Daemon AU comes from His Dark Materials which is a fantastic trilogy, but I made a few key adjustments to the world's system.
Daemons do touch other humans and is a sign of trust but not necessarily romantic interest
Daemons do not necessarily settle during the teenage years (of the few we have confirmed, the range is 12-16). In this version, daemons can settle at any age ranging from very young to elders.
First Touches are what settles a daemon, but that touch is not necessarily the first they have (that would usually be the parents). It is not limited to romantic love either, it simply has to be a strong bond. Whoever is the First Touch, is someone that will remain fundamental to their lives and that dynamic will be stable, hence its 'settling' quality.
90% of daemons are opposite sex and 10% are same sex. It's never made clear canonically why this is (or in interviews) but in this version, it's like being right or left handed. It is just a thing that happens with a semi-random spread in the population.
I also did my best to make the daemons "regional", hence why all of T1's daemons are based on various Korean animals. This was a 50/50 debate with Faker who personality wise resembles sandhill cranes, a type of American crane that continues to look after their young even when they're out of the nest. Gumayusi was also originally a Bernese mountain dog off of temperament alone before I changed it to the donggyeongi which I didn't even know existed until doing some research. The Korean Jindo is similar and more familiar, but I felt their personality didn't match as well.
Other misc headcanons about others in the LCK:
Canyon is unusually good at handling daemons and some of them will approach him for pets. His daemon is a songbird.
-> an example of this is with Peyz's daemon who is much more confident than he is. She plopped herself in his lap and he started giving her careful pets. Peyz was torn between being delighted and mortified.
Showmaker's daemon has not fully settled, but rarely shifts out of the fluffy black cat form Canyon is fond of.
-> they both listen to recordings of Canyon's daemon singing when they can't sleep
Chovy's daemon was predicted early on and is a looong bengal cat. She throws herself onto others keyboards (mostly Lehends) in protest. She also has a tendency to get stuck in walls.
Deft's daemon is an alpaca and settled very shortly after people started that nickname. Deft is slightly miffed about this, but he loves her very much all the same.
No one in the LCK is separated from their daemon. I considered this but then dismissed it as separating without dying requires very specific training and circumstances(all of them too dark for this setup). Some definitely wish they could though, so their daemons could meet loved ones in different countries.
Daemon au is definitely one of my favorites so I'm considering doing it for more players.
