Changelings

= Changelings =

The Shapeshifters of Kylorne
The changelings are the inhabitants of the hive of Camb’Colmen in the south of the northwest continent of Kavernis. They are carnivorous creatures with shapeshifting abilities and are born with the capability of using illusion magic.

Physiology
Changelings shapeshift by melting their previous form into strange grey slimes that fall from them and evaporate in a few seconds. When they shapeshift into bigger forms or create extra limbs the slime surrounds them or the place where the extra limbs are going to grow and out of it, the new form arises.

The bigger a form is, the harder it is for a changeling to keep it together, keeping a big form for a lot of time can destabilise the form and make it melt into the grey slime sending the changeling back to their true form unconscious from exhaustion.

The changelings’ true form is skinny, tall and most see them as eerie looking. They have black and grey skin that usually lets their bones’ shape show through it. Changelings usually are between 5.9 and 6.5 feet tall (1.80 and 1.95 meters tall) with the monarch becoming between 6.5 and 6.8 feet tall (1.95 and 2.10 meters) upon their coronation. Changeling’s eyes are bigger than a human’s and their pupils have different shades of green that glow in the dark. Monarchs from the Cambrad bloodline used to have wings before the old hive was destroyed but no monarch from the Hivon bloodline has had them. The old monarchs’ wings were insect-like semi-transparent with a bluish green tint, they ended in a sharp edge with 3 teeth-like shapes sticking out. Changeling’s mouths are also bigger than humans so they can consume bigger prey all at once.

Changelings don’t have any sexes at birth and are treated with androgynous pronouns until they have the age to decide their gender and shapeshift according to what they see from the gender they’ve chosen in external societies. Most conservative changelings remain androgynous to stick to their isolated old ways.

Changeling also possess two types of saliva; one normal and the other acidic which they can segregate at will, it serves to consume bones and digest hard skin quicker and more efficiently, it’s also used as a weapon or a utility sometimes. Though it’s acidic it’s not pure acid and if someone touches it, they’ll only get their skin severely burnt.

Culture
Most changelings live inside the underground cave system of Camb’Colmen but others live outside it or do not even know they are changelings.

Hive Changelings
Changelings inside Camb’Colmen can be divided into two lifestyles which are also political positions inside the hive, the Lagra’Cambrad and the Gen’Viargqas.

Lagra’Cambrad
The Lagra’Cambrad despise going outside the hive that’s why none of them are part of the Sargoliv Armen, they all use androgynous pronouns and use Camb’Haro a lot while writing, they also despise shapeshifting unless they have a reason for it and usually go around in their true forms. They see outsiders as intruders and hate Queen Schrylis’ ways though they are a minority in the hive.

Gen’Viargqas
The Gen’Viargqas on the other hand are the Queen Schrylis’ people, they want to know more about the outside world and follow outsider’s cultures, they shapeshift into want they want to look like freely and don’t mind going outside disguised to the allowed lands like Elysium.

Rogue and Abandoned Changelings
Some changelings have been born outside be it by rogue changelings that never went underground or just members of the Cambfer armen that had kids and left them on their own, some of these changelings don’t even know they are and behave like the local people around the place they live in and they usually stay in the same form until they realise what they truly are. Even though they are external and sometimes completely disconnected from the Hive they are still affected by the monarch's and moon's influence and power.

Magic
Changelings have a strong connection with the Srarlo’la; it is connected to the monarch and connects to every changeling through the monarch. The Srarlo’la it’s, in this way, the source of all magic changelings have, because it contains the mother of all changelings.

Illusions
Changelings’ main magic is illusion magic, they can create illusions by imagining what they want to appear and concentrating on it. A changeling has to concentrate so the illusion doesn’t disappear and it can be an exhausting action, the bigger the illusion is the more exhausting it is. Illusions not only affect the user but they can use them in their surrounding, like creating a fake fire in a room or creating a fake army running towards your enemy.

The Colmarch
Changelings also possess another magical ability. Only the monarch can enter a mental plane that connects all changelings with the Srarlo’la. A changeling monarch can access the Colmarch. The Colmarch is a barren wasteland of grey sand that glows like moonlight, the sky is that of a night sky with something similar to the northern lights and concluding in a column of blue energy that goes up into the moon which can be seen from anywhere in the Colmarch. The Colmarch holds lots of mysteries but some things are known about it. The location in which one appears in the Colmarch is related to the distance of the place where you started the trance and the location of the Srarlo’la, the closer you were of the Srarlo'la the closer you will be to the giant column of blue energy. the monarch can touch the giant blue column of energy in the centre of it to connect to all changelings and talk to them inside their heads sometimes even manipulating their powers and in the worst case, killing all of them or certain changelings turning them into lifeless husks and it’s believed that the mother of changelings roams the Colmarch forever but only a few monarchs have seen her.

