Unnecessarily Long Post about Fairy Names and Titles in KNY Pixie Hollow AU.
Also how these things relate to their government structure, offspring, and some notes on how lineage and history differs between seedborn fairies and fleshborn fairies.
Some of these characters used as examples, like Ruka Rengoku, Tamayo, and Douma, don't appear to have canon family names (or a maiden name in the case of Ruka). So some were invented for the sake of this post.
More under the cut. This is actually a huge post.
General character topics used as examples that are covered in no specific order.
Kanae as the Lady of Spring and her relationship to Tamayo, a self sentenced common fairy despite her ancient lineage.
Douma as the lord of Winter and the unrest around his situation as one of the youngest lords in their history.
Summer Lord Shinjuro falling from grace and being replaced by his son.
Douma and Enmu's marriage despite being a winter and warm fairy relationship
Muzan's attempted overthrowing of Kagaya and its consequences, plus allusions to his old political allies.
In the instance of actual birth families or adopted seed children (see reproduction and society section. Reference the key/legend at the top of the post before proceeding) , fairies invent a family name, but this is not part of their personal titles. Fairies and their identities rely on this structure: Season they belong to, status/talent/government title (Minister or Lord (m) /Lady (f) /Lead (other)), and their given name.
ex. Winter Lord Douma. ex. Spring Lady Kanae. ex. Autumn root Bo. (works in a root of the dust tree) ex. Autumn keeper Enmu. (dust keeper) ex. Spring pharmacist/alchemist Shinobu (titles interchangeable as both are technically true)
The exceptions are reserved for when family units are addressed since they're already so rare. The season a fairy belongs to doesn't matter in family titles. Seedborn and fleshborn families also do not have distinctions in title unless they're royalty or ministers. Common fairies are not typically permitted to reproduce sexually anyway, as this requires a "blessing". So common fairies rarely ever have inherited family titles. (Worth considering that the society rarely prioritizes single or coupled parenting, most instances of existing children being raised by communities non specifically. Unless expressed "ownership" over a dependent party is expressedly stated.)
ex. Shinazugawa Sanemi (seedborn, adopted into family unit by Shizu, who invented the family name) Parents are labeled as family heads and pass their name to adopted or birthed offspring. ex. Family head Shinazugawa Shizu, Family head Kyogo Shinazugawa What a family structure's titles look like. ex. Family head Urokodaki Sakonji (seedborn) Urokodaki Giyuu (seedborn) Urokodaki Sabito (seed sibling with Makomo) Urokodaki Makomo (seed sibling with Sabito) Before he became the family head, he was just Sakonji.
When fairies are related by being born from seeds from the same origin plant, they may create a relative title. Though usually one is assigned or suggested to them depending on how much the fairy who finds them cares about the topic. Usually it up to scouts or dustkeepers to decide what happens to stray seeds that have sprouted into "units".
"Units" are the offspring produced when a fairy seed gets lost before making it to the dust tree to be turned into a mature fairy. When the lost seed roots, grows naturally, and produces more seeds, each of the new seeds has a fraction of the original seed's energy. Meaning that rather than producing a new adult when sprouted by the dust tree, they produce children instead. Each of these new children is part of the unit.
Seeds are usually turned into fairies by having dust poured onto them at the dust tree. But this can still happen by mistake if someone pours dust on the seeds themselves. Just a fairy's handful is enough. Usually these seeds are destroyed rather than "sprouted" to avoid investing resources in offspring. Due to their pressure to serve humans, most prefer to wait for mature seeds to come to Fairy Haven's dust tree.
Those units who do get sprouted are assigned sibling titles by the dustkeeper or scout that found them, or the units self title a sibling name. Sibling names are not culturally the same as a family titles.
ex. Giyuu and Tsutako were born from seeds from the same plant. making them seed siblings. They invent the sibling name "Tomioka," to indicate being from the same source plant matters to them. Tomioka Giyuu, Tomioka Tsutako become their new titles. Tomioka = Sibling title.
