I've been busy the last few weeks trying to isolate the problem and fix it on a fairly tight budget.Changelings Pt.1: Physiology · 3:45am Feb 23rd, 2015
Finally, I've gotten around to the long awaited guide to my version of the changelings. I've decided to break it down into three parts: Physiology, Culture & History, and The Modern Changelings Swarms.
I'd like to kick things off by first thanking D48 for his contributions to the details concerning changeling physiology, which will be included before anything else. Unless I directly contradict something in his own notes, you can pretty much accept what he's described thus far.
size:
height (to top of head): .9~1.2m
mass: 30~50kg
this is slightly smaller than ponies, but not much
chitinous, segmented exoskeletons must be thick and strong to support weight
joints in particular have extremely high load bearing requirements
as a result, changeling joints are much more complicated than insect joints
have a bearing pin going fully through the inner layer with cushioning tissue around it
also serves as natural armor, however healing would be very slow like bone
the thickness of the exoskeleton would make molting a slow process
faces are a thiner, more pliable layer with a secondary skull-shell to protect the brain
must have large, well developed heart and lungs like a bird or bat with hemoglobin-based blood
different from terrestrial arthropods to allow larger bodies and increased neural activity
use dual tracheae to allow continuous unidirectional airflow (in the nose, out the mouth)
this allow exceptionally efficient O2/CO2 transfer beyond what birds are capable of
continuous exhale allows continuous talking or singing without stopping to breathe
this is made possible by the lack of a spinal column and reduced neck muscles
neck is fairly inflexible with just a pin at each end and rotary disks in the middle
disks are like the turret on a tank, but have short range of motion locked by bone pegs
have a small esophagus to make room for second trachea
stretches to accommodate food and restricts the tracheae
this forces them to quickly regurgitate any food in the esophagus if they have to fly
must have thermoregulation to maintain physiological efficiency and observed activity
can pump blood into the wings to act as radiators or solar collectors
also have sweat glands primarily around the head, back, and wing muscles
these are the highest heat generation areas, although there are some all over the body
senses:
must have excelent vision for flight, eyes are primary sensory input
eyes are adapted to see a lower radiation band than humans, can see near-IR but not blue
range is approximately 500 nm to 1400 nm
also have a secondary set of thermographic receptors to see approximately 9 to 10.5 µm
cornea reflects higher frequencies which makes the eyes appear blue in daylight
underneath the cornea, eyes are fairly typical, with a vertical slitted pupel
color varies between individuals with green, gold, and grey being most common
brown and red are rare but possible, but blue/violet are not due to cornea
"grey" can be blue/violet pigments or an IR-primary color in addition to true grey
all colors have varying shades, blends, irridesence, and so on
eyes may get a blue tint in moderate light from cornea
Chrysalis's eyes are damaged and lack this protection
this has damaged her eyes and ruined her night vision
this improves low-light vision, but requires larger eyes to get good resolution
also have tapetum lucidum for improved low-light vision
eyeshine is typically less pronounced than normal reflection off the cornea
hearing is also good, but not exceptional
touch is reasonably acute, but nowhere near human hands and not as good as ponies
primarily done through a thin skin layer with various sensory cells over exoskeleton
most notable feature is short, fine sensory hares like spiders have
these give changelings a slightly fuzzy texture to touch, although they are hard to see
ponies would not notice this because of their fur unless they licked a changeling
have relatively weak sense of smell because they rely on eyes for threat detection
however, they do have a number of specialized pheremone sensors to help identify emotions
taste is relatively strong to compensate for weak smell in detecting toxins
diet:
fairly standard omnivores like humans
as such, diet is fairly similar to humans in most ways allowing for regional avalibility
can tolerate pony food like hay to blend in, but cannot get nutrition from it
reproduction:
after mating, females lay a single very large egg which they protect in a gelatinous cocoon
eggs typically weigh about 3.5~4.5 kg or 10% of the mother's body weight
this egg is too large to fully develop inside the exoskeleton of the female
this forces the underside of their exoskeleton to open while the egg develops
females are mostly immobile during this timeframe and spend most of it on their side
incubation is usually a communal process when possible due to the required time and energy
in large communities/cities, there may be individuals who specialize in this
parents still care for their individual offspring after birth
young are roughly comperable to human or pony infants uppon hatching
timeline after a sucessful mating:
