Originally I had indended to make Shifters an RPG world. I'm an avid gamer and have designed more than a couple of RPG worlds. Shifters is the only one I've publically shown. As with all of my worlds its quite rich in history and detail, carrying its own mythos and universal history. I've actually designed the Shifters Universe from the beginning of the universe's existance forward. Unfortunately, when I first started writing shifters, I wasn't a very good writer and a lot important details got left out. I intend to go back and fix that, but some of the history, the WAY back stuff, isn't going to be explained till much later in the comic. But, what I've done is included here a brief history of the Shifters Universe for those that are curious or are having trouble understanding what is going on. It does give a more indepth perspective on the world. However, if you want to be really surprised, you probably don't want to read this.

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In the beginning, when the universe was created by the All-being, there was balance in all things. There was dark for every light, good for every evil and a job for every entity created in the universe. These were the beings of the Divine cores. Gods, Angels, Infernals and Dragons. In the universe 5 layers were created. The Divine World, the Dream World, The Waking World, Purgatory, and The Infernal World. Seeing the work was complete an all was set in motion for the Experiment, the Allbeing shattered creating the Spirit cores. This was all good and well an the Experiment began. However, this was not to last.

It is unknown what caused the breech, but the experiment became contaminated by the primeval forces of the astral world from which it was birthed. A new World formed within the Universe, the Astral world, a world unplanned and unwanted, but undeniable. A plan had to be set in motion to continue the Experiment and include this new world. They had to Evolve. But how to do it posed a problem. The Astral beings were unable to travel to the Waking World, and because they were not of it, they were unable to subsist in that World. There was much arguing and debating until a single dragon came forward and volunteered to sacrifice herself to the purpose of creating a world on which the Astral's could evolve. With the acceptance of this proposal, the Divinities transformed the dragon into the planet we know as Earth.

But as was said earlier, all divinty is in balance. So as the good dragon sacraficed her form to become a planet, her dark sister too was changed into a world. This shocked and terrified the dark sister, who was suddenly assaulted by strange and powerful instincts of being a planet. She had to get to the Waking World. But how?

The new Earth took to shaping life, and over countless years came up with various creations and experiments in creating the perfect host organism for the astrals. The many years of experimentation eventually lead to the creation of Man.

Man was the perfect creation. Maliable, powerful, intelligent and moldable, Astrals found the form easy to adjust to and very suited to their needs. Men bred and became numerous, so numerous infact that there were not enough astral cores to occupy them all, and so they became filled with spirits. Early Man of the spirit was bound to and intune with the Earth, giving them special magic granted to them by the Earth for her protection and to help her beloved creations to survive. It was Eden, but again, it was not to last.

After much plotting and scheming Earth's dark twin found a way to breech into purgatory and then out to the Waking World, determined to displace her sister and take her rightful spot in the heavens of the Waking World. With a single precision strike she slew a god, both aspects at the same time in the same way, for that is the only way to kill a god. With the guardian no longer holding the way sealed, the Dark Star passed into the Waking World and cast a hateful eye on her Bright sister.
Seeing her sisters love for humanity and understanding they were her primary line of defence she crafted a devious plot. In a bold move, she attacked her sister outright, raining fire and brimstone on the surface for nearly 7 days and nights, letting the stones radiate their evil power upon the children of the earth. This power tainted humanity, corrupting their innocence and instilling hatred and destruction into their hearts. They lost their links with the earth and so could no longer hear their goddess and source of power.

Then came the plague.

It was sudden. Men who had taken an exceptional taint, who had become violent and hateful of his fellow man suddenly grew pale, and took an unnatural look in his eye. His ears would grow long and his teeth would become fangs, for now his hunger, his thurst would only be quenched by the blood of his fellow man, and thus were vampires born unto the Earth.

The Earth cried out to the heavens for aid in this assault which once again threatened the Experiment, and so 12 dragons decended to the Earth and fought against the vampires and darklings sent by the Dark Star. Some humans who resisted the taint and so retained their link to the Earth and their power, also fought to defend their world. The Astrals too did as they could. The Battle raged for many months, all under the baleful watch of the Dark Star which hung in the sky.

At last the Dragons found a solution. They would create an a new god from the most powerful spirit on the earth. The spirit could be force evolved to become as powerful as a god and seal the breech, forcing the Dark Star back into the Infernal world. They held a competition among the remaining true humans, the Mages. This competition was brutal and deadly. Each of the Dragons chose a fighter they favored and they were pitted against each other in mortal combat, giving birth to a ritual which would become known as the Duel. These first Duelists would blaze the path to a tradition which would span ages.

