Descendants General info

Descendants are not directly related to their immortal relative, known as their ancestor. If the immortal/spirit is not originally from Earth then the Descendants will be an offshoot of power from an action they did on Earth or from when they arrived. If the immortal/spirit is from Earth then the Descendants will be descended from members of the immortal’s/spirit’s family.

Descendants of new immortals/spirits are usually found by Descendants of similar immortals/spirits and the whole immortal Descendant thing is explained to them. This does not happen all the time however.

Descendants look like normal humans physically. Some have extra limbs, such as wings and tails, that can be hidden. Others have a different rate of metabolism and/or body temperature, but this isn’t something that would appear significant unless they were having a medical examination from a non Descendant.

They are the original source of belief for their ancestors, which keeps them going until they get normal believers.

On average the number of Descendants per group ranges from 100 to 200. This can vary, wildly in some cases.

If their ancestor has more than one ability, Descendants will usually only wield one of them, but being able to use multiple is not unheard of.

Descendants do not live with their ancestors, instead they form their own groups. Most don’t live within normal human society, but some groups try to live a form of double life.

Descendants are very tribal, often they will not associate with Descendants that don’t share the same ancestor, unless their ancestor has an affiliation with the other Descendant group’s ancestor.  

They do not always follow their ancestors decisions, although that is the norm, especially with alliances.

Descendants can gain a reputation for attributes that their ancestor holds. This is rarely a positive thing, and can lead to whole Descendant groups being ignored by other Descendants.

Descendants tend to hold immortals/spirits in high regard, with their ancestor being held in the highest regard. In the rare times where Descendants and immortals/spirits have met, Descendants usually either bow or salute.

Immortals/spirits don’t usually associate with Descendants, finding their formality embarrassing and best. If for whatever reason they end up fighting a Descendant they won’t use their full power. In their mind it’s like a superhero trying to fight a toddler. This does usually stack the fight in the Descendant’s favour if they are well trained. They are so underestimated that they can hold their own until the immortal/spirit decides to step up their game.

Some immortals, such as Pitch, see their Descendants as an asset however. Getting their Descendants to attack an enemy’s Descendants would help lower belief if that’s what they were going for.

If a Descendant (or more) is killed by a Descendant of a different ancestor, a war between the two may start, unless the act can be proven to be an accident.

Even in times of conflict, Descendants will try not to kill each other, as there are so often so few them in comparison to the rest of humanity. Unfortunately, accidents do happen.

Exile is one of the worst punishments that Descendants use and is one of the few things nearly all of them can agree on. Crimes that would warrant this would be murder, manslaughter, torture and unprovoked attack on an immortal/spirit. Although the definition of ‘provoked’ is surprisingly loose.

Some Descendant groups do use capital punishment, but those are few and far between.

Descendants are still human and can be biased. So victor’s justice is used.

If a decision cannot be reached, it is possible for a Duel to occur. A Duel’s terms can be agreed between the combatants or the leaders, such as powers, weapons and numbers. They can be to the death, but this is incredibly rare.

Most Descendants are not combat orientated, they merely live in these groups with a combat group that usually makes up 10/20% of the group.

Descendant groups communicate with each other via message drops around the world. These are usually in Atlantian, the agreed communal language of Descendants, as they can be many different countries across the world. If a message is in a different language, then it’s a personal message to a specific Descendant leader.

Descendants do not have their own currency, in fact they do not use money at all unless they have to get something that can’t come from Descendants. Descendant groups can and do trade with each other however.

Descendants usually have a single leader with a title, which differs per Descendant group. They are traditionally the most powerful Descendant in their group, but in modern times if they deemed unfit to lead by their own Descendant group or other leaders, they can be brought out of power and new leader elected. Succession is usually through nomination.

Descendant leaders are usually aware of all immortals, whether they have a strong believer base or not. Normal Descendants are unlikely to know all immortals, but will know some, such as their own ancestor and famous groups, such as the Guardians.

Descendants usually have a symbol representing them, and their leaders wear coloured cloaks when meeting other Descendant leaders or immortals/spirits. The colour of these cloaks varies with each Descendant group and is usually adorned with their symbol.

Some Descendant groups have a signature weapon, usually similar to what their ancestor wields. Although, just because it’s the signature weapon does not make it compulsory.

Descendants usually skip generations. One person in a family is born with powers every few generations, and Descendants will not usually allow a person without powers to even know of their existence, so the parents rarely expect their child to have powers or extra limbs in some cases. Only people related to an immortal/spirit and have powers are called Descendants.

Siblings are rarely all Descendants. If that is the case the siblings are usually twins.

It is possible for lines to cross over, for example twins to be born to the same family, but have a different immortal/spirit ancestor when it comes to powers. This is rare however.

Descendants try to keep an eye on family lines to predict when a new Descendant will pop up. They will usually wait until the suspected Descendant is five before revealing themselves, but some do it earlier. This does mean that some Descendants slip through the crack and won’t be found and informed until their teens or early twenties.

There are rare cases where every member in a family is a Descendant and these are just called lines. These are fairly rare, usually one or two per Descendant group.

Descendants that have a permanent base can keep weapons that were held by individual Descendants, to be passed  down to the next Descendant in their line. Sometimes if they do not have a permanent base, the Descendant leader will keep them.

There are two main types of Descendants, those that are genetically related to their ancestor and those who got their power from people from the Golden Age arriving on Earth. The latter occurred naturally, the former Ombric had a hand in forming.

The Human Order of Guardians was formed not long after the original Guardians. As Pitch uses his Descendants to his advantage, the Descendants of the Guardians had to band together to combat them.
HOG is one of the only groups that has all of its members learn to fight. One of the other groups is the Descendants of Pitch.