Shift Worldbuilding Info

[Kappa]

...huh, I just noticed this thread is in Spoilerland and not Creations.

[Ezra]

A precious-metallic form with an authority theme.
A plump, fruitlike form.
A viney form themed around rapid growth.

[Bluelantern]

A precious-metallic form with an authority theme.
A plump, fruitlike form.
A viney form themed around rapid growth.

Some brainstormed shapes apropos of discussion in IRC.

Dark, rocky skin with a magmatic glow underneath.
Earthy theme with features of a burrowing animal, such as a mole.
Fur of a big cat, such as a cheetah, and a speed theme, particularly in rapid sprinting.
Cloudlike puffs or swirls for hair, and a weather theme.
Snake-themed shape with scales and a venom theme to their magic.
Fire theme with dragon or salamander features.

I am accepting like 90% of those.
Precious Metal: could work. I am vaguely tempted to have individual "strains" that are different metal, have to think about it.
Plump/Fruit is kinda of not enough, but I can work something from there. Maybe fertility, spring and flowers.
Vine: tempted to turn this into a virulence themed form.
Magma, Mole-themes, cloud-like, cheetah all work, might add a couple tweaks on the animal ones.
I am making Snake & Dragon have an ying and yang relationship. Snake having a "sacrifice" theme of sorts, pay for this amd you gain that. Dragon is more like "growth", wait and your birthright will be yours.

[pedromvilar]

+1

[Ezra]

Cool!

[Ezra]

Faceless mentioned on IRC that when you sacrifice (say) a Petram shape, you sacrifice all your Petram shapes and the possibility to get more Petram shapes. That could be an obstacle to Rafa's plan. (deep link into thread)

[pedromvilar]

Most people cannot have more than a single version of each form and that fact about sacrificing shapes is indeed true; Rafa's dance means they can get and sacrifice an arbitrary number of forms, but they do have to go through the horrible process each time.

[Bluelantern]

So, I have been meaning to both post more in the forums and put more information about my worldbuilding in public spaces. I have decided to... basically throw things here because if I don't, it will never get done.

Fun Shift Facts of Today:
*I decided to revise how painful the act of shifting is. It hurts, but most people learn how to deal with it and it gets easier over time. The first shift is very painful and very difficult because you need some level of concentration to go through, but most people manage it. As you shift more and more it gets less painful because your body gets used to changing. The pools and the rain and other assorted magic-related pain remains as it is.
*Related to above, very very very few people die of old age because they couldn't manage shifting. Even people that lost all their forms are more likely to die of violence or disaster than actual natural causes.
*There was a shift-dancer known as "Nana Yana", her dance had the following effects: her forms didn't reverse aging to a default age; new forms started baby-aged and grew up over time; she also had slowed down aging such that her forms would effectively get stuck at 60; the older (in real time) a form was the stronger it's magic was too. She got to be at least 500 year olds and had fearsome magical powers and there are legends about geographic features being created by her. No one is quite sure if she is dead or not.

[Bluelantern]

Fun Shift Facts of Today:
*The term "Undying " refers to those that are in one way or another capable of avoiding death through their individual powers. The term is not very well defined and some edge cases are to be referred to as "Undying" despite having fairly minor powers (like the power to not require eating).
*Oizys, The Undying Tormentor - An infamous mercenary shift-dancer with the dance of broadcasting her pain to those around her feeling none herself. She also possess regenerative powers and that makes her extremely hard to kill despite having pissed off way too many people in her long life. There are many legends and horror tales about her.

On Borras

"For example, far up North there is city with a very large dome made so tall there are clouds below it, harmless clouds, with harmless rain. The heart of the city is mostly under that dome, but it expands underground through rock and ice. You'd think it's very cramped and dark, but the spaces are expansive and roomy, with infused light fixtures everywhere."

That is great! Then she will hear all about Borras, the domed jewel of the North. People are not typically allowed to build on the dome, but there are a few "towers" hanging from the ceiling, including a beautiful hanging garden shaped like a crescent with plants from everywhere in the world. And at night, glowing flowers bloom under that garden and dotted around the dome, giving the illusion of a sky complete with a moon.

[Bluelantern]

Fun Shift Facts of Today:
*New Form! Carminus: Physical traits include: Hummingbird wings; their bodies can have feathers of any color but always with an iridescent sheen; pointy noses; shorter and sleeker bodies. Themed after humming birds and songbirds. Magic themed around "frequency", mainly affecting sound and light, with some aspects of speed and time. More importantly the magic also manifests in ways that allow other Carminus to cooperate and make it stronger, typically in the forms of songs and dances that others can follow along or light beams of specific colors that can be made brighter by cooperating Carminus.
*Vesuvia, the crafter. A shifter-dancer, her dance is that she sacrifices forms to all currently living forms and this always results in the power to create artifacts.