Izlix Tribe

'''Of the twenty-one elven tribes of Egivelyn, the Izlix tribe is among the smallest. However, they have an ability unique to their tribe alone: shapeshifting. This ability is partially genetic and partially traditional knowledge of magic, and this knowledge of the tribe's secrets has been carefully guarded for millennia. Those born into the Izlix tribe who learn the secrets of shapeshifting cannot leave. The punishment for doing so is death.

Although shifting is partially knowing the proper spells and runes, it is impossible for someone does not have the magical gene on their mitochondria.  Only people who are descended from an elf of the Izlix tribe have the capability to shift so the possibility is denied to anyone who isn’t Izlix.

The Story of the Izlix
A long time ago, in a far far away part of the past, these elves could not shapeshift. They were originally part of a tribe, now long dead, that worshipped animals. One particularly zealous elf believed that the only way to truly honor the animals and their animal gods was to take on the form of an animal. She was not satisfied with the comparatively dismal practices the tribe had to worship. Augh’ari knew that one could only go so far with making art of the animals and tattooing yourself to have the pattern of one. She wanted to become an animal. She believed that only through the seeing from eyes of an animal could bring one to true enlightenment. The people in her village scorned and mocked her, calling her a blasphemer for trying to take the form of an animal. “Only animals are sacred enough to be animals,” they said. “You’ll only anger the spirits,” they hissed.

Eventually, she and her lover, Etiss, had been ostracized from their tribe. So Augh’ari left her tribe with Etiss to pursue the magics that would allow her to shapeshift. She and Etiss were both particularly powerful at magic. They spent centuries studying and experimenting, eventually having children and establishing somewhat of a mini tribe. One day, Augh’ari was messing with some runes related to animals and evolution and the feathers of a bird when he suddenly felt a change come over her soul. It was like a foreign entity shoved its way into her body. She fell to the ground, her back arched in pain as magic changed her body to that of a simple firebird. Etiss came running and dropped to his knees when he saw Augh’ari as a bird. However, though she had been able to shift into a bird, she did not know how to change back to an elf. The spell she had used was very consuming, magically, and she began to grow weak. Her family had to feed her energy to keep her alive while they worked frantically to find a way to turn her back into an elf.

Eventually, Etiss found the proper runes and spells and, with great effort, shifted Augh’ari back into an elf. Her hair was now a deep sunset red and her eyes were wide with shock. She didn’t speak for a few days, being too weak to do anything other than lie there and absorb energy from the plants around her and regain her strength. Once she could speak again, she described the magnificence and beauty she experienced as a firebird. Augh’ari longed to be a bird again, like she had discovered some new drug and couldn’t quit it. She worked tirelessly on a more efficient way to shift, and eventually her oldest daughter found one.

From there, all of her sons and daughters and grandchildren and her husband preformed the spell, altering their genes to have the capacity to shift. Since then, the knowledge of how to make entirely new shifters has been lost, but all of Augh’ari’s and Etiss’ descendants can shift. Over the millennia, the Izlix tribe has discovered how to shift if one already has the shifting genes, however, they cannot bestow someone with the ability to shapeshift.

Something about the magic turned their hair red, and the deeper red an elf’s hair is, the higher up in the Izlix hierarchy they are. The more magical potential an elf has, the redder their hair. This magic is passed exactly like any other type of magic, though shapeshifiting isn’t a magic in and of itself. It is an offspring of spoken and runic magic, so there is something about how exactly the gene is modified that allows shapeshifting. It can be said to “unlock” that well of potential, for that is what many people believe Augh’ari did when she first shifted. Now, shifters use spells and runes to tap into their ability to shift.

Izlix Society
Because of the link between red hair and power, elves with deep red hair have more respect and influence in the community. The difference between the gifted and not gifted is different with each village in the tribe. Some take it to extremes, making the elf with the deepest hair the queen or king of the village, whereas with other villages, they and their family might only get more riches than others. All villages have some sort of hierarchy related to the ability to shapeshift, though. After Augh’ari’s children grew up, some decided to break off and live with their own families. This created the different villages within the tribe. Overall, the tribe is referred to by other tribes as the Izlix, but there are villages scattered all around their territory, each with their own chief and leader. However, they all follow the original tribe that Augh’ari and Etiss formed. The chief of this tribe is selected from the other villages. The one with the deepest red hair is made the queen or king of the tribe and is the official elf to deal with the other tribes in Egivelyn.