Guardians

* Body
* Skeleton

**Guardians** are the titular, primary species featured in the Stardust series. They vaguely resemble deer with a select few facial feline traits. They have human sentience and intelligence, deemed the 'perfect' creation. They have no distinct origin, but implied they are the first creature to come into existence in the universe as a whole.

## Appearance

Guardians resemble common cervidae traits.

### Coat

Guardians have a diverse set of possible coats and variations. The 'standard' coat of a Guardian is a even medium length furred coat across the body, with fluff gathering around the tips of the body. Other possibilities include the soft coat, which is a shorter trim of the standard coat, and the velvet coat, which is an even shorter coat than the soft coat and possesses little to no fur and instead a fine layer of velvet across the body. The most uncommon coat is the woolen coat, which curls and bunches more akin to sheep.

### Antlers

Seasonally, Guardians may grow antlers. These rarely have multiple branches, instead spreading length-wise and curving more above their head. Though the antlers may begin to slightly bud and separate at the very tip of the branch. Few Guardians are known to have permanent antlers, an uncommon genetic trait.

### Teeth

Guardians are built with slightly more human-like sets of teeth, with rounded molars and incisors. Though their canines resemble those akin to predators and actual canines, and are slightly retractable. Their jaw is composed of 4 canines, 8 flat incisors, and 20 molars.

## Behavior

Naturally, Guardians are social creatures, and require social interaction to live happily. Guardians exhibit strong human-like behavior but still have natural animalistic habits.
Due to the fewer number of females in a natural pack setting, the female's primal response is to become competitive with each other for greater control over resources and pack dominance. Though these animalistic instincts are now useless in modern civilization, this behavior is still psychologically woven deep within every born female.

### Language

All Guardians are born and raised communicating in their own distinct dialect, a language known simply as 'Standard Guardian.' There is no written form, existing only verbally. It is best described as sounding akin to echoing mumbles, but doesn't fully appear to align to with their mouth shapes. However, all are capable of learning other, and thereby multiple languages.

## Ecology

Guardians are highly adaptable to their surroundings, able to combat any condition combined with their intelligence.

### Nox Industries 3rd Generation Variant

Nox Industries 3rd Generation Variant Guardians are a unique sub-lineage of Guardians that only exist on World 5. Doeforrah spliced DNA of Guardians and dogs to inhumanely with the goal to create a more loyal work animal. After this is initial step is completed, the resulting embryo would be placed to develop inside the mother Guardians body without consent. This ushered a new era of 'Guardian domestication' for Doeforrah, as this new generation would loyally trust and follow the instructions of their masters. The intelligence of this unethical creation lies somewhere between the two parents, which is to say, the intelligence of a human and a dog. They are perfectly capable of speech and maintaining conversation, they struggle to process complex emotions. They're emotions exist on the surface level, though their ability to grasp routine and excellent memory have proven highly efficient for the Doeforrah. The appearance would resemble almost entirely the same as a normal Guardian, except for the coat which resembled that of the dog breed the Guardian was mixed with, which was most often a Doberman. All variants were marked with a I.D. tag on their ear.

## Biology

### Development

A baby Guardian is called a fawn, born in litters ranging from one to twelve. The birthrate of male and female Guardians is 4:1. After birth, they are about the size of an adult Guardians hoof, and resemble newborn puppies or kittens. They learn to stand up and walk within the first 24 hours after birth, though this is never immediately. A mother can hold around three or four fawns in their pouch, with the weakest of the litter usually taking priority.

### Diet

Guardians are capable of adapting to any diet, and are highly akin to humans in that regard.

### Gender Differences

All female Guardians are born with a pouch in their lower stomach to hold their fawns, an older survival trait to help carry away their fawns if the mother is in danger. Males are born with a genital slit in the same location, which holds their reproductive parts.

