#'-- the Almohads took their place' OK BUT WHAT ABOUT THE 1070-1090s SIR?

[regina-del-cielo]

“The Old Guard” Daemon AU: Joe and the African cheetah

After Nicky, you get Joe. Hope you’re ready for another Excessively Long Bulletpoint, aka “reasons why I think Joe’s daemon should be a cheetah”

the Head Bonk of Love means that some Cat Behaviour is present in the Couple, and I think Joe has. a Cat Vibe – but since he’s also a warrior, it’s a Large Cat

Joe is stupidly pretty; cheetahs are stupidly, stupidly pretty, I mean -

like, look at those anime eyes, with that eyeliner on top of the game 

long legs and large chest – yeah, that’s Joe

cheetahs hunt by looking for their prey in open areas (sniper’s spotter anyone?), and using their high running speed to kill it preferably under a minute’s time. They’re famous for being able to make dramatic decelerations in three strides and to follow sharp changes of direction and pace without breaking their own step. Joe’s fighting style is all about surprise attacks (São Paulo ‘34), speed and giving maximum damage in the smallest time possible (yes it’s because he uses Big Guns Once and then throws them away)

(also, he sprinty – the way he runs to cover Nicky on the killfloor? Joe could run faster than Usain Bolt if Nicky was waiting on the end line, and so does his daemon)

although they don’t form prides like lions, cheetahs are still fairly gregarious for a large feline. The males, in particular, after leaving their mothers form coalitions, between brothers but also welcoming strangers, who hunt, live and protect a territory together, being affectionate and caring for each other. May I repeat myself? 🎶 ~ Found Family Vibes Babe ~ 🎶

cheetahs are very ‘talkative’, with a vast array of vocalisations, including purring and chirping (also their meowing is stupidly adorable go listen to it). They also love to cuddle, and we all know how much Joe loves hugging people and clinging to Nicky in his sleep, right?

listen, we all know the story of baby cheetahs in zoos having therapy dog companions. Now, Nicky’s daemon isn’t really a dog, but if Nicky is Joe’s “moon when he’s lost in darkness and warmth when he shivers in cold”, why shouldn’t their daemons reflect that? (cue Long Sessions of wolf and cheetah grooming each other)

(this is more of a Vibe, but the way Joe goes Anxious kinda fits the nervous energy of cheetahs - and I'm totally crediting @ellynneversweet for thinking about the connection between "hyper-specialized and incredibly fast animal" and "Anxiety™️" first)

cheetahs today have a very restricted habitat range, but historically they were spread through all of Africa and a good portion of Asia (although Asian cheetahs are actually a different subspecies), so it’s perfectly plausible that Yusuf could have seen them without having to travel to the other side of the continent

cheetahs have also been tamed for a very long time, maybe since the Sumerians. Their use as hunting animals is almost uninterrupted in nobility and royal families from Ancient Egypt up to the European colonization era in India

now, I have no way of knowing if the Zirid or Fatimid caliphs had pet hunting cheetahs in their courts in the 11th century, but there may be a non-zero chance that they may have been a not-too-unusual sight in Fustat or Alexandria – and I think Yusuf’s family would have had significant business contacts in the area, possibly from before the Zirids became an independent kingdom from the Fatimids

in Ancient Egypt cheetahs were believed to represent the goddess Mafdet, (later on replaced by Bastet): she was the deification of legal justice, protected the sun god Ra from venomous snakes, and was associated also with the protection of the pharaoh’s chambers. Cheetahs were also said to be the ones to take away the spirits of pharaohs when they died

