Cherub Compendium Chapter 6, Subsection 5.4: 'Cherub Romance' In my time spent researching and observing cherubim (I am told the correct plural is not 'cherubs', I will be going back through previous chapters to rectify this), I have noticed that the most fascinating part about them is not their vast and mighty wings, nor their grandiose size, nor their skeletal forms, and not even their REMARKABLY complex mating ritual & habits the likes of which would put the most aggressive of troll kismesis off-drone-season sessions¹ to shame, but it is their romance. As most potential readers of this compendium will already be aware, the troll species on both Alternia and Beforus (and any off-world colonies) have a romance system comprised of four unique quadrants; two 'romantic' and two 'hatred'. The flushed and pale quadrants are devoted and platonic love respectively, while the pitch and ashen quadrants are hatred and mediation respectively. Cherubim, however, are seemingly incapable of three of those. They are capable of only 'pitch'. Hatred. My research has shown that in almost (watch that space) every known instance of Cherub relations they are limited to the brief pseudo-sexual exchanges which perpetuate the existence of their species, while entirely foregoing any connection afterwards. This is likely a psychological factor - you see, it is typical of cherubs to be hatched with two minds in one body, and as they mature one mind will eventually win over the other. This loss creates a void in the soul, and causes the mature cherub to seek out another of its species to occupy that same space of hatred that its other half once did. Further research, however, has led me to notice something interesting. Fully matured cherubim in certain spaces beginning to exhibit RED romantic feelings. This leads me to wonder if this hatred is not an INNATE species trait, but simply a LEARNED trait, and other cases have just not been observed and documented. ¹ #nsfw
