Shifters

Shifters are one of the most widespread species on Avernus, being found just about anywhere life exists. They are denizens of the materium and immaterium both, existing in equal comfort in either realm. Shifters are most well-known for the ability to ‘Shift’ into countless different creatures, often even during combat - A capability they have put to frightening use at times.

## **Physiology and Psychic Powers**

 Shifters have two innate Psychic Powers, possibly related: The first, their most well-known capability, is Shifting. It is a power to transform themselves into a duplicate of another creature, including most Avernite Animals, Peoples and even Guardians\*. This power has some limitations; The first is that they don’t gain the innate powers of the creature they are transformed into (They might become a Troll, but would not gain their stonewalking, metalbreaking or geomancy powers). The second is a size limit - They cannot mimic the Magma Wyrm or Dread Saurian, for example.

The physiology of a Shifter is at all times identical to whatever species they were mimicking. If slain, their body appears similar to the species they were slain as.

Their second ability, likely a derivative of their first, is the capability to regenerate injuries and maimed limbs rapidly. This makes it highly difficult to truly kill a Shifter, as combined with their other abilities allow them to easily retreat from a fight going poorly.

Shifters often make an attempt to learn the powers of those creatures they can transform into, although they are not always successful at this. As one might expect, Shifters are natural Biomancers, and find it easier to learn and master such powers. Their other main discipline is Daemonology, which they have a natural aptitude at, perhaps due to their being equally comfortable in both the materium and immaterium. This has resulted in terrifying results at times, most notably the Phasing Thundabeast and the Blinking Stone Dragon.

Shifters are typically divided by age, with their Elders having the greatest power, knowledge and combat potency. Their psychic power is weak, peaking at its greatest Delta-level strength for the Shifters, considerably limiting the extent of powers they can learn and use. What powers a Shifter learn are heavily biased to personal enhancement powers, which they combine with their innate shapeshifting and combat prowess to become a terrifying force in melee combat.

\*However, Shifters appear to avoid using the form of a Guardian (or Lizardmen) under nearly all circumstances. Most likely, this is to avoid inadvertently offending those powerful denizens on Avernus. It is also speculated that in the case of the Lizardmen, they are simply too psychically complex for a Shifter to Shift into, or alternatively they are simply unable to gain major benefits of being a lizardmen.

## **Psychic Knowledge**

The Shifters claim their existence as over a million years long, and in that time they have tended to try and barter for the knowledge of other People on Avernus, both Material and Psychic. While one might expect a species of shapeshifters to easily succeed in stealing all possible knowledge and render trading moot, this is very much not the case for a simple reason:

Shifters can’t duplicate the mainstay psychic powers of most species. Take, for instance, the Sirens. They may duplicate the form of a Siren. But they would find it difficult, if not outright impossible, to duplicate for instance the innate songweaving or soul-devouring capabilities of a Siren.

To date, the Shifters have managed to barter their way to various lesser secrets from the other Peoples. From the Sirens, they have the Rune of Banishment (which the Sirens practically gave away), the Rune of Fire as well as several of the Inverted Elemental Runes: Fire and Ice. They have the most basic understanding of Nynye Alkahestry, which in spite of their Shifting capability they have found to be of little use to them - Shifters don’t produce large amounts of children, certainly not on the scale of the Nynye.

This pattern continues to other Peoples; The Shifters know by and large either their lesser secrets or none at all, and those secrets are not of great use to the Shifters.

The greater whole of the Shifter’s Psychic Knowledge are heavily derived from Avernite Creatures. This takes the form of both their powers (largely biomatic and daemonology), which are deeply integrated into Shifter lifestyle at all levels - Particularly in warfare. This extends also to materials derived from Avernus flora and fauna, although this knowledge is not exclusive to the Shifters; most Peoples of Avernus will eventually learn a great deal about the use of materials derived from it’s flora and fauna at some point. The Shifter’s are likely the most extensive, however.

While, as is likely, that the Shifters may have other psychic discipline(s) of their own, they are rather cagey about any details of such.

