#rynd

[felisrandomis]

[ArtFight] Zempy3

Artfight attack! This one's for Zempy3 I'm Team Mystery this year! COME FIGHT ME

Posted using PostyBirb

[roahmwhosthatpokemon]

Rynd the Qwilfish (Hisui)

Oh, poor Hisuian Qwilfish.  And by extension, Overqwil.  High physical attack, but only special options for Dark moves.  Hopefully the Hisui crew can actually be imported into the upcoming games and have some better movepool options...

[renarinkholin]

okay so. what about the entire rest of the called forth cast what are ur opinions on the vanalen. does the very thought make you squirm

Corin:I don’t think it’s particularly wise, but doing things I disagree with seems to be a specialty of Nona Len’s. She’s the summoner. She may, and will, do as she wishes, if established trends hold.

Rynd:What are you all on about? I don’t see what the problem would be. Vanaline just looks wow and if it’s all fun, what’s the harm? I mean, that is if you could find a way to do anything with that stick shoved so far up Vanaline’s—

Len: That’s enough of that.

Kasten:I’m with Rynd. Sounds like a great idea.

Len:You are?

Kasten:Sure. She’s crazy and murderous and awful, and you’re also most of those things. Perfect match. Who knows, maybe the Pure will bless us and the two of you will kill each other off once and for all?

Len:Touching.

[renarinkholin]

two sentient minds can't meld well? so that means that there's Laenai animals that shifters shouldn't try to bond with, right? there's plenty of sentient and sapient animals irl, so if they have like, whales or [corvids?] or apes or something there trying to bond with those animals would be bad news?

Shifters, compared with other Laenai creatures, do have a kind of mental dominance naturally. It isn’t just that they’re more intelligent, but it’s almost a little bit like blood types. Shifters are, mentally, kind of like universal recipients, while nonshifter creatures are a little more universal donors. 

Shifter minds are just programmed to handle the kind of mental requirements that controlling memories and thoughts that didn’t originally belong to you need. Likewise, Laenai creatures also have a kind of “programming” that makes it easy to slip away from autonomy if they feel connected to a shifter through the bonding process.

This is also why shifters who have gone feral—and have lost a lot of the mental architecture they used to have—easily become familiars. Accepting a shifter’s bond triggers a kind of submissive state in the other minds, as they try to defer to the shifter’s control. If that controlling presence is gone, they will almost never refuse a familiar contract, no matter what kinds of clauses are in it.

The relations between Mondial and Laenai are... pretty messed up, honestly. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that summoning contracts and shifter bonds have a lot of similarities that are exploitable if you know what you’re doing, and also the fact that feral shifters are extremely exploitable as familiars because the poor things really don’t know how to say ‘no,’ especially when given a choice as complex as accepting a familiar contract. 

[renarinkholin]

re: shapeshifters: you made the comparison to gem fusion, so I'm wondering. you said that shapeshifters are basically human, but does that mean that their malleability is also a trait of other animals on their planet? if not, how do they do the fuse-y thingy with other animals? can shifters bond with other *people* in this way? if not, can they bond with other shifters? are shifters bodies made out of a different material that allows them to shift, or is it a magic-y, soul-y thing?

Alright, alright, you wanna chase? Let’s chase. Be warned this is gonna get into really weird and possibly spoilery levels of worldbuilding.

1. Yes, the ability to combine with other creatures is a Laenai specific trait. Rynd would not be able to pick up a new shift from a Mondian animal or a Kannard animal.

2. negated because question 1 was a yes

3. A shifter might be able to “hack” another person into a shift but it would be a horrible idea all around and also the person in question would probably need to be a familiar because non-Laenai people do not have melding capabilities. Also, two sentient minds don’t really meld at all very well, and so rather than the two souls joining you’d end up more with two fully realized individuals trapped together and vying for control, likely causing themselves an extreme amount of pain as they both struggled to agree on form. 

