Animal shapeshifting idea

Alright. So I was at my final exam today (no more high school~ Hooraaaah~) and on my way home I thought of all this.



I imagined people who could shape into animals based on their heritage. I.e., African people could only shape into animals from their region in Africa, the Japanese only into animals from Japan, etc. Not everyone in the world is able to, but some people are, for whatever reason. Because of fear, a global law is passed to capture these people and place them in an artifical environment for research, though possibly due to government conspiracy or something, they've set it up so it would be possible for the characters to kill each other with no reprocussions. Basically, trying to recreate nature and observe what they do.



This shape-shifting is less like transforming into the creature and more like just switching into the body of one, only the body is in a parallel dimension. Or something. I'm using psuedo-science here. xDD



But because of the way the human brain is wired, these people can only shift into one animal, which needs to be a close enough analogue to human. This means the creature should be a land-bound mammal, as well as either a carnivore or an omnivore. The exception would be animals like the whale or dolphin, but there will be no oceans here, so they're excluded still.



These animals must be regular animals with just human essence. This would mean no colours, markings, or any other such things impossible in nature. Though conditions that would allow for irregular colours are allowed, i.e., albinism or melanism (black panthers are an example of this), without the character having these traits themselves. Hybrids would also be allowed, but only ones that have either been documented or are deemed scientificly. Genetic splices are exempt from this; they need to be able to be produced naturally. Ligers, thus, would be allowed.



Now, obviously we wouldn't want lots of hybrid characters running about, or even duplicate regulars. So only one character per animal. In this case, sub-species would count as all one species. This way we wouldn't have timber wolves and arctic wolves and gray wolves all running around. There are plenty more interesting canine species, anyways. :3



While in animal forms, characters may communicate through psychic brain waves or something. These waves radiate out, and can be heard by anyone within range, though the range can be reduces or increased to a certain extent, like shouting or whispering. Not sure if emotion would be conveyed through this 'voice' or only through body language.



Obviously this would all be subject to change. Not sure if I'd restrict it to intermediate players or open it up to beginners as well.



Of course, I just want to see if there's actually anyone interested.
Regardless, if this went on to become something in actual, I would likely stake interest in playing characters who are a leopon (the result of a male leopard and a female lion) and a hyena.



That is, if anybody stick through that giant wall of text.

So no glow in the dark house cats?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9833107-1.html
Lol jk. I like the concept, though. Let's see, question time:
what about extinct animals? Many countries /used/ to have X animal but it no longer exists there.

Are there any size restrictions? Lions and leopards and the like are decently similar to humans in size, where as things like polar bears and lemurs really are not.

You said carnivores, may I ask why no herbivores? Technically humans are omnivores so why allow the stray in one direction and not the other?

Will the humans display physical characteristics of the animal who's form they take on? I.E. hair color, eye color shape face, or will they share no similarities?

If the government knows about these people, is it general knowledge for all people? Will there be groups similar to PETA on the side of these creatures?

Will there be any guidelines to the pace of the RP? One that I was in simply moved too quickly for my schedule while another more or less stalled out while I politely await the return of a player who said they are still interested in play.

Any how, interested in case you hadn't picked that up ;p

---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------

and random side note, but red wolves have technically been found to be more of a coyote/wolf hybrid than true wolves, so would kind of be separate, right? Turns out wolves and coyotes have been doin it in nature for so long that we didn't even recognize the hybrid until genetics got involved.

test 2

Let's see if regular typing will make it through instead of copy+paste.

Okay, so far so good. I'll take this in stages.

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Originally Posted by Aerion

what about extinct animals? Many countries /used/ to have X animal but it no longer exists there.

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I was thinking about that. I'm not entirely sure what to say on extinct animals, though I think it would open up some interesting options. So I guess I'd say okay to that, as long as people were around when they were alive, even only as cavemen.

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Originally Posted by Aerion

Are there any size restrictions? Lions and leopards and the like are decently similar to humans in size, where as things like polar bears and lemurs really are not.

