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A shapeshifter is an individual that has manifested a permanent channel to the primal ley within themselves, allowing them to tap into the power and transform into a beast form.
Origin
The first recorded shapeshifters were the defenders of the Mystics; these powerful warriors drew on the Seams to fuel a transformation into a werebear. Taking note of this, the Ankyrean Order dispatched spies to steal the secrets of the transformation and eventually succeeded in isolating the ability. Through the use of numerous slaves, the Ankyreans managed to manifest the werewolf form, and then proceeded to use the hardier transformed slaves in their spectacularly lethal planar exploration studies.
Escapees from this brutal program fled to the nearby enclave of Three Rock, forming the first Atabahi Rout; they dug their hall in the hills and swore that one day Spinesreach would fall to the rellyw. This would, sadly, not be delivered for centuries, and only when the bones of the last Three Rock lycanthropes found rest in the Den of the new Rout.
When Yrtez fled the Citadel during the Ankyrean Civil War, she took with her a corps of devoted Syssin. During the experimentation that led to the creation of vampirism, Yrtez manufactured a fanatically loyal pack of hounds devoted to her personal defense; they would later be killed almost entirely during the events immediately prior to the Grand Artifice.
The Kith of Torston developed many years after the Grand Artifice, and under the oversight of a very different group. When the Nazedha Empire occupied the sunken ruins of Ashtan, they unearthed scrolls belonging to the Mystics. A Grook slave named Rodney was set to translating the ancient writings, and eventually developed within himself the ability to shift into a werecrocodile. He promptly took the scroll and escaped with Nazedha enforcers hot on his trail; unfortunately for the people of Sapience, his notes were enough for the Nazedha to decipher the process themselves, resulting in scaled enforcers guarding the gates of Huanazedha.
The origins of the Scrofan Tribe remain obscure.
Known shapeshifter factions
- The Atabahi Rout - werewolves.
- The Kith of Torston - werecrocodiles.
- The Bahkatu Sleuth - werebears.
- The Scrofan Tribe - wereboars.