Haywires

Technicolor shape-shifting cephalopodian prima-donnas with a warped sense of identity

Haywires, Changelings, Shifters, Shirketveiled, The Veiled​

=APPEARANCE=
Due to their shape-shifting capabilities, Haywires do not have a consistent appearance across each specimen. Despite this, they are all amphibious, and as a result must keep their skin slightly moist. Though they once had a singular form, they no longer hold themselves bound by that singular form. When born, Haywires, as they’re colloquially known, their young have a more traditionally amphibious appearance. Being amphibians, Haywires are born from eggs and must mature in water. As they develop, they grow six legs, able to switch between standing on all six to just the back four. Along their oblong heads are frills, used to stun prey by using flashing colors. After maturing, they rarely return to water. Due to the low gravity of their home planet, Haywire's muscles are not quite as strong as they would be in Earth-like gravity. While they are hefty predators on their own planet, they stand between Humans and Floran/Apex in strength.

Usually, the maturing Haywire mimic their parents’ forms initially. As Haywires mature into adults, they typically become fascinated with being as flashy and attention grabbing as possible. Depending on what species they find themselves surrounded by, they will typically mimic pieces of them, and twist them grotesquely, revelling in the reactions they get by resting in the uncanny valley for the species around them. Oftentimes this involves exposing organs, putting organic structures in places they shouldn't be, and making gore pleasantly colored. Some Haywires have a difficult time finding an identity in a society filled with no cohesive appearance, leading to them becoming grotesque masses of flesh and gore. Shapeshifting into an entirely different physical form can take upwards of 3 days, shortening slightly with each time the form is reproduced. Small forms can be easily and quickly produced. While they could reproduce another being's appearance, Haywires typically find this act reprehensible, due to their view of what makes one individual. A Haywire who replicates another being is seen as deplorable by other Haywires.


=CULTURE=
Haywire's lack empathy and emotional intelligence in a way that puts them more on par with sociopathic liars as opposed to neurotypical sapient beings. This lack of emotional intelligence makes their society very distant- however, they are still highly social beings. With other Haywires, they find themselves in a constant state of one-up-manship, competing with each other to see who can make the most grotesque, mind bending forms possible. The one who wins often gains the respect of the loser. Celebrations on Chyskyba, their homeplanet, oftentimes involve taking their social shape-shifting battles to the extreme. The Haywires will host competitions to see which Haywires are capable of making the most outlandish forms, highly valuing members of their society who can turn themselves into what they see as living art.

Gender roles do not exist in their society, since they are a hermaphroditic species. When around other species, they typically refer to themselves with they/them pronouns unless they have found a gender that they fancy over the other. When around other species, Haywires often are described as "fake," with the most sane individuals seeming to hide violence under a layer of niceties. Because of the nonexistence of one singular form across their species, a large part of a Haywire's psyche revolves around their sense of individuality. Most stable Haywires seem to simply willfully ignore this flaw in their species, but those who focus too much on this tend to deteriorate psychologically. They feel as though there is no true individual, and that every being is not unique in anyway, because they can always be mimicked. These nihilistic Haywires often devolve into forms that seem to have no sense to them at all, seeing no point in trying to make themselves "individual" anymore. Due to their relative newness to society and history as brood parasites, large groups of Haywires are rare on their home planet. Haywires will, however, flock to the attention of other species, whether that attention is good or bad.


=HISTORY=
The Haywires began as an aquatic species, sharing many qualities with Earth's cephalopods. They grew to dominate the water, and as they became the apex predator of the water, they ran short of prey. In order to find more prey, they evolved amphibious traits, with young being born in the water. In order to compete with other highly intelligent animals, the Haywires began using brood parasitism to ensure their young's survival. Following their hatching in the water, the young Haywires would be placed in the brood of other species, mimicking them generation after generation. Eventually, these already shifting cephalopodians began adapting the ability to shape-shift to further trick their victims of growing intelligence. Following their maturation, most Haywires were entirely solitary aside from the occasional spar or mating.

Around 200 years ago, the Apex stumbled upon the planet of the Haywires. The unsuspecting colonizers were readily attacked by the creatures they called the Syrkshetvyklled. The Haywires would later adopt a bastardization of this word, Shirketveiled, as a name for themselves. The shifters infiltrated their troops, mimicked their language, their mannerisms, and through this found society. Previously, the generally solitary and apathetic but highly intelligent and sapient creatures had no reason to form a society, but when confronted with other sapient creatures who they could manipulate for attention, they began to settle. They quickly found interest in art, mythology, and high fashion, and began contorting their bodies to match the creatures once thought to be only capable in one's imagination. They acquired the ability to space travel by stealing it from their colonizers. The Haywires are still in the process of forming a society, and their success lies on their capability to find themselves when they could be anything.


=INTENTION AND INTERACTION=
With the Haywire I intend to provide a new and unique experience that contrasts the previously apped shapeshifters. The Haywires themselves lend themselves to commentary on high fashion and haute couture and the chasing of trends to stand out, and what it means to be an individual. They also provide an interesting dichotomy among most other species given their inherent apathy and general uncaring nature despite craving attention and doing the utmost for it. Haywires also explore what it means for a new society to be established in the future, how they grow and develop as a society as a result of coming to being in an era of space travel.

Cosigners
@WowGain @Yz2 @Caucasian Asian @PrivateNomad @crumchy ​

 

Also cosign

 

Phase one is rather sound. There are some things though I would like you to consider:
- What drove them to adapt a means of such extreme body altering abilities and how?
- How will their brood parasitism play out in the sapient world? (there is potential for some fun horror and philosophy related things here)
- How do they exchange knowledge through the generations if the young are given off to unassuming mothers to leech off of? If an individual isn't picked up by a sapient race you could end up with a 'wild' and 'tame' demographic.
- Lastly, given we already have a species referred to as Shifters I would suggest a different colloquialism.

I look forward to you expanding on these in your stage two. Seconded.

 

I’m not sure what’s going on with this as it’s been sitting here since 2019. Am I still able to cosign?

 

ONE YEAR, THREE MONTHS, AND TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS IN THE MAKING. HOLY SHIT I DID IT.

BEHOLD! TWENTY PAGES OF LORE!!! AHHHHH!!!