Shapeshifters

As stated before, shapeshifters are a type of Soulbound Mages that are able to transform into animals. They do this by allowing an Ikshai, the soul of an animal residing in The Ether to come into their body, which triggers its transformation into the form of the Ikshai's species. The different stages of transformation described bellow are determined by how much influence the ikshai has on the body of the shapeshifter, something that they must learn to control at a young age.

Common/base form

All Shapeshifters have something called a Common/Base Form, which exists when the influence of their human soul and Ikshai spirit on their body are in equilibrium with each other. This state is reached naturaly, without the need of input or conscious decision from the shifter, or their Ikshai and represents their most basic/natural physical form.   However, a shifter's base form varies by individuals and is influenced by many factors, such as the relative strenght of their ikshai and human soul, what species their ikshai is, and even the time of day and the presence of Veos, but most tend to lean heavely towards a more human form, to the point that during the day, it may be hard to spot them in a crowded environment. Clues to look for include sharper teeth, pointed ears, small and isolated patches of fur/scales/feathers, and sharper/curvier nails.

Human form

While this form isn't their most natural state, most shapeshifters find it relatively easy to acheive and stay in this form for extended periods of time, even full days. While in this form, their physical appearance is 100% human, with any hints of their animal side being fully removed. While daytime makes it easy to hold this form, night is a different story. Because of the influence of Veos, most shapeshifters find it hard to even maintain their base form, much less a human form. This is because their Ikshai grows stronger at night, especialy under the moonlight, which severely pushes the shifter's natural equilibrium towards their animal side.

Hybrid form

While this form somewhat resembles a shifter's base form, it it in some way much closer to their Ikshai's true apearance than their own. Although most of the body remains anthropomorphic in shape, it goes through severe changes that are, to put it bluntly, very obvious. Fur/scales/feathers covers most of their body and face, and extra limbs or body feature appears, such as wings, tails, horns or talons.   Regions of the body further away from their mage cores, such as the feet and legs, are most impacted by the changes, which even targets their bone structure, making them lose most of their human appearance bellow the knees. Elsewhere, claws, fangs or beaks grow, ears grow or recede and eyes change as well. Larger muscles and bone structure changes are expected, resulting in heighened speed, strenght and stamina, but also nessesitate a period of ajustements.

Animal form

In this form, shapeshifters are nearly indistinguishable from their wild animals counterpart and will possess the same strenghts and weakenesses as if they were a regular member of the species. While it may be hard to spot, there are ways to differenciate a shapeshifter in animal form from a regular member of that species, with the most obvious being its size.   If the animal seems unnaturaly large, then it may be a shapeshifter, as for unknown reasons, a shifter's animal form is always slightly bigger than a regular animal. While a shapeshifter's first time in their animal form is universaly described as both slightly frightening and extremely liberating, it is rare to see them use this form for long periods at a time.   This is because it has some major drawback, such as their Their Ikshai's influence on their mind, which is always more or less present, but become overwelming and near-impossible to ignore, or the fact that they lose the ability for human speach. While some have trouble speaking even in their hybrid forms, no one can talk in animal form. A few lucky shapeshfiters are able to communicate with others via telepathy, but most cannot, and must resort to whatever their animal form allows for communication.

A Stronger Body

The mana that's flowing into their body also has the effect of making it much stronger, both externaly and internaly. The skin, bones and even the teeth and claws harden tremendously, becoming more resistant to cuts or blows. It is said that a wolfkin's teeth is able to bite through an iron sword, and a jaguar shapeshifter's claws can rip through any metal shield. This, in addition to their strong healing factor, makes them far more durable than any human or wild animal, at least as long as Silver isn't used against them.

Transformation Progress

Mental/Spiritual Barrier

Every shapeshifter develops, with enough time and training, a mental/spiritual barrier, which is able to keep the Ikshai at bay. It can be imagined as a door that leads from the shapeshifter's spiritual link into their body. Normaly, that door is closed, and this allows them to stay in their human or base form. However, when the door opens, it allows them to shift into a hybrid or animal form, as the Ikshai is allowed to flow directly into their body. This mental barrier is essential for them to maintain control over their ikshai, and a shapeshifter spends must spend many months and years training to fortify it.

