Nythari
Timeless Mimics
Origin: ‘Void’ (natural-born)
Lifespan: Timeless
Pros:
Transformation into human forms (/clone)
When under high levels of stress, wounds can completely vanish as though they never happened.
Cons:
Risk losing themselves if they take too many forms too quickly.
When becoming too distressed they can lose control of their form causing old injuries to suddenly reappear , or causing parts or all of their form to shift to a previous guise.
Origins
The Nythari (Ni-thar-ee) are not creatures of flesh or shadow but something far stranger, born from the fractures in time itself. They are the splinters of moments that never should have been, fragments of eternity shattered and given form. Some say they were born when the edges of time frayed, when reality cracked under the weight of something it wasn’t meant to hold. Others believe they are the echoes of space unraveled, where what existed and what never could collide. They are not bound to this world or its dimensions.
They do not think, not in the way we understand. They do not move through time as we do, step by step, moment by moment. Instead, they seem to fold it, slipping between cracks, stepping from what was to what is without ever being seen. They wear the faces of those who get too close, not as disguises, but as anchors. By taking a face, they tether themselves to this reality, if only for a while.
The faces they take are perfect, every detail captured with precision so flawless it becomes unsettling. But their mimicry isn’t harmless. It leaves a scar on the one whose identity they borrow, not physical but emotional. Those who survive being touched by the Nythari say they feel wrong afterward, like a clock whose hands no longer align, like a part of them has been scraped away.
The Nythari do not belong to this world, but they move through it all the same. They slip through shadows, crossing distances in ways that defy logic. To see one in its natural state is like seeing a ripple in reality itself, like time is being around a face you can't make out.
No one knows why they are here. Some say they’re scavengers, piecing together fragments of themselves from what they find in this world. Others whisper that they’re not separate beings at all but shards of something larger, like time itself was walking amongst us. They are the flicker at the edge of your vision, the shadow that doesn’t belong. And when they take your face, when they slip into your life like they’ve always been there... you’ll know it too late. Because the Nythari are not just outside of us… they are outside of everything we know and understand.
Traits
The Nythari are invisible in their natural state, appearing only as distortions in reality. To anchor themselves, they steal faces, leaving emotional scars on their victims. They fold time to traverse the world, moving unseen and untouchable.
There are some Nythari that take on the appearance, personality, and even history of those they mimic. Rarely, some Nythari find themselves not knowing their true nature and believing fully, even under the effects of magic, that they are the person they have chosen to mimic. This can lead to confusion and severe mental collapse when they realize the truth.
Weaknesses
While they can mimic physical appearances flawlessly, they cannot replicate magical abilities or maintain disguises while sleeping. Iron disrupts their illusions, exposing their true form. Additionally, some Nythari, when the edges of their mind frays too much, can have old wounds reopen or current wounds vanish as though they never happened. Those that are truly fractured will forget where they are in time, sometimes going too far forward or too far backward in their history.
Culture
The Nythari as a people are mercurial in nature, taking any form that fits their needs at the time and moving on when the need suits them. As such, they do not have any fixed culture to speak of, nor do they conform to any particular social structures or norms. They fit in wherever they roam, taking on their guises as second nature and adopting other cultures as well as donning a new face.
More Information
Shifter Restrictions
Their magic is not without what some might consider ‘flaws’; they are born of living magics that swirl and change the world around them. This connection with the magical nature of the beyond allows them to flawlessly mimic any living human they choose to settle upon, however, the same magic does not allow for the shift into something that is not living such as a piece of furniture or those that have been reanimated by unnatural magics themselves. They are unable to don the form of the dead that come through the Rifts; doing so would tear their very essence apart as the two magics collide and twist.
Magical Proclivity
While they cannot mimic the magic of those they copy, Nythari are naturally illusionists. Able to mimic their own appearance to those around them, there are some that are able to push these skills to disguise parts of the world around them in appearance alone. Because of their fracture nature in time, Nythari are also sometimes able to utilize divination magics, though this looks different for each individual that is connected to magic.