Shining Glitter Cookie

Cookies are a highly intelligent species of being that are nearly indistinguishable from humans aside from their simplified, small, and food-themed appearance. Their diversity, motivations, and capabilities are very similar to those of humans in a modern fantasy setting, seeking community and fulfillment despite their original purpose being much less complex. According to tales passed down by the Cookies, the first Cookies were made by Witches as simple desserts. Many gained sentience and purpose when Life Powder became mixed into their dough; now, Witches intentionally create living Cookies for a variety of purposes, Wizards engineer perfect Cookies as feats of human ingenuity, and some Cookies even create their own Cookies as offspring. Biology {{Anatomy}} Though Cookies as a species present themselves in a wide variety of manners, certain common patterns can be noted. Standard Cookies take a humanoid shape in a wide variety of body types, generally having one head, two arms, and two legs. Their bodies usually are constructed from various types of cookie dough, and they tend to have two eyes, one mouth, and no discernible nose or ears. Cookie facial features are made from different types of icing, including “toothcing” in place of teeth and “eyecing” in place of eyelids/eyelashes (though they refer to their eyes as a whole as simply “eyes”). They can also have hair anywhere on their bodies that a human would, including but not limited to the head, arms, face, chest, and legs, whose composition varies based on the Cookie’s ingredients and race. In fact, a Cookie’s appearance overall is heavily affected by their main ingredient, which often is stated in their name, as well as their race, nationality, and environment. It is generally agreed upon that Cookies do not contain organs and bones—despite this, all standard humanoid Cookies are said to be filled with strawberry jam as a stand-in for blood. Indeed, their bodies are propelled not by any innards: rather, a substance known as Life Powder infused in their dough is what gives them life. The inclusion of such a magical solution imbues almost all Cookies with the innate ability to channel magic, and those without this ability are considered to be disabled. {{Dough}} Cookie bodies usually are constructed from various types of cookie dough, including gingerbread and sugar cookie dough. Their dough can take a very diverse variety of colors which can often be affected by and representative of their race/nationality or environment much like skin tones in humans. Cookie dough is also susceptible to certain conditions and imperfections akin to those seen in humans, such as scarring, burning, wrinkling, freckling, blushing, facial/body hair, and vitiligo. However, Cookie bodies may also show colors and markings unlike anything naturally occurring in humans. Cookies are known to be flat with little lateral dimension. Such a fact can be stylistically bent or entirely disobeyed, however, in instances where doing so would benefit an art composition’s readability. This is most prominently seen in compositions where a Cookie is shown with a spherical head in a profile view. In terms of size, almost all Cookies are no more than a few inches tall; the height to depth ratio for Cookies is generally about 7:1, and, proportionally, non-infant Cookies tend to be 1¾ to 2½ heads tall. Based on certain characters being fitness buffs or avoidant of unhealthy eating, it can be assumed that Cookies can gain/lose muscle mass/body weight. Like human bodies, Cookie bodies grow and mature as they age. {{Eyes}} Cookie eyes most often display white eyecing, that being akin to both/either sclerae or eyelashes/lids in a human, and colored, variable inner eyes, representing irises in a human. The second most common color of eyecing is black/dark brown. Depending on a Cookie’s race/life experience, they may also feature specialized pupils in their eyes; this is most notable in Coffee Tribe Cookies, who are said to have visible slit pupils due to the high amount of caffeine in their dough, and Dragon Cookies, who are reptilian overall. {{Mouth}} The mouths of Cookies are rendered linearly through icing much like their eyes and eyebrows. They feature no apparent depth or cavity into the body, though Cookies are still magically capable of eating with them “through the power of life powder.” Teeth, known as “toothcing” in Cookie contexts, are also most often simple icing lines, though they are omitted entirely with most Cookies; Cookies with discernible toothcing are subject to such for stylistic reasons, such as to portray a characteristic toothy grin or snaggletooth. In rare cases, Cookies can have more dimensional, colored teeth. {{Hair}} Hair is one of the most diversified features of Cookies. The hair upon a Cookie’s head—if they even have any—can range from the conventional separate strands like that of humans to solid, styled masses of food like gelatin, cream, chocolate, cheese, icing, or leaves depending on the Cookie’s flavor. This hair can take on even more fantastical forms such as flowing water and even the starry night sky itself. Cookie hair can display many textures as well, reflecting the hair texture variety of humans; some Cookies have straight, wavy, or curly hair while others have coily, kinky, or Afro-textured hair. Cookie hair also often resembles or is a Cookie’s main ingredient. Further differences from human hair include Cookie hair being able to take any color imaginable and to occupy different states of matter. Cookies style and maintain their hair in ways reflective of both human culture and of their own Cookie culture; some groups are more likely to cover their hair with hats or helmets, while others are