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Shaper shifters, or shifters for short, are werewolves and similar creatures that move between an animal form and a person's form. In older times this was called Lycanthropy and is caused by the disease by the same name (Lycanthrope Virus). It is hard for most mundanes to consider that a virus can cause someone's body to change so radically, however, truth is always stranger than fiction. There are various strains of the Lycanthrope Virus which corresponds to the various forms which can Lycanthrope (Shifter) can transform into.
Attributes
A shifter gains many of the abilities of the animal they can shift into. Usually their human senses which correspond to the positive traits of the animal are enhanced. Such as a werewolf gains superior strength, sense of smell, and hunting instincts. They also gain some of the downsides, an instinctual need for pack life, the need to obey their Alpha within a pack, and a tendency toward resolving differences through violence.
Predatory vs. Prey
While most of the animals associated with Lycanthropy are predators, this doesn't need to be the case. A shifter will gain abilities from the animal race for which they can transform, while predatory species of animal tend to increase strength, agility, and the senses this is not always the case with a species that is not generally a predator. A more docile species that is more hunted than hunter in the wild would get abilities and attributes suited for sensing danger, escaping, or camouflaging ones self.
Changing Shape
All lycanthropes can shift from their human form to an animal form with an additional form in-between the two. A man who is a werewolf can transform into a wolf but also into a half-man and half-wolf hybrid. When in animal form, the cognitive abilities of being human are suppressed and this form relies more on animal instincts than on cognition and intelligence.
The hybrid form is difficult to obtain as well and takes years of practice to get down. In some lycanthrope societies it is seen as a rite of passage (full membership in the community) to finally be able to achieve and maintain the hybrid form. While in this form, one gains the best of both world - a strong animal instinct without loss of cognitive abilities. In this form the humans body is enhanced with attributes of the animal form, be those strength, speed, or awareness.
The shifting process is smooth, the body appearing to mutate into a silvery-gold liquid before it reforms into the final form. Some say the processes is excruciating painful while others say the exact opposite and enjoy the feeling. Whether this is psychosomatic or just differences in physiology is largely unknown.
Creation
A lycanthrope is created through the infection of a human being by a strain of the lycanthropy virus. The virus is not airborne but transmitted via bodily fluids, though saliva contains the virus it cannot be passed on unless the saliva contacts with blood to pass on the virus. Similarly, the virus can be transmitted during sex, but this is extremely rare. Most often the virus is transmitted through blood-blood contact or saliva-blood contact. The virus takes about 14-28 days to fully transform a person into a lycanthrope.
Animal Strains
The particular strains of the virus which communicate shifting into a given animal come from that animal. This is one of the reasons why predators are far more likely to be represented than any other kind of animal. When an animal is infected (through consuming the flesh of an infected human) the virus does not transform the animal but rather it mutates into a strain specific to that species of animal. Thus at some point, a wolf consumed the flesh of a lycanthrope and thus the lycanthropy virus was mutated and created a strain to transform a human into a wolf.
The process of mutation takes months and then a human must consume the meat of the infected animal to then become infected themselves.
Mating
The virus has a 75% chance to be passed from a parent to an offspring. If both parents have the virus the child would almost certainly also have the virus as well. Children born into lycanthropy will likely achieve their first shifting during puberty, though a strong enough and prolonged enough fear response can trigger earlier shifting. Cross-species mating does not produce mixed offspring, ever, a lycanthrope wolf mating with a lycanthrope tiger will produce a lycanthrope either wolf or tiger but not a mix of both.
Within the lycanthrope community, mating with other lycanthropes is highly valued, and in that it is socially frowned upon to mate outside of your own animal. Though it will not get a person ostracized exactly, it would be generally frowned upon and considered to be a lack of judgement.