[INFO] Moonwalkers

[shibrogane]

Moonwalkers were once left without guidance, only with powers that could cause them great harm.

That time is over now. With the recreation of the Charter, their powers and abilities have been streamlined to serve their original purpose: that of the otherworld's protectors. If nobles are lawyers, moonwalkers are cops, and they're here to Do Business.

 

[shibrogane]

at a glance.

Moonwalkers bear little resemblance to the pop cultural phenomenon known as the werewolf. Their abilities are not tied only to the lunar cycle in that they may transform at any time of the month at will, and they do not lose their moral consciousness when they are transformed. With the new Charter, their place within the otherworld is clearer, and their powers are slightly simplified.

Moonwalkers cannot communicate right off the bat with mundane creatures; it's like trying to speak a language you were never taught. Weres must learn to 'speak' the body language and displays of their animal forms just as they would a foreign language. Mundane creatures are not automatically hostile to weres, and cannot tell the difference between a moonwalker and a mundane creature like themselves. The exception is cats and corvids: being closer to the otherworld, they can sometimes tell a moonwalker from a mundane creature.

Physical injuries translate across forms. Specific limb maps are decided by players. If your character is disabled, please discuss the specific manifestation you wish to translate across forms with the mods. Keep in mind that your moonwalker will be drastically more abled within the otherworld as compared to the real world. A prosthetic limb will change shape during a transformation in the otherworld, but in the real world it will just fall off.

Moonwalkers have, functionally, two forms. Which form they take during the full moon depends on which world they are in. While in the otherworld, they will be 100% bestial, indistinguishable from their mundane cousins. While in the real world, they will occupy a form which is more balanced between their human body and their animal body. This is what is called a "were".

The half form is characterized by larger, usually elongated, and sometimes furry ears; predators gain claws and sharper teeth, while prey tend to have more subtle adaptations. The proportions of the face change subtly to reflect their animal form, and they get a damn sight hairier. If their half-form has a tail, then they tend to grow a tail, though some moonwalkers don't for some unknown reason. This half form is not a true "halfsies" form, and follows some amount of the law of conservation of matter: no one is going to get physically larger or smaller, they're just going to be really ******** achey for a few days after a full.

Moonwalkers no longer suffer from moon madness. They must still complete their full moon transformations every month, and transforming in the nonmagical world does cause them significant pain, on par with breaking a limb. Since the Charter rewrite, however, they do not lose their minds if they must transform in the nonmagical world. It is important to note that moonwalkers do not black out or experience a personality change. Their mind, while inside their altered forms, is their mind, just as it would be in their human form! There may be instinctual changes (a wolf may become more possessive, a fox may desire to burrow, a hare's sleeping pattern may change) but at their core, a moonwalker is still exactly who they were before their form shifted.

While in their moonwalker form, moonwalkers are physically much faster and stronger than other Visitors, though this understandably is heavily affected by physical fitness level. A moonwalker who is sedentary in regular life will only be as fit as someone who worked out in their everyday, while that person would certainly be superhuman. Moonwalkers who have powers improving their strength and endurance separate from this will receive this boost to strength and endurance on top of that other power.

Another change since the Charter rewrite is the removal of pack touch. It is no longer possible for moonwalkers to identify each other through skin-to-skin contact, unless this power is specifically earned by a specific moonwalker. Physical contact while in moonwalker or animal form does enable short-burst telepathy and sharing of minor sensory powers i.e. the ability to see magic, but there is no invasive telepathic aspect.

With the Charter rewrite, the moonwalkers are now responsible for the physical protection of the veil between the two worlds. They must also prevent identified and contained threats from escaping, as these enemies will surely attempt to do. To do so, they have been provided with a meeting and planning space within the Court known as the 'squad room'.

While in were form, abilities a Visitor has as a human do not apply except for their Dreamer power.

 

[shibrogane]

becoming a moonwalker.

Moonwalkers are no longer capable of developing spontaneously on an IC level without a plot in place to explain it. If you want to spontaneously develop your characters' moonwalking powers, you must send in a plot to the mule for approval. However, ICly, the potential to become a moonwalker may develop spontaneously. If the character does nothing with the potential, it is just that: a potential, never to be fulfilled.

