| From: | Mach <mach@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Next Question |
| Date: | Mon, 28 Dec 1998 19:23:12 -0800 |
> As if things weren't twisted enough around here all ready....
Well, they are about to get weirder.
After a long hiatus, I am planning on using my Changeling (no not White
Wolf...read on) character, Quicksilver again. Since it has been so long
(introduced late July '96 in case you want to look at the PlotD logs, brief
appearance a year ago) I figure I would reintroduce her on PlotD. I had
been giving the character some thought since then (who doesn't), and had
been reworking some of the ideas so that they made more sense in the SR
universe. Before I mentally set the changes in stone, I wanted to bounce
them off of the list to see if there was anything anybody didn't feel
comfortable with.
As a brief recap, I might as well begin at the beginning:
It seems to me, one of the underlying premises of ShadowRun is that most,
if not all the things we took to be of myth and legend, were actually real
in ages past (but not necessarily exactly how we remember them). However,
they were simply "hidden" due to the low mana-level. Once the mana-level
crested its threshold, then these beings began to be transformed back to
their "true" state either in the next generation (spike babies) or by
transmogrification (goblinization). One being common to many mythologies
was overlooked by FASA in their listing of meta-beings and monsters, and
seemed to me to be a glaring oversite:
The Changeling
They have been called Changelings, Shape-shifters (non-were-being),
Skin-Walkers, Doppelgangers, Incubi, Succubi, (and slightly more obscure)
Mystifs, Face-Dancers, Deceptants:
a being that can change shape to mimic the human form, often pleasing to
the eye, but is in truth a monster. Or at least, that is what the
story-books say.
That, and several other sources for my imagination (most notably Clive
Barker's _Imagica_) lead me to concoct a version of a Changeling that
would be in the spirit of ShadowRun, but seasoned to my tastes. =)
Technically, it is a Critter, but only in the sense of a Leshy or Vampire.
It is a humanoid derivative (specifically derived from elven stock), as
sentient and intelligent as any other meta-human, but with some unique
psychological problems due to being what they are.
It's primary ability is the ability to shape-shift. However, I thought
that seemed a bit too powerful to just say they could become anything they
wanted, or even any humanoid they wanted. I was inspired by the Mystif
character in _Imagica_ as well as the FASA canon critter power: "Desire
Reflection" to come up with what I call "Desire Mask." The Changeling
chooses a humanoid target, and then shape-shifts into whomever that person
would most desire (working at the subconscious level). Upon later
reflection, I realized for this to work properly, not only would they have
to physically shape-change, but combined with this would be a limited form
of "Fashion" to handle clothing as well. (Else, if one went from being a
4'5" Dwarf to a 6'6" Ork, that could get mightily painful). NB: this is
mostly a redistribution of body-mass, and doesn't allow them to gain any
"Bonuses" for being bigger or smaller (i.e. They would make a *very* frail
Troll.)
This makes another interesting feature of their physiology practical, if
not required: they are all hermaphrodites (having both male and female
"equipment") and can effectively change externally expressed gender at
will in their "natural" state, while switching to the proper gender needed
when shape-shifted. After thinking about it some, the best genetic
solution would be that they are base XY (only way to have all the
necessary genetic information available), although to call them "male" is
perhaps a bit hasty. Debating which gender pronoun would be best at
length, it seemed the best idea would be to do choose on a case-by-case
basis depending on psychological and social factors. The default
reference is female, since they do have mammae (if underdeveloped) and at
least the potential to bear children (a difficult matter, and only fully
successfully with members of their own species).
Their natural appearance, I decided, would make them easily discernible
if they weren't shape-shifted. The basic facial-body structure would be
elven, although an exaggeration of the metatype: sharp features, long,
doe-like ears, very almond-shaped eyes, and uniformly thin and rather
frail. They would be albino, with the inclusive white hair and pink eyes.
I felt that for something that could be any color, the default should be
none at all. And, due to an aesthetic quirk, covered in fine body hair,
as the "Night Ones" turned out to be later.
Along with Desire Mask, it seemed logical to include (Vocal) Mimicry, such
that their voices have the range sufficient to come up with a voice to
match any given body. Don't ask them to talk to any animals, but they
probably can do damn good impressions from Barry White to Mariah Carey
breaking glass. A large African Ork with a soft lilting voice just
seems...wrong (yeah, yeah, I've heard Aaron Neville, but he's an exception
to the rule).
Their other ability that I thought they should have, but might give some
people trouble is the Critter Power: Empathy. This doesn't allow them to
read your mind, but only your emotional state. (Think of it as an innate
form of aura reading.) With effort (contested test) they can force a
change in someone's emotions, but unless it is extremely subtle, the other
person will easily notice it and fight them. (i.e., who, when feeling
"happy" would fight it if they felt themselves begin to feel "very
happy.")
