The Master Chief (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dust_and_echoes) wrote2013-12-23 03:58 pm
dust_and_echoes) wrote2013-12-23 03:58 pm
Arachidamia
Arachidamia is the Chief's dæmon (pronounced exactly like "demon")
Technically, she is his soul given an external and independent form. It's freakin' weird. This happened because he was played at a game where everyone's soul came loose upon arrival, with a setting borrowed from The Golden Compass. He is way, way worse at this "having a dæmon" thing than most adults in that world because she's only been not-in-his-own-head for a month or two. They have adjusting to do.
She takes the form of a dog, specifically a lupo italiano, which is a wolf hybrid breed used as a working animal by the Italian government and jealously protected by said. She's a big, intimidating thing. She looks like this:
That said, Arachidamia LOOKS like a dog and may sometimes ACT like a dog a little bit, but ultimately is not a dog. She barks, howls, whines, scratches her ears with her back legs, etc but it's part of the veneer of dog-ness that covers her mostly being a weird external soul thing.
Being an external soul, Arachidamia does not eat or drink. However, she does need air to breathe, bleeds if wounded, and can be killed. If one or the other of the pair dies, the other does too. (John regards having an external dog-shaped soul to be a major weakness.) It's extremely painful for them to be too far apart, though how far "too far" is pretty much depends on context and forced separation is bad mmkay.
Also, don't touch the soul dog. It's super rude, makes both of them feel really weird, and really where does anyone get off just grabbing somebody's soul like that.
As a character, Arachidamia may seem to be separate and act independently but she IS a part of John. It's just really, really weird for him to be dealing with what amounts to his conscience following him around saying actual words. Anything one knows, the other knows. Arguments they have between themselves are the Chief's own internal dilemmas. Nothing in her is new, just restrained and it frustrates him that Arachidamia will express things he's chosen not to. She'll swear in frustration where he feigns calm, retort where he's bitten his tongue, express doubt when he is almost certain, and dig in all four heels when he's trying to let something go. Arachidamia is no better adjusted socially than John is, because she is John. She just is John differently.
It's not just physically he sees her as a weakness and a liability, it's socially as well.
Why a dog?
The animal means something. In John's case, it means he is a follower of authority. He believes in rules, in loyalty, in duty, and in doing service. It's common in the HDM universe for servants and soldiers to have dog dæmons.
In particular, the breed chosen represents the artifical nature of a spartan. This dog breed was intentionally created in an unusual way for a specific purpose, and kept and used as a tool only permitted to specific people. It's a working animal, bigger and tougher than many others, and it makes sense enough for me.
Also, shes not a wolf. Wolves are so overdone for dæmons you don't even understand.
...Oh and she looks kinda cool that too.
Technically, she is his soul given an external and independent form. It's freakin' weird. This happened because he was played at a game where everyone's soul came loose upon arrival, with a setting borrowed from The Golden Compass. He is way, way worse at this "having a dæmon" thing than most adults in that world because she's only been not-in-his-own-head for a month or two. They have adjusting to do.
She takes the form of a dog, specifically a lupo italiano, which is a wolf hybrid breed used as a working animal by the Italian government and jealously protected by said. She's a big, intimidating thing. She looks like this:
That said, Arachidamia LOOKS like a dog and may sometimes ACT like a dog a little bit, but ultimately is not a dog. She barks, howls, whines, scratches her ears with her back legs, etc but it's part of the veneer of dog-ness that covers her mostly being a weird external soul thing.
Being an external soul, Arachidamia does not eat or drink. However, she does need air to breathe, bleeds if wounded, and can be killed. If one or the other of the pair dies, the other does too. (John regards having an external dog-shaped soul to be a major weakness.) It's extremely painful for them to be too far apart, though how far "too far" is pretty much depends on context and forced separation is bad mmkay.
Also, don't touch the soul dog. It's super rude, makes both of them feel really weird, and really where does anyone get off just grabbing somebody's soul like that.
As a character, Arachidamia may seem to be separate and act independently but she IS a part of John. It's just really, really weird for him to be dealing with what amounts to his conscience following him around saying actual words. Anything one knows, the other knows. Arguments they have between themselves are the Chief's own internal dilemmas. Nothing in her is new, just restrained and it frustrates him that Arachidamia will express things he's chosen not to. She'll swear in frustration where he feigns calm, retort where he's bitten his tongue, express doubt when he is almost certain, and dig in all four heels when he's trying to let something go. Arachidamia is no better adjusted socially than John is, because she is John. She just is John differently.
It's not just physically he sees her as a weakness and a liability, it's socially as well.
Why a dog?
The animal means something. In John's case, it means he is a follower of authority. He believes in rules, in loyalty, in duty, and in doing service. It's common in the HDM universe for servants and soldiers to have dog dæmons.
In particular, the breed chosen represents the artifical nature of a spartan. This dog breed was intentionally created in an unusual way for a specific purpose, and kept and used as a tool only permitted to specific people. It's a working animal, bigger and tougher than many others, and it makes sense enough for me.
Also, shes not a wolf. Wolves are so overdone for dæmons you don't even understand.
...Oh and she looks kinda cool that too.