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A Brief History
BY L.R. PATTON
Author
Shape shifters have been around for hundreds of years. There are stories told about them in the ancient texts of other lands, and nearly every story book considered good education material for the children of Fairendale and the surrounding lands have stories about shape shifters.
Shape shifting is a kind of magical transformation. Shape shifters are considered those who can change into different creatures or simply adjust their size. Sometimes the shape shifters can do both, though this is not often the case.
In our earlier stories, we have established that there are six shape shifters in the land of Fairendale and those surrounding it. These six are shape shifters in the strictest definition of the term—those who can change their shape at will.
However, the dragons of Eyre, which you will meet in Book 7 of our annals, are also considered shape shifters, which means there are, in actuality, hundreds more shape shifters that have not been counted in the aging census of the land. The people in our stories do not know much about dragons, so they do not know that the dragons of Eyre have the ability to shift both size and shape.
Even later in our stories, we will meet an entire forest full of shape shifters—but these shape shifters are only permitted to change shape on a full moon. They are known as Were Creatures, and they become panthers, cougars, wolves, bears, coyotes, bats, snakes, and even creatures that have no name.
There are many reasons that shape shifters use their gifts—some of them to escape danger, some to inflict punishment on those who have wronged them. The stories of shape shifters are as unique as their abilities.
The guiding rules of shape shifters
Traditional shape shifters—those who can only change their shape—abide by many different rules, some implicit, some explicit:
The gift of shape shifting is given at birth, to a select few. It is unknown who gives this gift.
A shape shifter can only shape shift into the animal skin she is given at birth. Meaning, if one is given the gift of shape shifting into a blackbird, as Cora has been given, one can only shift into a blackbird forevermore.
A shape shifter retains her shape shifting magic even after she has borne a child. The gift of shape shifting is granted for life, though other magic, if a shape shifter possesses this gift, may fade. Or it may not.
Shape shifting is not a gift passed from parent to child. It is randomly bestowed.
A shape shifter might be a sorcerer, or he might be an ordinary person.
If a shape shifter wears his animal skin for too long, he will become the animal rather than the person. Time limits are different for every shape shifter, which means a shape shifter must know his limits.
Likewise, if a shape shifter has spent too much time between living as a human and shifting into an animal, she will lose the ability to shape shift. The gift must be practiced and used.
If a shape shifter is killed in his shape shifting form, he will return, upon death, to his ordinary, human form.
The only thing that can kill a shape shifter, if one desires to, is an arrow topped with an iron point.