Should I let the Eagle Clan apes be a little sexist in my headcanon? Like the importance of a son for certain roles, or the division of labor? Considering the general idea is that they're becoming more and more like us, this shouldn't be too far-fetched, right?
What do you think about the new ape society? Like the eagle clan? Do you have any headcanons about their culture?
I hc they use bird terminologies in their every day lives.
Children are called fledglings. Members of the clan are called feathers. Hunters/Warriors are called talons. Etc...
When you are bonded with a bird it becomes your other half to the point they are in sync with your emotions/personality/physicality.
When an ape dies most of the time the bird will fly as high as it can to "carry souls to the sky" before they drop dead as well. Of course there are instances where the bird will survive and bond with another ape. This is due to belief that the deceased has bonded strongly to the point their soul intertwined with the bird and now even in death they watch over you. (Looks at Koro)
Harming an eagle is taboo and considered very bad luck. It's also pretty much illegal.
If you have a partner, the eagles belonging to the couple will also share the bond and even display rituals such as locking talons :3
The eagles do carry messages for others. Even just showing up just to let the ape know it's owner is alright.
Eagle Clan is so cool and I hope we get to see more clans also
Revisiting my ‘The King’s Shadows’ one shot and decided to explore Athena (and Proxy)‘a children’s characters for a bit here.
⚠️Tw for mentions of physical and mental abuse below! In this AU, Proxy thinks of his children as tools rather than individuals; useful to ensure apes ‘evolve’ and learn from humans and continue his rule but he doesn’t necessarily like or even love them like a father should. ⚠️
From oldest to youngest!:
Farah: Farah is known by many names in the Coastal Clan; Farah the Fearless, Farah the Furious, the angry princess, and so on. Like her brothers and sister, Trevathan taught her about human technology and how to read books from an early age but unlike her siblings, Farah quite enjoyed reading. Her favorites including the works of Vonnegut and George Orwell.
It was her love of reading that turned Farah against her father. As she grew, she questioned all of Proxy’s laws and later started questioning the ‘Proximus Caesar version of’ Caesar’s teachings before realizing her father likely lied or made some of it up.
Outspoken and rebellious, she began openly questioning her father in front of other apes and captured clans. Creating an awkward and uncomfortable scene with him. To loyal followers of Proximus Caesar, she was just a defiant teenager. To those who personally felt Proxy’s wrath, they feared for her safety.
But Proximus won’t kill his children. Not so publicly anyway. His punishment of choice was always to lock them away with Athena, isolating them from the light, from other apes, and especially their books.
She’s fiercely protective of her mother and siblings, having witnessed so many beatings and verbal abuse directed at them from her father. Although Athena stopped fighting years ago, Farah never stopped looking and waiting for an opportunity to escape and get away from the coast.
In another life, she and Mae would probably be allies as they both hate Proximus Caesar albeit for different reasons.
Albus: Despite being the second oldest, Albus is the most timid of Proxy’s children. Actively avoids confrontation and refusing to fight or even so much as hold a weapon, most think of him as weak and cowardly but in actuality he shares the same attitude about their father as Farah.
In his case, Albus asks too many questions for Proxy’s liking. Always wanting to know more from Trevathan and wording his questions to his father in a way he hopes would please him but meeting only angry lectures and being talked down at instead. At some point, he gave up asking and started looking for answers himself. Finding a few human artifacts here and there.
The thing no one understands about Albus is he can and will fight if he absolutely has to. What Proxy and his followers take as weakness or cowardice is actually a level of restraint that most simply don’t have.
He’d probably become a member of the Order of Caesar or Raka’s student if they ever met.
Nero (formally named ‘Felix’): Easily and almost certainly Proxy’s least favorite child, Nero always gets the short end of the stick. As he’s the only child with green eyes, Proximus was convinced he wasn’t his son when he was born (which isn’t even possible given how isolated Athena was). It took Trevathan explaining the concept of genetics to convince him otherwise. The green eye confusion would later serve as a foreshadow for how he’d treat him from then on.
Proximus was controlling and abusive towards all his children but Nero got the worst of it; torn ears, scars from when Proxy hit or threw something at him. He’s even known to walk with a slight limp from a broken leg that never healed properly.
As such, Nero is more cynical and bitter than his brothers and sisters. He doesn’t ask for much, just a blanket and something to eat, he chooses not to hope or want anything more than that because he doesn’t see the point of it. Because he was born after Athena gave up trying to escape, Nero resented her for not doing anything to stop Proximus from harming him or his siblings. Not realizing of course that his mother was too mentally broken and isolated to intervene even if she tried.
It is very possible that Albus and Nero were both sent to go hunt for more apes and for Mae with Sylva and Lighting (this taking place after The King’s Shadows). Proximus treating it as a way to ‘toughen up’ his sons while Sylva and Lighting taking it as an opportunity to find out what had happened to Athena (Albus being hesitant to then but Nero dropping a few hints here and there). This also made Nero technically the youngest scout by the way!
This means Albus and Nero might have been there when Eagle Clan was raided OR when Noa and Mae were captured. In either case, Albus and Nero didn’t participate but they likely did watch it go down from afar. For them it confirmed two things: Their father’s influence over his followers can reach beyond the coast and, as long as he’s alive, no one can be trusted. Not even their mother’s ‘friends’.
Orchid: In contrast to her older siblings, Orchid is probably the only child Proxy actually likes. Though this is mainly because she’s quiet and lets him ramble on about ‘the vault, evolution, apes learning from humans, what humans used to be able to do, yadda yadda yadda!’. But Orchid ignores her father and stares out of the window all day, day dreaming about what could be beyond the coast.
Because she spent most of her life isolated and locked away with her mother, Orchid is shy, reserved and never leaves her mother’s side but also longs to go outside and explore and play. Later, after the events in Kingdom, she becomes much more curious and lively, happy to run and climb for hours.
The only thing Orchid fears is her father and the dark. This is because she’d often be locked in a small space away from her mother and siblings when Proximus yelled at them and beat them. Forcing her to hear it and imagine the worst was happening to them.
Although Proximus never directly harmed Orchid (she was the only child who he never yelled at or raised his hand at), she learned to fear him. Seeing him as more of a boogie man than as her father.
Julia and Arlo: And finally the twins! Because these two are basically newborn babies at this time, I don’t have much info on their characters yet. They love being held, scared of rushing water, and like to play with flowers and bugs. That’s pretty much it lol!
I’m terrible with ages for apes (math doesn’t math!) so here’s an example for their ages: Farah, Albus and Nero are close to Noa’s age (so in ape years, Farah 19, Albus 17, and Nero 14. Orchid would be 3).
- Side note, I changed Felix’s name to Nero because I headcanon now that Proximus would name (all or most of) his children after Roman history character. Sorry for the confusion! 😅
