Shifters
Type: Primal
Shifters are the victim of a Primal curse, forcing them to transform into a monstrous animal shape. The most well-known variety of shifter is the werewolf, or lycanthrope, but there are shifters of countless animal types. Due to their violent prowess and difficulty controlling their beast form, shifters are among the most feared types of metahumans.
- Abilities: Shifters are able to transform into a monstrous beast form, gaining attributes and natural abilities associated with that animal. Werewolves, for instance, grow deadly fangs and claws, and gain increased strength. Other types, such as wererats, may focus more on agility. Shifters also have a degree of regeneration, which partly persists even in their mundane form, allowing them to recover from injuries more quickly. Initially, shifters have difficulty controlling their transformation; they are forced to transform in regular cycles — at the full moon, for werewolves — and they go berserk, attacking everything in sight. With training, they can learn how to transform at will, and better distinguish friend from foe.
- Origin: Primal is difficult to tap into directly, but, when it is, its power can be overwhelming. The first shifters were mortals imbued with intense Primal power. Since then, the curse has been spread when a shifter in their beast form bites or gives blood to a mundane.
- Varieties: The most common type of shifter among humans is the werewolf. However, there are shifter strains associated with numerous animal types, most of them mammals. Usually, when the curse spreads, the infected will share the same species as their progenitor, but, rarely, the curse jumps types and creates a new strain. Beastmen, who were also touched by Primal long ago, have a unique reaction to the shifter curse: their beast form will always be a more monstrous version of their ordinary animal type; so, for example, a tiger beastman who becomes a shifter will always become a weretiger.
- Personality: Even in their mundane form, shifters begin experiencing heightened animal instincts related to their beast form. While in their beast form, however, they are notorious for losing control, reverting to aggressive, animalistic behavior. They have to train themselves to be able to safely be around others while in this form.
- Visibility: Secret. Due to the danger shifters pose, they have been ruthlessly hunted in the past. Keeping their curse hidden is a matter of basic survival.
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