Normal Transformation

During daytime, a shapeshifter is able to shift from human to Base form and vice versa very easily. In the night, they are able to just as easily shift back and forth from Base to Hybrid form, as long a they bring down the spiritual barrier that's holding their Ikshai back. Each transition takes no more than a few seconds and is relatively painless, although some shifters do experience some pain after rapidaly shifting back and forth many times.   A complete animal transformation requires the shifter to completly lower their mental barrier, and let the Ikshai roam free inside their body. This means that the transition to this form takes a few seconds longer, and that not everyone, especialy younger shifters, are able to reach it. This transformation also triggers the apparition of a blue mist around the shifter. This mist, made of dense wild mana, can also more rarely manifest while shifting into Hybrid form. Notably, it is identical to the mist that appears around a teleporting Soulstrider.   Shifting away from their animal forms requires them to put back up their mental barrier, which is harder than letting it down, and requires a strong and calm mental state. This action pushes the Ikshai out of their body, allowing it to start shifting back, going from animal form, to Hybrid form, and finaly to Base form.

Subconscious transformation

Unfortunately, shapeshifters aren't always controling their transformations. When their mental barrier falters, it allows the ikshai's influence to seep into the body, triggering a shift. Reasons for that include heightened emotions or powerful sensations and can happen to any shapeshifter, regardless of age and training level, although children and younger teenager are particularly suceptible to this.   Anger and fear are known to be very powerful triggers, and are the cause of the vast majority of unwanted shifts, while sadness and happiness can occasionaly trigger shifts as well. Feeling of pain or pleasure can also trigger shifts if strong enough. Dreams are well known to be capable of triggering a shift, especialy if it is more of a nightmare.   A subconscious shift often results in smaller, more superficial changes and rarely goes past a hybrid form, but it is important for a shifter to manage and minimise these unwanted transformations, as it can lead to a Temporary Ikshai Possession. This is why great emphasis is put on this as they train during childhood, as it is well known that failure to proprely teach them these things frequently leads to tragic events.

Eye colouration

Each transformation away from their human form with make their eyes glow for a short amount of time. Each stage of transformation, from Base to Animal form makes the eyes glow brighter. This glow, which is always blue in colour, seems to come from behind the eyes, and scholars hypotesise that it may come from the Ikshai itself.

While all Shapeshifters tend to be omnivores because they are in humans or hybrid forms for most of the time, most shifters tend to gravitate towards types of food that their Ikshai would eat. This is largely a subconscious choice, but some shifters may do it for cultural reasons also.

More than any other type of Soulbound Mages, shapeshifters are deeply affected by Veos, and particulalry its light. When they are exposed to it, their spiritual link connecting them to The Ether gets stronger, allowing more mana, and crucialy, their Ikshai, to move down into their body more easily.   This means that over the course of a month, their internal equilibrium that exists between the ikshai and their human soul shifts back and forth from a more human-looking, to a more animal-looking base form, and vice-versa. Another effect of this is that shifters are at their strongest around the veosian full moon, and weakest around a veosian new moon. Even over the course of a single day, the changes are apparent, as it is hard for many shapeshifters to maintain a human form at night, and some have difficulties shifting into animal form during daytime.

As humans, they act mostly similar to any other humans, although they may be more sensitive to sounds or smells then one would expect, but not much else. This changes as they shift into their Base and especialy Hybrid forms, which is when they are known to sometimes exibit "strange" behaviors, which may be more more akin to animals. That is because as they shift away from their human form, the Ikshai's influence grows, to the point that while in Animal form, they may follow their Ikshai's instincts more than their human logical brain. These instincts, particularly in hybrid and animal form, can affect the shifter in many, sometimes unpredictable ways, depending on the Ikshai's species and the state of mind of the shifter. In some cases, they may even temporarely forcefully surplent the shapeshifter's conscious mind, making them loose control and shift subcousiously, in what is called a Temporary Ikshai Possession.

Shapeshifters have a number of quirks and abilities which aren't necessarily described in their name.

Healing

Much like other Soulbound Mages, they have a strong healing ability, which grows exponentialy faster the further along their transformation they are. Naturaly, it is also stronger during the night. To heal, they use either the mana from their own mage cores, or the Wild Mana that flows through their spiritual link from The Ether.

