Soul-Switchers

## QUOTES

“The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain.”

“Nothing can have value without being an object of utility.”

## PHYSICAL & BEHAVIORAL DESCRIPTION

### **Anatomy**

The “Resting Form” is a classic humanoid standing at around 5’10”, with a small amount of evenly distributed fat and muscle mass. This form puts no extra strain on the body, and is completely deaf.

The “Full Speed” form is tall (6’10”) and brittle, with most of their muscle mass focusing on their lower half to increase speed. Their legs are very long in order to increase stride. They are weak but fast, and are completely mute in this form.

The “Full Power” form is relatively tall (6’4”) and durable, with most of their muscle mass focusing on parts of the body that will increase power output. They have a bear-like build, with fat and muscle providing lots of protection from strikes. Their arms are long in this form, providing for better reach for creating distance. This form is blind.

In general, all Soul-Switchers stop aging in their prime (~30 years old), until the end of their life. They were evolved for combat, so the aging process was eventually slowed down significantly.

Due to the nature of their abilities, all Soul-Switchers are naturally prone to things like cardiovascular disease and infections, due to the wounds they suffer daily.

### **Appearance**

In the resting form, a Soul-Switcher usually is structured in an hourglass build with soft (yet defined) features, which leans them towards androgyny. Any time a part of their body changes forms the body part (or entire body) becomes a swirling inky black and red, slowly dripping with the blood that came from the wound that allowed them to switch. In the full speed form, the mouth is stitched shut, as are the eyes in the full power form. The eyes and mouth both glow a shiny, blinding white when not stitched shut in both forms.

### **Behavior**

Soul-Switchers are meticulous and purposeful in their actions. In their minds, everything can be planned, everything will be planned, and everything will go according to plan. Of course, because high-stakes and high-tension scenarios have a large factor of unpredictability, they’re fast learners and excellent tacticians. They also love to optimize, whether it be for weapons and where on their body they want to switch to, or just casual conversation.

## GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Soul-Switchers are beholden to nothing and nobody besides the ideals they stand beside. A proud people, they do not worship a god nor any political or authority figure. They are driven completely out of spite for those that have exploited and taken advantage of others, no matter how small the slight. They believe their larger purpose in the land of Interra Gloria is to tear down any and all unreasonably cruel structures or hierarchies that perpetuate systems of oppression and cycles of hate within the town, city, or kingdom in which the common person resides. Soul-Switchers work in numbers, as one or two usually aren’t enough to take down whole armies by themselves (even if one or two is enough to take down the king). As excellent tacticians, soul-switches are exponentially stronger in numbers, but as a niche species they are in condensed populations few and far between. Their territories spread far and wide so they can give a helping hand to anyone in need, although it is not uncommon for a commune of Soul-Switchers to go into hiding for a few years to recuperate after a particularly long and arduous war effort to liberate a people.

While the Soul-Switchers are typically a collective that works together to achieve a common goal, sometimes (rarely), a few of them will go rogue and attempt to liberate small cities and towns and help the general population of their niche of Interra Gloria. Very rarely, one of them will leave solo and try to survive on their own as a form of training and a way to scope out kingdoms or a minor pantheon of gods that needs to be dismantled or exterminated. More often than not the solo Soul-Switchers will make connections to those in the kingdom that needs reform, and report back to their commune to prepare to dismantle it and help the citizens and commonfolk rebuild it. Usually a few of the Soul-Switchers will be delegated to stay behind and oversee the rebuilding of the kingdom or civilization, and help to make sure the society doesn’t collapse and fail its citizens. Soul-Switchers typically try not to interfere too much with important matters when it comes to the reform of any civilization, but will (frugally) supplement any financial woes the new government may have or execute any war general or group of people that seem to have too much power for a society that's just starting out again. Again, they will remain as just benevolent observers, but will intervene if the people express an overwhelming need for something.

The powers of a Soul-Switcher allow them to take any physical damage they’ve sustained (as long as it draws blood) and make that damaged group of muscles, tendons, and flesh switch “souls” (or forms) and grant it specific abilities. For example, a small cut on any part of the body is fair game to switch the form, and Soul-Switchers can freely choose what form that part of the body it switches into. The size and severity of the wound determines the potency of the switch and how much it spreads to the rest of the body. For example, a small cut on the shoulder opens it up for the potential to switch, but only a nick will not allow it to switch completely from the resting form to another. A deep gash anywhere on the body however, can allow for the Soul-Switcher to switch to any form completely. These complete switches are called “full switches” and grant them access to the “full speed” and “full power” forms. Because these forms also exist as separate personalities, it’s not uncommon for most members of this species to prefer to stay in the resting form and just optimize their body parts for superhuman combat capabilities.

