Maxie

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A dire man with a place among the many manlike beasts and beastlike men of the supernatural world. A heraldic cryptid straight from the pages of a medieval bestiary, he is frequently mistaken for a number of other supernaturals. Maxie spent a long time thinking he was some kind of oddball therianthrope due to his shapeshifting, but he is a werebeast by technicality embodying no specific animal so much as primal nature itself: a man irrevocably changed by ancient forces, cursed for his past transgressions as a militant paladin. The 'condition' he carries exaggerates both his physical and metaphysical character as a berserker, expressing itself through monstrously inspired atavism.

While his "curse" is comparable in some ways to those carried by therianthrope, his condition is not contagious (although his blood is mutagenic) nor is he governed by the cycles of the moon. It would seem he is in fact a crepuscular creature more associated with morning twilight, a predator among the long shadows cast between dawn and sunrise (when many other monsters are at their weakest). That being said, while his condition is not directly contagious, the mutagenic nature of his blood does suggest his cursed nature may have changed him enough to be inheritable in some form.

Maxie is arguably more of a sizeshifter than a shapechanger, the difference between his humanoid and more monstrous form a matter of exaggeration. In reality he is always working to conceal true mass and shifting within a range, appearance dependent on the fluctuations of his emotional state and subsequent conscious control. While much restraint has been learned as far as holding back unwanted transformation (primarily triggered by rage and hunger), he only has so much control without the assistance of a darker diet. While he could never appear fully human again without taking the lives of others, for many long years he tried to stay as close to how he saw himself as he could - this became more difficult as time passed, as with it came a desperate longing for violence and sentient flesh. Maxie in more recent years has ceased to try so hard, giving in to his truth and with it finding greater peace. However, as time passes his humanity and human ways of thinking are beginning to fade.

In fully shifted form he retains an overall hominid appearance, but one prehistoric and mingled with traits suggestive of other animal groups entirely: a gigantopithecus with ambiguous primate features, the mane of a lion, boarlike tusks, and a strong flexible tail removing him from the realm of proper ape. With a face not quite human and not quite beast, he is very easily taken for some kind of ogre or troll (which may not stray far from the mark). Is capable of both bipedal and quadrupedal stances, but stooped anatomy tends to make him primarily an orangutanlike fist-walker or quadrumanous climber in full form.

Height: 6 ft (182.9 cm) at shoulders 9-10 ft (274.3 - 305 cm) standing Weight: 1200 lbs (544.3 kg) Eyes: When shifting, classically his eyes are one of the first things to indicate change - irises remain dark blue, but take on a supernatural glow. It's notable that while his other senses improve, his eyesight remains poor and may even get worse in full form. Hair: The shaggy coat of hair he displays is a darker shade of deep auburn streaked with silver and covers him entirely save for face (mustache retreats from upper lip), ears, fingers/toes, palms/soles, and the underside of largely naked tail - sideburns and beard become a lush mane that blends into neck and chest. Markings: A 'saddle' patch of silver colors his back from shoulder blades to ankles.

• While one might expect otherwise given his seemingly therianthropic nature, he is very much a diurnal creature - he naturally rises early to greet the life-giving warmth of the sun and his night vision is not that much better than that of a normal human.
  
  
• While there are stages of transformation dependant on his emotional control, when he fully shifts the most dramatic of changes occur quickly and seem relatively painless. It is a rapid expansion of one body into another, but seems that shifting back is an entirely different story: shedding the form of the beast to appear more human is an exhausting and miserable process.
  
  
• Max is generally quite dim in full state if less feral than most shifters, more akin to an easily upset toddler than a dumb animal. In order to return to more human form he must regain enough of his wits to remember who he is and will the process.
  
  
• The consumption of sentient flesh gives him full control over his shifting capabilities. Maxie will not only retain his mind, but will be able to tune exactly where he wants to be between man and beast on top of using stolen power to exaggerate healing and slow down the aging process.
  
  
• It might be theorized that the additional mass of his monster form must come from somewhere and is not wholly magical in nature; full shifts dramatically heat then chill the air around him, seemingly pulling energy and mass from the surrounding environment to assist. This mass 'releases' when he shifts back, the excess tissue slogging off his body in the form of semi-translucent, gelatinous 'goop' that rapidly dissolves into a thick vapor.