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Peculiars

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“ There is the hidden branch- the crypto-sapiens, if you will,- who are called syndrigast, or "peculiar spirit" in the venerable language of my ancestors ”

–Miss Peregrine regarding peculiars

Peculiars, also known as syndrigasti (lit. peculiar spirit) in Old Peculiar, are humans, animals, or even plants with special abilities or features. The term peculiardom refers to the population of peculiars in general.

Their peculiarity comes from a "second soul" and seems to have some kind of physical form that manifests in the soles of their feet.[1]

Overview[]

Peculiars vary in appearance, but the vast majority are able to pass as normals. However, a small part of the population cannot because their peculiarity affects their appearance (such as being invisible or having multiple eyes).

Peculiar traits seem to be recessive and often skip generations.[2] It is possible for multiple peculiars to be born into the same generation (such as in the case of the Bruntley siblings), however, more often than not there is only one peculiar born into a generation (such as in the case of Emma and Julia Bloom). Jacob mentions that Alma Peregrine having two somewhat peculiar brothers is rare, and two ymbrynes being actual sisters is even rarer (referring to Miss Hawksbill and Miss Tern).

Sub-Species[]

In the general body of peculiars, there are a few sub-species within peculiardom. They are classified into groups that share the exact same or similar ability.

  • Ymbrynes: A female-only group of peculiars that act as the ruling class of the peculiar world and protect the young. They can take the forms of birds (the species of which varies from ymbryne to ymbryne) and can create and maintain loops. They can also alter and wipe memories.
  • Demi-Ymbrynes: A sub-species of ymbryne who can only maintain loops, rather than both creating and maintaining them. They also are unable to turn into birds.
  • Librarians: The ancient proprietors of the Library of Souls, who are tasked with maintaining the library. Consequently, they are the only peculiars who can see soul jars. After the emergence of the hollowgasts, they can also see (and in some cases control) the monsters.
  • Diviners: Peculiars who can sense and locate various things, such as water, loop entrances, and the voices of the dead.
  • Elementals: Peculiars with abilities related to the elements.
  • Deadraisers: Peculiars with the ability to take the life from one thing and give it to another. Their work usually involves animal organs.
  • Invisibles: Completely invisible peculiars that can only be seen while wearing clothing.

History[]

Ancient times[]

At some point, the Library of Souls was created inside the city of Abaton. In a legend that would be told in later times, it was said that the Library was where second souls were stored by the Librarians. Peculiars would supposedly travel there before they were born to get a soul, and would go back before they died in order to return the soul.[3] It is unknown how much of the legend was true, but the Library would house hundreds, if not thousands, of souls in its soul jars.

In ancient times, peculiars could openly coexist with normal people. In some parts of the world, they were regarded as gods, shamans, or mystics, and consulted in times of trouble.[4] Ancient normals were relatively enlightened on peculiarness and rarely persecuted peculiars as long as the order of their empires weren't disrupted.[5] However, the normals' favorable opinion of peculiars would change with time, and sometime in the B.C. era, Ymeene Goshawk created the first loop in order to protect the peculiars of the camp she lived in, and discovered how they behaved. News spread quickly about her loop, and many fled to it to escape normals. It became so popular that she went to find several other ymbrynes and teach them what she knew. The ymbrynes divided the peculiars who had traveled to the loop among them and spread out across the land to establish new loops.[6]

As the creators and managers of loops, ymbrynes quickly took charge as other peculiars began seeking refuge in the safety and order of loops. Since normals couldn't enter them, loops were extremely popular in times of persecution against peculiars, such as during the Medieval period.

Middle Ages to the 19th century[]

Medieval peculiars who couldn't find a loop to live in often worked as scribes.[7] By this time, peculiars were easy scapegoats whenever normals encountered problems with unknown causes, and between 1580 and 1630, some ten thousand people were burned at the stake in Europe during the witch hunts, with an alarming number of them being peculiar.[8] As Miss Peregrine tells Jacob Portman, "The Muslims drove us out. The Christians burned us at witches. Even the pagans of Wales and Ireland eventually decided that we were all malevolent fairies and shape-shifting ghosts."[4]

19th and 20th century[]