What I was looking to concoct was a very non-physical but very socially
oriented being (getting away from the ever-escalating bigger/stronger/
tougher/etc. trend). On the order of -2 Body, +3 Charisma, +1 Quickness
to reflect being graceful. Because of their innate abilities, the fact
that they are basically burning their own essence to fuel them, and the
alternative being screamingly munchkin, I decided that Changelings could
not become Magically active in the Mage/Shaman/Adept sense. Astrally,
besides appearing in their natural state, they would also appear to be
something akin to but distinguishable from an Adept, or more similar to
another humanoid "critter." That way, unless they had the help of another
magician who was capable of altering their aura, they would be detectable
by anyone with astral perception.
So how does one get to be that Charismatic while being relatively alien?
Well, for one, it seemed to me that innate Empathy would help some. They
tend to be better at avoiding upsetting people and picking up on things
that please (imagine a mental metal detector). But, that seemed to me to
be a little insufficient, hence the idea of an innate enhanced pheromone
system (similar to the bioware version, but adaptive to various genders
and metatypes, such that their olfactory lure works in concert with their
visual lure against the target of their affections) as well as several
pleasure-inducing chemicals in their bodily fluids. The dark side of this
is a reasonable consequence of a being's body swimming with all these
chemicals. That being's natural ability to be stimulated by such
chemicals would burn out. Just like you can't notice an open bottle of
ammonia in a room if you are there too long, or how a drug-addict looses
the ability to achieve as great a high with prolonged use, a Changeling
can no longer experience pleasure by itself. The only way it can mentally
simulate such feelings is to empathically sense them from another which
leads them to be psychologically dependant on others.
When looking through the paranormal guides, a common trait was the
"dietary requirement" that many species have for some thing in particular
that is possibly unusual. What seemed to me to be a logical (albeit
strange) version of this for the Changeling would be an innate need for
affection. Otherwise, incapable of experiencing pleasure, it would take
long to cause one to become chronically depressed, if not insane. The
deeper question of how exactly this would work was a bit of a puzzler.
More recently, I came upon a possible concept, but since it strays far
enough from FASA canon, I figured I would bring up the idea here. There
exists a non-permanent version of Essence Drain (in the PAGtEurope IIRC).
Could there exist a variation of non-permanent Essence Drain that worked
so slowly that the target regenerated the essence in less than the same
amount of time (i.e. if it takes the target 1 hour to regenerate 1 point
of essence, if you were to drain it at 1 point per every two hours) could
you get away with a form of Essence Drain that effectively does not lower
your target's Essence? I suppose if people balk at this idea, it could
work about as well with a non-permanent form of Essence Drain, which leads
to a secondary question, can fractions of Essence points be taken? This
is particularly important if the target is heavily cybered and the essence
drainer don't want to actually kill them. E.g. If target has 0.9 points
of essence left. If they are drained, can they be drained 0.8 points and
be left alive with only 0.1 left, or would it immediately try to drain 1.0
points of essence, kill them and come up 0.1 essence short? I do not
recall of the top of my head if such a thing is allowed, or not. Or more
simply, does anyone care that strongly on this fiction list whether
Essence was quantized or a continuum? What it comes down to for the
character of the Changeling is that their form of "link" to their target
is the enducement of pleasure with physical contact and that without it
they suffer from normal Essence Loss and slowly fall apart, because they,
like other essence drainers "burn" Essence just to exist. With a limited
drain, I am perfectly willing to decree that, in game terms their Essence
cap is the base humanoid 6, instead of the normal 12, to keep them from
being too powerful, since their other powers are derived from Essence. I
don't see them able to create other Changelings by draining them
completely though, since their Essence Loss is due to their species and
not due to some communicable infection.
An interesting question would then be, what happens if they contract
HMHVV? Since I don't plan on doing that in the forseable future, it can
probably safely be left for later, if at all. Although one possible
outcome is that you get the "true" Incubus/Succubus whose Essence cap goes
up to 12. Instead of MistForm, I could them gaining control of their
shape-shifting abilities and possibly a "Body Weaponry" that does (STR M)
Physical damage by way of claws, etc.
Another interesting factor that I realized: a Changeling would be very
hard pressed to raise a child alone because they could not derive what
they need from each other, so it would probably be quite common for a
Changeling to try to find others to raise its child. Inadvertently, I had
come up with a workable explanation for the existence of the legendary
"Changeling child."
So, now, for those of you who are members of the Oliver Stone Memorial
Foundation, does this mean I have plans for a Changeling Conspiracy to
Take Over the World (CCTOW) (tm)? Not hardly. For one, there are too few
of them, in my opinion (the one that counts), for CCTOW to occur. At
most, in the world there are several dozen. About as (if not less) common
as it would be to find an "normal" albino, hermaphroditic, elf. Next,
there is that little problem of only changing their outward appearance.