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I was trying to think about where to draw the line there too. I think size shouldn't matter, as long as the rest of the animal has its analogues. That way people can have neat critters like badgers and wolverines, and maybe even squirrels. Since people can live on nuts~

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Originally Posted by Aerion

You said carnivores, may I ask why no herbivores? Technically humans are omnivores so why allow the stray in one direction and not the other?

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People can't digest cellulose, so our bodies are very inefficent at extracting nutrients from plant matter. I suppose animals that also eat fruit could be exempt from this, because despite the cellulose, we get a lot from fruit. Basically, I excluded herbavores because the digestive systems don't compare so much as other parts do. Also, most herbavores, if not all, tend to be prey animals, and thus have a different set of instincts, though this was less of the reasoning since there are plenty of overlaps still, such as the instinct to procreate or the fight-or-flight instinct.

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Originally Posted by Aerion

Will the humans display physical characteristics of the animal who's form they take on? I.E. hair color, eye color shape face, or will they share no similarities?

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Perhaps they'll share some similarities, but colour definitely wouldn't transfer over as truly, as the colour still has to be natural to the animal. So perhaps someone who has lighter-coloured hair would have their animal form as being lighter-coloured for its species. Body size could come into play in this way as well. But since in my mind the animal and the human body are entirely seperate (that is, if you harm the animal body, the wound does not translate to the human body, though perhaps some bodily energy is still lost), the forms can look entirely different with little to compare. I also thought it'd be interesting to leave it like that so that someone could make a petite, innocent, pale character who could then turn around and turn into a menacing, black creature. That way there's more freedom to manipulate the traits of the animal form, to make up for the fact that you can't have glow-in-the-dark kitties. :3

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Originally Posted by Aerion

If the government knows about these people, is it general knowledge for all people? Will there be groups similar to PETA on the side of these creatures?

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I'd imagine they'd be general knowledge, yes, though the government probably would have a cover-up story, saying that they've built a test-community for these shifters, a community tailored to their 'special needs', such as having more open land and nature and things. That would just be the pamplet, of course~ So even then, not all the shifters would be rounded up, but a good number. I'd say there'd be a PETA-like group for them that may or may not know about what's really going on inside the compound. Maybe they don't at first and are happy the government has provided a sort of protection for these shifters from the rest of the population, but then they find out or something. Idk. Because of the restrictiveness of the compound, the shifters would have no clue what was going on the outside, but maybe in the Journal section of these here forums there could be kept a researcher's log as sort of a flavour-text area to expand the players' knowledge on what's going on, but still keep the characters in the dark.

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Originally Posted by Aerion

Will there be any guidelines to the pace of the RP? One that I was in simply moved too quickly for my schedule while another more or less stalled out while I politely await the return of a player who said they are still interested in play.

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I haven't run a roleplay myself in a long time, though I'm familiar with pacing issues. I myself don't post everyday like some people do, but for a group-roleplay where I make sure not to write absolute novels I can post every few days, though since I'm going to post-secondary soon I don't know how that'll change with its schedule. So while it'd be nice to regulate the pace, I'm not sure what that pace should be.


As far as players who respond practically never, I think there can be some fail-safes that could be put into place. While that person may not be kicked out for good, say that your character was stuck in a conversation with another, and the person hadn't responded in a significant amount of time. Myself and other select people could have characters that maybe usually don't come into play, and are just said to be wandering about on their own. Then, it could be deemed which character would be most appropriate to 'interrupt' the conversation, and possibly even allow for the opprotunity for you character to move to another area. I have more ideas about this, but that's the general gist. :3

Your interest is met with glee~ I love answering questions. :3

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Originally Posted by Aerion

and random side note, but red wolves have technically been found to be more of a coyote/wolf hybrid than true wolves, so would kind of be separate, right? Turns out wolves and coyotes have been doin it in nature for so long that we didn't even recognize the hybrid until genetics got involved.

