[BCOLOR=transparent]Enhanced Senses:[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] 'Shifters have naturally a naturally heightened sense of smell, sight, and hearing than humans.[/BCOLOR]
Is this consistent among all shifters? Or are the enhanced senses dependent on their animal species -- like, the shifter of an animal that's known for its sharp eyesight but not for its other senses would excel in the sight department, but not others?
[BCOLOR=transparent]Weaknesses:[/BCOLOR]
- [BCOLOR=transparent]Silver[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]:[/BCOLOR]
Haha. I thought of a totally different kind of silver when I read this at first and thought you were trying to imply something completely different.
Hahahahahah. Ignore me.
Orphaned shapeshifters are often taken in by another 'shifter, even if the orphan and the adopter are only together until the orphan has grown up.
Ehh. If a shapeshifter is orphaned, how would other shifters know how to find it? Also, how would shifter infants (or simply young children) be recognizable as shifters? And what's to stop an orphaned shifter from being mistaken for a human and taken into a human orphanage?
Even among 'shifters, there is prejudice. Avian and reptilian shapeshifters are usually seen as inferior compared to the much more widespread mammalian shapeshifters, though all 'shifters find humans to be beneath them. 'Shifters that have gone feral are seen as dangers. The hunt to kill them tends to be the only thing to unite otherwise antagonistic 'shifters.
You said that shifters generally live unconnected from each other, though, and that their culture is mainly that of the human culture that they grew up in. I'm just confused as to how prejudice like this can exist if there aren't, say, clear societal groups of mammalian shifters and reptilian shifters... I mean, one could argue that shifters just
naturally act prejudiced against shifters that aren't like them, but I feel like that would be a bit more of a two-way street than just saying that avians and reptilians are generally seen as being inferior to mammals.
Prey 'shifters and predator 'shifters have a natural hatred for one another that can be overcome with effort, though few attempt to become friends.
[Zootopia reference restrained]
Because of their negative attitude towards humans and a preference for the company of other shapeshifter, rarely do humans know about the existence of 'shifters.
You say this as if it isn't a requirement for any race in the RP. o.o So uh... just wanted to clarify... in this universe, humans shouldn't normally know about magic in general.
You technically didn't do anything wrong here, so you don't have to edit this part, but uh, yeah, just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about that -- as normally this sort of thing would go without saying.
- [BCOLOR=transparent][BCOLOR=transparent]The first shapeshifter was a human with a genetic mutation. It was so rare that she met only one other shapeshifter during her lifetime, though now-a-days the 'shifter gene has started to show more, especially in families where the parents are both 'shifters.[/BCOLOR][/BCOLOR]
- [BCOLOR=transparent][BCOLOR=transparent]Most shapeshifter families (the ones that have been shapeshifters for several generations) will abandon a human baby, regardless of the fact that the human has an increased chance of conceiving a 'shifter child.[/BCOLOR][/BCOLOR]
Uhhh.
This also makes it sound like you were unaware of the "humans don't know about magic" thing, although maybe it's just the wording of it...
Also, now that I think about it, I'm not sure how anyone would even know that the shifter ability is passed down through genes -- since, if normal humans don't know about magic (or things resembling magic), then neither would the scientific community, so I don't know how such a thing could even be researched. I guess you could say it was
assumed to be a gene mutation since it seems to be hereditary, but, meh -- you can have a magic thingy get passed down from parents to children without needing to tie it to genetics. The fact that it seems to crop up randomly in children with two human parents fairly often also leans more towards a magical explanation than a genetic one...
Actually, now that I think about it -- what happens to shifters who are born to human parents? How are they supposed to stay hidden? Your description implies that all shifters started out as having been born to human parents with a "random gene mutation" before the shfiters' numbers were high enough that they could seek each other out and start families of their own. So... how does all
that work? How were shifters able to remain hidden all this time? ...And, again, how are shifters able to find each other, besides?
Overall, I like this race a lot -- but there are a few major hangups that need to be addressed. o_o