12. Hawthorne Directory
Hawthorne Directory
Hive, hivelings
A hive shares consciousness across several distinct bodies. They are one even if they are many. A hive with little to no interaction with others can be difficult and confusing to interact with.
Those who live among humans have learned to refer to their parts as their twins/siblings, and even use “I” in the sense that it refers to just one of them and “we” when they wish to refer to all their bodies. However, it’s important to remember that for the hive themselves, there is no difference.
Hives are extremely adaptable and efficient in whatever they do. For instance, a hive never fully sleeps. They can rotate awareness through the individual bodies. Pain and stress too are dispersed across them.
This ability makes hives excellent caretakers or guards although it’s important to remember that hives are generally conflict-avoidant. Most who encounter them will even describe them as caring or nurturing.
Hives are said to bond for life when they find the right person. It’s not clear if they have specific mating instincts or a kind of imprinting, and hives are too private to talk about that. If they have found their person, their “mate,” they often grow very protective, wishing to take care of their mate across all their distinct bodies. For someone who isn’t a hive themselves, this can be overwhelming, yet the consensus seems to be that a hive makes a fantastic lover.
Hives, who often lived apart from humans, have historically taken in and raised infants left in the wild to die.
Salinian
Salinian is the term used to refer to all those who primarily live in salt water or need to return to salt water on a regular basis. Salinians are known to call themselves Children of Venus. Salinians aren’t very welcoming to outsiders, and they rarely share information with what they call land dwellers or land folk.
Salinians come in many different forms, and cultures vary greatly. The fish-tailed merfolk from fairy tale is certainly one of those variants as is the cecaelia who sports the bottom part of an octopus rather than a fish.
While the distinctions between individual groups are murky at best, salinians seem to share a protean nature. They are not shifters in the common sense though. It has been suggested that rather than stemming from a curse spoken on a human, salinians started out as creatures of the ocean and were cursed to be part human.
Vampires
Vampires are one of the more common supernaturals. Yet, they are the supernatural version of Darwin’s finches with each “species” of vampire having different strengths and weaknesses. The commonality among all of them is the consumption of blood to sustain life.
Historically, vampires ruled many a night court and some say the expression itself was first coined by a vampire.
Foxes
Foxes come in two major categories, full shifters and part shifters. Part shifters aren’t in fact shifters at all. They simply have visible fox characteristics, usually ears and tail. They are referred to as fox people.
Fox shifters can turn into oversized foxes at will. True fox shifters have both male and female genitalia, and in the secret cults of old, they served as the sacred connection to the divine, were venerated as hermaphrodites.
In cases where one parent is human, the child’s fox characteristics can be less pronounced. Yet, the following generation will be full fox shifters again. Tragically, there have been cases where such a child was cast out as a changeling.
The Postman
The Postman has been in the employ of Hawthorne for decades. His agreement with Hawthorne enshrines the privacy of all mail he handles.
The Postman is a firm believer of sticking with tried-and-true methods in his work, although he’s not afraid to try new things. He is very result-focused and prides himself on very rarely—if ever—losing a parcel.
While not opposed to living like a hermit, the Postman has been known to take a shine to humans. He finds them refreshing, lovable even. At the same time, not all humans will easily accept the Postman’s true shape, given that it induces a primal fear reaction.
The Postman is, after all, carnivorous.
Werewolves
Like many other shifters, there are variants of the descendants from the werewolf curse. Yet, the majority of werewolves can shift at will, have a part-shifted form, and retain their sanity in their wolf form.
Much like real wolves in the wild, werewolves prefer to live in family unions that often include extended family and of course found family. Their social nature has proven an effective protection against human fear and the resulting violence over the years.
Werewolves very rarely rule night courts. Some suggest this is because they are born to be followers and muscle, insinuating they are stupid. This is a vile stance not in accordance with Hawthorne’s core values. A much better reasoning is that werewolves see a court as pack, yet courts are often bigger and more diverse than packs, and an average werewolf will quickly realize that not everyone will benefit from living as if they were in a pack.
As a result, for the benefits of others, werewolves find other ways to establish power in the wider community.
Black Widows
Not much is known about black widows except that they are exclusively female and seemingly young girls still in their teens. In reality, most are much, much older. A black widow never shows her face but always veils it in black. Silly stories say that one look into their eyes can kill any man.
There is a rumor that black widows are made whenever a girl is made a bride to a man or when a baby girl is left to die so that she doesn’t become a burden to her family. While it is unclear whether femicide or child marriage make black widows, their reputation of wisdom and knowledge is undisputed.
Anecdotally, they have powers similar to those of Cassandrians. No black widow has ever confirmed or denied this.
Cassandrians
Named after Cassandra, the prophet who was cursed to know the future while being unable to prevent it, Cassandrians all have some form of precognition. They can activate this power in different ways, by touch or emotion, or simply by focusing on what they wish to know.
In some Cassandrians, this knowing of the future has turned into a mind-reading ability of varying strength.
The Moonlight Diner
A family-friendly diner co-owned by the Black Shuck whose lover serves as a manager here. The Moonlight Diner welcomes all who make their visit peaceful. Breaking the peace or harassing the staff in any way is forbidden.
The diner serves mixed company, so especially during daylight hours, visitors should refrain from doing anything that might be upsetting to humans not in the know.
The diner is open from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. If you wish to conduct business on the premises, contact the Black Shuck directly.
"Lorenzo"
Lorenzo is the preferred name for the spawn form or forms of a certain carnivorous plant. Lorenzo appears human, inside and out. He retains consciousness and knowledge across spawn forms, and the plant will grow several of them if soil and feeding conditions are excellent or if it feels itself threatened.
The plant can be potted, but its root system is sizeable, and it doesn’t enjoy the confines of a pot. Still, potting is necessary if the plant wishes or needs to move.
Being carnivorous, the plant can thrive without sunlight, but a few strategically placed grow lights make it happy and increase the amount of foliage it produces. It likes fresh bone ash for a fertilizer, and it won’t take meat older than a day.
When it produces a flower, a pod will grow, producing another spawn form (the spawn forms don’t like being called pod people).
The plant has been known to use its pod people to lure food, but in a prosperous city with a thriving community such as Newstaten, it doesn’t need to hunt. It’s part of our supernatural ecosystem. To contribute further, it has become the proprietor of Lorenzo’s Bodega, which is an access point to the Secret Underground.
The Black Shuck
The Black Shuck, better known as Ghost Dog, is as handsome as he is cruel, his gaze so smoldering no one can resist for long. While many would willingly become his, Ghost Dog’s heart beats only for Candy, the mafia don’s wayward son whom Ghost Dog saved from being sold into slavery (the fate of the mafia enforcer who purchased Candy remains unknown).
Rumor has it Ghost Dog once killed a man with a Chihuahua’s chew toy. Candy has probably never heard those rumors, or he succumbed to Ghost Dog’s fiery kisses, the ardor of them rendering Candy impervious to all gossip. After those kisses, there was passion searing enough to fog up car windows (or so the cabbies tell it), and Candy became Ghost Dog’s, more cherished than a chew toy though thrice as deadly should anyone but Ghost Dog dare lay a hand on him. (It’s of course not Candy who is inherently deadly, but Ghost Dog with Candy’s name on his lips as he wages vengeance on all who act irreverently toward Candy.)
The one-time employee of a hip juice bar has become a shimmering version of Cinderella next to the dark prince whose eye he caught. Their love is a jewel brighter than the Hope Diamond and a good deal more mystifying.
Read more details about Ghost Dog and Candy here .
Entry deleted by Valentin H