Skinwalker

Venovians, although very rigid in their societal hierarchy, have outcasts and those that are failures of the system put in place. Those that explore the dark arts of Caelus and shapeshift with evil intent are quick to walk down the path of witchery. These are often referred to as Skinwalkers by pioneers and those that explore Venov, although Venovians themselves seldom refer to them as "Saki-Makev," or in English, "Ever Traitors." Of course, a tribe may be inclined to call them something else, but regardless of name, they are identified as shameful and evil.   Skinwalkers have largely traded their Venovian culture for a life of needless gore, psychopathic manipulation, and shadowy deception. Skinwalkers commonly shapeshift into those that they kill, often by skinning their victims and morphing bodily inconsistencies until they are completely indistinguishable from their victim prior to their death.   Likely the most disturbing part of their nature is their capability to harvest the brains of their victims, making not only their bodies, but personalities completely indistinguishable from their victim.. Venovians as a result, utilize their caste sacrifice system as a way of preventing the further creation of more Skinwalkers, generating powerful rituals that disallow them from passing pre-established village barriers, and identifying any traitors among their midst. Thus, Skinwalkers at any given opportunity will try to convince Venovian youth to upset the order of tradition and to forgo long-established rituals, preying on their naïve enthusiasms.   The more flesh that a Skinwalker consumes, the more powerful they become. However, a Skinwalker is incapable of maintaining a single form for too long, as it drains their energy to shapeshift, like all Venovians. Skinwalkers that have many victims and many forms tend to be extremely powerful, and in order to maintain forms for long periods of time, they may seek out lesser prey (livestock or wild animals), or establish a den in which they hold prisoners for the sole purpose of using their bodies sparingly as food. As one would imagine, Skinwalkers often engage in torture and cannibalism.   Unlike influenced medias and demonology, the names in which Skinwalkers bear (typically adopted from Judeo-Christian theologies) will have no hidden ability to control them. The only theorized way a Skinwalker may be killed is through destroying their bodies completely. The more advanced the Skinwalker is in their dark arts, the more sophisticated the execution method will require. The only way to be certain is absolute dissolution or reducing them to ashes.