more likely to braid or tie their hair. Certain traits will be more common in particular races such as naturally-occurring colored streaks and differing textures/consistencies. Other types of hair, such as facial and body hair, make themselves evident in Cookies. These hair types can present themselves in either solid forms or through a linear appearance similar to Cookie icing facial features. {{Hands}} Cookie hands by default are mitten-like with no fingers or thumb, though they have the ability to curl into fists to hold objects. If the context calls for it, however, Cookies can rarely be depicted with fingers and thumbs. This phenomenon shows itself most often in instances of hand gestures, like a thumbs-up or peace sign. {{Injury}} Like any other mortal creature, Cookies can sustain and die from injuries. Humans are to Cookies as blood is to strawberry jam—though their jam isn’t known to have any importance to their bodies running like blood does for people, strawberry jam seeping from a Cookie is a sure sign of injury. Cookies can be bruised, cut, burned, or hurt in any way that a human could, and their wounds would heal (or not heal) in the same way a human’s would. This is likely possible through the magic of Life Powder, though not even Life Powder can heal major injuries like a loss of limbs or other bodily features. The one method of Cookie ailment most mentioned is soggage. If exposed to water or other liquids for too long, the porous Cookies are prone to becoming soggy and overly soft, which can lead to the breaking down of dough. Cookies can avoid soggage by applying special oils to their bodies—such is used as an explanation for Cookies being able to swim and not instantly becoming deathly soggy. {{Divergences}}: In reality, the term “Cookie” is quite broad. While most Cookies follow the doughy body format and orthodox body features, there are many notable divergences from this formula: Cervitaurs who have two arms and four legs, Cookies with bodies of malleable candle wax, Cookies with teeth more tangible than standard toothcing and pointed ears, aquatic Cookies who display traits of fish, such as fish tails and gills, and often have webbed fin ears, spirits of Cookies who haunt suits and have no tangible body, Cookies whose bodies are seemingly constructed from hard candy, and Cookies who can melt into liquid mercury at will. {{Birth}}: Cookie birth is a deeply contentious and obfuscated topic. What can be said for certain is that Cookies are generally born by being baked in ovens, and that they are not necessarily always born as infant Cookies; while traditional baby Cookies are referred to as “freshly-baked,” it is also technically true that Cookies born not as an infant can be called such at any age, though this is not done in canon to avoid confusion. Most Cookie descriptions mentioning a Cookie’s baking reference the human Witch/Witches or Wizards as the ones doing the baking. Witches tend to explicitly utilize ovens for Cookie creation while Wizards default to more esoteric methods like magic circles and transmutation. It is known that some Cookies bake Cookies of their own without the influence of Witches or Wizards, though how and when are details largely unexplained. One theorem posits that singular Cookies can create offspring by contributing pieces of their own dough: "The origins of the Cookies remain a mystery. It is commonly believed that each Cookie is born inside a Witch's oven. Yet some claim that Cookies can create other Cookies." "Cookies of time beyond memory used to mix little specks of their own dough with Life Powder and bake it in special ovens enchanted with a spell of Life. Rarely, very rarely, the powers of Life would spring forth, giving birth to baby Cookies. The Witches, fearful of the Cookies being able to control Life Magic, took away the ovens. They forbade such creation of Life and only allowed children to those who remained their faithful subjects..." Nonetheless, it is unclear whether this method is something truly done or simply a tall tale. What is clear is that Cookies are able to produce offspring through one way or another, as exemplified by the many parent-child relationships throughout the series. {{Aging}} Cookies age through an extremely prolonged process of freshness and staleness: young Cookies are considered to be fresh and soft, while older Cookies have grown stale and hard. Those of good health and spry bodies are referred to as “crispy.” While it is unclear just how long mortal Cookies can live, it is assumed to be an amount of time comparable or the same as that of humans. Cookie ages are measured in years proportionate to human years, though it is unclear whether Cookies born as infants and Cookies born not as infants have different age scales. Regardless of this, Cookies born not as infants are nonetheless instilled with a certain “innate” or “mental” age upon their birth, meaning that a Cookie who was just born can indeed be considered an adult if that is what was defined for them. Like humans, Cookie ages do affect the maturity and capabilities of Cookies and how they are treated in society. There are distinct splits between different age brackets just as there are with humans: Cookies can be considered infants, children, young adults, older adults, and elderly all the same based on how old they are and what “innate age” with which they were born. Younger Cookies often attend school and are cared for by older Cookies, older Cookies fill work archetypes, and elderly Cookies may end up retiring. Some outside sources can prolong or halt a Cookie’s aging process indefinitely, though this effect tends to apply to only very special, powerful individuals. Examples include Legendary Cookies whose duties are