While the Duelists battled, the animals of the world appealed to the spirit of the Earth to grant them the power to help their fellow man and defend their world against the invaders which perverted and polluted their world. The Earth heard their warcries and granted them this gift. They were given human forms to wear as well as their animal gifts, giving them the best of both worlds, both human and animal. This was the birth of the Shifters. Some of the Shifters retained a powerful bond to their animal self and so could call upon the spirit of their lineage, becoming the first Shaman. The shifters fought bravely with men, espi and dragon, proving their ferocity as warriors and nobility as selfless protectors of the Earth. They fought with unparalleled skill against the forces of the Dark Star, particularly vampires, whom they hated above all others for the perversion of humanity they represented.

When finally the Duel was won and the Spirit chosen, the Dragons combined their power to evolve the spirit. This was the first Ascension. It worked, and the Dark Star was dragged, kicking and screaming back into Purgatory and out of the Waking World. But the damage was done. Humanity was lost to the Earth for the most part, being now Tainted of the darkness and lost. They began to become distructive, warlike, creating technology and begining to destroy the earth and all around them. The Earth's pain unfelt by humanity, they continued the Dark Star's work unknowing of their part in her ultimate design to destroy her Bright sister. The Shifters and Espi were kept busy hunting down the remainder of her forces while the dragons tried to figure out a better way to deal with the renegade world. The spirit evolved would not hold forever, for it was not a true god.

As time passed Shifters managed to destroy most of the vampires. Only the most crafty, calm, and cunning survived of the old generation. They kept their numbers small, hiding in seclusion as Shifters lived along side humanity in something of a golden era, protecting them from any of the dark forces that remained and aiding to help the people purge themselves of the taint that the Dark Star had left on them. The Mages tried to regroup and established the Mage's Order, which was essencially an ranking of power of the remaining mages and an establishment of duty for future generations of Mages.

As was predicted, the seal did not hold forever, and several more times the dark star emerged and attacked the Earth, however it was never like the first. The Mages now had the Duel well established and were ready to do battle when needed. the Shifters provided a good force against the usual resurgance of vampires which seemed to always occur at the time. And this is the way it was for thousands of years.

The last recorded Duel occured in 1490, when the Dark Star was last recorded to have appeared. Unlike other times she did not attack, or did not appear to, however a new strain of vampirism appeared at the same time in Europe. These vampires were unlike their predecesors. Rash, agressive, virilent, these creatures spread like wild fire across Eastern Europe, creating unease and indeed terror in the Eastern world. These vampires were reported to be attacking remote villages, especially those with shifter lineages. In fact, it seemed they were attacking Shifters specifically, targeting their children and families. Although they found them easy to kill, shifters soon discovered the deadly nature of these vampires. A single taste of their blood would render a shifter to a rabid state, more than a taste could kill. And then, there was other problems. Several youngsters who had never shifted, suddenly shifted when infected by a vampire bite. These shifts were supremely violent and their animal forms were of unprecidented size. They regenerated as fast the vampires, moved like vampires, but shifted like Shifters into animals. These creatures, at first, were a curiousity. Then they discovered, that like vampires, they needed blood. Many of these unfortunates were driven insane by their conflicting natures, the inability to come to terms with what they had become. Something neither Shifter, nor Vampire, but both and neither, a new creature, a hated creature. It would become synonimous with misfortune and a herald of Darkness, the abomination and the bane of all the Veil world. The Kinsmir.

By the year 1500, there were 15 reported kinsmir. By the year 1510, 14 had been confirmed killed by the Slayers. One disappeared, and no one to this day knows what happened to it. Because of the kinsmir, humans saw shifters as no better than vampires, and the Slayers decimated the Shifter, Espi, and Mage populations. And so the Veil was created to protect the remaining individuals and alow time and safehaven for them to rebuild their numbers.

Fast forward to the present. Early in the 21st century there was an 'accidental' and unprovoked nuclear incident between the Middle East and North America in which the central part of the USA was struck by a nuclear weapon rendering most of the central USA uninhabitable for at least 25 years. Those not killed in the incident flocked to the coasts, where the Megacity projects were initiated. One such project was Shade City, initiated by Ashram Corporation and 12 other charter members. This city would be a model upon which other would be built. Originally designed to be three levels high, it has expanded to nearly 5 over the 12 year course of its development. It is a very high tech city, the upper levels are fairly clean and relatively safe.. however the lower levels are something of another story. The city is also secretely very veil friendly, and so attracts veil creatures from all over the world. As a result, Shade city has one of the highest concentrations of Veil creatures in the world. It has been nearly 500 years since the last appearance of the Dark Star.

The year is 2026. On Oct, 31, 2026, the Decendance occured at approximately 19:00 hours. Only two hours later, a Kinsmir was born....