• plural they/them/themselves

lorenziniforce
@lorenziniforce

Young wizard casts an area of effect spell of Reveal True Forms and immediately transforms into something distinctly and comfortingly nonhuman


Perpetual-Motion
@Perpetual-Motion

"Shapeshifters of all sorts have been known throughout history, often as infiltrators. But that is a harmful and barely surface-level understanding. By their nature, shapeshifters exist as a perpetual Diaspora, alienated from..." The professor's droning voice threatened to put Ellen to sleep. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, shapeshifters had been a fascination of hers since she was a child. The problem was that she already knew all of this. She'd signed up for this class for some more cutting-edge insights from one of the premier scholars in the field, not Arcane Sociology 101.


Her gaze drifted to the solitary window in the lecture hall, a skylight cracked open for a semblance of air flow in the otherwise stuffy old building. What she wouldn't give to be out there instead of here. Free in the skies rather than stuck at a desk. But it just wasn't meant to be, it seemed. The thing about true shapeshifters was that it was nearly impossible to be one and not know it. She'd even paid out of pocket to get tested and confirm she wasn't a crib-swapped changeling, one of the only kinds that could be unaware of their own nature. And yet here she was, yearning for something she couldn't have, because she just had to be born as a mortal fleshy human whose body didn't contain enough magic for polymorphic spells to be of any effect. At least if she didn't want to just be transmuted into a puddle as her cellular structure was painfully dissolved. She yawned, which unfortunately caught the notice of the professor, and a loud snap erupted from her desk as he set off an illusory firecracker on it.

"Miss Keen, if you already know the subject, then you should have no issue answering this next question: Why is it that classical anti-polymorphic methods are less than ideal for security in the current age?"

"Because the vast majority of shapeshifters are just going about normal lives, mostly taking forms because that's just who they know they are. They aren't being deceptive, so barring them from public spaces or otherwise forcing them to reveal themselves is cruel and demeaning." This was less scientific fact and more political opinion, at least in academia, but Ellen knew a trick question when she saw one. The class was called Polymorphic Social Theory, after all. Trying to be cold and empirical about it would have walked right into the point the professor was trying to make. And judging by the look on his face, she had beaten him to the punch.

"An excellent answer. It is always a pleasure to teach someone already aware of some nuance. But please pay attention from now on. The basics had to be covered first to get to more complex ideas." The professor walked into the middle of the hall and pulled away small area rug, revealing the telltale glint of a spell circle, painted on an easily disposable piece of poster-board and taped to the floor. "This circle contains a standard anti-polymorph spell, the effects of which force any shapeshifter who enters into their 'natural' form, or more accurately, the form they were born in." He nearly broke decorum as he said "natural," the venom in his tone showing no shortage of resentment for the term. "Allow me to demonstrate."

He stepped into the circle and in an instant the graying man in his 50's was replaced by a blank, white suggestion of the human form, almost like a mannequin made of polished porcelain. The birth-form of a Changeling. This elicited a handful of gasps from the students who hadn't done even cursory research on who was actually teaching the class. He swiftly exited the circle and returned to his usual appearance.

"As you can see, it is extremely jarring both to see and to experience. But I would like to demonstrate an alternative. Mister Green, if you'd please." One of the students in the class Ellen didn't personally know stood up and walked to the front of the class. "Emil Green is a publicly known shapeshifter. A dragon, to be precise. He has agreed to assist me in this demonstration. However, we also require a non-shapeshifter to participate as a control. Are there any volunteers? Several hands were raised, Ellen's included. "Miss Keen, since you were kind enough to expedite today's lecture, you can be our volunteer."

"What do you need me to do, sir?" Ellen asked, quickly descending the stairs into the center of the hall.

"I have developed a spell in conjunction with a few colleagues that could potentially replace the need for invasive anti-polymorph measures, once it is made more efficient. I would like you to participate in a casting of it."

"Oh, uh. I'm not all that powerful of a mage," Ellen balked, somewhat embarrassed. "Doing something big like that is probably takes more mana than I have."

"I have accounted for that. The spell circle is set up to be a mana battery, you will expend it in casting your portion of the spell. It reduces the need for more thorough disabling spells later." The professor smiled kindly and gestured to the circle. "Please step forward, and we can begin."

Ellen complied, silently musing about how funny it'd be if she'd be disqualified if it turned out someone missed something and the circle turned her into something else. It didn't, of course, and the professor explained the basic principles.

