True Shapeshifters

**True shapeshifters** are a species of fae, as opposed to animal shifters, or fae who are associated with fae-world specific animals, like waterhorses. Although they are unnamed, several true shapeshifters appear in the canon, and serve as assassins for Crielle ferch Fnwy. These shapeshifters mimicked Augus Each Uisge, Lludd Llaw Eraint, Mafydd Brant, and possibly at least one other fae. All those discovered in the canon are captured by the Unseelie Court, interrogated by Augus and/or Gwyn ap Nudd, and executed by Gulvi Dubna Vajat, save for the one Ifir kills.

## Physical Description

Shapeshifters possess an orbus, which is the loci of their 'ability to change appearance at a fundamental level.' It is a bright yellow organ located in their midsection, and its removal will turn a shapeshifter back to their original form.

It's unclear what shapeshifters look like unshifted, but the shapeshifter who appeared as Augus, once they lost their orbus, returned to a 'bland looking, slender fae', wearing Augus' clothing and a rapier.

## Abilities

Shapeshifters can make people believe what they want people to believe. They can fully transform their bodies - even internally - to mimic that of a target, as well as mimic voices, and even smells (though the smell is not entirely right, which is how they're detected). They must study their subject in great detail, but only know so much as they are told, in order to mimic speech patterns and relate 'memories' that other fae might have of their targets. They do not seem able to mimic clothing using their abilities, as the shapeshifter pretending to be Augus kept their Augus clothes after being restored to their original form.

They are difficult to detect, but powerful fae, like Ifir, and kudlak (werewolves) like Zudanna, or Gwyn, can detect them (assuming they aren't letting their eyes and hearts deceive them).

Shapeshifters are not inured to compulsions.

Biologically, shapeshifters have to 'adhere to the truth of their character once they transformed', so under questioning, their answers will retain to the form they've taken, such as when the shapeshifter disguised as Lludd largely only responded to questions as Lludd.

## Characteristics (culture, habits)

Gulvi noted that true shapeshifters have closed communities that are difficult to locate.

## Trivia

* The collar Gwyn uses on Augus during the Display at the Seelie Court was to designed for use on shapeshifters: 'enchanted to enlarge or shrink depending on how you appear'.
* Crielle was unique in her ability to mimic what shapeshifters and Mages born to be illusionists can do - make people believe what she wanted people to believe - by use of her powerful dra'ocht and 'secondary elemental affiliation . . . of glamour'.

## Folklore/Mythology

'In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ability. The idea of shapeshifting is in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existent literature and epic poems such as the *Epic of Gilgamesh* and the *Iliad*.

. . . Popular shapeshifting creatures in folklore are werewolves and vampires (mostly of European, Canadian, and Native American/early American origin), the huli jing of East Asia (including the Japanese kitsune and Korean kumiho), and the gods, goddesses, and demons of numerous mythologies, such as the Norse Loki or the Greek Proteus. Shapeshifting to the form of a wolf is specifically known as lycanthropy, and such creatures who undergo such change are called lycanthropes. Therianthropy is the more general term for human-animal shifts, but it is rarely used in that capacity. It was also common for deities to transform mortals into animals and plants.

Other terms for shapeshifters include metamorph, the Navajo skin-walker, mimic, and therianthrope. The prefix "were-," coming from the Old English word for "man" (masculine rather than generic), is also used to designate shapeshifters; despite its root, it is used to indicate female shapeshifters as well.

While the popular idea of a shapeshifter is of a human being who turns into something else, there are numerous stories about animals that can transform themselves as well.'

## References

1. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 June 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/3737456. Chapter 1: Massacre.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 18 June 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/4283271. Chapter 4: Suspicions.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 December 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6286781. Chapter 22: Loss.
4. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9291202. Chapter 47: Redirection.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own, 29 November 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2132476. Chapter 29: Corporal.
6. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 11 September 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/1886908. Chapter 10: Display.
7. ↑ "Shapeshifting". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapeshifting. Accessed 18 May 2021.