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I read about that~ Do you read from

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Originally Posted by Nyan Cat

I was thinking about that. I'm not entirely sure what to say on extinct animals, though I think it would open up some interesting options. So I guess I'd say okay to that, as long as people were around when they were alive, even only as cavemen.

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yay that means dire wolves are an option xp

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Originally Posted by Nyan Cat

People can't digest cellulose, so our bodies are very inefficent at extracting nutrients from plant matter. I suppose animals that also eat fruit could be exempt from this, because despite the cellulose, we get a lot from fruit. Basically, I excluded herbavores because the digestive systems don't compare so much as other parts do. Also, most herbavores, if not all, tend to be prey animals, and thus have a different set of instincts, though this was less of the reasoning since there are plenty of overlaps still, such as the instinct to procreate or the fight-or-flight instinct.

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Okay I got your point, I can see excluding bovines for this reason, and sadly even equines (though there are so many interesting ones ;p) No lapines either, right? (bunnies, hares, etc) and worst of all, nooo PANDAS u.u! lol Though what about people who live on "raw food diets?" And we can't live off all protein either (yes there are those diets but there are also no meat diets >.>) They may include some fruit but no legumes. And also herbivores, though traditionally 'prey' animals can be rough suckers! Look at elephants and hippos for example (though hippos may be omni just because they don't discern plant and animal matter much?) Any way outside of those smaller and cuter, rams have a viscous er ram and err cattle and bison outside of the tummy issues can be rough. Have you seen reindeer fighting?
Ha ha not trying to argue just umm my debate side is coming out? Plus I've always held issue with the concept that humans are more like carnivores than herbivores. Personally, I think both the atkins diets and the raw foods diets are a bit silly. I eat what I ish made to eat. You can just tell me to drop this one if you like though ;p

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Originally Posted by Nyan Cat

I haven't run a roleplay myself in a long time, though I'm familiar with pacing issues. I myself don't post everyday like some people do, but for a group-roleplay where I make sure not to write absolute novels I can post every few days, though since I'm going to post-secondary soon I don't know how that'll change with its schedule. So while it'd be nice to regulate the pace, I'm not sure what that pace should be.

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with the post per day limit some one else brought up? ha ha i dunno was just gonna ask.

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Originally Posted by Nyan Cat

I read about that~ Do you read from

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what what??

(I HOPE THIS WORKS)


I actually was thinking over the herbivores bit today while at the dentist, and I think I'll allow them, because, like you said, there are some pretty bad-ass ones. Like the extinct megaceros, I think it's called. Extinct deer with HUMONGOUS horns.

The post limit thing brought up could definitely work. The exact post limit would be difficult to determine, especially if beginners were allowed in. So I guess it would have to be intermediate players to have the limit work well.

Do you read... from Cracked? Humorous and informative site, that is~

Also, the red wolf would be allowed because of its hybrid status and its characteristics that separate it from its normal kin.

---------- Post added at 09:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 PM ----------

F-yes it worked.

Yay for the ability to play herbivores *dances over pointless counter point success* lol.

No I just have a sick obsession with science and history specials. I dun have cable but I watch them on my netflix and online so I pick up lots of interesting facts (don't get me started on the wonders of the DOG sliding gene or the human epigene). I was also at some point in my distant history writing fiction ish novel about a world with out humans in which various of the other "higher classed" animals gained enough intelligence and muscle skills for speech and society building. In doing research for this I picked up about a bajillion little animal factiods. How ever, I may check that place out now ^_^ Humurous AND Informative sounds awesome!

<3


I love biology, though classical genetics is my thing. Alleles and X-linked traits and incomplete dominance and all that. I'm afraid if someone breaks the rules of classical genetics in such a roleplay as this that I'd automatically try to school them. I need to suppress that urge. xDD

But I love taking in facts~ And going on information binges.

So lesse. There's nothing really stopping me from making this roleplay right now besides busybusyness. And maybe the uncertainty of other people being interested. I mean, I'm sure there'd be lots who'd like the ideas, but idk if they'd like the restrictions. But whatever. They're there for a reasssssooooooon!