The Origin
Long ago the world was full with demons of all kind, there were battles and wars against humans for the sake of becoming the ruling race of the world. Out of all of them, there was one that chose to live among humans in order to survive, but even after choosing the human side they couldn't escape their demonic nature.
Daeles is a demonic race, originally shaped as a man-eating shadow, that in order to not be chased like the rest, they decided to adapt to the rules of the human world. To do so they obtained the capacity to transform into cats and to disguise themselves as humans so they could blend in the society the way it pleased them more.
However they still needed to consume the blood of humans in order to survive and so they started to form pacts with them. In exchange for their blood, they would protect them with their abilities, much like a symbiotic relationship.
demon: daemonium + cat: feles= daeles.
Daeles Types
When the wars between demons and humans started to show up that demons were going to lose, Daeles decided to retire from it and blend with the humans so they could survive.
From this, 3 different known types of Daeles appeared:
Those who formed pacts with humans to get the valuable blood they still needed; Bonded Daeles (70% of population)
Those that decided to live on their own and chase humans to obtain the blood; Stray Daeles (20% of population)
Those who joined the war siding the humans and so got freed of this restriction; Sacred Daeles (10% of population)
Bounded Daeles
Pacts
A pact is a mutual thing between a Daeles and an individual or family.
By forging one, the people they create a contract with become their "master" and the soul of the Daeles is tied to them, making them unable to hurt their master. Their master have to create an injury on themselves and give the blood to them. In exchange for it, the Daeles offers their service in the way the master need it more, taking care of the house, becoming a bodyguard, etc.
The creation of a pact is done by drinking the blood of their master and then receiving a name given from them.When a pact is created they get a tattoo somewhere in their body that represents the "ownership", is not visible in their cat form. They need a rather low quantity of blood, once every two-three months. They also eat normal food but the blood can't be skipped.
They are quite loyal to the person or family they formed the pact with and would treat them with respect or in a friendly way. Their life spam change depending on the person they formed the pact with, if it's a human they will have a similar one. If it's other type of creature, vampires, immortal beings, etc, they will life for a fraction of that, so if master lives 2500 they would live 1300/1700, but some may live longer.Due to the convenience of this act, the majority of them goes by this.
When a pact is broken
In case the master dies, they will feel a sudden pain and unless they find a new one, if they ever want to, they will die within 2-4 months.
The tattoo would become a scar. If it is the other way around and the Daeles is the one who dies, the owner will also feel the pain but they won't die. If the pact is broken by mutual agreement the tattoo is also transformed into a scar but is less visible.
The other way to break it is when a Daeles with a stablished pact tries to form a new one. This will cause them to lose control of themself and go berserk since their body cannot manage more than one at the same time. Their soul is tied to their master so having two creates a conflict within them.
They will only calm down when one of the pacts is nulled, in worst case scenario they will kill one of their masters to calm the rage, this is consider a very strong taboo.
Taboo and broken seal
When a Deales kills their master, they receive a curse mark that will never disappear from their body.
This mark will hurt every time they drink blood so they do never forget the sin they committed.
Seals can not be damaged by anything, they only way it can get cracks and break is when a Daeles with a pact drinks blood from other person.
This will cause them to slowly get a less defined human shape and getting a drippy tail. Some times this is accompanied with losing their control in actions and sympathy for others, getting close to their original demon form.
Stray Daeles
Even though they are less common there are Deales without a pact that prefer to life on their own. They make use of their powers to attack humans and drink their blood whenever is needed. They still try to be cautious for the most part to not be discovered so they can keep living in peace.
Even though their seal is intact they tend to have drippy tail due to the inestable feeding. If they later get a master the tail will remain the same.
Sacred Daeles
When the knights and church discovered about how Daeles abandoned the demon side of the war they offered them a deal; If they joined them they would create an item that would not only allow them to use all their power without consequences, they would also be free from drinking blood.
This item, communly with the appearance of a halo crown, granted them with a blessing that made them free in any aspect possible, but if needed it was able to erase their conscience and transform them into war puppets. Once they wear it, they can not remove it. Their prior seal is often removed.
In the ceremony in which they receive the crown they also receive a new name. Thanks to the blessing of the crown they are able to live for centuries.