Life  Cycle and Reproduction
Changelings though being androgynous at birth can reproduce. When two changelings decide to have a baby they will spit a specific type of saliva into their partner’s mouth, if the saliva of the two partners collide it will form a ball that will be introduced into one of the partner’s body and will harden, while having it in the body a changeling will have sudden involuntary shapeshifting sprouts from time to time but it won’t hurt the ball. When the ball is hard enough the changeling will fill how their stomach starts to open and after a few hours the now egg will come out of an opening in their stomach which then will close, this process it’s not painful but exhausting. The egg has a deepslate-like texture and the parents protect it until it hatches in 3-5 months.

When a changeling and a non-changeling want to have a baby, the changeling will take the reproductive system of the contrary sex of their partner and they will do it the conventional way and the reproductive cells of the partner will mix with the saliva of the changeling which would have changed place to the intended part. Everything else after this is like normal human reproduction even if the changeling is the one with the baby. The baby though will always be another changeling.

Baby changelings look like human babies but with very big glowing eyes but if the baby is the child of a changeling and a non-changeling the baby will take a form similar to their non-changeling parent as a way of survival. A changeling grows mostly like humans, they cannot shapeshift over their mass threshold though, changeling children will shapeshift into everything they see testing what they can do. When changelings are teenagers they have mostly the same capabilities as an adult and have the same behaviour as most human teenagers and when they reach the end of their teenagehood in around 18 and 20 years they stop growing and ageing until they die. Changelings live around 80 and 100 years but they aren’t affected by old age and they only start feeling symptoms of old age like losing their ability to make illusions and shapeshift beyond their mass threshold a few months before they go to sleep forever.

The Monarch
Monarchs are the head of all changelings and leaders of the Hive which follow the steps and legacy of the mother of all changelings, Monarch, which the title is named upon. There have been two bloodlines of monarchs, the Camblens and the Hivons, the later reigning during the sealed era up to the present day. The current monarch is Schrylis Hivon.

Becoming a Monarch
In order to become a monarch a changeling needs to drink a liquid only found in another monarch's heart which kills the monarch upon extraction. This is usually done in a ceremonic ritual where the soon-to-be monarch says goodbye to their parent and turns into the new monarch.

Abilities and differences
Monarch's true forms become significally taller when becoming one being 6.4ft tall minimum, they also get wings though since the end of the Camblen bloodline the monarch's wings have been broken into an unusable state.

Monarchs also have a bigger capacity of shapeshifting and creating illusions while also having access to the Colmarch and the power to influence all changelings in Kylorne.

The Lunar Blessing
The Lunar blessing is an illness that only changelings can suffer from and is one of the few they can suffer, the lunar blessing appears without an apparent reason and sometimes from birth. White roots and a  crescent moon shaped scars will appear in the changeling’s hands which will remain no matter  the form the changeling takes. In somes cases, it has been seen that changelings  may get this illness by using their powers too much and don’t stopping when they are exhausted.

Effects of the blessing
A changeling will know they are being affected by the blessing when a crescent moon-shaped white scar appears on both their hands, each time they shapeshift or use illusions white root scars will sprout out of the crescent moon which will remain even if the changeling changes forms and will grow the more the changeling shapeshifts or uses illusions.

Suppose the changeling shapeshifts or creates illusions during this stage. In that case, their exhaustion threshold will become almost non-existent and the changeling will be able to make giant illusions and shapeshift as much as they want but the white roots will grow while doing so.

Once the white roots have reached the elbow the illusions of the changeling will start glitching and working strangely, fading away and reappearing from time to time and when they shapeshift their form will crumble and change against the changeling’s will.

After the changeling’s hands have been covered entirely by the white root scars it’ll be a point of return and the roots will start growing even if the changeling doesn’t shapeshift nor create illusions, after a while, they will be incapable of doing this and weaken slowly. When the roots have grown on the changeling’s face it’s a matter of how resistant the changeling is and when they cannot hold it anymore, they will start to fade away, starting from the hands, into white dust which will try to find its way to the sky.

Cure
There is no known cure for it yet and the only remedy is to not use illusions nor shapeshift ever or the illness may reach a point of no return.