The Winged are one of four main races in Oceanfalls, signified by the suit of clubs and associated with the color green.
They are physically distinct from Humans and Monsters largely due to sporting animal wings on various parts of their body. Other features include piercing golden eyes, darker skin, and hair coming exclusively in warmer tones.[1]
They are currently ruled by Princess Cleu, and their territory largely consists of the Winged Overworld, a sprawling kingdom built atop a sheet of clouds in the upper atmosphere. Everyone except winged couldn't get to it except by permission of other winged, but after the divide, not even winged can break through the dome.
Racial Features[]
Wings[]
Every Winged is born with a set of wings. They often appear in an avian form, however cases of those with insect or bat wings are not uncommon. Wing placements may also vary between individuals, the majority having their wings placed in the center of the back, though few may have their wings placed on other parts of their body such as the head or feet.
Interestingly, it is possible for a Winged to be born with more than two wings. When this happens, each additional wing will go on to randomly replace one of the Winged's arms and legs. However, this phenomenon is largely seen as a tragic birth deformity, causing many individuals with this condition to lead very harsh lives.
For the Winged, flying needs proper take-off to be safe. They also get bad dreams from sleeping on the wrong side of their wings, just like any other limb.
Halos[]
A newborn winged with their halo.
Aside from their wings, what the Winged are best known for among the other races is their uniqueness in possessing more than one special ability. This secondary ability is known as their 'Divinity', otherwise known as their ability to fly, and is outwardly expressed through their halos. Divinity wanes if a winged spends too much time away from the winged overworld and speeds up if a winged flies while in this state. Halos also allow the winged to resist extreme temperatures, though only to the point where they cannot feel it, as the effects are still there. Wishes can only empower a winged while they still have a halo, and wishes may also regenerate halos, depending on the strength of the gratitude upon the wish being fufilled. Halos may also be regenerated through returning to the overworld. A fully intact halo allows the Winged to fly as freely as they wish while a broken halo has been implied to heavily limit a Winged's mobility,[2] and the loss of a halo leaves one unable to fly at all.[3] Winged are treated very differently depending on the halo they have. For the winged, divinity is part of their identity, if they lose their divinity and their halos, they can only live submitting to the ruler or as rouges.
From birth, a Winged's halo takes the form of a simple ring in the color of the brightest star of their patron constellation, which may then change shape as they mature. However, a Winged's halo may never change color unless the star it represents advances into the next stage of its lifespan, such as turning into a black hole.[4] Winged's halos aren't tangible at all. That means that they can wear hats and other head-accessories, but it doesn't mean they can hide their halo, as the halo will merely adjust its size to surround the new object and stay visible around it.
Angelic Titles[]
Angelic Titles are special designations granted to Winged from a young age by their peers, destined to eventually tie in with their special ability.[5] Often these titles tend to be rather vague in nature, causing Winged abilities to be rather abstract in nature when compared to the abilities of Humans and Monsters.
Reproduction[]
Winged reproduction is highly different compared to traditional forms of reproduction. For a Winged to be born, a person must have a thought filled with so much emotion that it is strong enough to reach the stars. This thought can be either conscious or unconscious, with no limits as to the subject of the thought or the race of the thinker. Once this thought reaches the stars, they are then molded into the shape of a young Winged. After this, the child enters the world by descending onto the Nursing Fields in the 'darkest hour of night time'. Due to the generalized nature of these requirements, this allows thousands if not millions of Winged children to be born every night.[6]
Society[]
The Winged Overworld
Geography[]
The Overworld is a large kingdom located in the upper atmosphere. Cities and towns appear to be built atop separate islands of cloud, connected to each other by various bridges. Many buildings, particularly in what is assumed to be the winged capital, appear similar to Egyptian pyramids.
It is currently unknown what keeps the Overworld aloft.
Government[]
Like humans and monsters, winged society is ruled by a singular Prince or Princess. When the current ruler dies, another candidate is swiftly chosen to take their place.
Due to the nature of winged reproduction, it is unknown how each new ruler is chosen. However, by order of the Serpent-Blooded Mandate instated during the reign of the Reformer, all winged rulers must be those born of the Serpens or Ophiuchus constellations.
In addition to the reigning Prince or Princess, 12 Archangels of the Zodiac are to be personally appointed by the current ruler to manage the affairs of the Overworld. Interestingly, this is a relatively newer concept, being introduced during the later half of the Herald's reign a millenia prior. Some dialogue by Meimona suggests that they are the winged world's overseers and that she was grateful to not meet them due to being a commoner and them being not very "nice" in her terms.
Culture[]
For monsters or humans being in love with winged, is a possibility but not mutually because the winged are loveless. This doesn't stop it from the former two's standpoints! They usually admire the winged so much, to the point that humans/monsters who hold one sided infatuations with any winged are commonplace. Meanwhile, the winged are simply happy to be put on high pedestals, and almost definitely will not return the favor. Regarding the winged's side, and speaking from a technical standpoint, it is only normally not possible for the winged be in love with anyone. Normally, because their nature is to have extremely unique individuality, and a very free sense of self-expression. It makes them much more diverse than monsters/humans, so much so that the concept of a "norm" is hardly consistent across the winged. And it's because of that fact that one winged could deviate from the "norms" and begin to learn the ways of alien, earthen love. That would be a rarely successful occurrence, and the equivalent of developing a mental illness - Basically deviating from how they're mentally supposed to function. Thus it makes earthen love a feeling far too chaotic and confusing to be desirable for a winged. And just as well, a socially unacceptable act, since other winged would see it as stooping very lowly to be on the same level of an earthen being.
Other forms of nonromantic platonic love, like, say, friendship, can be a bit hard to learn for a winged depending on their upbringing. If they have grown up in a particularly competitive environment, they will struggle even with mere platonic love at first.
The winged seem to have their own special system for years.
Observations[]
- Red Tulip Town has a large pool, where monsters can pray for Winged to grant their wishes. According to superstition if one wishes particularly hard, the wish may then travel to the stars where the Winged may then grant their prayers. This is obviously a misconception related to how a young Winged is born.
- It was stated Nights in an old Curiouscat post that the reason winged have the clover symbol is because they view themselves to be the superior of the 3 races.
- The winged seem to be responsible for rain and snow.
- Interestingly enough, it appears that a Winged's special ability can unconsciously affect their lives as early as moments after birth, as shown with Meimona.
- The winged retain special abilities even after loss of divinity, such as with Kaji blocking Nino's path.
- There are Winged sentient beings like animals and plants. There are also Winged inanimate objects in the form of a normal object that happens to be decorated with wings as per the owner's choice.
- The winged have the least population of the 3 main races, but the longest lifespan.
- Nights has taken Winged naming scheme from here and here.
- Winged are stated by Corona to do business in the form of deals and bets.
Gallery[]