shell opens at about 24 hours
egg is laid at about 72 hours, shell closes within minutes of release
egg hatches after about 8 months of incubation
magic/love energy:
changelings do not really eat love
they use it to get others to lower natural defenses so they can steal magic energy
ponies can learn to voluntarily relax these defenses to "feed" changelings
changelings can do magic, but they must draw their power from their energy reserve
it takes at least a month to build up a full charge, and is usually much longer
like most life in Equestria, changelings use magic in a number of key biological processes
most creatures can draw this energy from the enviornment, but changelings cannot
this means they must have an external source of magic to survive
holding more energy induces more losses to biological processes and less efficent storage
changelings can also make magic storage goo for long term holding
this energy can all be released in a very short period of time if needed
this makes a well-fed changeling devestating in a fight, but recharging afterwards is slow
flying requires magic like pegasi as such, a changeling with very low magic cannot fly
Now onto my own contributions:
Feeding-
Broadly speaking, all changelings are defined more by their absence of internal magic than any transformative abilities that they might have. Indeed, there are some changeling swarms whose ability to shapeshift has atrophied to the point of uselessness, but are still fundamentally counted amongst changelings. While nearly every other single living thing possesses some manner of innate internal, usually highly magical, energy, changelings do not. This is both the root for a great many of their strange abilities and a great many of their problems.
Naturally, all changelings must find a way to account for this deficiency, this lack in the fundamental energy of life. While commonly referred to as 'love', even by the changelings, defining it so narrowly is rather inaccurate. This is a misnomer that arises from the ease with which changelings are able to feed from those whose emotions are relaxed and 'open' for lack of a better phrase, with the easiest manner of attaining this openness being by inspiring love. In truth, what changelings feed upon could be referred to as life or magic, though the emotional state of their victim does influence feeding heavily. A changeling can feed upon nearly any being, though only the more advanced, more magical lifeforms provide any real sustenance. The process is, fortunately, quite subtle, and one is much more likely to note the aftereffects much more easily than the feeding itself.
The feeding process is, unfortunately, quite harmful. Depending on the duration and intensity of the feeding, as well as how 'relaxed' the subject is, the act even has the potential to be fatal, though this is usually avoided by changelings. Feeding tends to come in three broad flavors for changelings that need to collect energy: active, passive, and forced.
-Active feeding provides the majority of a hive's energy reserves, and among Chrysalis' swarm is typically carried out by short-term infiltrators. This branch of infiltration tends to focus on coming into a community, finding a number of high-yield, low-risk targets, and engaging them. Typically, this is done by the changeling pulling them into brief whirlwind romances, short-term friendships and other such brief but intense relationships. Also, celebratory events and festivals are quite popular, as they allow the changeling to feed upon a great many 'relaxed' targets at once. Actually abducting and replacing targets, and then getting close to their loved ones is really quite rare, due to the numerous risks involved. This kind of feeding, often results in the victims suffering depressed emotions over the next few weeks to months. They tend to be left feeling morose, moody, and apathetic, which also contributes to the notion that changelings literally feed on emotion. Other side-effects include head-aches, migraines and general exhaustion, a weakened immune response, suppressed magical ability, and confusion. Depending on the health of the target and the intensity of the feeding, it can take weeks to months to fully recover.
-Passive feeding is typically practiced by those changelings that need to infiltrate other cultures for long periods of time, for the sake of spying, subterfuge, assisting other changelings in feeding, or acquiring useful things for the hive. This is usually done by the changeling cultivating a large circle of social ties, and feeding very lightly upon them. Even spread out over a number of targets this usually only provides basic sustenance for the changeling in question, and rarely nets a gain for the hive. As this often require a changeling to cultivate a couple of dozen relationships to disperse their feeding throughout, this is unfortunately not practical for sustaining the hive. That being said, it's still a crucial technique for changelings to keep an eye on their neighbors without arising suspicion. When done right, this manner of feeding tends to have very muted side-effects on those that are fed upon. Usually not much more than slightly depressing the moods that are fed upon along with the occasional unexplained headaches.