Their original sibling titles can be overridden when they're taken in by a new family head. Sibling titles never have weight over a family head's title.
ex. Tomioka Tsutako dies. Later in life, when Tomioka Giyuu is adopted by Urokodaki Sakonji, his title changes to reflect the new family head. His new title is Urokodaki Giyuu. Tsutako's sibling name never changes postmortem. There is no official process for this title switching. It is a culturally normal practice and happens without documentation. Giyuu will go on to share a title with the family head's other adopted children. ex. Family head Urokodaki Sakonji Urokodaki Makomo (formerly Makomo) Urokodaki Sabito (formerly Sabito) Urokodaki Giyuu (formerly Tomioka Giyuu)
Lords, Ladies, and Leads are the heads of any particular season. "Lead" as a title is used in place of gendered titles, but is also used as an alternative titles for those looking to avoid confusion with their spouse.
In the case of Season heads and ministers, Family names and titles might be more complicated.
ex. Kocho Kanae and Kocho Shinobu are seed siblings. Kocho Kanae is elected as Lady of Spring. Her sister's title does not change and neither does hers. Instead, Kanae gains a new separate title: Spring Lady Kanae. Her sister does not inherit this status but may be appointed a new position via nepotism. ex. Spring pharmacist Shinobu is appointed a new position as an alchemist. Her new title is Spring Alchamist Shinobu. Her original sibling name, Kocho Shinobu is still shared with her sister.
The family name is more important if the owner has blood lineage with ancient fairies, or fairies from before the White Crow, their late Goddess, cursed all future fairies to lose their feathered wings and fly with insect wings and fairy dust instead (See dust and wings section. Read key/legend beforehand). The original ancient fairies had more powerful magic and are a cultural symbol of life before fairy populations were cursed to rely primarily on serving humanity. (see livelihood/biology section. Read key/legend first). Before this curse, fairy reproduction was even mix of seed cultivation and sexual reproduction. For the past 800 or so years since then, reproduction relies mainly on seeds.
For this reason, Ancient bloodlines are highly respected, and earn family titles by default. Ancient fairies, being fleshborn, have traceable ancestry. Sometimes.
Tsugikuni Michikatsu and Tsugikuni Yoriichi are fleshborn identical twins. Before the Goddess cursed fairykind for Muzan's actions, Tsugikuni Michikatsu married, passed on his family head name to his wife, and their offspring took their family name. Tokito Muichiro and Tokito Yuichiro are descendants of the Tsugikuni lineage, but one of their ancestors either changed their title or chose to adopt their partner's lineage title instead. So they became Tokito instead of Tsugikuni. This change of title keeps their original lineage somewhat shrouded. The Tokitos are fleshborn identical twins, and though they do not know their original family unit or the family head personally, they maintain their titles. Other examples. ex. Yosame (夜雨・よさめ) Tamayo (fleshborn. Former family head.) ex. Ubuyashiki Kagaya, Ubuyashiki Amane (family heads to biological children.)
Sometimes ancient fairies change their names to avoid associations with former controversy. Worth noting that not all fairies with ancient lineage have high status positions. Some live as commoners and choose to omit a lineage name altogether.
ex. Ubuyashiki Muzan (former title), Kibutsuji Muzan (self-appointed title). Muzan is fleshborn and originally shared a sibling name with Kayaga. He changed it when he tried to usurp him so Fairy Haven would know his new lineage title instead of respecting the current rule. He maintains this difference still. ex. Tsugikuni Michikatsu dropped his lineage title altogether and changed his name to Kokushibo when he allied himself with Muzan's cause. He and Muzan live in exile. ex. Yosame Tamayo, after losing her fleshborn children to Muzan's influence, dropped the Yosame lineage title out of shame and became just Tamayo. She lives as a commoner. ex. Kaneko (金子・かねこ) Douma dropped his lineage title due to his parent's murder suicide, leaving him alone as a young ruler. Fleshborn, Douma wanted to be taken more seriously despite being the youngest Lord in recent history, ascending at only 13. He is currently 20 and prefers to be just "Douma." His birth parents were Kaneko Shige and Kaneko Nobumasa, who he had inherited the original title from.
When common fairies marry, they do not adopt a family title by default. Family titles are reserved for those with offspring (flesh or seed). Because fairies born from seeds do not have bloodlines or ancestry, family names aren't important unless they will officially pass a name on to children. Their titles will be influenced if they marry into a new status, however. Children or no children.
ex. Mitsuri and Kocho Shinobu marry. They have no children. Neither of them will share a family title, even though Shinobu has a sibling title. Their status is the same (common) so their status title doesn't change either. Spring gardener (garden fairy) Mitsuri. Spring alchemist Shinobu. No family title. ex. Kocho Kanae/Sping Lady Kanae marries Spring alchemist Tamayo. She appoints her to a new job title, Spring Advisor Tamayo (though Tamayo could also be considered Spring Lady Tamayo, she rejected this title for personal reasons). Their family title does not change. If they have a hypothetical child named Miko (ミコ) these options for names apply: If they take Kocho as a family head name. Kocho Miko If they take Tamayo's lineage name. Yosame Miko. Kanae's name would change in this instance as a family head, becoming Yosame Kanae. Or they can invent something new, and everyone would take that family name. Hypothetical Miko's status title would be "Daughter of Spring" until she develops a talent or an official government role.