Any mage that can assence them could tell by their aura that they are not
who they might seem to be. What's more, they must be shaped by someone
else, and unless that person really desires that they look like someone
else, they tend to not duplicate other people. Also, remember the little
notice that they need to invoke pleasure in others to survive, combined
with their inability to experience it themselves? Put two Changelings in
a room together and, well, you get two rather miserable Changelings. That
is one of the main factors which keeps their population down. The other
is that they are rare enough that it is rarer still that one would ever
bump into another anyway. I figure Changelings have about as much desire
to take over the world as your average cat. What's the point of taking
over the world when you don't have anything to do with it? If they can
take care of themselves or are being taken care of, and are hidden well
enough that they are not being hunted or dissected for their secrets, why
screw everything up by risking exposure? Which is not to say that one
might be a rather useful agent for someone else with ambition, hence my
Changeling's earlier career as a courtesan, spy, and assassin. (The
latter-most being _extremely_ unpleasant for an empath.)
"So, where did they come from?" one might be lead to ask. I'm not really
sure I want to set their origin in stone, because there are two distict
possibilities that I am entertaining, one is biologically implausible
while the other might be socially-unacceptable, and neither is really
_necessary_ for the character to exist (the "Cause we said so"
hypothesis). The first is that they are natural. Somehow, over the
millenia and mana-cycles such a being arose naturally. They are so unique
and specialized in their role, though, that they suffer from the
"Babel-fish" problem, although I cannot say this ultimately damns the
idea. The cuckoo has shown that foisting one's offspring on another can
arise in the wild, but being so well adapted to attracting species with
which it cannot successfully produce offspring, while being ill-adapted to
producing offspring among its own species seems counter-evolutionary.
My more favored origin theory is that Changelings did not evolve, they
were created. The second origin concept is that during a previous high
mana cycle (perhaps even at its height so that such a thing could be
performed) a group of mages decided to mold for themselves a being that
would be a "perfect companion." Through arcane ritual, specialized
breeding, or both they would domesticate for themselves a being to serve
them. Its abilities and powers would be for their amusement and
entertainment, while its failings would exist to ensure loyalty. The
changes made were made permanent, and in so doing down to the
(mana)genetic level such that subsequent generations could be bred from
the first and the mages would not have to again risk their lives on such
frivolous vanity. The middle road would be that there existed an entity
similar to the Changeling in ages past and then they were "domesticated"
to the point that they became what they did. Anybody have a strong
opinion on this? It may smack too much EarthDawn, and I am not one of the
proponents of its direct link into ShadowRun, but that there have been
previous high-mana periods is pretty much a given. I liked the idea
because of a sense of continuity, with biotechnology developed to the
point in SR that people are transforming themselves (and others, to the
extent of bioengineered humanoids) for selfish and vain reasons, why not
have the same thing be done when magic was sufficent to do so? They were
quite literally created to be a slave race in this scenario. Do people
have a strong problem with this?
As for another problem, the answer to why there aren't more of them in the
world is three-fold. One, "'cause I said so...." I would rather not have
a bunch of them turning up in every nook and cranny, because that would
make them less special and unique (and a lot more dangerous). Two, there
probably were never that many to begin with. On the natural origin side,
while they do have the Elven "Clockwork-gene" that halts aging, such that
they have a chance to mate successfully a few times before they die of
other causes, the problems outlined earlier probably would go a long way
towards keeping their numbers low. On the un-natural origin side, I would
think that ownership of such a "novelty" would be a rather exclusive
phenomenon, and so there were never that many created. Either way, reason
number three: not many survived to pass on their dormant genome in the
low mana cycle.
The most probable reason was that few survived the "de-goblinization" from
the previous mana-cycle, being killed outright when the mana-level became
too low. The other reason is more insidious: they were exterminated
until they reached their low numbers. Even if they were of natural
origin, (and taking the hint from the common depiction of Changelings as
_EEEEEVIL_) it is quite possible that they were hunted to near extinction
out of fear. ("They could be _anyone_!!!") The unnatural origin theory
produces another possible twist: they became the objects of fear and
scorn because they were the unnaturally created servants of the rich
and powerful. A further possibility is that if the existence of the far
more dangerous vampiric variant (Succubus) became known, they could have
been exterminated out of the fear of what they could become, whether or
not they were an actual danger.
So, now, I suppose a few of you might be thinking. Changelings, cool.
Can I play one? Hate to be a party pooper, but I'm going to invoke
copyright here and say no. That there is even one in Seattle is pretty
much exceeding the maximum Changeling population density. I am now
considering a possible future plotline that will involve another
Changeling who will not become a PC, and possibly a cameo from another
Changeling NPC, such that Quicksilver learns that she is not completely
alone.
--My (more than)
two yen
Jeff
