Chapter 4: Empathy, Grudge, and Resonance shifting
"Whoo! Finally a subject change! Well kind of…" Eranoth shouted with his bloodshot eyes.
"This time I want to share a bit about a rarer type of shapeshifting. It is known as empathy and resonance shifting. In order to understand empathy shifting one must first comprehend empathy."
Eranoth rubbed his temples and tried opening his heart to no avail. "Dang, I am still too heartless of a person to empathize with others…" He sighed as he pulled up the webnovel app on his phone to get some minutes of reading while typing up things.
"Empathy in its simplest form is connecting with another being emotionally. To be empathetic is a bit more difficult than being sympathetic. There is a type of 'spiritual' power people claim to have that relates to empathy. They are called Empaths. Empaths, by the way, make great minor characters when you have another character who tries to keep everything hidden, especially from the readers."
Eranoth snorted as he thought about his one friend who isn't a webnovel writer who has shown empathic tendencies. "Actually most of my knowledge about empaths came from him."
"An empath is someone who can feel what others feel. At the least, they can pick up on the emotions of others and experience them themselves. To the opposite extreme, they can feel the other person's pain, and non-emotional things they feel. Personally, my response is, IT'S MY PAIN DANG IT! LEAVE YOURSELF OUT OF IT!"
"There is lore somewhere out there that basically says the more you empathize with someone the more like them you become. Empathy shifting actually stems from this concept."
Eranoth sighed. "Trust me, this one surprisingly shows up in writing more often than you would think."
"Empathy shifting has many ways to apply it and it isn't very restrictive as empathy can be formed towards objects as well and living beings depending on your world lore. By developing a connection beyond that of a normal Empath; one can not only change their shape, they can change the type of presence they give off as well. There are some dragon legends regarding shapeshifting that fall under this category. Among the very rare non-arrogant dragons there is a species of dragon that will 'disguise' itself as other creatures and live among them. It developed that ability because it uses high amounts of empathy to become the same species. If I recall correctly, they were a species of green dragons. Most dragons however have too much pride to use this form of shapeshifting."
"Empathy shifting is rarely permanent unless desired however it often comes with side effects. Because you empathize to change, some of the things that were empathized will often secretly remain. For example if a human empathy shifted into a dog, after they end the transformation of 'being a dog' on more than just the physical level they may find themselves scratching behind their ears more often as habits are easily formed but hard to break. The longer you empathy shift the more like the creature you will remain when you end the shifting."
"There are a few things to remember with empathy shifting.
1:The adaption period to learn how to act as the creature is almost non-existent as empathy grants you a piece of the creature's experience.
2: Partial Empathy shifting is also valid. In fact, it is more common because it is a transition stage between Empath and Empathic Shapeshifter. Partial shifting has less side effects.
3: Side effect and backlash often occur. As I mentioned before habits are easily formed. Backlash of empathy shifting comes from Empathy's supposed opposite, Apathy. Feelings of Apathy (or not caring, which I am an expert of…) while under the effects of Empathy shifting can cause great harm to the user. Form lock mentioned in chapter 3, Amplified side effects, Mutations, Physical or mental harm, Form ejection or rejection, and other things can happen.
4: It only works if your character can create that bond even if it is only one way.
5: Empathy shifting isn't always appreciated. Some people would find it rather disturbing. After all, it is the "I feel you." Form of shapeshifting.
6: The methods of forming empathy can easily range from very basic to very adult content. Be wise when you choose your method of forming empathy. Don't let the forming of empathy ruin your story.
Eranoth shook his head. "You can see why I have had no success with empathy shifting in real life with how apathetic I am… On a side note I finally am on the discord chat! And strangely for the last 20 minutes we have only had two people ghost on the chat. According to my sister it is usually much more rowdy. I am sure I will see what she means soon enough."
"I guess I should get on to the topic of Grudge shifting. To be honest I don't have a good name for it. In shapeshifting lore there exists a special type of emotional and spiritual poison. It is caused by excessive emotions, suffering, etc and fueled by a desire to drag others into the same suffering."
"There are many ways this can show up in a story: An object, a miasma, contact with an actual being and so on. However there are lots of things to consider with this type as well.
First: Necromancy, a subject to be addressed later, frequently uses this type of shapeshifting to create undead. You will find this form of power more frequently in books with necromancy. Just know that this type of shifting does not always have to be necromancy. I have seen a few cases where this is not necromancy but cursed transformations.
Second: This is typically a curse type of shapeshifting. So pay attention to what causes it to work and not work. If this type of shapeshifting is generated in too much power then the doom vibe increases exponentially. Usually the more beings involved the stronger it is the more area it affects and so on. If you want a single target curse, rely on less creatures but concentrate the emotions. If you want to go with a AOE more creatures less focus.
Third: This type of shapeshift is usually permanent until curse is broken or death (or in necromancy re-death). Also the new victim usually adds to the strength of the curse. This is usually a very dark and easily lorebreaking method of shapeshifting unless you add ways to counteract it. Most people go with the whole divine light or whatevers.
Fourth: This type of shapeshifting is usually not intentional and is usually more instinctual by nature. It is usually guided by 1 existence but created from the instinct of multiple others.
Fifth: Getting rid of the organizer doesn't always remove the effect. This depends on the nature of the relationship between the organizer and the creatures causing the problem. For example, if the relationship is that the organizer is maintaining the curse, transformation, or undeath then the effect will fade when it is gone. If the organizer is only guiding instead of maintaining the effect, curse, transformation, emotional poison of doom will remain until cleared by removing the source.
If you want an example to see how it works. I explain one example of this in chapter 31 of my book, Jericho the Bard. There are some details before and more details will come as the story progresses.
"Fihew, dark stuff… Just know that Necromancy will eventually have its own chapter, or more… Man, I really should stop writing, it is almost midnight where I am. Let's push through this chapter!"
"The last form of shapeshifting I mentioned in the title is Resonance shifting. It is very very similar to Empathy shifting. The difference is that you are resonating rather than experiencing. Instead of 'feeling like a dog to become a dog', you 'resonate with the existence of a dog to become a dog'.
"One example of Resonance shifting can be found in my book Jericho the Bard in chapters 20-23. While i don't explain it in detail in the book, and I am utilizing a variation of it, it is a decent way to see resonance shifting in action."
"Unlike empathy shifting the resonance doesn't have to be a positive thing. The shapeshifting doesn't have to come from within either. The person can for example have a hostile resonance with cats and end up shifting into a cat. The person can have resonance with a cat in some way, and a practitioner of magic or a deity can tap into that resonance to transform the other."
"This form of shapeshifting uses high mental/emotional/or physical resonance as a base. Basically it can be positive and work similarly to empathy shifting with a few less risks but much harder to control. Or it can be a very curse like shifting type where that resonance creates a punishment of sorts. There was a story a lot time ago, I don't remember what it was called but in that story the person killed an animal and then woke up the next day as that animal because of resonance shifting on a negative way. I think it was a form of divine punishment or something like that. Curse like resonance shifting is often permanent until conditions can be met. These conditions usually entail changing the resonance one felt for the creature they were cursed into."
"If you want a more innocent variation of Resonance shifting, (with very little explained or detailed out) you can look up My other book, Jericho the Bard and read chapters 20-23.
"Whoo! Finished before midnight my time on this chapter!"
"Again, you will find that in later chapters similar concepts show up. Shapeshifting in general is a very complex topic. I hope you will enjoy the many more chapters of info dump! I hope this becomes an incredibly useful book for people! Gnight All! I am going to bed like I told myself to do last chapter!"
© J Eranoth
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Eranoth Have a great night!
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