## SOCIAL STRUCTURE

### **Traditions**

The culture of Soul-Switchers does not take the form of imposed traditions or holidays, as they view regular traditions or holidays as a means to perpetuate a divide between those who have ideals relating to an obsolete way of thinking and those who strive for change. Instead, most of the ceremonies they hold are informal and quick, with little fanfare or unnecessary gestures. This doesn’t stop them from celebrating, however. Soul-Switchers are known to throw one hell of a party (usually free from a lot of alcohol, since their blood pressure is so high and they’re prone to alcohol poisoning), and the hosts of said parties are always held in such high regard. Medicine of the body and mind are also very important pillars of society, with their powers being based around injury and all members of the species having multiple personalities.

### **Beauty Standards**

Soul-switchers typically don’t have beauty standards in the way that most species would, as it’s difficult to tell the males and females apart. Usually Soul-Switchers find achievements and personalities attractive, specifically achievements in the form of awards or personal accomplishments. As for personality traits, it's usually selflessness and a flippant disregard for wealth or status.

## ARCHITECTURAL PREFERENCES

Soul-Switchers don’t usually prefer any specific type of architecture, with them being very pragmatic they just build their civilizations to blend in with the other civilizations around them to better integrate with their environment so as to not waste any space or resources. However, if it was up to them, they usually prefer grander or more rustic buildings. Their favorite colors also usually play into the building materials they would choose if they got to build things without considering the environment or peoples around them.

## ORIGINS & HISTORY

The early days of Interra Gloria, when it was first created, were days of strife and struggle. Not many species existed then, and those that did exist had been created for the sole purpose of entertaining the minor gods who had nothing more to rule over. There was one particular group of humans, unsuspecting as any other newly intelligent life that had been born into the kingdom of the pantheons, who had reached a form of enlightenment in the short time that they had been roaming Interra Gloria. This novel form of living life had allowed these humans to manipulate their bodies in ways previously unbeknownst to any other species or life form that they coexisted with, much to the awe of the minor and major gods alike. This enlightenment had allowed them to unlock their own primitive version of magic, making them able to move faster, become stronger, and alter their physical appearance as they pleased. Most of these humans had eventually evolved to use these advantages as “forms” of being, between their natural body (which had societally and spiritually evolved past gender expression, as all of these humans were now androgynous), a form that focused purely on movement speed and agility, and one that focused purely on strength and durability.

With this newfound power that these humans have held in the palm of their hand, they had realized that the minor gods have been using them for entertainment, as they were without a true domain or purpose to rule over and fulfill. The enlightened humans found this to be an inexcusable slight, a slap in the face to the only intelligent life that had unlocked their true potential. They thought that if they didn’t deserve to sit with the minor gods for rising above the rest of the species that had come into existence with them, then the minor gods should sit below them like the rest of life that had not yet utilized the power within them. To the enlightened humans, it was either them or the minor gods. For the enlightened humans have come to know the feeling of pride, one that no other race in Interra Gloria had a means to express in the way that these enlightened humans could.

So in a quiet rage, the enlightened humans had banded together and learned to optimize their forms and their primitive magic the best they could. They wanted to instill a fear into these gods as primal and primitive as their magic, to truly show the minor pantheons what the wrath of an oppressed creature fully and wholly felt like. Eventually they went to war, as they had swore to themselves that they would.

The enlightened humans had emerged wounded only in the body, as their pride in their species, magic, and tactical minds had been not only kept intact, but bolstered and secured. They celebrated, for they had won the war of a lifetime and achieved the highest honor that any being could ever wish for: the right to say that they were above the gods that had ruled over them. Day and night for millennia the enlightened humans had told themselves that they were not to be disrespected or toyed with, that the minor gods would pay for the ways that they had mocked and made a fool of the humans who had soared above the rest of Interra Gloria. Eventually, the gods of every pantheon had noticed an unusual absence that was not to be ignored for any longer.

“Are you proud of us?”

There was no response given to these enlightened humans. In all their pride and desire to be truly above the rest, they had lost sight of their place in the kingdom of the pantheons. The gods decided to place a curse on these humans. Now, the only way they could access their own form of primal magic was to harm themselves in the process, only being able to use the forms that they had acquired through the personalities of demon-like entities that now resided in their once-pure enlightened souls. The gods had hoped that they had learned their lesson, a cruel one that it was. This lesson was not learned, however, and only filled the enlightened humans with more rage and spite for the gods that they believed were oppressing them. They vowed to not only use their curse to exterminate any oppressive force that had ailed the other species of Interra Gloria, but to also one day sit with the major gods as they had the minor gods. They had hoped that maybe then they would be recognized as an equal, be recognized as something worthy of real attention from those that had created them.