Changelings

The Mirrorborn
Copies of this pamphlet were first distributed freely and anonymously throughout the north of Unsere in 433 JDF. It has since been reproduced numerous times, with new surges of the publication appearing at least once every ten to fifteen years.

''There abounds much misinformation surrounding the Mirrorborn, the shapeshifting race of individuals commonly known as changelings. Many layfolk confuse or conflate their kind with the comparatively monstrous doppelganger, and it is little surprise as to why. Both are humanoids with the uncanny ability to change their form into that of another being. Both use this ability to blend into society and to avoid detection. Both are generally feared by greater society. Truly, if one takes only a cursory surface glance at these two species, there is little to give away how wildly different they truly are. For that, one must look deeper, particularly in regards to their respective origins.''

''The doppelganger is, at its core, a monstrosity. While the facts of its exact origins are unknown, it is widely speculated and accepted to have originated in the Shadowfel, having migrated into the Material Plane eons ago, perhaps even before the Shattering. How exactly their kind made their way into our world from the Shadowfel is unknown, no matter what some self-important scholars may claim. Popular theories include that they were first summoned by shortsighted mortals seeking to bind powerful agents to their sides, while others paint their kind as spies and forward scouts for some grand fel invasion that will one day sweep across the land, leaving our world in perpetual darkness. Whatever their origin, their kind has been in the world (and a plague upon it), far longer than most modern nation states. This is not true for the changeling.''

''Two centuries ago, shortly following the conclusion of the Klargesehen War, Doktor Hemet Reinfeld began conducting experiments regarding the biology of the pseudo-lycanthropic shifters native to the Vanemwood. It was his hope that with the proper formulas, he could develop an elixir that could replicate the bestial strength of shifters in the bodies of other humanoids without any need for petitioning fickle fey spirits for their intervention. Dozens of captive shifters and test subjects died in the laboratories of Doktor Reinfeld. He of course never succeeded in creating artificial shifters, but his work was not entirely fruitless. Those test subjects who survived his later experimentation did develop shapeshifting capabilities, albeit far different from those the mad Doktor had intended on. These survivors were the first of the Mirrorborn, victims who in exchange for their powers to change their form into any other humanoid, had lost all semblance of their own prior identities. Stricken with grief and a thirst for justice, the Mirrorborn murdered Doktor Reinfeld and in the dead of night nailed his corpse to the front doors of the Free Alchemists Union guild hall, his research notes pinned to his chest. ''

''Thanks to their newfound ability to conceal their identities, the killers were never discovered. Reinfeld was posthumously expelled from the Union and stripped of his credentials. His assets were liquidated back into the guild while his research was locked away lest some other depraved mind would think to replicate his vile work. The Union did its best to conceal the fact that Reinfeld’s labor had indeed produced a new race of shapeshifting beings who were now scattered throughout the populace of the north. Indeed, there is no public record which recounts the aforementioned events in the level of detail I have given them here. Given that, you may be tempted to ask how it is that I can speak to the veracity of this account, and that would be a fair thing to ask. The answer is fairly mundane. This story has been in my family for generations now, passed down from parent to child until it reached me. The first who told it was my great grandmother, an eyewitness to Doktor Reinfeld’s demise, for it was she who plunged the dagger into his neck and nailed his body to the doors of the Free Alchemists Union.''

''The Mirrorborn are not monstrosities looking to bring about some fel apocalypse. We are people with all the curses and blessings that come with that fact, doing whatever we can to survive in a world that would sooner see us dead. We hunger, we thirst, we cry and we bleed. For better or worse, and whether you want us to be or not, the Mirrorborn are just like you.''