Originator of Character: Margaret R. Dean / Ree Moorhead Pruehs

Name: Mistkit

Soul Name:

Race: Elf

Gender: Male

Birthdate/Approximate Age: b. NH 232

Origins: Born at New Hope

Household: Greenwillow

Hair Length/Color/Style: Looks white to the casual glance, but actually a very light sand-color, about the shade of "natural" linen. Gets closer to white when sunbleached. Has worn it long on occasion, but once he gets into shapechanging seriously, he keeps it fairly short most of the time. Usual style a bit like Krim in Shards only shorter, with a brightly-patterned headband.

Eyes: Changeable blue/grey/violet; a darker shade than Lyeth's.

Skin: Naturally fair, tans well

Height: 4' 5"

Build: Slim, spare, rather angular; runner's musculature, built on flat planes.

Voice Quality & Speech Mannerisms: Mellow tenor; has a pleasant speaking voice but can't carry a tune in the proverbial bucket. Speech tends to be direct, casual, and rather terse.

Other Physical Attributes: Facial lines like Snowflower's (or Piet's), but in a narrower face and with somewhat finer features. Killer grin, with dimple on right cheek. Moves with grace, like one very much in touch with and at ease with his body. Body language often nearly as expressive as speech.

Parents: Snowflower, mother; Lyeth, father

Siblings: Foxtail, elder half-brother (Lyeth's son by Mink), unbeknownst to him

Other Relatives: Dove, grandmother; Piet, grandfather (by blood); Raventongue, adoptive grandfather; Mist and Ylla Dawnchild, paternal grandparents (at the Aerie); Arteuran, great-grandfather; Feather, great-aunt; Seahawk, adoptive great-uncle; Quicksilver, Wasp, uncles; Twilight, adoptive aunt/cousin; Beesweets/Livvy, cousin (and the list goes on!).

Current Mate: Open

Recognized?: Not yet

Previous Mates: I'm sure!

Children: Not yet

Closest Friends: Open. Dream and Shandar will be close age-mates and in the same Household, but we'll see . . .

Special Talents: Strong sending. Probably could "go out" with the proper motivation and training, but has not developed this except in a limited, specialized way (see below) and has no real desire to do so. Self-shaper, with a greater range than his father; see below.

Skills: Wide variety of practical skills (it's a Family Tradition!); specialties TBD but definitely include scouting and may include veterinary skills.

Hobbies: Good sense of rhythm; enjoys group dancing.

Weapons Used: A variety, and is also skilled at hand-to-hand (**or tooth . . . or claw . . .**), but his favorites are knife and sling. **I like to travel light.**

Bondbeast: None, though he gets along well with animals. (Gee why?)

Jewelry Worn: Normally little to none. Most frequently, a light, flexible woven fiber headband that can also serve as a "collar" that suits a wide variety of forms (for identification if necessary). Any other jewelry he wears also tends to be around the neck. No piercings, not even ears; they're too much of a nuisance to maintain between forms. **Sometimes I don't even have ears!**

Clothing: As little as he can get away with, generally, and prefers it easily removable. **Not for that reason . . . entirely. It doesn't change with me, you know. No wolves in three-piece suits for this puppy!** Likes bright colors and patterns.

Other Special Possessions: n/d

Personal Info: A forthright sort of person, open and honest. Very physical, very much in touch with his body; sensitive (even hypersensitive) to body language. Athletic, outdoorsy, hates being cooped up or having to sit still for very long. Innocently sensual. Friendly, outgoing; grew up amid a large and loving family, and it shows. No slouch in the intellect department, either; generally a quick rather than a deep thinker, but not slow to grasp implications or "add up" impressions. Intuitive; resourceful both by nature and training; resilient of mind and body.

Has a good deal of empathy but not a lot of tact. Open about his feelings, whether positive or negative. Has a wicked tongue when he's out of temper.

Mistkit has a wider range of shapeshifting abilities than his father Lyeth, because of the "broadband" empathies inherited from his mother and maternal grandfather. He is theoretically able to shift into the forms of other elves, humans, and trolls, as well as animals. His personal preference is for animal forms, however; the possibilities are more intriguing to him, and the moral implications less daunting. Also, animals generally have no resistance to being "scanned" the way intelligent beings do, and replicating memories and personality is less important. Because of these factors, Mistkit has not practiced shifting into other intelligent beings nearly as much as Lyeth has, and this would require a lot more effort from him.

Conservation of mass applies, so the mass of a given animal form will be that of Mistkit's true elven form (65 - 75 pounds?). This would make him a rather runty wolf, a Shetland-pony-sized horse, a really big house cat, a truly huge mouse, a pint-sized great hawk but a really big redtail . . . etc. Mammals are easier than non-mammals, warmblooded creatures easier than coldblooded, and invertebrates probably not practical at all. He might be able eventually to turn into a tree or other plant, after a lot of practice, but would find this **Bor-ing!** How completely Mistkit reproduces his animal "template" depends on his needs at the moment and how much time and power he has to spare. Apart from the mass difference he can become a pretty exact duplicate, including coloring, body chemistry (and therefore scent), hardwired mental attributes such as instincts, etc. However, sometimes he doesn't bother with all this and goes for just the general shape and physiology; in that case he often leaves his coloring unshifted, and will appear as a white/pale sand-colored animal, often wearing the fiber collar he uses for identification.

So how do you kludge an elfin intelligence down into an animal-sized brain? Answer: you don't, exactly. You extrude the parts that won't fit out into the aether, a bit like "going out" just a little way. You can either keep those parts awake or send them to sleep to be left till called for. The former is usually safer, but there are reasons why you might want to look like "just another [animal]" to a telepathic scan. But in that case you'd better have somebody handy who knows your soulname and can call you back to full awareness, or you could be "stuck" in animal form indefinitely.

From childhood, Mistkit and everyone around him have been aware of the possible dangers of his Talent. Lyeth's mother, Ylla Dawnchild, spent millennia as a misshapen monster due to self-shaping magic gone wrong. To minimize the danger, Mistkit and his family rely on extensive training. Not only training in using the Talent itself (which he'll get from his father and Arteuran as well as anyone else we can scrape up), but the kind of training Raventongue dishes out as far as "being prepared for anything and everything" (which Mistkit takes to like a fish to water, as it happens; it suits his temperament and personality). Ylla got into trouble because she a) panicked and b) didn't have the resources to deal with an emergency in any other way. Oh, and c) was not using a template. Mistkit has lots of other options.

Speaking of panic reactions, though, Mistkit has the same trait Lyeth does of automatically healing damage when he reverts to his true form. Again like his father, though, reversion once started is complete and final and can't be undone without a new reading of an alternate form.