Shift magic is the fifth most common type among the Chosen, with around twelve percent of the population being solely or primarily of this type.
Shifters are, simply, shapeshifters, able to alter their bodies from their natural form. The following rules of thumb apply:
- The greater the difference from one's natural form, the greater the effort. A shifter will have the least difficulty with changing their epidermis and their facial and bodily shapes and proportions. Changing one's size is more difficult. Changing one's sex - in the sense of one's physical characteristics - is harder still. All of these are also cumulative.
- Changes are internal as well as external. Changes in shape are accompanied by the appropriate changes to internal organs. This is true even to the extent that one who takes the guise of the other sex will, during the change, acquire the appropriate reproductive anatomy.
- Matter is not conserved. A shifter who changes size will gain or lose the tissue appropriate to that size, and will therefore be of an appropriate weight and density. Such studies as have been possible have not shone any light on how this works; the only thing that is certain is that shifters gain matter from, or lose it to, somewhere.
- The takma form is instinctive. So long as the shifter remains within the natural range of bodily variation of the takma species - Chosen or not - they do not have to understand what they are doing when changing. (There is, of course, a certain amount of ambiguity about “natural”.) The further one departs from the takma form, the more attention must be paid to ensure that something doesn't go wrong - giving oneself a more powerful brain is possible, but doing so without understanding caloric and blood flow requirements and the effects of the new brain structure on one's thinking is an extremely bad idea.
- The maintenance of a guise requires conscious effort. To make and hold a change, regardless of its extent, requires at least some measure of willpower and mana usage. The relaxation of this intention will cause the shifter to revert to their natural form. Among other things, this means that a shifter's power cannot be effectively used while asleep or unconscious, though brief and involuntary changes are possible.
- Alterations must be organic. Pure shifters cannot modify themselves with inorganic components. (Shifters who also have other magic types may not be subject to the restriction; see further below.)
- Others within a limited range can be subjected to Shift magic. With practice and effort, a shifter can change others in the same way and subject to the same rules. The further from the caster the target is, the more difficult this becomes, and in general the target cannot be further away than five meters.
Shifters have one of the highest survival rates in the world beyond the Citadel, simply because - if they survive long enough to get a grasp of their powers - they can pass for ordinary takmar for long stretches of time. Regardless, the need to lead a double life - and to sleep somewhere that no one will find them - often drives them into criminal niches, where an ability to change one's appearance within seconds is an invaluable asset.
In the Citadel, shifters' powers lend advantages in many legitimate occupations but are uniquely suited to few. Overall, therefore, shifters are economic generalists; most of them find work in some kind of manual labor, where they can alter their bodies to perform tasks that other Chosen might find physically awkward or difficult. Shifters also tend to be natural actors, and theater troupes with shifter players and illusionists providing scenery are a sought-after form of entertainment. It is perhaps unsurprising that many also find roles as sex workers or companions of one form or another, since they can conform themselves closely to the desires of others.
(It is also possible for a shifter to conform someone else more closely to their own desires. Gender dysphoria is somewhat better understood in the Citadel than most Avishraan societies, due to the ability of mentalists to directly perceive the distress caused by the condition. While permanent sex reassignment is only possible through lifegiver-shifters and represents considerable expense and difficulty, it is much easier and more common to have a shifter perform a kind of temporary reassignment.)
Among the less acceptable occupations, the wealthy are known to employ shifters as spies and bodyguards; and criminal pursuits are only slightly less common in the Citadel than in the outside world, especially since many shifter immigrants find it difficult to transition to a legitimate occupation. This association with the unsavory make shifters rather less trusted as a group than most other magic types. Their association with sex work also tends to draw a certain amount of derision onto personal relationships involving a shifter.
Shift magic is particularly potent in combination with several other types. Alchemist-shifters have somewhat wider latitude in their transformations than others in their ability to use non-natural tissues, being able to incorporate minerals into their bodies and internally produce a number of strange substances. Mentalist-shifters are rare, but make peerless spies, operatives, and manipulators. Lifegiver-shifters are even rarer, but can make their tamer guises permanent, and can on a temporary basis take guises much further outside the takmar norm than is usually safe.