Despair Dog species information.

Types: Earthborn (most common), Hellborn (uncommon) and Heavenborn (rare).

Genders: Male, Female, Genderless, Hermaphrodite.

Forms: Prelude, Feral and Anthro.

Magic: Yes. Their magical abilities are not powerful spells, but often the most common spells. Some may have a stronger affinity for particular elemental spells, such as a Despair Dog with an affinity for “fire” can cast fire-based spells. When in their Prelude forms, all Despair Dogs have a natural “Float” ability spell, because they cannot run very fast on their small legs.

Birth/Growth/Ageing: Despair Dogs are not born and don’t grow or age in the normal way. The way a Despair Dog is born is through an accumulation of matter around an ancient artifact called the “Spark”. The Spark resembles an orb of one of the three primary colors (yellow, blue, red), with curving rods that look similar to goat or bull horns. There are a limited amount of Sparks in the universe, therefore a limited amount of Despair Dogs can exist at a single time, however if a Despair Dog dies the Spark will enter a stasis mode for up to 1000 years before accumulating matter around it again. Once enough matter has accumulated around a Spark, a Prelude form of a Despair Dog will form…and where the matter accumulates and forms determines what kind of Despair Dog it is: if formed in the Heavenly Realm it will be a Heavenborn, if formed in the Underworld it will be a Hellborn and if formed in the Mortal World it will be an Earthborn. But a Despair Dog requires negative emotions to consume so that it can evolve into its eventual Anthro form, therefore almost all Despair Dogs actually live in the Mortal World (the only place where such emotions can be consumed freely). Because this evolution from a Prelude form, through a Feral form into a final Anthro form can take an unspecified amount of time…it is very difficult to pin an “age” onto a Despair Dog. In general, once they are in their Feral or Anthro forms, they are considered the equivalent of “adults”. Despair Dogs are generally somewhat “immortal”, in that they can live for incredible amounts of years…but they are “mortal” in that they can be killed by even the most common things that would kill mortal beings (violent acts, for example). They have a higher immune system than mortal beings, but Despair Dogs are able to become sick due to extreme illnesses.

How to tell the types: Heavenborn Despair Dogs will ALWAYS have pure, white (angelic) wings. Hellborn Despair Dogs will have a style of wings not unlike a dragon or a bat, which will tend to be in very dark color schemes for the skeletal frame and the leathery interior (dark reds and blacks are most common, dark purples/greens/blues can also exist). Earthborn Despair Dogs will have wings resembling any kind of bird, so they have the most variety in the patterns and colors and styles of their wings. All Despair Dog wings emerge from the TAILBONE area…so in general, they are more for decoration than for enabling an ability to fly—although a Despair Dog that knows wind-based magic can probably develop a style of flight in which they can use their wings to steer and maneuver.

The Spark: As mentioned above, the Spark is the ancient artifact that essentially creates the Despair Dog. Once the matter has accumulated and formed around the Spark, the Spark is displayed as a “third eye” and “horns” in ALL Despair Dogs. While the Despair Dog can suffer injuries and even die, the Spark itself can never be damaged or destroyed…except by a God. And most Gods would never destroy a Spark, as they often use the Despair Dogs as their agents to keep the mortal beings balanced and sane. How does that work, you wonder? Because Despair Dogs’ Sparks absorb all negative emotions! Without Despair Dogs in the world to eat negativity, many worlds would fall into complete chaos and destroy themselves utterly…so it is within the best interests of the Gods to keep the Sparks in circulation within the universe. If a Despair Dog formed around a specific Spark dies, the Spark will enter a stasis mode for 1000 years before accumulating matter to form a new Despair Dog. The Despair Dog formed around a Spark will be different every time, so there will never be the same Despair Dog reforming from the same Spark.

The Despair Dog itself: They have an awareness of self-worth, knowing their role in the universe is to eat negative emotions. Beyond that one duty, Despair Dogs live normal lives…they form unique personalities…they become attached to mortal beings, even. While their primary sustenance to grow and evolve are negative emotions…Despair Dogs eat mortal foods to maintain the functions of the physical body (and because they like to act like normal living beings by eating regular meals and such). And their bodies function in much similar mannerisms to normal living beings as well…including having individual genders and desires to have friends and mates. But Despair Dogs do not have the reproductive system of mortal beings, the “equipment” is there and the “functions” work like any living being’s mating desires…the result of any mating will never produce offspring, because the seed is not viable and eggs do not form in the bodies of Despair Dogs.

Colorings, besides Sparks and type-specifics: Despair Dogs will generally have a common canine coloring. This can range anywhere amongst the colors or patterns found in any kind of real world dogs, but they more often tend to be single- or dual-color patterns. Strange colorings (neon pink, for example) are never found in the natural coats of Despair Dogs, but that does not mean that Despair Dogs living in the mortal world might not use dyes and inks to place unique colors or patterns into their fur.

My Despair Dog/fursona/OC.

Name: Wabi (the Japanese meaning of his name is “apology”)
Spark Color: Red
Eye Color: Dark Blue
Hair (Feral/Anthro forms) Color: Dark Blonde/Golden
Fur Color: Dark Brown
Age: unspecified, but appears around age of 20’s in looks
Gender: Male
Despair Dog Type: Heavenborn
Birthdate: July 13th
Astrological Sign/Birthstone: Cancer/Ruby
Flower: Daisy (represents innocence)
Magic Type: Wind-based Magic
Favorite Food: Applesauce
Favorite Dessert: Cookies (any kind)
Favorite Drink: Dr. Pepper
Least Favorite Food(s): Mushrooms and Tomatoes (unless the tomatoes are thoroughly cooked and mixed in other dishes)
Likes: Cute Things
Dislikes: Mean People
Hobbies: Reading (anything at all) and Singing
Personality: A gentle and quiet young male, who is essentially like the Omega in a wolf pack. By his personal choice, he is a semi-vegetarian…meaning that he COULD eat meat and such, but he generally chooses not to eat meat if he can help it (but if he’s starving……..he probably will). He is very shy and doesn’t generally approach people, but he will be very loyal to anyone he makes friends with and is always very happy to be around his friends. He sometimes seems to be a little bit feminine, in that he really likes to wear “pretty” clothing…though he will dress in “masculine” clothes, he will often find the prettiest masculine clothes he can find and loves to find Chinese-style outfits to wear most often than anything. He is also something of a romantic and is very happy when he sees people in love. He misses the “Berries and Crème” flavor of Dr. Pepper that they had some time ago, it was his absolute flavor of soda. Though he will read anything at all he can find, he enjoys reading a lot of manga (of any genre) more often than books.