### Shifter Druidism

Like most Peoples of Avernus, the Shifters of Avernus possess their own psychic tradition, one hewing closely to their own nature. In the case of the Shifters, their art is one that most resembles what humans would call 'Druidism', appropriate for a species so able to become (almost) anything. From a human perspective, Druidism appears like a mixture of Alkahestry and Biomancy, with a Shifter shaping life with an intimate understanding gained from their shape-shifting capabilities, as if they were altering their own forms. It has been suggested that Shifter Druidism draws primarily from the Primal Warp as understood by humanity, which would certainly explain much about it.

The notable capabilities of Shifter Druidism are detailed below:

Animal Affinity: Shifter Druids are adept at bonding to and taming the wildlife of Avernus, resulting in Shifter towns and fortresses being well-defended by a host of wildlife, often far greater than one would expect of dwellings that size. It's also convenient for Shifters, providing their young a great variety of creatures to learn how to Shift into.

Chimera-Shaping: Only possible by experts and masters of Shifter Druidism, it's possible to coax and shape animals and plants into forms unnatural for their species, providing the wildlife with augmented physical forms or (by masters) novel weaponry and armor.

Regeneration: As one would expect of a species naturally able at regeneration, Shifter Druids are able at applying that same capacity to wildlife, regrowing limbs and undoing injury. The Shifter Druids themselves note that their capacity at this seems to have improved after the freeing of Isha.

Terraforming: Shifter Druidism includes manipulation of biomes, with plantlife and weather alteration providing easy access to food, poisons, and numerous other psychic materials for the Shifters' use. In particular, causing crop booms are well within the capacity of the Shifter Druids.

## **Notable Relations and Trade**

The Shifters are known to just about every People on Avernus, and are known to, on occasion, conduct trade with and between them. By and large, trade occurs with the Shifters providing exotic materials from flora and fauna across Avernus in exchange from finished products of some sort (For example, Alkahestrical products or Siren Runic equipment). There are also the rare Shifters who facilitate trade between Peoples, but this is an uncommon occurrence.

## **Tribes and Cities**

Shifters can be divided into roughly two broad, overlapping groups. The Wandering Tribes, or Nomads, tend to wander across Avernus in search of it’s secrets, finding new species to learn how to Shift into, or otherwise trade with other natives of Avernus. On occasion, whenever they get too large, they will split into smaller Tribes.

The other group are the ‘City’ Shifters, which spend a greater proportion of their time within a single region, usually moving between the dwellings the Shifters have within the area. The two groups are not mutually exclusive; Shifters often cross between the Wanderers and the City Tribes, and they often meet at times, exchanging knowledge and goods.

The capabilities of a Shifter mean that one can, with effort, find them nearly across the entirety of  Avernus, save but the most dangerous regions, such as the Polar Regions (largely relegated to individual Shifters), or regions which lack species to which the Shifter can effectively exploit, such as the Space Vale or the Time-Twisted Plains.

A Shifter City usually includes great amounts of native flora, both for food and defence. It is entirely possible to mistake one as part of the scenery, particularly if the city is small or if it incorporates illusionary flora such as the Mirage Palm or the Illusion Pine. They also typically incorporate refined wards (and Banishment Runes), one of the areas of psychic knowledge the Shifters have had both ample reason and ability to develop or acquire in their existence on Avernus.

While the Shifters are certainly known to be able to live in the warp, their status in the warp is unknown at the moment.

## **Religion and Mythology**

The Shifter’s pantheon is an erratic mix, greatly varying between each city, town or tribe. Typically, they consist of Avernus as their Mother/Creator god entity. Various Great Ones and powerful entities are worshipped as aspects of Avernus, a view not wholly incorrect. Added to this, of course, are several of the Eldar Gods (perhaps from the Sirens) - The Shifters appear to have a rather distinct view of the Eldar Pantheon, worshiping Isha and Kurnous primarily, while others (such as Asuryan and Khaine) are ignored entirely.

Shifter mythology portray Avernus as the very first Shifter, who begat all of existence in her countless forms. In their view, she embodies a Shifter in their truest form, as she can and is everything on Avernus. They see the fact that ancient and powerful shifters are able to shift into greater varieties of creatures as but proof of this: As the oldest and wisest, she can naturally shift into anything.

They also have an interesting belief in both Ancestral worship and reincarnation. In specific, they believe that just as a Shifter shifts between forms, death is but a Shifter shifting between lives. Thus, by living out their lives to the fullest, they honor their Ancestors and themselves. This perspective also lends Shifter culture a great mutability.