Visions

Shapeshifters are also able to experience visions of both the near future and the past. However, compared to those of Necromancers and Soulweavers, these tend to be pretty weak. This ability also tends to get severely muffled in any form past their Base form, as it seem The Ikshai inadvertently interferes with it. On the flip side, it is possible that a particularly triggering vision cause a subconscious shift or even a Temporary Ikshai Possession.

Telepathy

Finaly, a few, particulary strong shapeshifters are capable of telepathy with other Soulbound Mages. Much like their visions, it is unclear how this ability works, but it is known that some Talismans can enhance or supress it, much like their other abilities. In rare cases, this ability can also extent to humans and Elemental Mages, but it only works one way, meaning only the Shapeshifter can communicate telepathically. In animal form, this ability mutates so that it work with animals of the same species as the shifter's Ikshai.

In Arros, most Shapeshifters speak an already established language as opposed to their own, though some do, like in the Vechor Islands. However, because of their historic isolations, most clans have developed a distinct accent or dialect, which is usualy understandable by neighbouring populations of either shapeshifters or humans. In Osian and Mahador, shifter communities tend to be much more intergrated within humans cultures, meaning that they most often speak the same language as everybody else with similar accents. Distinct shapeshifter clan dialects are rare in both continents.

Because most shapeshifters tend to transform a few times per day, wearing clothes can become rather incovenient for them. While some clothing is made specificaly with shapeshifter anatomy in mind, such as pants with a hole for a tail, or a hat with holes for horns, most aren't and may simply not fit them. Many also complain that clothes in general are unconfortable on them when not in Human form, as in any other forms, fur, scales and feathers appear. In some clans, particulary those in tropical or desert climates, tend to not wear any at all, say for a loin cloth, while clans in colder climates tend to wear large and heavy clothing, such as capes and cloaks to protect themselves from the cold. When going to a human settlements, or really anywere outside of their clan territory, they dress according to local expectations and wear a Talismans to hide their abilities.

Many myths or legends exists surounding shapeshifters. Some of them come from humans, such as the famous legend of the Loup-Garou, which comes from the Kingdom of Naurcia. Shapeshifters are subject to many stories, where they are usualy portrayed as the villains, doing violence against innocent humans. To this day, these stories perpetrate a sense of xenophobia between both groups.

Notice: This section only covers the general reality in the continents of Arros and Enaskia

Shapeshifter/Other Soulbound Mages

Shapeshifter and the three other types of Soulbound Mages have a generaly amicable relationship with each other. Soulweavers in particular are commonly found within shapeshifter clans, working in the community and helping with the training of the children as they learn to control their ikshai. They also act as a diplomatic liason between shapeshifters and humans, as the later group also generaly appreciates them. Marriages between a shapeshifter and any another soulbound mage is always seen in a good eyes, although some Shapeshifter Clans do traditionaly prefer marriage with other shapeshifters, if possible.

Shapeshifter/Elemental mages

Like with the other soulbound mages, a sort of love-hate relationship lingers between Shapeshifters and Elemental Mages. At times in the past, both groups were alined in their fight against human agression, while in other times, some elemental mages helped humans track down and capture shapeshifters and other soulbound mages. Because of this, many shapeshifters are wary and hesitant to trust elemental mages in general, even if most realise the bad actors were, and still are, a small minority. As a result, relations and especialy marriage with an elemental mage is not always accepted by a shapeshifter's clan and family.

Shapeshifter/Humans

No love and very little trust exist between shapeshifters and humans. In fact, from a very young age, most shapeshifters are tauth to steer clear of humans or at least try to not reveal their true nature around them. A very apt warning, as in some regions of the world, it may save their lives. If a unknown human comes into a clan's territory, the local guards may attack them on sight. Of course, there are exception, such as religious or political figures and well-known merchants, which are regulary able to visit clan territory. Likewise, some shapeshifter regulary visit trusted human settlements, mostly for trade. If a shapeshifer develops a relationship with a human, there is a chance they could be forced to abandon the relationship, or be expeled from the clan. A few clans, notably in the Kingdom of Heoria, do accept their members marrying humans, but such openess is very rare elsewere.