I mentioned in the tags of another post that I was considering making Kelek’s creature version more of a surface monster which works perfectly tbh.
I envision the surface monsters of his au as monsters that for whatever reason didn’t get to the mountain. Their cultures and stuff changed as a response to the war and fear.
Since humans fought and sealed monsters out of fear for their Souls (simplified) - the surface monsters stopped communicating through encounters and direct interaction with the soul. After a few centuries the surface monsters don’t really know what an encounter is or how to pull their souls out. Their understanding of the soul is very rudimentary. (Like being able to feel their own, knowing that’s where their magic comes from, and that it affects reproduction)
Initially for safety, quite a few surface monsters developed magic for disguises which they then taught to others and developed into magic items to help. These are still mostly used for safety but sometimes mischief makers are about.
Comfys in particular almost never unmask after puberty. (They usually grow up rural since they’re quadrupedal until early puberty and so masking doesn’t work). This is due to their innate fear of humans seeing their true forms (and the spiraling possible consequences).
Since this sort of culture has developed for centuries it’s hard for some of the surface monsters to drop their masks and contact the underground monsters once freed. It doesn’t help that in Kelek’s au the post-pacifist surface has tense relations.
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Kelek actually likes his human mask and finds some things easier in it (like maintaining his hairstyle lmao). He does like his natural form as well. He probably hasn’t considered the idea of being able to be in his natural form most of the time as opposed to the inverse.
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Which of course a lot of this makes me think of him and Snaps lmao. Part of this is considering why he wouldn’t unmask for Snaps at first (take him a while to feel comfortable and safe to do it and then he just feels torn for keeping a secret).
And I think it’s cute to imagine Snaps slowly taking Kelek out places with him in his natural form. (It would have to be away from where Kelek lives though since he doesn’t want to be found out (it’s for his safety along with others in his local surface mon community).
Many surface monsters are regarded as faeries after the monsters below ground were forgotten and their connections lost. However they still dust on death, and their blood will dry to those same granules.
While some humans have found ways to prevent parts from dusting, the most common faerie-related commodity in the black markets is 'faerie dust'. Surface monsters tend to bleed in different colors, with their dust carrying traces of magic even in death.
