ABOUT
For starters, I don't think the pet system sprang out of the blue, it would make more sense that there was already a "separation" between angels/demons who chose to have kids (and pretty much dedicate their lives to it) and those who don't.
Anyway, they believed that angels who chose that path (it was a choice most of the time, well, the entry at least, unlike the pet system) do so because their souls were Hollow. Not soulless, like the current-day propaganda paints those chosen to be pets as. The original implication was that that was the reason why they could carry other souls inside them with ease, and that if an angel whose soul was not hollow ended up pregnant that it would only bring them despair and unhappiness since they couldn't "fit" all souls inside.
On the demon side, they were called Partner Souls and it was implied they were the "inside" part of a Hollow Soul. Partner Souls are expected to, ahem, make new life with their Hollow Soul.
A Hollow Soul who has volunteered but does not have a Partner Soul yet does not wear clothing, only special jewelry. Once they're paired, they would wear a transparent gown/tunic! Demons don't volunteer like that, instead, if they end up having a ~connection~ with a Hollow Soul, then they would become a Pair and just then they would be recognized as a Partner Soul. They don't have any rules on clothing, but they must shave off (yes, with sandpaper) their horns once the "union" is made official. This is a very painful process and, because they grow back, must be repeated every time the angel gives birth, supposedly to "share their pain".
A Hollow Soul and a Partner Soul would only get to be officially a Pair if the agreement was mutual, but once the angel became pregnant for the first time then there was no backing out for either (So yea, no divorce, SORRY LOL). Even though they are always a pair, they are, surprisingly, not strictly monogamous. It is, however, frowned upon for an angel to get pregnant with another demon's child or a demon to impregnate another angel, so their other sexual/romantic partner should always (ideally) not be a Hollow/Partner soul.
Pairs wore matching collars with astronomical themes.
Every town has a little isolated area with a tree that always has colorful flowers and a lake. The water is infused with magic and it thicker than normal water (kinda like water slime but more watery? or like thick water?). The first time a Pair ~mates~ must be inside the lake.
That's mostly because the water acts as lube and also softens the angel's cervix, so the first time a demon rams their penis inside their uterus won't be too painful >.>
...Don't worry, I'm sure they must also clean the water with magic in the morning, LOL. Maybe I should add a rule that the demon must do it, since they're the ones who can actually use magic, haha.
Anyway...
Once a Hollow Soul starts to be sexually active, they'll likely be constantly pregnant until they run out of eggs or become too old. Angels in general have really good regenerative powers (unlike demons), so it's not something that physically damages them in any permanent way, but they still feel all the symptoms pregnant humans do, but in a much more intense and painful manner. Angels almost never end up with just one fetus and demon ones specifically are huge, so their organs are much more compressed and they end up much heavier. This also makes childbirth extremely painful (even with pain relief), since it's usual for them to end up with huge lacerations.
The ones with very little regen were discouraged from volunteering due to health risks (but not forbidden). Those with super high levels (like Sol, oops) would often be coerced/manipulated into volunteering, since it's believed their bodies were ideal for the "job" and would suffer less. It was also more or less expected that every Pair would birth at least two volunteers, so this also added to the pressure into families.
Anyone who didn't become a Hollow/Partner Soul would be sterilized once they reach a 23 years of age. The window they have to choose to volunteer is between 20-23. Those who end up having kids outside of the system would not be forced to volunteer, but would be heavily pressured into it, so most of they time they would end doing so.
The whole thing depended on a self-identification system and worked relatively well. Relatively. On the angel side, the main problem was angels who decide to "become" Hollow Souls often find the reality of constantly birthing and taking care of children way too taxing, some ending up with post-partum depression. A lot of they times, they end up only finding support between other Hollow Souls, as expressing dissatisfaction or sadness with their role was considered really taboo, and usually met with "arguments" such as "if your soul is really hollow you shouldn't feel this" and risk being seen as "fundamentally broken" by others. So it was a very tough, well concealed reality. This was also an issue for demons, but a bit less so since they didn't have the add strain on the body most of the time.
For the system to work, it was important to keep the bad parts concealed no matter what, right? :p
Children were raised communally. Partner Souls were responsible for the majority of child-care work in general but not all. Hollow Souls didn't actually do much in the front of caring for the children, their job was mostly to breastfeed them until they are around one or two years old. But, considering they were having 2 to 6 kids per year, it was an extremely taxing task, especially because they'd usually be pregnant while doing this.
I guess it's not hard to see why they'd end up with pretty severe post postpartum depression.
They didn't really have an option to stop having kids either. If an Hollow/Partner Soul went as far as to make themselves sterile, they would be considered "insane" and end up in an asylum-like institution, kept away from their children and loved ones :(. If the pair just refused to do it for too long and their organs were found to be in healthy, they were also at risk for this or "therapy", which was just guilt tripping and coercion.
I suppose because the whole process is so painful and even traumatic that the whole "system" was created. Most angels probably did not want to go through this not even once. So, by making it a "special, important role" with a religious significance would make it more "attractive". But they also couldn't afford to have them have a couple of kids and quit, so that's probably why it works the way it does.
It was probably not something meticulously planned, like the pet system, more like a "natural" development of their own culture/religion. It might have been a bit more benign, but it did have it's issues, although I believe it was a system that could have been fixed and made more fair eventually, unlike the pet system which is pretty much unsalvageable.
But also, looking at how things were and how Hollow Souls were already kinda dehumanized, it's not hard to see how things turned out the way they did. I didn't want to write a "perfect, non problematic past", since I don't vibe with the idea of glorifying the past in general, so I hope I did a decent job of making it less awful but also still bad >.>"
Still, the set I want to draw it mostly wholesome, because I'd like to give demon Amon and angel Sol at least one chance at happiness XD.
I wish I was better at linear story telling because I think one of the things I want to write some day is how when the pet system is abolished, how some of the rebels would end up trying to "go back to the good days", some of them genuinely believing that those days were good, and others having to face the reality that the "good days" were also bad and that they kinda are on their own to make a more fair future.
What caused the war, you ask? To be frank, I'm not quite sure. I don't think even people in world would be sure. It lasted way too long, most records were lost. Probably. I'm not a very good author, sorry HAHAHA
|