Islam doesn’t seem to have any specific symbology linked to cheetahs, although big cats in general could represent ferocity – domestic cats, on the other hand, are taken in very high consideration (which, relatable), so I think that people’s reactions to Yusuf’s daemon pre-immortality would have been neutral, if not generally positive

given the status symbol that cheetahs were in that time and age, it might have even proved to be an advantage for Yusuf in his family’s business dealings – people may have assumed that he had Connections in higher places (i.e. the court) than any other merchant, and Rich People may have favoured his products because of it

add his Sparkly Anime Eyes and his Natural Charms, pre-immortality Yusuf could have charmed the pants off of anyone, that’s what I’m saying

while looking up potential names I noticed that Arabic names tend to have meanings of qualities, so in this AU the norm of daemon naming would be based on which quality parents would want their child to have the most, and then I remembered that families can have the weirdest naming traditions (like – people that give their kids names starting by the same letter)

the Al Kaysani men we know of (thanks to Yusuf’s patronymics) are all named after prophets (and Big Ones at that), and what if it was a pattern? What if they had a family tradition, that when a son is named after an Important Person, their daemon would be named after a woman that was relevant for said Prophet Figure?

(so his grandfather Muhammad’s daemon would have been Khadija, like the first wife of the Prophet; and his father Ibrahim’s would be Sara)

now, this poses a small problem: Yusuf the Prophet is the only one whose story is told in chronological order in its own surah in the Quran, and while he’s one of the most revered prophets in Islam, the only woman of note in his story is the wife of Potiphar (called Aziz in the surah), the one that tried to seduce him and he kept refusing. In Islamic tradition she’s named Zuleikha, and let’s say that her depiction is… not exactly positive?

so Ibrahim and his wife decide to cover their bases by naming baby Yusuf’s daemon Maryam, after the most revered woman in Islam – you can’t go wrong with the Virgin Mary

(when Ibrahim goes to Alexandria on a business trip soon after Yusuf’s birth, he tells a Christian acquaintance of the names chosen and the guy positively lights up: “Oh, like the Holy Family! How clever!”)

(Ibrahim’s mind goes blank for three seconds before remembering that Christians believe that the Virgin Mary got married to a guy named Joseph. He shrugs to himself and smiles politely, thinking that if this little coincidence will make Christians like his son more, then it can only be good for business and neighbourly relations, right?)

*me, writing this, in full deus ex machina robes:*

(yes, Nicolò who knew absolutely nothing about Muslims before ending up in Jerusalem will have an Existential Crisis when he learns what Yusuf and Maryam’s names stand for)

unlike with Nicky who didn’t expect his settled daemon’s form, I think Yusuf had some inkling that Maryam was going to be some form of cat – even when she was unsettled, it was one of the forms she preferred (this is Very Much Inspired by @polarcell​'s baby!Joe fanart)

and she probably would have settled into a chubby lady cat like his father’s, if it hadn’t been for the sack of Mahdia

by a stroke of luck, Yusuf and his family are in another town to celebrate one of his sisters’ wedding when the Pisans and Genoans attack and pillage Mahdia – but when they come back it’s to a disaster. The fleet is destroyed, and their warehouse has clearly been looted

after a couple of months of seeing how the situation is progressing, Ibrahim decides to move the family to Alexandria, where they have an established network and can work more easily – and Alexandria is too big, too important for Christian merchants, to be attacked like Mahdia was

Yusuf has grown up in a happy environment, but he’s heard the story of Kairouan, how his parents had to run away from it with their families years before they would meet and get married – and seeing his hometown ravaged like that, and the tight lines around his parents’ eyes, it feels like history repeating itself

Yusuf is a young man that feels things deeply and loves with all his strength. He loved Mahdia, and he’s seen it burned and wounded. He loves his family, and he’s heard his Ummi cry behind closed doors and has had to hold one of his youngest brothers because of nightmares of their house burning

he wants to protect them, he wants to be strong enough. He wants to make sure they’ll never be hurt again

when Maryam settles into a cheetah, Yusuf is sure that his desire had a part in it – and judging by the look his parents exchanged when they saw the two of them, they must have known it too

