Article 23: EL Formation
Before the year 1338, the term "Shape-shifter" referred to someone who had grown magically strong enough to use spells to alter their appearance, or used devices or artifacts to achieve the same effects. It was more a title than a racial group, although some species, such as the Mythic sub-species of Kitsune, did have some body-altering magics that seemed inherent to them. This title was generally reserved for some of the most powerful mages, as even these spells were incredibly difficult to learn for your average magic-user, though the more specific term Lycanthropy was the result of one of a series of powerful curses that had been developed. By what is debatably an incredible coincidence, there was something that many of the galaxy's legenday spellcasters had in common, and that was a genetic sequence they shared that has since been termed the "shift gene".
The shift gene had been identified and understood as a source of great magical potential centuries ago, records showing as early as the Legion War in the first century AD, and had even been sought and exploited by governments, corporations, and other associations who screened children for it hoping to be able to train them and produce beings of incredible magical potency. All sentient organic beings in the Milky Way share some amount of DNA in common, and the sequence that could become the shift gene was present in all of them. Strangely, though, while there was an increased probability of it passing through a family line, it could not be induced or altered into existence--every person has the potential to carry it, and no amount of genetic engineering could change whether they did or not, altered genes failing to activate and attempts to suppress the gene leading to it simply re-emerging later.
For centuries, the presence of this gene was simply a sign of luck and often a path to free mage scholarships for those who were tested and chose to apply themselves. Everyone, however, was free to pursue their own destiny regardless of the presence of the gene, until the day of the mass gene activation, colloquially referred to as the Great Galactic Shift.
Because there's not a single galactic time zone, the change occurred at different times of day for different people. For some, it woke them from their sleep. For others, it interrupted their work, or their schooling. For a few, it occurred at the best or worst times possible. For all of them, though, it meant the same thing--quickly, disturbingly, and unpredictably, their bodies changed into one completely alien to their own, often of another race, gender, or age. Mass confusion arose from the changes, and making things worse, all of the galaxy's already-unreliable subspace network had been knocked out as well, every frequency overcome by pulsing feedback noise that destroyed receivers that were turned on.
The forms that the shift gene carriers took oftentimes seemed deliberate or appropriate, but just as often were completely randomized. Some might have turned into a copy of a person, fictional or otherwise, that they respected or had a fondness for, while others might have had no idea who they now looked like, or looked like someone that had never before even been fictionalized. Adding further to it, with the passage of each Watcher standard day, they changed yet again, completely out of the control of those changing.
Without subspace to connect the planets of the more centrally-governed factions to their leaders, things began to rapidly get worse. The Golden Alliance and AP were hit hardest by the disruption in communications, messengers needing to be sent to send messages. Many of these were mis-sent or faked by opportunists, decimating trade and law enforcement in those areas. Some of those who were afflicted by the daily changes used their changing forms to their advantage, engaging in criminal activities with the understanding that they would be impossible to track the next day. This led to orders on many planets to permanently detain the new Shape-shifters indefinitely, either out of fear of their constantly changing identity or for their own safety against the witch hunts that were popping up across the galaxy.
Through all of this, there was something else, though it wasn't spoken of by the new Shape-shifters because they couldn't put it into words. It was, however, understood by the Elementals of many of the planets in what was now Golden Alliance territory. They called it "The Flux", and it was a sense of turmoil within each new Shape-shifter that extended not only to their physical bodies, but was the suspected source of the subspace interference. They needed to find a means to communicate with each other without subspace, discover a way to quell the flux within each new shape-shifter, and end the growing sentiment against them that was rising on planets across the galaxy. The Golden Alliance High Council, paranoid from the events swirling around them and the lack of proper communication channels, issued an edict that the Elementals were not allowed contact with the Shape-shifters out of fear that they would train them to be even more powerful and therefore potentially dangerous. While this decree was clearly not good for the Elementals, it gave those on the planet Duale an idea that stemmed from their own history.
Centuries ago, Duale was beset by a terrible Civil war that was only ended when two women merged to ascend into Megumi, a single Harmony Elemental. If such a thing were possible, the current Elementals of the planet surmised, surely the same could be done in reverse. It was from this idea that the first avatars were created, semi-ascended sentients with power divested directly from the Elementals as well as a portion of their soul, who could leave their home planets and interact with others on their behalf. Each Elemental on Duale turned a single worthy person into an avatar, then sent them out into the galaxy to inform the other Elementals of how to do the same. Many faced difficulties from planetary governments or other agents who wanted to keep the governmental disruptions strong, but within a few years the Elemental-inhabited planets within the local sector had all created a series of avatars, and they convened their first council. This council meeting was subject to more than a couple attacks, not only by saboteurs but also Golden Alliance fleets, and it was during this time that the avatars' weaknesses were discovered. As it turns out, if an avatar dies offworld, the essence invested in them disperses through the site of their death, and while retrieving it is possible, others who are present for the death can absorb portions of this essence. The avatars collectively realized that this council meeting couldn't be done often, and couldn't be done for long thanks to the risk it presented, as someone with a powerful enough fleet could wipe out the entire council and find a way to absorb their scattered essences for themselves, becoming a much greater threat.
Because of the urgency with which something had to be done, the decision was made by the avatars that the Elementals' planets were to secede from their previous galactic factions. In exchange for what eventually became control over the faction's logistical infrastructure, a number of corporate fleets agreed to assist in the secession, and when the news was brought back to the Elementals' planets, they helped rally the populaces in support of the breaking of ties to the Golden Alliance. Thanks to the lack of a subspace network to coordinate attacks or blockades, the new Elemental League was able not only to take over their own planets, but force other planets within the GA and other factions to assist in a mass migration of Shape-shifters. As it turned out, many Shape-shifters were drawn to specific planets where the elemental balance was more attuned to the calm state of their Flux. With the guidance of the planets' Elementals, the Shape-shifters slowly learned how to harness and calm their Flux to allow them to choose their shape at will. As more and more of them did this, the interference in subspace slowly subsided, until it was back to its original function. Though the GA could have retaken the planets that made up the new Elemental League, they saw it as a bad idea not only for the negative public reaction it would have, but for the danger of plunging the galaxy back into chaos. The Elemental League was formally recognized as a faction some fifty years after its formation, and most within it celebrate the Watcher standard new year's day as a special holiday.
Today, the shift gene seems to be more common among family lines--most Shape-shifters will have Shape-shifter children, and most non-Shape-shifters will have non-Shape-shifter children, but for the few Shape-shifter children born outside the EL, they will eventually feel the draw of the Flux and will have to make a pilgrimage, usually to an EL planet, to learn to control their abilities, and treaties allowing for the facilitation of this process have been written with all factions. In the intervening years, the corporate conglomerates that control shipping between EL planets have mutated into what are practically cartels draining resources from Elemental League worlds, but the planets themselves are still considered some of the most peaceful and tolerant in the galaxy, and are second only to Legion worlds in their care for those planets' environments.
