthropes, or something different, even outside of predatory behaviors.
When they want to interact in a friendly manner, they let any disguise or illusion fall and take on one of their basic forms; the choice usually ends on the one that looks more like their interlocutor (they might decide to appear as an agnus diaboli, for example, when talking to an incendiary mastiff, which often has traits that differ from a humanoid form).
These demons are tendentially whimsical and sharp-minded, playful, but the subtleties of their social interactions aren't always easy to understand due to their complex personalities and notorious love for chaos.
Instead, mutatis demons tend to avoid each other. They're especially jealous of their territories, roles, and preys, perceiving other mutatis as an element of distubance in their hunting and life plans, making conflicts and tensions almost inevitable between two daemonium mutatis forced to share a territory.
The only exceptions are constituted by the hunting alliances that can be formed between blood relatives, that form a pack in which everyone lends their own skill to conquer the most possible preys to share among themselves. These packs are usually made up by a minimum of two to a maximum of thirteen individuals, guided by a parental figure (like a mother, a father, an older sister or brother) that coordinates the younger ones.
I
legami che si creano all'interno delle famiglie/branco di mutatis sono
strettissimi, mentre i legami di sangue che rimangono fuori dalle
alleanze di caccia non hanno praticamente nessun valore per i mutatis.
Other very important hunting bonds that can be created are with the incendiary mastiffs (see Hunting and diet habits).
Mutatis demons are able to verbally communicate, and have gentle, androginous natural voices, but they can alter the timbre and quality of their own voice quite easily to adapt to their necessities; the most eccentric and extroverted mutatis sometimes add sound effects to their speech patterns, especially if they get carried away with telling a story.
The tail of a mutatis is partly useful to provide them with greater balance, and partly, if necessary, to act like a secondary defense thanks to the arrowhead-like tip, but its main use is certainly communicative as a reinforcer to the rest of their physical language. Mutatis don't indulge in exaggerated facial expressions, but the meaning of their body language changes depending on the movement of this limb: just to make an example, if a mutatis smiles and their tail is still, then they're serene, if it moves jerkily it's a threatening smile, if it curls up they're amused (sometimes even at the expense of their interlocutor), and if they wag it they're absolutely deighted, despite in all of these case probably the expression on their face won't have varied from a courteous smile.
This is one of the most elusive elements of their communication, that, if ignored, generates important misunderstandings.
The more mutatis demons are angry or upset, the more their appearance becomes confused, changeable: this phenomenon has modernly obtained the nickname of "glitch".
Although it isn't common, an exception that's worth mentioning is the one concerning some individuals which penchant for chaos is such that it makes it difficult to even just look their way without feeling a certain uneasy discomfort; the most striking example of this "condition", which can seriously influence the interpersonal relationships of a mutatis demon, is Insolut, the current Chaos teacher at the Accademonia; the mere sight of them can instill an increasing sense of anxiety in the observer that results in physical symptoms such as chills or headaches.
Hunting and diet habits
Mutatis, like every other greater demon, lengthen their life by assimilating souls from humans or other demons. Technically, the same mechanism that allows them to feed on human life energy would also allow them to do the same to other animals, but the regulations from the Ministries (of Light and of Darkness) gives permission to greater demons to only take souls from consenting humans that are able to sign them a contract outside of the Infernal dimension; in this lies the particular hunting ability of the mutatis, who must mentally manipulate their victims until they get a voluntary contract.
They usually obtain this result by persuading the humans that giving their soul is the best alternative to get out of a desperate situation, which is, of course, entirely fake and created ad hoc by the mutatis with a mix of mental manipulation and illusions. In case there's a real desperate situation behind it, the mutatis probably has just smelled the opportunity to propose themselves as the best choice in a critical circumstance.
Their hunting technique has some common points with the one of incendiary mastiffs, with which they sometimes decide to cooperate to aim at "big hunts", unleashing mayhem in big huamn groups through, for example, the creation of cults and fanatic groups.
The actual lifespan of a mutatis that doesn't feed on souls is unknown, but they're supposedly pretty longevous thanks to their fairy legacy, more so than a common human. Because of this, rather than consuming their prey one after the other, mutatis often avoid collecting souls the moment they conquer them: it can be years before it happens. The most succesful mutatis keep soul stocks, of which they're very jealous and don't easily reveal the location of.
