Shifters

Myths, Legends and Folklore

Just like vampires, there are hundreds of different versions of truth when it comes to the shifting breeds. The storyworlds are just as immense and that means there is a wide range of options when it comes to how you put together your shifter.  There are only a few hard and fast rules:

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1. Silver will burn you if touched. Wounds made with Silver take 10X as long to heal. If it gets into your blood stream in a liquid form, you're most likely toast. This is non-negotiable. Yes, ALL shifters.

2.  Decapitation is final.

3. You lose your clothes when you shift. There's no magic button that will miraculously keep that brand new shirt. Choose wisely, grasshopper.

4. Shifters only change into 1 animal. Not one type, one animal. "Feline" or "Canine" is not a shifting breed; lion, tiger, bear, wolf, chihuahua... you get the idea. If you want to have the ability to be other animals, look at Hybrids or Mythics.

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We do ask that you balance out your character.  Don't take all the talents but have none of the weaknesses.  NO ONE likes a Mary Sue. Even if his name is Dirk the Dubious.

Becoming a Shifter: There are only two ways to become a shifter.  The most predominant is to be born into a family of Shapeshifters.  It is possible to also be bitten, scratched, clawed, mauled, etc and become a shifter- however it requires not just the wound, but the spirit of the particular animal has to approve. And some y'all just ain't fit. 

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Silver?!? Really? C'moooooon: Yes, really. No exceptions.  In Alchemy, silver is associated with the Moon. In our storyworld, the origin of FAFO would be with an alchemist and the spirit world. The result of which is that all shifters have the issue with Silver.  You may have been told something completely different by your family, your history, or the little ole Hummingbird Shifter over at Clarksdale park- but the truth is a marriage of alchemy, magic, and the spirit world.  You are free to go with whatever shifter myth you want to as your personal belief.

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Age, Ability, and Talents:  Much like creation, there are two lifespans here- one for the born shifter and one for the turned shifter.  In either case, the older you get, the better you are at being able to control the spirit-beast within you and the more talents you will be able to learn.

• Born Shifters: Shifters born to it can have a nearly immortal lifespan, much like the Vampire.  The difference here is with the tendency for shifting races to get in a lot more fights and die young.  Those who do manage to make it past significant milestones tend to be looked to for leadership, guidance, and protection.

• Created Shifters: While the shifter spirit will grant a longer lifespan, the soul and body weren't born to it and these lives are generally much shorter.  While still longer than human, the oldest shifter of this sort was only 250 when she died.  But she was happy. And her spirit is at peace.

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Local Collectives: Shifters tend to congregate, or not, much like the animal spirits with which their existence is shared.  Similarly, their pack, murder, cauldron, kit, herd, etc  structure is much like their animal counterparts as well. It does vary from region to region, and country to country for sure, so there is room here for you to be from any number of types of groups be they matriarchal, patriarchal, solo, massive African Desert Roaming herds, or tiny groups.  The various breeds don't usually tend to mix together except in the name of safety... as long as they aren't natural enemies.  The last time a werehyena and a werelion were in the same city, the local Zoo was decimated and one of them was yeeted the 'Eff right off a cliff.  This doesn't mean we won't let you come in if a natural enemy is already here; who doesn't love good conflict.

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Leadership: Just like the collective, leadership tends to take on the aspects of the type of animal.  Many cat prides are lead by the strongest breeding female around a single adult male; wolves will pack up and look to the strongest to protect them; birds tend to just do whatever the hell they want.  Human natures will override sometimes.  We aren't going to deny a second male lion if we already have one. The two of them probably won't get along all that great but you never know. They could both be young enough that it works out. In cities where there just aren't very many shifters, they do tend to band together and the strongest amongst them is who the group will look to for leadership.  In Thirteen Pines, the shifting breeds all tend to live out in the sticks, or the more rural areas near the ski lodge or the beach.  The eldest of the shifters known to be in the area is a Biiiiig ole Black Bear named Bartholomew. Some say you can still catch him now and then fishing in the river. He keeps to himself, mostly.

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General Abilities

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All of these are considered the Basics of being a shifter.  You may be able to do all of these things simply by being a shifter.  You do not HAVE to be able to do them. If you want your character to be very young and still learning, or just not a very good shifter, or not be aware you can do some things by nature of how you were created or orphaned, you are not required to know how to do them.

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Special Note: Ignorance of your abilities does not give you license to create complete havoc and ruin other people's RP.  Behaving ICly in a destructive manner will likely get you hunted and killed.  You cannot nope out of consequences.

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• Speed: This will vary depending on your size. In a battle or war form, your speed is double that of your animal.   In your human form, you are only 5X faster.

• Strength: This will vary depending on your size. In a battle or war form, your strength will be 10x your animal form. Your human form is only 5x as strong as the average human.

• Self-Healing: You heal 10X as fast as the average human, no matter the form.

• Flight: Only birds that can fly can do so in their full animal form. Bird shifters with partial shift can't fly as a human with wings. Human bones aren't made for flight.  War Form Bird Shifters can potentially fly- but please reach out to staff first.

• Mind Powers: Shifters may communicate via telepathy with the members of their collective only. Even then, it is limited to emotions only.

• Creation: As previously mentioned, there are two ways to become a Shifter- born or bitten/scratched mauled.

  • Born Shifters: Children born of two shifter parents are 75% likely to also be a shifter. The more diluted the bloodline, the less likely the child will be born a shifter. It isn't uncommon for a family to have some children inherit, and others not. Its a real hoot when a family full of various feline shifters has a canine child. Someone stepped out.