too important to allow them to die, Ancient Cookies whose virtuous natures granted them life-extending Soul Jams, and Dragon Cookies whose arcane power allows them to live for eons as a species. These Cookies, too, tend to have an “innate age,” almost always being presented as mature adults. {{Death}} Cookie death is referred to as “crumbling.” Mentions of crumbling tend to occur due to injury or illness with content avoiding coverage of crumbling due to old age. Still, it is apparent in cases like the elderly that age progression increases the likelihood of a Cookie’s body failing them and crumbling. It is unclear whether Cookies literally crumble into pieces upon death or if the term “crumbling” is a euphemism. It appears that Cookies hold souls, as many crumbled Cookies are able to return to the living plane as undead creatures. Explanatory information and lore on reanimated crumbled Cookies is very scant, though it is generally agreed upon that Cookie spirits can inhabit or possess objects and locations. Diversity {{Race}} Diverse races have always been clear in the Cookie species, though Kingdom’s focus on a worldwide perspective makes it even more susceptible to establishing differences in Cookie groups based on their national origins. Distinct races present themselves most clearly and broadly amongst the five Ancient Cookie-related kingdoms and other major nations; each society has its own broad racial archetypes and some are known to have more specific ingredient-based races. Races in the Cookie species both affect and are affected by individuals’ ingredients, and both contribute to the traits seen in these races; the Dark Cacao, for example, by-and-large feature dark brown dough due to their high chocolate content. Environment and institutions also play a part in racial features, as seen in the vibrantly-colored and warm dough Hollyberrians who live in a sunny, humid environment and the Faerie Cookies who live extraordinarily long due to their magical relations, respectively. Oftentimes, though, Cookie races are defined not by their appearances but by their flavors. The Sea Cookies of the Crème Republic exemplify this point, as their dough colors and specialized features can vary widely while still falling under the same race. Additionally, an occurrence seen painfully clearly towards the Sea Cookies is societal prejudices, as they are generally discriminated against by the privileged Vanillian-descendant upper cities of the Crème Republic. {{Nationality}} While Cookies hailing from given areas generally share their race with their nationality, some nations have populaces diverse enough to feature Cookies clearly different from their home’s “representative”, homogeneous racial features. This is most clear in the Crème Republic, where citizens are largely split into the easily-palatable, cream-based Vanillian descendants and the shunned, native Sea Cookies. {{Subspecies}} In cases of extreme bodily specialization, Cookies can split off into subspecies. Similar to races, subspecies often have their own established societies and sets of lore; the lost society of Tearcrown exclusively consisted of Mercookies and sea creature Cookies due to its underwater environment who showed consistent patterns in their flavors just like land societies, for instance. Notably, Cookie subspecies often overlap with creatures created as non-Cookies who chose to become Cookies for one reason or another; notable subjects of this phenomenon are the Dragon Cookies and all Celestial Cookies. Behavior {{Diet}} While Cookies can eat just about anything edible to humans, their food often presents itself as “Jellies” of different types. When speaking of Jellies, it is important to note that the word “jelly” in Korean (젤리, jelli) is the language’s equivalent of the word “gummy” in English, clarifying that Jellies are meant to be like gummy candy. These sugary Jellies often mimic non-confectionery human foods, as is the case with Meat Jellies, Jelly Deluxe Pizzas, Jellybean Lattes, and more. One notable dietary supplement for Cookies is Star Jellies, which are especially nutritious and are used to level Cookies in gameplay contexts. A Cookie’s diet can also differ based on where they live. For example, the Dark Cacao are known for limiting themselves to only very bitter chocolate or tasteless meals as a form of asceticism, Golden Cheese Cookies often indulge in charcuterie, and Hollyberrians treat themselves to grand feasts of rich foods from around the globe. Mind-altering substances also exist in the Cookies’ world—intoxicating drinks are commonplace. {{Relationships}}: Cookies are highly social creatures who depend on their relationships with others. {{Family}}: Despite not being known to reproduce through sexual means, Cookies can certainly see each other as family. Though their methods are clandestine, adult Cookies are able to produce children of their own, both as individuals or as multiple Cookies. Additionally, Cookies may adopt young Cookies to which they are not related into their family. Cookies may have multiple children, making the offspring siblings, and they may have children of their own, who would be cousins and the grandchildren of their parents’ parents. Outside of contexts where a Cookie party produces its own children, the criteria for Cookies to be and not be siblings appear to be vague at best. Some Cookies who share the exact same dough are not explicitly related while others who have similar ingredients and/or were baked at the same time while not being particularly alike are sometimes considered siblings. Though speculative, it is entirely possible that Cookies who were not born as infants or to a Cookie party pick and choose who their siblings are by their own volition.