Thanks to their long lives they can indulge in elaborate hunts, focusing on one prey at a time. For them it's extremely amusing to create the conditions that will bring them to obtain a contract signing, and a single hunting session might last months or even years before reaching its conclusion.
In addition to their soul hunting, they're omnivores and have a soft spot for milk, cereals, and all of their by-products.
Courtship and reproduction
This particular species of greater demon reconfirms itself as anomalous even in love, considering that it often ends up procreating with any other sentient creature that's not another mutatis.
Hybrids with other greater demons are frequent, but crossbreeds also happen with creatures foreign to the Infernal dimension like humans, lycanthropes or faes, since their peculiar genetic legacy allows them to produce an offspring with an impressing variety of species.
Mutatis are chameleonic in this regard: once a possible partner is spotted (usually chosen according to completely arbitrary reasons, like a personal aesthetic taste or a certain affinity), they emulate the looks, courtship, and even mating of the partner's species.
However, mutatis aren't a monogamous species and they don't normally stay with only one partner for life, nor it's granted that they might try to have babies, since they often mate for the physical gratification of the act rather than to reproduce.
When a baby is indeed born from these unions, two distinct lines of behavior can generally be found in the neoparents: mutatis that forge hunting alliances tend to reproduce with several mates to later bring away the stronger babies, raise them and keep them in the "pack", while the solitary ones remain with the partner they chose to help raise the child in the critical years of development, but they rarely stay at their side for more time that is necessary to provide the first parental cures.
Baby mutatis born from another greater demon or fae are often classified as mutatis as well, but the same can't be said for the babies born from other species, which will tendentially look like the other parent and will rarely inherit a mutatis' full magic potential; they're born with very tiny horns, dark skin, and a little tail with the arrowhead tip, all traits that will develop more with growth; this is pretty quick in "pure" mutatis, which mature at twice the rate of a common human being.
Interestingly enough, it's the contrary for hybrids: both growth and pregnancies involving an half mutatis might be slightly slower than average.
To this day there's a mystery shrouding the birth of baby mutatis: when it's the female that belongs to another species, it seems that the birth of the baby simply follows the "rules" of her biology, but not much is known about what happens when the female is a mutatis. When a pregnant mutatis feels that the moment of birth approaches, she suddenly goes missing, distancing herself even from her partner, only to return when the pregnancy is over, with the baby already in her arms.
The most accredited theory about it is that it's nothing stranger than a simple viviparous birth, but there's simply not enough informations for conclusions. However, what is known is that both male and female mutatis are able to breastfeed their young, even if females are able to obtain a more consistent production than their counterparts.
An old rumor suggests that mutatis' milk to be cursed or poisonous, but it looks like there's no scientific proof to support this.
Similarly to how human babies need time to learn how to walk upright, baby mutatis aren't able to change appearance right away, and remain with the one they had a birth (puer diaboli if born by more humanoid species, agnus diaboli if born from species that deviate from anthropomorphic characteristics) for around ten months before beginning their first, clumsy transformations, trying to imitate their favorite people.
POPULAR MUTATIS
- Insolut
- Kimika
- Agnus Demone
CURIOSITÀ
- Fairies are viewed with distrust and resentment by most of the greater demons. Some of that fame carries over to the general image of mutatis, who have a reputation for being unreliable, capricious, and unfair, even from a demon's point of view.
- The mutatis who descend from group fae (such as Sardinian janas or pixies), could have inherited from them the characteristic of falling into a deep slumber when sleeping in the company of two or more people, to wake up only once left alone again. This is quite a dangerous circumstance for them, because neither noises nor being touched are enough to wake them up, making them particularly vulnerable to attacks.
- Also due to the aforementioned reason, mutatis tend to sleep alone and never show themselves when they rest, holed up in isolated places.
- The main cause of death for a mutatis are violent aggressions by other demons or fairies, more rarely by human hand. A good number of these deaths are attributed to a conspecific.
- Many mutatis don't keep the name that is given to them at birth, but they personally choose another one later. Some keep a family name, others don't, and are known only with their chosen name; this makes individuating a certain bloodline much more difficult.
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