There are two types of fairies, warm fairies and winter fairies. Warm fairies belong to Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Winter fairies belong only to Winter. If warm fairies enter Winter, their wings can freeze and render them flightless if hypothermia doesn't kill them first. If winter fairies enter the warm seasons, they can suffer heat exhaustion and eventual hyperthermia, since their internal body temperatures are lower. Either kind of fairy entering the other's realm will not result in instant death, but it has led to fatalities. For this reason, scouts usually guard the border to keep unprepared travelers from dying.
Usually permission to cross from warm to Winter needs to be approved by a minister or Season head (lord, lady, lead). Inter-seasonal marriage has no consequence among warm seasons. And the married couple keeps their orginal season as part of their title, even when married.
In the case of marriage between warm seasons and Winter, one must sacrifice a title to the other, since back and forth travel is rarely permitted. In this instance, name conventions change somewhat.
Winter Lord Douma and Autumn keeper Enmu get married. Douma, being a season head, stays in his realm, meaning Enmu is required to sacrifice his season title. Autumn Keeper Enmu -> Winter Keeper Enmu Enmu receives a job promotion to manage Winter's branch of the dust tree (root). So he becomes Winter Root Enmu. Marriage, however, means he can keep this job but adopt the title Douma carries as Winter Lord. To distinguish himself, he chooses Lead, and becomes Winter Lead Enmu. If Douma and Enmu have a hypothetical child called Tomi, then both Douma and Enmu become Family heads by default. In addition to their status titles. Since Enmu has no lineage as a seedborn fairy, he can either adopt Douma's abandoned title as Kaneko, or they can forge a new one together. In the instance they choose to readopt Kaneko as their family title: Douma -> Family head Kaneko Douma Enmu -> Family head Kaneko Enmu Tomi -> Kaneko Tomi Tomi's status would be "Child of Winter" by default until it was old enough to choose a talent or adopt a government role.
Offspring are not promised high status roles just because their family heads have them, though they are more likely to be given those roles. Fairies are immortal unless killed, so Season heads tend to be 100 or more years old when they take the throne.
Reasons Seasons change leadership:
Old leader dies
Old leader is exiled/overthrown/deemed unworthy by public or by the Ubuyashiki family directly
Old leader retires
Old leader is avoiding political prosecution
New leader is a fresh face and a political puppet for the old leader to rule through someone the public likes more
Offspring usurp parent
A season restructuring its government with a clean slate
ex. Spring's old Lord was deemed unworthy and so were his offspring despite his special lineage due to his connections to Muzan's cause. To avoid any Kibutsuji sympathizers participating in government, it was totally restructured. Kocho Kanae, who had been vying for a Minister position for a while, was recommended for leadership thanks to her community efforts being renowned amongst all warm seasons. Kanae also greatly assisted Winter in food supply, and had already made communications easier despite the temperature barrier by fostering interest in animal talent fairies to train interseasonal animal for solo shipment missions. (used to require a handler/rider which would sometimes cause deaths) Despite being a seedborn fairy with no ancient lineage to lend her prestige, Spring is about new beginnings. So it wasn't too difficult for Kanae to be elected the new Lady in light of her achievements. ex. Summer Lady Yoshino Ruka (ancient ancestry) takes Summer Minister Rengoku Shinjuro, as her husband. They become Summer Lady Ruka and Summer Lord Shinjuro. They have two children and choose Rengoku as their lineage name. Child of Summer Kyojuro and Senjuro are born. Senjuro becomes a records keeper due to weak magic. Kyojuro is later appointed Summer Lord some years after his mother dies to illness and his father loses himself to grief. Shinjuro was deemed unfit by Kagaya directly.
I'm probably forgetting junk, but this is a huge post so whatever. Sorry for spelling errors. Hope it makes sense.