Sometime in the late nineteenth century, two peculiar brothers, Jack "Caul" and Myron Bentham, invented the Panloopticon in the punishment loop Devil's Acre on their path to unite peculiardom. Caul then recruited a group of peculiars to help them with their work on the Panloopticon, but his goals were soon no longer aligned with his brother's and this group became the Claywings, an organization dedicated to the search for the lost city of Abaton and the power of the Library of Souls. Myron eventually betrayed Caul and managed to trick him into performing an old procedure that had mostly been forgotten. Caul believed it to eliminate the dangers of aging forward and performed it in the Experiment of 1908 with hundreds of his followers in Siberia.[3]

The failed experiment created the hollowgasts, a dangerous race of monsters that hunted for the flesh of peculiars. Hollows first attacked several villages around the experiment site, including the village of Sergei Andropov. They would kill anyone they would find, and survivors were few.[1] After everyone realized that hollows could not enter loops, there was an exodus into loops, and many currently existing ones were made during this time. A few years after 1908, wights (the human-looking evolved form of hollows) started to appear. Unlike their hollow friends, they could enter loops.

After World War II, there was a minor exodus of peculiars to America. The Organization was formed in the United States in the nineteenth century, and started hunting peculiars in the United States. Since ymbrynes created and maintained the loops, they were the main focus of the Organization's attacks. The attacks against the ymbrynes were so bad that Velyana Greenshank was the only known living ymbryne after the mid-1960's. Since there were so few "full blooded" ymbrynes, clans would come into power, with loops reset by demi-ymbrynes and loop-keepers. Eventually, three main clans emerged in the United States.

21st century[]

The population of peculiars are greatly diminished by the modern era, and most live in hiding. In places where modernity and major religions have failed to take hold, however, a few cultures retain their harmonious relationship with peculiars.[4]

In 2011, the wights in Europe were defeated and Caul trapped inside the Library of Souls after the Abaton loop was forcibly collapsed. Peculiardom began to slowly recover, with rebuilding starting in Devil's Acre. However, after a few weeks, many peculiars began to resent the ymbrynes being in charge, believing that ymbrynes had gained too much power and wishing for loop freedom. Another conflict against the wights was fought after they, led by Percival Murnau, resurrected Caul from the Library of Souls. In the second battle of Devil's Acre, the wights were again defeated (at the cost of only around a hundred peculiars surviving) and Caul was killed by Noor Pradesh in the second battle in the Library. Before the final battle, Caul had revealed peculiardom to the normals, but they struggled to believe it to be real. Although the surviving peculiars of Devil's Acre all received loop freedom, it is likely that peculiars will continue to live in loops.

In the United States, due to spending almost a century in loops, fresh peculiars had become a valuable resource for the clans, with many fighting over and kidnapping new, or uncontacted, peculiars. The three main clans that control peculiar America are the Five Boroughs, the Northern clan, and the Californios.

Peculiar Plants[]

Main article: Peculiar Plants

Peculiar Animals[]

Main article: Peculiar Animals

Peculiar animals are animals with peculiarities. Most looped peculiar animals live in loops specifically made for them, called menageries. Balenciaga Wren and Griselda Tern owned the most well-known menageries.

Like human peculiars, there are sub-species within peculiar animals, such as armageddon chickens, emu-raffes, colossus poodles and grimbears. There are also animals who have individual powers, like Addison MacHenry, Pompey and Ca'ab Magda.

List of Known Peculiars as first mentioned by book[]

  • Benteret
  • Bill
  • Carlos
  • Jimmy
  • Juice Barrow
  • Matthieu
  • Meese
  • Missy Fineman
  • Moss Parker
  • Walker

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children[]

Hollow City[]

Library of Souls[]

A Map of Days[]

The Conference of the Birds[]

The Desolations of Devil's Acre[]

Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders[]

Tales of the Peculiar[]

Ymbryne List[]

Main article: Ymbrynes

See also[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hollow City (Chapter 12)
  2. ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (On Peculiars and Peculiarness)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Library of Souls (Chapter 4)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 6)
  5. ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Time Loops - Tourism and the Perils of Leapfrogging)
  6. ↑ Tales of the Peculiar (The First Ymbryne)
  7. ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Important Books by Peculiar Writers)
  8. ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (The Dangers of Exposure)
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