Furia and the Atharim

[Thalia]

Yeah, my opinion is also that the Atharim would view furia as human rather than "other." The example I used last night was something along the lines of the ability still being a very human thing - as a genius is gifted with intelligence, a furia is gifted with empathy. Which is where it strikes a significant difference from other human supernaturals; they're still human in nature, just highly developed. Plus, they're not dangerous. Sure, one might go a bit crazy or whatever, but it'd be no different to a normal human doing the same thing. Not like a Rougarou, who is violent in essence, or a channeler who - if they do go crazy - are going to potentially do a lot more damage, ie the godswar.

I actually don't think the Atharim would have had much choice in the acceptance of furia in their ranks. Because, as an ability, how do you detect it? It has little physical manifestation unless the person is willing to share what they sense, or feel it so strongly that it impacts their ability to lead a normal life. Before the Atharim even knew what furia were they would inevitably have had some within the organisation - because furia are supposed to be attracted to injustice against the natural balance anyway, and that's a strong part of what the Atharim feel they do (and until the return of channelers/gods were doing).

By the time furia had a label, I think it would have been too late to suddenly purge the ranks - particularly because furia are such a big asset. They're the best means (up until the return of channelers, anyway - get to that in a minute!) the Atharim have of detecting non-human emotion in human shaped monsters. An exceptionally skilled wolfkin, for example, with a couple of contact lenses and a heap-load of control, is going to be able to exist fairly normally in society. But they aren't going to be able to hide their naturally wolfish nature from a furia. Thus furia can do something a regular Atharim couldn't.

I agree, once discovered, their origins would have been bent to suit Atharim ideals. If furia had already existed within the organisation, I think the Atharim would have taken ownership of them via the mythos. It's a very small step from "They [furia] were particularly concerned with homicide, violence, and traitorous acts against the gods" to "They were particularly concerned with homicide, violence, and traitorous acts of the gods."

But that's where my opinion diverges from Hood's. I don't think the Atharim would see them as an asset or weapon, but as something divine. A manifestation of their right to protect the world from the things that go bump in the night. Because they are able to do something regular atharim can't (detect non-human emotion in human shaped monsters) and because they're so rare, I would think they have a decent status within the Atharim itself. As special in a good way.

From Atharim to Atharim there would obviously be discrepancy. Some are going to view furia as "other" or as simple weapons or assets because they're so indoctrinated. But I think officially, and to stem that kind of infighting, the stance would be that furia were special, destined Atharim - proof that even if something wiped out every traditionally Atharim family in the world, Atharim (furia) would still be born to balance the world and protect it. Which would inevitable make them quite protective over families that have a history of furia children (supposing it's hereditary).

For furia born outside of the Atharim tradition, I imagine they would be given the option of joining - since it is their destiny, what they were born for - or being killed. Because if the existence of furia supports the existence of the Atharim in the doctored mythos, they don't have the choice to refuse to belong. They ARE Atharim, whether they wish it or not.

So. Channelers. Now that they're back, I guess this is where the Atharim are going to start to have some trouble. Because channelers are still human and do still have human emotions - how are the furia going to react to that? It's one thing killing a human looking monster you can feel is not human, but quite another murdering someone when you can taste their very real very human fear. And I suppose that's where some furia (perhaps particularly the ones not brought up to be Atharim) will begin to discover how the mythos about them was changed - because channeler/gods are supposed to be among the things a furia protects. And then we'll potentially get a whole new subset of women - those who wish to protect the channelers from the Atharim, particularly now, when they're just emerging and vulnerable to being offed by the Atharim.