Shape Shifting

"It seemed a slim woman for a moment, Then it was not hair, but great, curved horns from some wide, uncertain brow, whose crook-legged owner struggled to shuffle hoofs along the blazing way. Then something else, An enormous cat, A faceless woman...A bright winged thing of indescribable beauty, A tower of ashes."
- Corwin, The Guns of Avalon

 

All whose origins involve Chaos are Shape Shifters. The harsh environment of Chaos can only be survived in for long by someone with the power to shift their shape to adapt to the deadly environment. With shape shifting a character can control any aspect of his shape, he can assume the form of nearly any creature or element and even take the form of others.

Shape Shifting is a power gained by birth, it cannot normally be learned, one is either born a shape shifter or not. Only those from or near Chaos are true Shape Shifters although many other creatures can take more then one form.

"I was older than I appeared to be. (Thirtyish, I'd seemed when I looked at me in the mirror--but now I knew that it was because the shadows would lie for me.) I was far, far older..."
-Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Shape Shifting gives the character the ability to control the stuff of shadow that makes up his form. This allows a Shape Shifter to take nearly any form with only two limitations: A Characters form must obey the laws of shadow around it, and it is harder to shift one's form the farther from Chaos one gets (due to there being more laws of shadow as one moves farther from Chaos.) Thus, in The Courts of Chaos a Shape Shifter has few limitations on how he may change form. Slipping from one form to another there has few restrictions, is easy, and requires little or no energy.

Rank System:

The following is a list of abilities commonly known of among the Lords of Chaos. Characters can attempt to learn some or all of these abilities, depending on how many points they spend in Shape Shifting. There are many other abilities as well, although abilities other then those listed are possessed by few of the family members and are generally not common knowledge. Characters wanting to have abilities above and beyond those listed here will need to have more then 40 points in Shape Shifting. The higher level abilities of Shape Shifting vary from shifter to shifter. The exact abilities a character can purchase will need to be worked out with the GM.

Shape Shift:

"Except maybe a Lord of Chaos," I replied, as I shifted my awareness to various points within my body. Rough work. The faster you do it the more painful it is."

"My arms began to lengthen and I felt my shirt tear across my back as I leaned forward. The bones in my face shifted about and my chest expanded and expanded. . . ."
-Merlin, Blood of Amber

Shape Shifters can take nearly any form near Chaos, as the move farther from chaos changing form becomes more difficult and their forms become more limited as the number of shadow laws they must obey increase. To change to a learned Form takes anywhere from a few seconds to half a minuet depending on how different it is from the current form, and how much energy the character is willing to spend to make the change.

He absorbed a chair from the room's corner for extra mass, changing
shape to accommodate my adult size. As I climbed upon his elongated torso,
catching a firm hold, he exelaimed, "Ah, Merlin What magics do you bear
these days?"
-Merlin, Prince of Chaos

It's possible for a Lord of Chaos to raise and lower their weight and size by absorbing nearby organic material. Adding or subtracting Strength to a form takes about a second per point added or subtracted. Characters may add up to their Shape Shifting to their original Strength or may reduce their size and Strength by any amount, although reducing size WILL lower Strength. (No Strength 8 flies...)

When creating forms, characters may work in a number of Features to enhance their form. Features are built in things like claws, wings, or armor. The Strength and effectiveness of these features are determined by their description, and to some extent the ability of the Shape Shifter.

Shift Wounds:

"...My left shoulder hinting and my right leg sore also. If I could get the pain under control before I retransformed myself there was a chance that much of it would fade during the anatomical reshuffling. The process itself would probably leave me pretty tired, however. It takes a lot of energy, and switching twice this close together could be somewhat prostrating..."
-Merlin, Blood of Amber

Characters may use Shape Shifting to speed up the healing process in their body. This will quickly tire the character, but is capable of healing minor wounds in minuets. There is a danger however, characters who try to push their body too far or heal too deep of a wound may find themselves wasting their energy and making matters worse by needlessly exhausting their body.

Shift Organs:

"I beat that dark blade aside and my lunge was perfect. The center of its breast was my target. I ran it through.
It howled then, but did not fall. Grayswandir was torn from my grasp and flames bloomed about the wound. It stood there wearing them. It advanced a step toward me and I picked up a small chair and held it between us.
"I do not keep my heart where men do," it said.
-- Corwin vs. Strygalldwir, The Guns of Avalon

This skill allows characters to mix and match organs between forms, create spare organs, or even come up with totally new ones. This ability also allows characters to give their forms extra arms or other limbs. This ability also makes a Lord of Chaos MUCH harder to kill.

Mimic:

"And yourself?" I continued. "What face would you put on things?"
"Why, to win your good will I'll match you," he said, and then he began to laugh.
He threw his head back, and as his laughter rang about me a change came over him. His stature seemed to increase, and his face luffed like a sail cut too close to the wind. The hump on his back was diminished as he straightened and stood taller. His features rearranged themselves and his beard darkened. By then it was obvious that he was somehow redistributing his body mass, for the nightshirt which had reached his ankles was now midway up his shins. He breathed deeply and his shoulders widened. His arms lengthened, his bulging abdomen narrowed, tapered. He reached shoulder height on me, then higher. He looked me in the eye. His garment reached only to his knees. His hump was totally resorbed. His face gave a final twist, his features steadied, were reset. His laughter fell to a chuckle, faded, closed with a smirk.
I regarded a slightly slimmer version of myself.
-Corwin, the Hand of Oberon

Characters at this level can fine tune their features to exactly match the form of another character or creature. Unless they absorb more mass however, their Size won't change, and they may end up slimmer or heavier then those they copy.

Shape Blood:

"Corwin, I have made my decisions and the time has come," he said. "Bare your left arm."
I did this, as his form continued to grow in substantiality, looking more and more regal the while, a strange sadness on his face, of a sort I had never seen there before.
He took hold of my arm with his left hand and drew his dagger with his right.
I watched as he cut my arm, then resheathed his blade. The blood came forth, and he cupped his left hand and caught it. He released my arm, covered his left hand with his right and drew away from me. Raising his hands to his face, he blew his breath into them and drew them quickly apart.
A crested red bird the size of a raven, its feathers all the color of my blood, stood on his hand, moved to his wrist, looked at me. Even its eyes were red, and there was a look of familiarity as it cocked its head and regarded me.
"He is Corwin, the one you must follow," he told the bird. "Remember him."
-Corwin and Oberon, The Courts of Chaos

Characters may use this ability to shapechange their blood into any form they themselves can take with the limit that the creature must be small, usually no more then Amber Strength unless the character is willing to sacrifice a great amount of Endurance. Creatures shaped with your blood will have a measure of your powers and strengths, they can travel through shadow using the powers of their creator and may have features worked into them as well.