(“Well, technically she is still a cat”, he jokes. “Just bigger than expected”. His mother just smiles at him and replies “maybe Allah has greater plans for you than we can know, habibi”)

more than ten years later, Yusuf finds himself in Jerusalem, freshly back in Fatimid hands after the Seljuk conquest, to establish a new branch of the family business in the city. He’s almost ready to go back home with good news for his father and brothers when news of the approaching Franks reaches the city, and people start preparing for a siege

Yusuf spends the whole night awake, finding comfort in Maryam’s purring, eyes fixed on the saif his father had given him at the start of his journey, to protect himself. He thinks of Kairouan, of Mahdia. Of this city, so bustling and luminous, and yet so used to war and strife

he couldn’t do anything for the city of his parents, nor for the one of his childhood. But here, now... he’s a grown man, he can fight, he’s not arrived too late. He can do something now

“You know that no one will fault you if we leave. Taking care of ourselves in times of war isn’t wrong”, Maryam tells him, soothing, his voice of reason. He nods, but his mind is made up. “These invaders refused the governor’s offer. They’re here to fight, and this city will need all the help she can gather. I know I’m only one man, but every pair of hands makes a difference”

He sends his assistants and servants back home to Alexandria with a message for his family, and presents himself at the garrison to offer his eyes and his sword to the protection of Jerusalem. He’s scared, and in the back of his mind he knows that he may not come out of this alive, may not see his family ever again, but it also feels right

(two months later, seeing the invaders slaughter the helpless population, having inexplicably risen from the dead, and with a fucking Frank trying to drag him out of the walls, a Frank that doesn’t fucking die either, he regrets staying, bile rising in his throat)

(a year and a half after that, with his hand buried in the soft fur of Reparata’s neck, and hearing Maryam purr under Nicolò’s reverent touch, regret is the furthest thing from his mind)

Interesting things I learned that weren’t completely relevant to Joe’s story but I think you all should be aware of:

Wolves are mentioned all of three times in the Quran, all of them in the Surah Yusuf.

Speaking of the surah, the commentaries seemed to never waste an occasion to remark upon the fact that Yusuf was beautiful. In the story itself, the friends of Potiphar’s wife are mocking her for having a crush on a servant, so she invites them to her home and offers them apples, with a knife to peel them. When they start on the fruits, she sends for Yusuf – and as soon as he enters the room, the women are so distracted by his handsomeness that they end up cutting their own hands instead of peeling the apples.

*me, waving this information in the general direction of Argentina: “DID YOU HEAR THAT, LEANDRO FERNANDEZ?!?”*

Researching animals in Islam I found out about the prophet Muhammad’s cat, Muezza – and the story that she fell asleep on his prayer robe one day, and instead of disturbing her Muhammad cut off the sleeve she was on top of. I had to lie down because that’s the most Cat Owner Thing to do, oh my god.

Another thing that had me put down my phone and stare into nothingness: cheetahs make nyam nyam sounds when they eat.

I had definitely more problems in finding (and consulting) references for this post re: Yusuf’s background, especially since most of the footnotes on the various Wikipedia pages I jumped through were either lacking an external link or they were in French, which I can’t read. Not to mention that the Google Books previews had a tendency to skip exactly the pages where the information I most cared about was contained. Extremely acephobic of them.

That said, what isn’t already linked in the bulletpoint is down here:

Jamil M. Abun-Nasr (1987): A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge University Press, 455 pages

Phillip C. Naylor (2015): North Africa, Revised Edition: A History from Antiquity to the Present. University of Texas Press, 412 pages

Pang B., Van Valkenburgh B., Kitchell K.F.Jr., Dickman A., Marker L. (2017): “History of the Cheetah-Human Relationship”, in Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation, Marker L., Boast L.K., Schmidt-Küntzel A. (eds.). Academic Press, pages 17-24

The Old Guard Character Resource Hub, specifically this map of eleventh century trade routes (whoever put it in the Google Docs, know that you have my eternal gratitude)

Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa (1992): General History of Africa, Volume 3: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, Hrbek I. (ed.). James Currey Publishers, 398 pages