The Shifters - The History of the Shifters

The true ancestors of the race known as shapeshifters, or shifters for short, are actually animals. Long ago, when the fae civilization was young, the Faeries began to seek companionship amongst creatures that were not like them. Animals made excellent companions, as they, too, were deeply connected with nature, and never fought the Fae for control of lands or power like the humans did. They were their protectors from the evil humans and their nightmarish, undead counterparts. They made for wonderful friends and partners, but that was not enough for the Fae. They wanted the animals to be more like them - to be able to think and feel and love.
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Using magic, they blessed the animals with human forms, allowing them to shift easily from one form to the next. These shifters, as they would come to be known, were created from all sorts of animal species, and the Fae taught them how to use their bipedal forms. They clothed and fed them, educated them, and kept them as companions both for friendship and for love, and the shifters never seemed to mind.
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They had an easy relationship with the Fae, always willing to come to the aid of the race they had come to know and love. Eventually, however, the shifters began to expand beyond what the Fae had taught them. They met and fell in love with humans, as well, producing children who were affected by their shifter gene or were merely carriers of it. As the years went on, the shifter race began to diversify. More and more began to mate with Fae and humans, and the ancestry of the animals that had begun their race was steadily lost to the past. Some shifters became more human than animal, while others maintained their animal forms more than their human ones. It was a dual lifestyle, and one that not all shifters enjoyed.
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Their numbers spread throughout the world, becoming deities or animal spirits to indigenous tribes and native peoples. They were revered as sacred by some cultures, seen as monsters and cast out of others.
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Eventually, what parts of humanity that did respect the shapeshifters began to become envious of their power and ability, and, when they discovered that the Fae no longer blessed people with animal forms, they decided to obtain the power of the shifters in a different way. Blood sacrifices and dark rituals were performed, and shifters fell victim to the selfish needs of humanity. But none of the rituals the humans performed ever resulted in what they wanted.
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Rather than becoming animal shifters, these malicious humans often died from the corrupt magic of their sacrifices. When it didn't kill them, it cursed them, turning them into monstrous beasts of nightmare and darkness, enslaving them to the moon they danced under.
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The sacrifices of old were quickly abolished, but the damage had already been done. Shifters no longer trusted humanity as they once had, and, seeking refuge with the only race that had shown them kindness - the Fae - a large group of them agreed to hide away from humanity within the safety of the village the Fae had begun to construct - Haven.
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Here, they wouldn’t be attacked and slaughtered for holding power that others did not. Here, they could live in peace with their Fae predecessors, not having to hide who they truly were in order to remain safe. And so, Haven grew with both species calling it home.