How to become a moonwalker when your animal already exists:

• Make contact with the player of the moonwalker who is already connected to your chosen animal. For a fox, this would be cibarium/Eve. For a raccoon, this would be Melancholies/Oliver.
  
• 1 RP with this character going over the responsibilities of a moonwalker
  
• 1 RP where your character is bitten by the other character
  
• 1 RP where your character begins to note a mental or physical change relating to their new moonwalker form
  
• 1 RP taking place during your character's first full moon
  
• 1 RP where your character returns to their mentor character to be bitten again to lock in their powers

How to become a moonwalker when you wish to take on the form of a new animal:

• 1 RP where your character notices a DISTINCTIVE mental or physical change relating to their new moonwalker form (required for spontaneous potential only)
  
• 1 RP where your character does some research into what the animal they might be transforming into is (required for spontaneous potential only)
  
• 1 RP where your character meets a moonwalker mentor and decides to undertake this class specialization and the duties of a moonwalker (required for purposeful development only)
  
• 1 RP where your character actively tries to further their transformation
  
• 1 RP where your character practices a significant transformation (think of centaurs or satyrs; you're going halfsies but more completely so)
  
• 1 RP where your character seeks out the assistance of a moonwalker mentor (purposeful development characters will already have one)
  
• 1 RP where you character shows off their completed moonwalker transformation

 

[shibrogane]

unbecoming a moonwalker.

Leaving your moonwalker form behind requires both rejection of the duties of a moonwalker and rejection of their animal form. Ignoring your duties as a moonwalker will start you down this path, but it can only be completed with the assistance of the former Spinel Lady, Melany Dubhslaine. A detransitioned moonwalker can never regain the abilities of a moonwalker again, not even through a bonus power set or a quest. This means a detransitioned moonwalker can no longer shapeshift AT ALL. That line of power development is closed to this character PERMANENTLY. Not even a personal plot can get it back. A detransition from the moonwalker specialization will take with it all of your character's shapeshifting or shapeshifting-adjacent abilities permanently.

The requirements for detransitioning from the moonwalker class are as follows:

• 1 RP where your moonwalker ignores a call to defend the veil or prevent a threat from escaping
  
• 1 RP where your moonwalker's abilities begin to go on the fritz; they find it hard to shift and change forms
  
• 1 RP where your moonwalker tries to determine what's going on with their powers
  
• 1 RP where your moonwalker decides to allow the detransition to happen
  
• 1 RP where your moonwalker ignores another call to defend the veil or prevent a threat from escaping, and has their powers taken away by Melany Dubhslaine

Should your character not be the sort to ignore a call to defense, you may submit a plot for an alternate detransition to the mule.

Once these requirements are completed, post them into shibe's modbook for approval.

 

[shibrogane]

moonwalker animal affinity restrictions.

Moonwalkers cannot be any animal that is not native to New England, specifically eastern Massachusetts. If it migrates into New England, it's fair game. If it existed in New England before but does not now, it's allowed, as long as it exists elsewhere in the world. If it is extinct, it is a no-go. (No were-velociraptors.) Moonwalkers must be land-based mammals; as the otherworld is, has been, and always will be largely unfriendly to aquatic life, moonwalkers of their kind quickly died out. (You cannot be a whale or a lizard or a hawk. I know, I know.)

Moonwalkers must be carnivorous in some manner. Meat-eating in extremis counts. If your animal is a scavenger, that counts. If your animal sometimes eats their young, that counts too.

Animals which have been extirpated/wiped out in New England can be obtained. However, this would have to be a spontaneous transformation case, and thus would have to complete those requirements. Animals which have been extirpated but have an active were cannot be spontaneously generated and must be infected.

Extirpated species include, but are not limited to: Gray wolves, wolverines, lynxes, cougars, American martens, elk, and fallow deer.

Extirpated species in existence
• Gray fox
• Gray wolf
• Wolverine