Ikshais

"You must never forget that Ikshais are the spirits of wild animals, and unless you are able to take control and tame them, they will take control instead of you instead. You must NEVER let that happen, understood?"

-Makhlem, talking to his squire, Melwyn.

Very Mysterious in nature, Ikshais are a type of animal spirits living in The Ether that have bonded with soulbound mages, transforming them into Shapeshifters in the process.

Origins

Ikshais are the spirits of animals, who, upon death, have ascended to the Ether, and become beings of energy. They can bond with some Soulbound Mages, humans who's souls possess a connection to the Etherial dimension. When they successfully bond with a soulbound mage, the animal spirit then become an Ikshai, and the human they bonded with becomes a shapeshifter.

Anatomy

Ikshais are non-physical beings, closely resembling typical spirits, but with a unusually high amount of mana energy. They also possess a strong connection to the Ether, and use the etherial link of their shapeshifter to travel back and forth between the physical world and the Ether. To the few people that can see them, they appear as a pale blue and translucent beings that take the shape of various animals. Despite being spirits, Ikshais cannot be summoned by Necromancers, but only by their Shapeshifter host. They also do not produce any kind of @Ectoplasmlike any other spirits. Ikshai also seem to be immortal, at least in the physical realm, and it is unknown if they can perish when within the Ether dimension, and if so, what would even cause this to happen. However, ikshais do have one weakeness: silver metal.

Weakness

For reasons that scholars are still debating to this day, Ikshais have a severe aversion to this specific metal. Not only does silver dampens soulbound abilities when worn, but Ikshais will also actively be repulsed by it, becoming unable to enter a shapeshifter's body to trigger a transformation. Some scholars have theorised that Ikshai may feel some sort of pain when forced to approche silver, as it is well known that the metal is capable of damaging a soulmage's Etherial link, weakening it substantially to a point of non-usability.

Shapeshifter Relations

Bonding

Animal spirits are able to bond with the souls of unborn soulmages. They do this by attaching themselves to the link that forms between the baby soulmage and the Ether dimension. Once a animal spirit attaches itself to the soulmage's link, the baby becomes a shapeshifter, however the ikshai cannot enter the baby's body until it is born, possibly because it is blocked by the mother's own soul. This link between it, the soulmage, and the Ether cannot be naturally severed, and no other animal spirits can latch on to a soulmage link that is already occupied by another animal spirit.

Possession

When an Ikshai takes control of a host, it is called an Ikshai possession. Two type exist: Temporary and Permanent. While a temporary possession is triggered by high emotions and is the more flashy version, it only lasts a few seconds and is much less dangerous for both the host and the Ikshai, especially in the first few instances. A permanant ikshai possession however is much more insidious. It is triggered by a severe weakening of the Etherial link, preventing the Ikshai from escaping back into the ether, instead trapping it inside the shapeshifter's body. This is deadly for the soulmage's human soul and their humanity, which will disappear within a few months at most as it is eroded by the Ikshai's presence.

Types of Ikshais

Carnivores vs Herbivores

For reasons that are still unknown to this day, the vast majority of Ikshais end up being animal spirits from larger, often carnivorous and predatory animals, like lions or wolves, but also some specific herbivore species, like deers and antilopes. Smaller species of shapeshifters like rabbits or rats did exist at some point long ago, but have since stopped being born, for unknown reasons.

Mammals vs everything else

Most of these ikshai species also tend to be land mammals, but other types of animals, including reptiles, birds, and even fish, like sharks, can also exist, but they have much smaller numbers overall.

Biomes and Climates

Along with these restrictions, it seems that Ikshais always only bond with humans that live in the preferred biomes and climates if their species. So an ikshai will only bond with humans who live in the region where they used to live, and if the animal is extinct, then the Ikshai will simply search for where shapeshifters of that species are located.

Specific Geographic Distribution

All of these rules directly affects what species of shapeshifters are born where, directly shaping the entire shapeshifter population of the world. This is why Lion shifters all mostly hail from the hot savannas of Asderaan, wolves shifters from the cold forests of eastern Arros, and Lizardfolks shifters from the tropical jungles of northern Mahador and southern Osian.

Parentage comes first

Of course, despite all of these rules, the most important aspect to look for when determination what species a shapeshifter will be upon birth is to look at their parents, as the child will always be the same species as at least one of them.