"As you alluded to in your answer, the danger posed by malicious shapeshifters is one of deception, not of their shapeshifting itself. Therefore, we have worked to hybridize polymorphic magic with divination similar to Truth Fields. Rather than prevent people from telling lies, it would prevent their form from lying, working to restore a 'True Form', rather than a 'birth form.' Cosmological Truth is not always ideal to use, as it is rather literal in its determinations and falters in the face of pure opinion, but it is a far cry more humane than the current solutions."

Ellen nodded and silently took in the instructions for her part. A few incantations and a short set of somatic components. The more experienced spellcasters would take on the more complex portions. The expected outcome of the demonstration would be that the spell would affect all three of them, returning Emil to his usual draconic form, and leaving Ellen and the Professor both unchanged, despite the Professor being a shapeshifter himself. She was thrilled to get to see a dragon up close. They almost never removed their alternate guises in human company to avoid being disruptive.

Emil started, and Ellen braced herself. Each stage of the spell would only take a few moments. After a few guttural words in his native tongue and several sharp and quick gestures, the Professor continued, clearly carrying most of the mental burden, as his incantation was a steady chant with minimal movement. And then Ellen did her part, uttering a few short phrases as she drew power from the circle beneath her feet. She slowly pointed it towards the center of the three of them and said the final phrase, and then-


The cheap carpeting of the lecture hall floor scratched at Ellen's face as shouts of alarm and panic rang in her ears. People were fleeing the room.

She was on the floor. She was on a lot of the floor, stretched out in directions that didn't make sense, but didn't seem wrong, either. One of her limbs was draped over the bottom step of the stairs, despite having been about six feet away when she last looked. Did the spell explode? Could the professor have really been that careless?

"Ellen! Ellen, is that you? Are you in there?" A deep, rumbling voice she had never heard before called out to her, asking the strangest questions.

"What are you talking about?" She tried to answer, only for her voice to fail her, a harsh screech exiting her throat instead. It should have been horrifying, but she recognized it instantly, nearly bursting with joy. It was the sound she heard in her dreams, the cry of the wonderful creature she'd always wished she could inhabit. She leapt to her feet, the fact that there were four of them now not hindering her in the slightest, and looked up at the person speaking to her. A magnificent green-scaled dragon stared down at her with the deepest concern in his eyes. It was Emil.

"Ellen, if you understand me, just nod."

She nodded vigorously, feeling the wonderful weight and shape of her new head for the first time. An idea broke through the haze of confusion and joy, one that would make things so much easier. She wasn't human, but she was still a mage. One who knew how to perform some simple auditory illusions. She raised a talon and performed the somatic components of a Ventriloquism spell with ease, "throwing her voice" nowhere and just using it project a voice from herself instead.

"There, how's that?" She asked in her old voice.

"Much better," the professor said from her left, clearly rattled by what he had just witnessed. "I would apologize for failing to anticipate the edge case of a non-shapeshifter having a non-human 'truth,' but I get the feeling that you... aren't at all that displeased with this outcome."

"Nope!" Ellen was far too giddy to ask any proper questions. "Anyone got a mirror?"

"Allow me." Emil waved a claw and and illusory glass surface shimmered into existence in front of Ellen, finally letting her get a look at herself. A lithe and poised griffin stared back at her, the speckled black and white feathers of a falcon messily blending into the black and yellow spots of a cheetah. Two sleek and powerful wings lay folded on her sides, and she flexed them as if she had always had them. She was powerful, built for speed. "Not having to pass for something you're not anymore must be quite the relief."

"Certainly. Unfortunately, there is going to be no shortage of paperwork for you to fill out, since I don't think you are able to change back," the professor said. "You didn't become a shapeshifter, you just had your form 'corrected' to a more 'truthful' reality."

"Well, at least we know your spell works!" Ellen said, punctuating the sentence with a cheerful chirp. "Oh! We could refine it to help others reach true forms, too! This could change everything!" The griffin rambled on and on about the possibilities, only stopping once she was informed that she would have to return home for the time being so that government officials could get her situation sorted. A griffin with no proper ID causing a disturbance at a primarily-human school was a recipe for an international incident. Emil offered to escort her, and while having to stay put sucked, she knew it was just going to be short-term. And right now, it was time to stretch her wings and fly. "Let's go!"


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