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  1. Adam Bolander

    Adam Bolander Senior Member

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    Shapeshifting Races and The Wild Hunt

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Adam Bolander, Nov 5, 2020.

    This basic idea of this story has gone through more revisions than I can remember, and each one feels like it brings the idea a little closer to what I want it to be. Originally it was going to be about skinwalkers fighting wendigos, but now it involves a crap ton of other stuff. It's almost unrecognizable. Anyway, here's a few of the races and general ideas I'm working with now. I'd appreciate any feedback I could get!

    Therions: A catch-all term for the shapeshifting races all around the world. They tend to adopt whatever name they're given in their home country, meaning that American ones are skinwalkers, in Japan they're called yokai, in Ireland they're the Faoladh, etc. You can find them in almost every mythology on earth, even where you don't expect to (bird therions claim that they're descendants of the Norse valkyries). They can be any animal, but each of them is limited to that one animal. An experienced therion can change at will, but younger ones often need to hold or wrap themselves in the pelt of their animal to help wake that part of them up. Therion..ism(?) isn't entirely about lineage or blood, because while therions are more likely to give birth to therion children, it's a trait that could appear in anyone regardless of their family or ancestry. A therion is a person born with two souls in one body, one human and one animal. With training and a few magical rituals to awaken their slumbering soul, they can achieve the power to shift between their two forms, and even take an anthropomorphic form that's a mix between the two.

    Hellhounds: These are the servants of Frau Gauden (more on her later), and are massive canine monsters that can walk on either two or four feet. They're immortal unless killed violently, are strong enough to lift cars, but their footsteps are always silent and their fur blends in with the night. They're created from humans who make the pledge "Could I but always hunt, I care not to win heaven" in the presence of the rest of the pack. Daylight turns them back to human form, taking away all their strength and power, but they transform back every night as soon as the sun sets. They can also remain in monster form by hiding from the sun. They're behind the majority of werewolf myths around the world.

    Chimeras: A race that, even in its heyday, was extremely rare. Like therions, they have the ability to transform into animals. But while therions are restricted to only one animal, chimeras can turn into any animal--or even a combination of them! They do this by staring into an animal's eyes (the windows to the soul) and essentially downloading the blueprints of their soul into their own soul, allowing them to shift back and forth until the power they absorb runs out and they're returned to human form. They have complete control over their transformations, meaning they can mix and match different body parts from different animals however they want, which is why their myths describe them as monstrous mounds of mish-mashed mammalian malarkey. They're extinct now, for reasons I'll explain later.

    The Wild Hunt: It's known by different names all over the world, but the root idea is all the same: a bunch of nasty monsters and ghosts come stampeding across the land under cover of darkness. In reality, a Wild Hunt is what therions call it whenever a really powerful monster, spirit, or entity takes control of enough monsters to make an attack on the human world. The Wild Hunts have had three leaders so far: Odin, Count von Hackleburg, and Frau Gauden.

    Odin: Nobody really knows if Odin is the real Odin, the god from Norse mythology, or if he just adopted that name. What they do know is that he is incredibly powerful, borderline godlike, and hates humankind with a fiery passion. It took all the therions coming together just to seal him away thousands of years ago. While the Wild Hunt has had other leaders, those leaders only consider themselves temporarily in charge until they eventually free Odin.

    Count von Hackleburg: Odin's second in command, a lord from ancient times who studied sorcery in secret, eventually becoming so powerful that he even managed to impress Odin, who put aside his hatred of humanity to give him a position of power in his army. Shadows are like doorways to him, allowing him to be anywhere light isn't shining. A blizzard is trapped in the blade of his sword, freezing anyone it touches to death in an instant. His blood is acid, so anyone who manages to wound him will be equally wounded in return. He, too, is currently imprisoned.

    Frau Gauden: A lady from Germany who was mother to over a dozen daughters. She loved to hunt, and one day declared that should she be able to hunt forever, she cared not to win heaven. Hackleburg granted her wish, making her immortal and transforming her daughters into the first hellhounds. Those hounds then grew their numbers with people who envied their strength and unending life. Frau Gauden held a rank equivalent to a general in Odin's forces, having complete control over her hellhound legions that made up a sizeable chunk of the army. When Odin was imprisoned, she became Hackleburg's second in command, but is now imprisoned herself as well.

    The Basic Idea: So, all three leaders of the Wild Hunt are imprisoned in magical interdimensional prisons. Odin's prison can only be unlocked with Hackleburg's blood, and Hackleburg's prison can only be unlocked with Frau Gauden's blood. But Frau Gauden's prison needed a key as well, and the therions wanted to make it so there was no chance of them ever escaping. There solution was to make her key the blood of a chimera, which was an extremely rare race even back then...and then they hunted down and killed all the chimeras. No loose ends, right? But now, hundreds of years later, a new chimera has been discovered. His name is Zander Meeks, and even though he doesn't know what he is or what power he holds, Frau Gauden's hellhounds won't rest until their mistress is released...and the others won't be far behind.

    And there you have it! What do you guys think?
     

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