Tainted Daeles
These Daeles keep committing the crime of killing their master and get eaten by their cursed marks. They lose themselves to their more primal instincts and start seeking more and more blood. The poor souls that encounter this terrible fate are known as tainted Daeles.
Tainted Daeles are those with 3 cursed marks or more. The mark expands through their bodies and slowly makes them lose sanity and consciousness. More commonly than not, the mark develops demon eyes that are able to move on their own. The curse mark, more often than not, causes the sclera of the Daeles to turn black or red. Indicating it reached their brains.
Their seal, no matter its type, breaks its physical form and it's turned into a ring of magic. This is the primal state of all the seals but they develop a stronger physical form in the first 1-2 years of a Daeles life. In this state, the seal is extremely fragile and can be easily broken, which would end up in the Daeles losing their physical bodies. Due to the state of the seal, their tail also loses its appearance and it becomes a loose form that resembles a tail made of liquid essence. While its shape can vary more from the usual cat or demon tail it still acts like one.
In this state, they become unable to form any kind of pact and the curse mark is extremely heavy on their bodies. This results in them attacking humans very often as they need way bigger amounts of blood to keep their bodies stable and with energy. While they do retain the capacity of communicating, it isn’t clear to this date if the original personality of the Daeles is lost or not to the curse marks.
On the other hand, Tainted Daeles gain bigger vocal abilities that they mostly use to make other people commit crimes and other terrible actions for the sake of it will help them get more blood. It is also known that if they come closer to Daeles with cursed marks, it will make them expand and in contact with humans for long amounts of time will cause them to get ill. There is no cure for Tainted Daeles and it is advised to stay away from them.
Abilities and extra info
All Daeles have a very pretty voice, used to cajole humans, sometimes even been able to hypnotize them completely.
To protect the secret of their existence, Daeles have the ability of, by biting the tongue of someone,when kissing to; steal a voice, making someone completely unable to talk, copy a voice or, make them unable to talk about a specific topic, this last one is called "mute". This is something they can do to other Daeles but usually it only last for a limited time. They can do this in any of their forms.
When they have a pact with someone a kiss to their master in whatever part of the body works to copy the voice, thay can not steal their voice nor "mute" them.
Their human transformation works similar to a glamour spell, normal people can't see their cat ears or tail and usually not even other species. They reveal their true form around their master and close people only, meaning they are comfortable and trust them.
Due to their original nature they can shift through the shadows and hide themself in them without no one noticing their presence. Thanks to the connection created in a pact they can telepathically communicate with their master, the bigger the distance the harder is to transmit longer messages. Using some kind of code with short words is preferable, but even short words in long distances may not get to the master.
They are stronger than regular humans, they can easily kill them if they wish.
They grow up faster than regular humans, by the time a human would be 15, they are already 18-20, so when their thirst for blood awakens after living for 15 years, they are considered adults and they stop aging. They can look older if the wish but never younger.
Sacred Daeles are able to use all their abilities without any kind or restriction and use their "berserker" form at will.
It's told that those Daeles born with crystallized tails are stronger so the church tends to look for them so Daeles with crystallized tails are common among sacred ones. This is due to how the materization of their body works. Based on the three states of materia, being consensed gas (shadow form) their true form, liquid to those with inestable feeding, drippy characteristics and solid for criztalized. Those with crystallized tails are considered to have a better control of their bodies and thus being more useful for combat.
The same happens with those with black/white essence.
-If they don't manage to drink blood they will die in a spam of 1-3 months.
-They can not drink blood from other Daeles unless their essence are compatible, other wise it will create something similar to an allergic reaction.
-In modern times there is a medicine that allow them to not drink blood so the pact is reserved usually to the person they fall in love.
-Daeles can breed with each others and give birth, when breeding with humans or other species the probability of giving birth to a Daeles is quite low.
-The drippy tails will let see the color of their essence. By default their life spam is usually a bit longer than the humans, 100~120.
-If they get another master after losing one, their life span is tied to that new person so it's expanded.
-If they kill a human and drink all their blood they get their full life span, they used to kill them to reach a state similar to immortality, they are still able to do so.
-Their "power level" is up to some sort determined by the blood so royal families or other species would let them be stronger.
- Some Daeles like to decorate their tails and ears with extra pieces of jewelry or flowers.