The Twice Spirited

[Loremaster]

The Spirited
Overview

The twice spirited are a Sancta Terra native race that has been around as long as history was recorded. They are a single physical being born with two spirits, one of a human and one of an animal. They are natural shapeshifters able to switch physical forms from their animal to their human one depending on the circumstances. Some, older and more powerful Spirited may change form at will. All others are forced into their form depending on the link between the Eternus Obscurum and Sancta Terra.

During most days, the Spirited are free to roam in their human form, or if they choose, their animal form. However, during the time when the link between the magical and the physical world is the weakest, that is, the days surrounding the full moon and on night the full moon, they have little to no control over their form. On the days surrounding the full moon, the spirited can all shift back and forth depending on which spirit takes over the mind. However, on the night of the full moon, the animal form is the most dominant, and all the twice spirited cannot change out of that form until sunrise.

The benefit of having two spirits is that the individuals born this way are generally much healthier and fitter than a regular human or even a regular animal may be. They are also very difficult to infect with any disease as well as nearly fully immune to any sort of demonic corruption. In their animal form, they are able to see through fae glamour and are also highly resistant to the influence of the Venerable.

The spirited, may live as individual nomads, hermits or may try to integrate themselves into the human society. Some even live in groups with other Spirited of their own kind. Those that live in groups are the large feline Spirited, canine spirited and some birds.

Today, those born twice spirited are outcasts in the human society. They are considered highly dangerous and are eliminated by the United Sancta Terra armed forces on sight (if detected).

The condition to switch forms between a human and an animal is completely hereditary. And up until the war of the two worlds, it was like that with no exceptions to the rule.

Nowadays, the condition is both hereditary as well as an infection. Further infected information is below.

[Loremaster]

The Casualties of War

Once the other races began warring against one another, the biological and magical weapons would occasionally have the Spirited caught in the crossfire. This caused a number of adverse effects from the introduction of new diseases to the Spirited to many stillborn young. One particular effect was a mutation of a minor disease that was the Spirited version of the influenza. Before the war, it was never fatal, but after the corruption of the foul magics and toxic weaponry, it began to kill off the very young, the old and frail that were infected. It also weakened some of the strong and made their human physical form appear frail and sickly. The animal forms became mangy and feral.

It also had another, completely unforeseen effect. It became contagious to single spirited humans. It took a single exchange of bodily fluids for a human to become infected. Whether this be through a bite that drew blood and mixed with the saliva of an infected or through sexual means.

Once infected, the disease was near fatal to a human. It at first gave the similar symptoms to the human as the Spirited influenza. Then it acted as a bad case of the flu which later on became more and more painful as the full moon neared. The human would experience internal pains that were the result of their body literally attempting to rip itself apart in a futile attempt to transform into a non-existent animal form. The mutation in the disease, carrying spirited’s animal and human DNA would inject itself into the human’s and then spread until the entire body was infected and thought it needed to transform during the full moon as if there was an animal inside the human needing to get out. The result of this was the human’s body attempting to rip itself apart from the inside during the full moons.

Around 9/10 humans died on their first full moon. Particularly healthy humans that didn’t get much of the infection and were infected very close to the full moon did not die straight away. They did however experience excruciating pain and as the months passed and risked having their body literally rip itself apart after a few full moons.

[Loremaster]

The Advent of Lycanthropy

Twenty years after the first infected human died in 1963, a human man infected with the disease successfully grew fur and claws during a full moon. He carried wolf DNA and the disease that was commonly referred to as ‘Shifter Flu’ was now coined ‘Lycanthropy’. Although this name is not necessarily scientifically or biologically constitutionally correct, it stuck with the general public.

After the death of the first furry lycanthropy-infected in 1983, more humans with the disease began to survive longer and began gaining more animal characteristics during the full moon. Some would gain fur, fine feathers, claws, muzzles, paws etc and then in a lot of cases, revert back to their human form after the full moon was over. Not all would revert. Some were stuck as part human-part animal mutations.

By the 1990s scientists speculated that the disease had once again mutated and began to adapt to the human DNA. With time, it began to mutate further and humans with the infection would by the end of the 1980s turn into half-formed animals with feral tempers and animalistic urges. At this point, most would even revert back to their human forms.

By the mid 2000s, a movement to integrate the infected into human society was made. In an attempt to prevent infected suicides and provide hope to the large amount of infected, structures called ‘safe houses’ were built to accommodate those with dangerous animalistic traits during the full moons. During the rest of the month’s days, the infected were free to go home and live normal lives. Some chose to go home to their families, those that had no one stayed at the safe houses, attempting to help society out by working for the United Sancta Terra Resistance.

When the 2000s hit, the number of humans dying naturally from Lycanthropy dropped to a very small percentage. Those that still had their lives claimed by it were small children, those with heart problems or the elderly. Around the end of the 2008 Lycanthropy’s steady mutation rate slowed down significantly. The Infected became a part of human society and Lycanthropy began to be viewed as a disability or just a disease akin to any other life changing infection.

To this day, there is no cure for Lycanthropy. The disease’s magical and biological properties are difficult to understand by even the most skilled in both fields and it is currently not within the technology’s grasp to create a cure.

[Loremaster]

Infected VS Pure Bred
Overview for the Spirited of today

The Infected:

- Cannot transform fully into an animal form
- No second spirit, their condition is a disease and a mutation.
- No control over transformation
- Average life span shortened by about 30%.

Pure Bred

- Able to transform fully, or if particularly gifted, can also transform partially.
- They have a second spirit that gives them a great deal of physical and metaphysical protection
- Physically superior to humans and animals
- Live 20% longer than the average human.