  • Created Shifters: There is really only about a 25% chance a human will turn after being attacked and they can only become the type of shifter that attacked them.  The particular shifter spirit must approve and, generally speaking, they don't.  The odds are only slightly higher for Magic Wielders as the spirit world does love themselves a good magician who has one foot already in the spirit world.  Faeries cannot become shifters. The transformation destroys their link to Faerie. Mythics might be able to be accepted as a shifter, but it would be incredibly rare. Please talk to staff if you have this idea.

• Spirit Abilities: You can commune with the spirit of the animal with whom you share your body. You can ask questions, seek guidance, and even call for help.  Whether your animal listens, answers, or is truthful depends on your personal relationship with the spirit.  You are free to RP this however you wish. Please note: If you ignore your animal, it will ignore you. Fight the change every moon? Less likely your animal will want to help.

• Spirit Sense: Your senses are heightened and it is very easy for you to tell the difference between a human and a non human.  Similarly, Vampires and Fae are really easy for you to sense due to the nature of their soul and, y'know, the whole dead thing.  Sea Dwellers will feel different, but  being in a coastal town, the scent would be masked some- exception is for sea shifters (wereshark!). You know your own kind. Mythics and Hybrids just smell different and are too confusing to suss out specifics.

• Shifting Forms: You may be all human, or all animal. There is no in between, partial, or War Form unless you have learned the talents to be able to do so. Shifting forms is bloody, bone breaking, excruciatingly painful, and very messy. Shifting fully from one form to another takes anywhere from five to ten minutes for most shifters. Older and stronger shifters can do it in as few as one minute but no faster unless you have learned the talent.  The act of shifting back into a human form is exhausting.  You're going to need to eat, sleep, and probably some aspirin and coffee the next day.

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General Weaknesses

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Below are some general shifter specific weaknesses that you can chose from in our story world. You can also pick other more general human-like weaknesses like phobias, personality traits, or mental and physical conditions or ailments.  This is not an exhaustive list, but just some to give you a head start as you flesh out your character. It is a good idea to take a weakness for every talent you will pick from the talent list (or from your own list).  Again, we're not going to be policing and requiring an application- we're all adults- so please be reasonable.

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Animal Brain: When you shift, you completely lose yourself and become your animal.  Not only do you forget that you're human some of the time and a shifter, but when you shift back into human form, you forget everything that happened while you were an animal.

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Bound to the Moon: You aren't able to resist the shift during a full moon.  Your animal spirit is just too strong- or you're too weak.  Perhaps you were raised to never fight it and just never learned how.  No matter the circumstances, when the full moon is upon you, you will shift.

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Hangry: You are constantly hungry. Most shifters eat more than the average scoobie, but you're on a seriously high calorie, high protein, high fat diet. People watching their waistlines hate you. You never seem to put on an ounce of weight. Darn, shifter metabolism. If you don't eat at least a 4K calorie diet a day, you get weak. Quick.

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Silent Mind: For whatever reason, your animal spirit is a loner and doesn't allow you to hear or speak to others. It could be punishing you, or have its own reasons entirely. 

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Thin Blooded: Not only do your bites and scratches not seriously wound or maim, you are unable to turn others into shifters.  Something about your bond with your animal just isn't strong enough to bring others over. Or maybe your spirit just doesn't like you enough to trust you to make new shifters. Hard to say.

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Allergic to Wolfsbane: Its such a popular myth that it has become true for you. Whether it is something that runs in your family (if you're a born shifter) or you were cursed, or you just believe it because you saw it in a book, it is true for you now.  If ingested, you're one sick shifter. For a minimum of 24 hours, your physical abilities are the same as a normal human, and none of your animal talents are available to you. Longer if you ingested a whole lot more.

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Available Talents

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Below are some of the more common talents that shifters have available to them.  You may choose a couple of these to have in addition to the abilities all shifters are able to do.  Again- be reasonable. Don't take them all. Remember, the older you are, the more likely it is you have learned more and gotten better.

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Partial Shifting: You are able to transform your fingers and nails into claws; your ears may change shape and increase your hearing even further; you can grow a tail though it isn't really useful for much except balance.

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Fluid Shifting: Shifting forms for you, while still painful, is a lot easier and can be instant if you wish to do so.  Many shifters don't advertise that they can shift that fast- it spooks the locals.  But you can. its still just as messy and painful, you can explode without the ick.

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Prehensile Tail: Your tail is prehensile. You can grip things, twist off jar lids, turn door handles, maybe even hold a knife and slash it wildly. Use your imagination. Even though it is prehensile, you can't write with it or do anything that requires fine control.

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Enhanced Telepathy: In addition to emotions, you can communicate via words with the other shifters in your collective.  The random shifter who just got to town won't hear you- but your collective will.  You can also communicate with the full animals of your kind within the city.

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Healing Tongue: MLEM! You can heal others by licking them. Some say kinky, some say hell yea, some say that's gross and get your tongue off my wound. Cats just think its perfectly natural.  Think of it as a shifter version of liquid stitches or really strong ointment. Cuts healing time in half.

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War Form: You have a massive sized form which is capable of quite a bit more violence than your usual animal form.  These forms are built for war, hence the name.  The limitations- and cost- of avatars in second life may limit what you can create but if you can write it up, do so. Purchasing something expensive not required to be able to RP it- just make sure you're clear.

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