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Shifting Forms
All wargkesh are capable of shifting from their natural four-legged (quadruped or, more colloquially, ‘feral’) form to their two-legged (bipedal or ‘anthro’) form. Usually the ability to do so is not developed until several years after puberty, but there have been the rare prodigies able to do so almost from birth. Some have more control over the shift than others, making it less painful, while many find the transition to be mentally and physically taxing.
The particularly talented or well-trained wargkesh are able to shift to their ork form. They usually retain their skin color (ex. Nuzh di-Gahl’s skin color is olive, so their orcish form has olive skin), but can also come in any color orcs generally come in, from black, to grey, to green, to olive, to (very very rarely unless it is their natural skin color) white. Warg-like qualities are retained, such as their horns, fangs, fur on the tops of their feet and backs of their hands, and their claws, though those are almost never able to be sheathed and unsheathed.
What shifting entails: Bones and muscles snap and reform, causing immense pain that wargkesh as a species have, in time, grown more tolerant to. When shifting back from ork form to warg form, hair bursts from their follicles and causes extreme itchiness and the feeling of insects crawling through their skin. Many wargkesh who are unused to the process or unable to control themselves literally claw off their own flesh to allow their natural form to take place.
As one can imagine, regardless of skill and experience, the process taxes them and they are usually ravenous and somewhat disoriented for a short period after. The energy required and time being disoriented sharply declines with training and/or magical intervention.
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Elemental Abilities
The more talented and/or well-trained Wargkesh are capable of conjuring fire, or icy air, around them as both an offensive and defensive tactic. Many are also able to control fire/ice already in existence. The most talented and/or well-trained can not only create and control fire/ice (pyrourgy/cryourgy and pyromancy/cryomancy, respectively), but propel it out at others in balls of elemental energy. Their fire color usually matches their eyes (i.e. Nuzh di-Gahl's fire is bright green).
It is almost considered an art form, in wargkesh culture, to be able to tap into their races inherent demonic qualities such that the very elements of fire and ice bends to their will. Those who have the talent, but not the training to control it, however, are considered dangerous, and are quarantined from their family and kin until further training by better versed wargkesh or their clan’s Dushûrz helps them.
Hunting wargkesh in-flight using ice and wind powers. Flight is an extremely rare skill. -
Portals
Daemun Dolap(u), or "Demon Door(s) are a way for especially gifted wargkesh to traverse both time and space. Because they are small (limited to only one or two individuals at a time), they cannot be used as major invasion points. Orc and wargkesh alike have tried, always ending in the choke point created by the portal being the death of many individuals.
At any rate, this skill usually develops under the careful teaching of a Dushûrz, but sometimes manifests on its own. -
Strengths & Weaknesses
Subject to magical control, but resistant to attack magic and poisons (magical and mundane). Immune to fire attacks and heat. Weak to fae and elven magic. Allergic to mithril (elven metal) and anything infused with fae and elven magic. Blood is toxic to other races not with demonic blood or high immunity to poison. Hunting wargkesh eyes are sensitive to light. Uncontrollable blood-lust in battle wargkesh.
STRENGTHS- High Pain Tolerance: Aside from their thick skin and pelts, which form natural armor of their own, wargkesh have attained a high tolerance for pain. This is both a by-product of their shifting abilities (as the experience is extremely painful) and breeding by their orcish masters.
- Stamina: Capable of running for a day on end and surviving without food for weeks.
- Strength: The battle wargkesh is the strongest of the bunch, equivalent to a grizzly bear. The rest are roughly equivalent to a chimpanzee.
- Poison/Disease Resistance: Owing to their ichor-like blood, as well as the conditioning and breeding they received, wargkesh are resistant to mundane poisons and diseases. Magical ones are a different story.
- Non Fae/Elven Attack-Magic Resistance: They are, by way of their unnatural creation, magical creatures. Elemental magic is especially weak against them (see next bullet point). However, if the magic is of fae or elven origin, they are actually weaker to it.
- Near Immunity to Fire, Heat, and Cold: Despite their bulky form and thick coats, they are extremely resistant to both heat and cold.
WEAKNESSES- Fae/Elven Magic: Fel orkish magic created them, and thus, magic stemming from pure creatures such as elves or fae will be especially harmful to a wargkesh.
- Mithril Weaponry: Like a hot knife through butter, mithril weaponry slices through a wargkesh's usually tough hide with ease, causing painful burns in its wake.
- Magical/Psychic Control: Bred to be subservient, wargkesh are prone to both magical and mundane mind-control techniques.
Riding wargkesh using ice powers to zip along the ground
- High Pain Tolerance: Aside from their thick skin and pelts, which form natural armor of their own, wargkesh have attained a high tolerance for pain. This is both a by-product of their shifting abilities (as the experience is extremely painful) and breeding by their orcish masters.
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Gallery
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