Hey I just wondered, how does shapeshifting works for the likes of Reed? Is it just a facade, just a 'skin'? Or do they totally change, for example, if they were to see a dragon and turn into one, could that come with breathing flames? Or just the look? Also, now that I think about it, can they just change in anything they think about or is it a 'copy reality' kind of deal?
Nope! Their shapeshifting is lineage based. This takes a bit to explain so bear with me. I’m getting better at making it shorter and shorter to type each time. Lets designate them some letters just for shits and giggles. So we have 26 individuals A-Z. A is the original AE in this scenario. A decides to merge B into the lineage. What this now means is that if they survive, B can shapeshift into A. On top of that they also have all of A’s memories up until that point. This also comes with a lot of emotional baggage they have to process before they can take on A’s shape entirely.B eventually can become just like A. Genetically the lineage now consists of A and B. B eventually merges C into the lineage. C now has genetic material from A and B. C can interchange between itself, A, and B, or mix the three together into any number of combinations. Eventually you’d get to Y merging Z into the lineage. Z has the longest lineage of any of them, containing genetic material and memories from A-Y. Once Z is able to utilize A’s shape, they can merge others as well. It takes a very long time before that happens usually but for an individual to figure out a shape but it doesn’t happen in any particular order either. Z at this point can also trade genetically with A and pass over some genetic material in exchange for others that it may have acquired. A is the only original AE. B-Z are all AV but can eventually become fully recognized AE that are almost indistinguishable from a naturally born AE. When it comes to the actual shapeshifting it is a mix between understanding the biology behind a shape (whether it’s a natural shape or a hybrid), being able to cycle matter into place from energy and back again, and having an understanding of the memories linked to those shapes by the original entity the genetic material came from. It’s all done at the molecular level but it’s a blend between intuition and conscious intention. In short. Reed can’t copy anything he doesn’t have the genetics for. He CAN however make convincing recreations for a lot of things but it takes a while to commit that new shape to memory so he can shift fast. Creating a new hybrid shape takes a lot of time and there is a huge chance of things being biologically incompatible which could cause pain and severe injury. Given that he does have various shapes that would be needed in recreating a dragon-like creature he totally could. He’s got a really wide variety of things he can change into. So do most AV. Lineages are usually a few thousand species deep. That’s a lot of colors to paint with.
