Freak

A Freak is a sentient being that was once a Human, before undergoing a Freak transformation. Freaks often appear as monsters or animals whose appearance tend to suit their identity or personality.

Freaks are often seen as rejects to the human culture because of their often strange personalities or quirks, and for several reasons, become permanently isolated from Human society, to instead live amongst other freaks on the Island Of Freaks.

Freaks have various degrees of deformations to their personality that are often linked to well known psychological or psycho-social conditions. There are several means to classify different dimensions of freaks.

## Classification

### **Tamed vs Wild**

**Tamed** freaks still have psychological conditions and abnormal impulses, but they are more able to control themselves. Tamed freaks are less likely to have a Freak out, but can still have one, especially if they are tantalized by desires or overrun by emotions. Katie is an example of a very tamed freak - while she does have her quirks - some of which are unsettling - she knows how to control her inner animal and her impulses relating to her desire for turning the world a utopia. In other words, tamed freaks have stronger self-control.

**Wild** freaks have psychological conditions and impulses just as strong as tamed ones - the only difference being that they are less able to control them, and thus are more likely to Freak out. An example of a wild freak is Arky: he is extremely susceptible to being made fun of for his obsessions with inflation, and is extremely prone to overreacting. In other words, wild freaks have less self-control.

### **Attuned vs** **Conflicted**

**Attuned** freaks are more in touch with their personal identity, and have a clearer idea of what makes them who they are. Attuned freaks are more accepting of themselves and who they are. Being perfectly attuned means being completely comfortable with who they are, such that they would not want to change a single thing. Tangles is an example of an attuned freak. He came from a childhood with very loving parents who blessed him with a beautiful childhood, and due to this, Tangles is perfectly accepting of who he is.

**Conflicted** freaks are in direct conflict with who they are, and given the chance, they would change a lot about themselves. Runa is a perfect example of a conflicted freak, since she is completely unsatisfied with herself, to the point that she role plays as several personalities at all times to pretend that she is someone else. There are a few reasons why freaks may feel conflicted about who they are:

* **Mutually exclusive desires**: Freaks who have two conflicting desires. An example of this is the Darkness Monster, who longs for friendship and people to not be afraid of him, but is also extremely afraid of social contact and will kill anyone who frightens him with social contact out of extreme fear.
* **Superego conflict**: Freaks who have a desire that they feel is wrong. An example of this is Chompy, who is a compulsive liar and also has an obsession with swallowing friends whole, which he feels are morally wrong but yet has a strong desire to do so.
* **Identity conflict**: Freaks who, due to something that is part of what they identify with, can lead to issues with other Freaks. With Humans, an example of identity conflict is racism. With Freaks, identity conflict can happen with conflicting opinions, especially when it comes to love relationships. It occurs when someone's sense of identity is being threatened, such as someone who identifies themselves as a religious person having their identity de-legitimized. Another example is Runa, who would not accept a pre-determined role in life, and wants to be whoever she wants - doing this by role-playing and dressing in person as one of her different "personalities" as a form of rebellion.
* **Identity confusion**: Freaks who, one way or another, don't understand themselves and wish they could. This is the extreme opposite of identity conflict, because this involves feeling like they have no identity. Two notable examples of this are Sir White the Righteous Knight, who ultimately fails to feel like his knightly service serves any purpose in the grand scheme of things, and Cammie, who not only completely lost her identity in the literal sense, but had a weak one to begin with - she was not really much of anything, and has trouble describing herself.
* **Self hatred**: Freaks who a pathological hatred of themselves, regardless of their features. This self hatred can only be overcome with an overpowering amount of external love that silences their inner, self-hateful voice. An example of this is Whimpers.

* **Unmet needs**: Freaks who are lacking in any of regular requirements that people need. The following are the levels of the hierarchy, with examples of freaks who are lacking in them:
	+ **Physical** - Basic bodily needs
		- Espy, due to his workaholic nature, fails to take care of his body until he is in dire need.
	+ **Environmental** - The need for safety and security in the environment, such as a safe house.
		- Sludgemus, due to his fear of the world ending and losing everything, feels constantly unsafe.
		- Darlington constantly worries that others, especially the kids, will get hurt and has high paranoia.
	+ **Sociocultural** - Communication with others, relationships, being part of a community, being loved
		- Dianna, who is one of the loneliest freaks who is sick with love and wants someone to love her back.
		- Whimpers is similar in unpopularity, although she is unhappy when she gets lonely and without friends for long enough.
	+ **Emotional** - Joy, curiosity, self-acceptance
		- Happy has trouble feeling anything and is severely lacking on the emotional level
		- Whimpers has trouble finding emotional fulfillment, but ironically because she feels too much of them.
	+ **Self-actualization** - Thinking, learning, decision making, values, beliefs, fulfillment and helping others
		- Bowie has distinct problems in this area due to having standards that are far beyond his reach, and his mind works in such a way that he will be only happy when he is the smartest man alive, which repeatedly sets him up for failure.

In general, the more extreme a freak is on the spectrum of attuned versus conflicted, the more powerful their abilities will be. The weakest freaks in terms of Magical abilities are those who have a totally neutral opinion on themselves, such as liking some parts of themselves and disliking others.

### **Trained vs Untrained**

**Trained** freaks are those who have trained in their discipline of magic. Trained freaks are more powerful than untrained freaks, assuming all other factors are constant. Being trained is about having a deep understanding of Universal Concepts that resonate with a spell or their identity, regardless of whether they are accepted or not by the bearer of those concepts. With enough training, it is even possible to cast Magic that is not even tied to any Universal Concept the caster has - simply by understanding it enough to resonate with it. An example of highly trained freaks are The ChessMaster and Katie, who both spent more than 2000 years training their skills and understanding the mechanics of what they are casting. Both of them are extremely skilled, to the point of Katie having the ability to reproduce several magic powers of every other freak on the island, such as Whimpers' giant forms, and Binary's ability to recover from fatal blows.

**Untrained** freaks are freaks who are tend to not fully understand the mechanics of spells that they cast, and tend to be weaker. However, they might still be stronger if they have a more extreme level of Attunement or Conflict, or high willpower. An example of an untrained freak is Dance Queen, who even though she is extremely high on the power scale, she has no idea about the exact mechanics of her magic, some of which could take years to fully comprehend without having the appropriate Universal Concept.

### **High willpower vs Low willpower**

**High willpower** freaks are more driven to pursue their motives. This has the added benefit of increased mental fortitude, which is very important for casting Magic. An example of a high-willpower freak is Binary, whose extreme determination allows her to come back to life after fatal blow (a "heroic second wind").

**Low willpower** freaks invest less emotional energy, and tend to have weaker Magic abilities as a result of this. However, there are a few spells that actually benefit from low willpower, such as telekinesis, and freaks with low willpower will actually be more powerful in casting certain spells that aid laziness and halfheartedness. An example of this is Tony Two-Ton, who often abuses of spells to be lazy, such as levitating objects towards him.