4. Two shifters trying to meld would run into the same “two sentient minds in one body” issue as before, but they at least wouldn’t have the body meld problem, so, that’s a step closer?

5. Shifters’ bodies are... not shaile (unless they’re a familiar), but have a remarkable similarity to shaile, actually. Not quite as changeable as pure Mondian shaile would be (which could mimic just about any living form) but their bodies’ ability to stretch and adapt is reminiscent of the way a familiars’ form works.

Worldbuilding spoilers: the soul in this universe is extremely and intrinsically tied to memories. Familiars’ bodies look the way their soul remembers their body is supposed to be, and familiars do something similar. When Rynd shifts to give herself wings she’s basically allowing herself access to the part of her avian mind that remembers what it feels like to have wings.

Fun note: Rynd actually only has one of each aspect of her form. For example, though she can give herself wings and place them where she wishes on her body, she only has one set of wings, because she only has one avian form. Sure, she could put them on her head to mock Vanaline if she wanted, but she couldn’t give herself three pairs of wings to complete the look.

Also, if a part of one of her forms’ bodies is injured, that injury heals at a normal rate. Rynd can spare herself some of the pain by shifting away from a form that has that part in it, like moving to a wingless form if one of her wings was injured, but if she tried to swap back, her wing would still be injured when she brought it out again unless it had had time to heal.

[renarinkholin]

How does Rynd's shape shifting work? is it magic, or inherent in her dna or something? does it take focusing or does it just happen in a snap of fingers when she decides? is there willpower involved? how is she so awesome?

Alright super long explanation inbound. The tl;dr version is it’s a racial trait as a person from Laenai but it pretty much works on magic rules because fantasy race. It’s actually, now that I think about it, a little bit like gem fusion...

Basically, shifters are born with a fully human form, but they’re somewhat malleable actually. They themselves can’t really change anything about their bodies on their own, but with help, their bodies are capable of being changed.

With training and focus, shifters can learn to create a bond with another creature or multiple, though usually not more than four or five. This bond is a permanent connection between the two, and a bit like summoning contracts, it must be consensual on both sides. Shifters often have to work with and learn about the creature they wish to bond with for months before the two know each other well enough to connect.

So, gem fusion comparison. When the connection finally happens, the shifter and her creature combine into one. They are, for a moment, two souls living in one body, and then even their souls merge. Now, these combined souls have two different physical memories, two distinctly different physical forms they can take. With focus, they can switch between one or another or they can combine the two into something new, expressing some traits from one body and some from another. 

Shifters can bond with multiple animals this way, and can then mix and match between a variety of traits, but it is an intense process each time. Shifters with many forms at their disposal are considered very prestigious and worthy of respect.

The “human” mind usually stays dominant, because of a shifter’s training, but they can access the memories and knowledge of their creature’s mind when needed. So a shifter who has gained an avian form doesn’t need to be taught how to fly. 

However, shifters must be careful not to give away too much of their headspace to the animal forms. Their animals’ minds do not have the training or intelligence to return control to the shifter mind after it has been given away. Many times, a shifter who has gone “feral” like this, whether intentionally or accidentally, will forget that they were once a sentient creature and never be able to return to their original self. Many feral shifters can continue to shapeshift (especially if they have multiple animal forms) on instinct, but rarely does the feral mind return to sentience.

Rynd has two forms aside from her base form, an avian shift and a feline shift, which she combines in a variety of ways, but often expresses as a griffon. In a very unique turn of events, Rynd was feral when she originally became Len’s familiar, but was able to be returned to sentience thanks to a very clever loophole in her contract.

As for why she’s awesome I’ll let her answer:

Rynd:

Because I’m the best, obviously! Len has had me the longest and I’m indisputably the most interesting, and my powers are great. So, yeah, don’t know what else to tell ‘ya!

[thegarybarnett]

When your at home in bed on your night off and you get a video of your bar packed! Awesome team. #RYND (at RYND)