## Guardian Years

Guardians have a unique measurement of time system that is consistent no matter the world or universe, known as Guardian years. Compared to human age, 2 1/2 weeks is equivalent of 1 Guardian year until they reach full maturity at 3 years old, or 14 human years. After full maturity, aging slows down and the gap between human and Guardian years becomes only a 1 year difference.

## True Guardians

Also known as 'TGs', True Guardians are the elected protectors of each world by Ecalypse himself and the only line of defense against Orizon. One corresponds to each world, and as such, there are 8 total. Their death causes the destruction of their own world, allowing Orizon the freedom to destroy everything into nothingness. However, each True Guardian is still alive by unknown circumstances.

Below is a list of each True Guardian and their respective worlds.

* Damaen Arcanes, World 1
* Havana De-Vo, World 2
* Tommy Karter, World 3
* Apollo Sasuke, World 4
* Jasper Balt, World 5
* Zann Tau Imari, World 6
* King Parker, World 7
* Holly Sarah France, World 8 (current)

## Capabilities

### Flight

When exposed to the small particles of naturally occurring stardust, Guardians can gather the substance around them to create two large sets of wings. The larger pair sits atop their shoulders, with a smaller second pair along their lower back. Using this, they can fly with relative ease as they choose. When finished with their wings, they dissipate back into the particles they once were. However, these wings do not 'rejuvenate' upon being able to dissipate and reform from seemingly nothing, and any great injury inflicted on a Guardian's wings is just as damaging as a normal wound on the body.

### Stardust Manipulation

Guardians, as beings made from pure stardust themselves, are able to manipulate the stardust around them for various purposes. Though most only can use the substance to sprout their wings, if trained intensively, they can learn how to manipulate high concentrations of stardust to create glass-like stardust shards which can be used as weapons to throw against their opponent.

#### Overexposure

Overexposure occurs when a Guardian is exposed to an overabundance of stardust.

### Ascension

Ascension is the process in which a Guardian attains godlike status once they have become undoubtedly certain about their self-discovered purpose in life. This process also gives them the title of a god, directly corresponding to their discovered purpose. This title follows as "Guardian of \_\_\_". The process of transformation is known to be exceptionally painful as their body changes and the overwhelming feeling of their personal truth takes over. Physically, they become exponentially larger in size, growing to over 100 feet tall with glowing white eyes. Their body and attire changes to reflect their godly status, flowing with pure stardust. Their eyes become pure white as a result of this.

Below is a list of each ascended Guardian title as of the current date. The last ascension occurred in Chapter 129, undergone by Apollo.

* 'They', Guardian of (???)
* Ecalypse, Guardian of Creation
* Orizon, Guardian of Destruction
* Damaen Arcanes, Guardian of Protection
* Havana De-Vo, Guardian of Guilt
* Tommy Karter, Guardian of Acceptance
* Apollo Sasuke, Guardian of Deceit

## Clairvoyancy

Clairvoyancy is state that can latch onto white guardians with a history of violence or extreme mental trauma. It shows itself in several ways, most common of which being able to see and control the DreamVerse, a mental plane born of twisted and ill thoughts. The DreamVerse can cause extreme nightmares and hallucinations, often disorientating and causing one to lash out in panic, if this is left to continue it can spiral further until they become utterly feral under the control of the verse. Clairvoyancy is incurable, though can be dulled to a tolerable level so long as the individual remains calm and non-violent both mentally and physically, after long periods of time they may learn to control and harness the ability properly. Though it will never truly go away, and can even be inherited by white offspring. Not all white guardians are susceptible to clairvoyancy, and in very rare cases it can have dull effects within any coat color. The defining feature is that the individual has the capacity to do extreme harm, and has a history of such. An untreated clairvoyant in serious cases will physically and mentally come to resemble a Dark Guardian over time.

Possible side effects of long-term clairvoyancy:

* Aggressive outbursts
* Blindness
* Dark Guardian communication
* Cold tolerance
* Blue smoke from the mouth
* White fur becoming black

## Trivia

* Prior to serious development of the comic itself, Guardians were originally created as a hybrid of deer and horses with feline features.