Furia and the Atharim

[Thalia]

Jax, did you really just acknowledge the existence of Twilight, there? *pokes* Are you feeling ok!?

I think the Atharim have to be careful about giving out too many free passes. Furia they can justify, particularly if the “general” members of the Atharim are taught to believe that they’re divinely destined to support the cause. I don’t think you can tinker with the history or mythical origins of wolfkin in the same way (particularly because of the existing negativity), so they can't be justified away - even if they're also clearly not "god" creations but something that's spun out in every Age, like channelers and furias.

Both furia and wolfkin have human appearance - they are human, and both are a natural occurrence and not creations of the gods. Does it get them a free pass? I'd say no: the furia's ability is an extension of a normal human ability (empathy) whereas wolfkin take on wolfish characteristics, which makes them more non-human. If that makes sense.

I agree wolfkin are very likely to dislike the (evil) things that go bump in the night, and perhaps even take it upon themselves to hunt such creatures down whether they know about or are involved with the Atharim or not. Which might naturally lead them to discover the supernatural world on their own. Although if they are hunting monsters, and doing it in an animalistic way, then the Atharim are potentially going to confuse them for the enemy anyway.

So, my impression of the Atharim as a society is that they mostly operate on an individualistic basis or in small familial or friendship groups (particularly in more rural areas); one catches wind of something unusual, investigates, and then takes appropriate action. They might call in help if they need it, but mostly it’s a kind of “just get on with it” job - like Rune and her Uncle Seth. In Tehya’s thread I mentioned her going through collated news reports. If something’s made the news, it needs to be dealt with quickly; thus needs a more coordinated approach, and I think there would be a higher rank of Atharim who did that. Especially in cities.

Anyway, total tangent there, but the point I’m getting at (trying to… =P) is that most judgement calls are going to be on an individual basis; whether an Atharim will hunt a wolfkin is going to be up to that individual Atharim and how dangerous they perceive any one particular wolfkin to be. Any action a wolfkin takes that lands them in the public eye is invariably going to draw the eye of Atharim tasked to monitor such things, which would land them with a hunting group on their tail.

So, perhaps “officially” the Atharim would hunt wolfkin – but in practise they have far more dangerous creatures to deal with, and those take precedence. So long as a wolfkin keeps his head down and his nose clean, he’s probably going to be alright. He's likely still going to feel persecuted and hunted, since all it would take is one extremist Atharim to take exception to his existence, but he's not going to have to literally be on the run the same way as a channeler.

I think the other thing would be that because wolfkin are human, disposing of them isn't exactly as easy as it would be for the non-human or fringe society creatures like rougarou. If Atharim just went about murdering/assassinating "ordinary" people, eventually that's going to come to the attention of the CDPS or whatever (I'm guessing channeler murders are blamed on the Sickness). Look at KV, for example; she's a prestigious member of the CCD. Unless she went wolfkin crazy, I don't think the Atharim would be targeting her. Too much effort better spent containing the dangerous monsters (like the Ascendancy, haha). Though it doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't have a spare eye on her, just in case.

So what if a wolfkin wanted to join the Atharim or was brought up in a traditionally Atharim family?

If they were accepted, I think they might find themselves ostracised by the other Athraim – they have a physical manifestation of their difference whereas furia don’t – and honestly I don’t know how a wolfkin would feel about hunting and killing the more benign creatures, the ones they don't have an instinctual dislike of. Plus they have divided loyalties and potentially the influence of the dreamworld. How loyal are they going to be if they haven't been indoctrinated since birth? If the Atharim were going to treat/view a supernatural human as a tool, though, then it's more likely to be wolfkin than furia. IMO.