Changelings

Lisa (one of the co-writers of Rogue Angels) has just provided an interesting article:
=> Lore #1 – The Changelings

Changelings are interesting to me because of their ability to change their shapes. I would call them shapeshifters. Lisa’s article informs us that they like the term skinshifting instead :) Here is a short portion of her article:

Their defining biological characteristic is their ability to alter their physical appearance to mimic those of other life forms.

Transition is achieved via ingestion of a target species DNA, and a changeling can imprint a maximum of 4 DNA patterns at any one time. They can’t mimic anything that is not dictated genetically, so it’s not possible for a changeling to pass themselves off as a cyborg or a templar. They also can’t mimic species much larger than themselves, so leviathans and giants are impossible to copy, along with larger individuals from other species. The shape-shift – referred to as skinshifting – is an energy intensive process that is exhausting for the changeling. It is difficult to manage two changes within a short space of time, and impossible to do more than two without stimulants. Once a change is achieved it requires no further energy to maintain the new form. Changelings have a high metabolism to fuel their skinshifting, and changelings actively involved in a lot of shifts consume a lot of food relative to their bodyweight.