Before talking about my problem, I should probably explain what exactly are Peri. Peri are a race of beautiful, fairylike beings with the wings of birds from Persian mythology. Many stories feature female Peri, but it is said that there are still male Peri. That, or all Peri have no gender at all. Some sources say that they are represented as descended from fallen angels and excluded from paradise until their penance is accomplished. Other sources say that they began as malevolent creatures who became good in later-on myths after being converted to Islam. I have decided that my take on the Peri will feature them as hermaphrodites. However, I am specifically having trouble with whether or not they will have some divine origins in which they are connected to angels, or if they will instead simply be a combination of malevolent and benevolent like humans. Please help with this decision.
It sounds to me like the answer to your question will become clear when you define the themes you’re trying to tackle. If you want to explore themes with religious implications, then give the Peris divine origins. If don’t want to make any sort of (intended) religious commentary, then stay away from the divine origins. If you can answer what you want your story to say, it might become clear which direction you should go with this.
This was actually very helpful. I've been trying to figure out the solution to this issue for months, so thank you. I think I'll the story be moreso based on challenges and whatnot of being a Peri. Heck, some of them might even be religious or dabble in religion. Thanks again
Are you writing this story from a Peri's point of view? If so you could always throw in there are conflicting views on that subject. Some believe they do come from divine origins, others don't. Add a little variety into the culture!
I could do that. Since Islam is often involved in their mythology, most Peris who are religious are Islamic. Then, as Peris started travelling to different regions of the world, others may have found different religions like Buddhism, Shintoism. Christianity, etc. Some of the more religious Peris do conflict with Peris that are atheist or agnostic, especially if either one or both extremists. Thanks for the idea
I just want to chime in on something you said in your original comment. It might depend on the religion, but I know that in Christianity being connected with angels does not mean that they can't also be a combination of malevolent and benevolent. Demons, after all, are fallen angels. Faerie mythology also follows this same dichotomy, at least according to some folklore, so I think it would be perfectly fine if you chose to give them divine origins. There's no reason they can't have moved past their origins after a long period of time, either, if they've been cut off from them. You can still have them branch out to different religions and even atheism and agnosticism, assuming their connection to the divine is far in the past. TLDR: Why not both?
If you're gonna make a fantasy race, make their thumb-nails really long. The erotic merits of this will surely boost your sales. Don't make the index-nails long, though! That's just disgusting.
So, basically, I could make them like humans in which some of us believe we have some divine origins, but can't agree on exactly what divine origins. On the other hand, there are those who believe that we don't have any divine origins and this is just the way things are. Is this what you're saying?
In developing the naming conventions of the Human-Species (That's what I call the races) of my planet, Lore played a part of it. I also used scientific names to help develop it as well.
Yes, but I'm also saying that they can indeed have divine origins (not that I'm implying humans do or don't, I'm not looking to start a discussion on religion here) if you want them to. They could have just forgotten those origins due to passage of time. I don't know if that fits with your race; I'm assuming they aren't immortal since it sounds like they can reproduce so knowledge of their ancestry could have been lost over the generations. I'm just trying to offer a way that they can be like humans but you can still have a reveal at some point that they do indeed descend from divinity. I don't know if that's something you want to do with your story; it's just an idea I thought you might be interested in.
It's not, like, a fetish, or anything like that. It just conveys a sense of sophistication and transcendence that rivals that of the Buddhists themselves. It's a beautiful medley of power and grace that can only be achieved through the hidden charms that most would overlook. Although I have tried to here, words can not properly describe the effect of long thumb-nails.
Might I suggest spelling the name a little differently or changing the name altogether? Of course it's your call at the end of the day, but I keep misreading it as either Penis or Paris You might wanna ask some beta readers about this to see if it's just me or a wider problem. It could get rather... distracting.
I would love to know more. I'm really just using names from Latin, though I'm not sure if that's the best choice since the Peri are from Persian mythology.
I should have also mentioned that some of the names also come from Latin, since the region I am writing in right not is similar to Rome. I just readjust the wording to my liking. I have a race who literally translate to Elf in Latin. LOL. Even though they are technically not elves.
Actually, it could fit into the race. Maybe they do divine origins, but they just don't know who this divinity is or anything. As for immortality, I'm debating on that matter since I'm not sure how they would reproduce. The Peri are hermaphrodites and I'm unsure whether or not hermaphrdites can reproduce, so that's another issue all on its own. Thank you for your suggestions though
If I made just Peri both the plural and singular for describing the race, would that make any difference?
I think Sanity is attempting to be funny, Andi. There are definitely animals in nature that are hermaphrodites- I think earthworms are, and there are others. Maybe do some research into those, see if anything sparks the imagination?
So you basically just use the derivatives of current names? I take naming in my writing WAY too seriously sometimes, so I could just try that. Heck, maybe some of the Peri have names that aren't Persian because they just choose to change their names.
Yeah, jokes tend to slip over my head a lot of the time Also, I took your suggestion and did some brief research on earthworms, and the way they reproduce is actually pretty interesting. From there, I came up with the crazy idea that, since Peri have the wings of birds, maybe they also have eggs like birds. And, depending on whether or not I want to make them immortal or just long-lived, it can be rare for a Peri to be born.
Oh don't get me wrong, my name is conventions aren't that simple, simple but not that simple. LOL The naming convention have three parts to it, first and nationality followed by the initials of the archangel they fall under and then the scientific name for themselves and sometimes a nationality comes afterwards Also as a youngster I had very simple names which I've reworked
So, their first name is followed by the initials of their archangel (middle name), and the last name is their scientific name? Do you mind giving me an example?
Sure, but keep in mind in most cases they are just called what every their nation is. but for example, the people like us, fall under an Arcn Angle named Nyna. So her "Children" (There is a lot of lore being overlooked here) are known as Ny'Kin (Children of Nina) but that is an umbrella term for all Human spices that fall under her categorization. Humans like us are known as Cromagnon. Thus they would be called Ny'Cro, but again most typically their nationality is used, since you wouldn't go around calling Humans Cro-Magnons, we use American, British, etc. Naming for nations is a bit different and more generalized.
Would Ny'Cro be considered the specific species' scientific name? Is is similar to calling humans Homo-sapiens?
Yes, it is similar to calling us homo sapiens, but they do use it sometimes as a reference if they need a specific human species