-Forced feeding is the least used method of feeding, and is widely considered taboo, whether it be used on ponies, griffins, and especially other changelings. This method of feeding is done by simply forcibly pulling the energy from a target, without regard for the target reluctance or resistance. In addition to the side-effects associated with active feeding, which are themselves heightened, permanent harm is often caused by this method of feeding, which can include permanent psychological dysfunction, a crippled health, the degradation or outright loss of one's inherent magic, and death. When used on another changeling it effectively simulates extreme energy starvation, only at an extremely accelerated rate, which itself can lead to many of the same effects listed above. Worse yet, it's also among the least efficient means of feeding. It is known to be psychologically traumatizing for the victim, and often for the changeling doing it, as well. Most changelings have very low-level empathic abilities (See below), and will likely have a very good idea of what they are putting their victim through. Historically, those changeling that could do this, without being bothered by it are often seen as the changeling equivalents of psychopaths. As of present day, there is only one active swarm that uses this method of feeding, and even then they explicitly view it as a means of attack, are loathe to use it on other sapient beings.
Empathy-
As mentioned above, most changelings possess what could be construed as empathic abilities; the ability to read the emotions of those around them. This comes as a natural extension of their ability to feed on others. As the ease of feeding upon a subject is often dictated by the emotional state of the subject, it's very easy to gauge a target's general emotional state while feeding. With this in mind, a changeling can, with a little bit of experience, sort of 'taste' a target to get a read upon them, letting them interpret the energy within that target. This ability contributes heavily to the changeling affinity for the so-called Mind Magics. While this obviously serves changelings very well, when they are infiltrating and dealing with other races, it actually sees far more usage amongst the changelings themselves.
This low-level empathy greatly eases communication between changelings, which would be otherwise hampered by their generally similar appearances and inexpressive features. This ability is comparable in many ways to the subconscious reading of body language, in that it allows changelings to intuitively read one another. It also helps quite a bit, in letting changeling quickly identify one another. One changeling can recognize another almost without thinking about it with this ability. That being said, this ability can be confused in areas with large numbers of changelings or where a great deal of changeling magic is being dispersed. This ability also lets changelings readily distinguish disguised changelings from the other races, letting the since the particular flow of energy in the disguised changelings body.
This ability also can cause large groups of changelings to be swayed towards panic or worry. While not at all a hive mind, changelings do tend to pick up on it quite quickly another changeling is worried. If not controlled, this can easily lead to a cascading reaction where more and more changelings sense the worry of other changelings, and start worrying themselves. Similar results can also be seen with other reactive emotions, like anger, which can cause a great deal of chaos if not kept in check. This can be said to be another role that Queens are expected to serve; exuding a calm and confident demeanor for the sake of providing an emotional anchor for the swarm.
One last thing to note, is that this ability is guided by the ability of a changeling to sense the energy in their fellow living beings. Without being in direct proximity of their target they have to rely upon their other sense just like the other races. This can lead to the interesting scenario where a changeling might be able to pick out individual changelings from a line-up, but have a great deal of trouble identifying photos of their friends and family.
Starvation-
When a changeling refers to starvation, they're rarely speaking about a lack of actual edibles. While changelings can and do eat, as the other races understand it, it is usually a secondary concern when compared to the acquisition of love/magic/life energy. The average healthy changeling can get by with very little food if need be, provided their energy reserves are in a good range. Normal food is typically only a supplement to a changelings true diet, serving for when a changeling needs to either gain mass, when growing, or replace something that is lost. They do have a higher requirement for fresh water, both for thermo-regulation, waste disposal, and the creation of the so called Changeling Goo. Though Chrysalis swarm can get by with surprisingly little water, if they don't need to generate goo, being well-adapted to their arid home.
When a changeling is truly starving is when their energy reserves are too low to maintain their most basic bodily functions. Nearly every bodily function from digesting normal food, maintaining their body temperatures, living-in-general and every form of magical expression represents a drain on a reserve that will not replenish itself. Normal foods sources will not serve, and indeed eating physical food might compound the issue by causing them to need to expend energy to digest it. Even proper sleep requires some energy from a changeling, and a changeling with sufficiently low reserves won't be able to accomplish more than pass out. Which would be a very bad idea, as they might not wake up.
Many of the typical signs of a changeling that is starving superficially resemble those of a member of another race starving, though in truth many of these signs are conscious efforts on the part of the changelings to stall the process. They will often seem lethargic and moody, where the changeling begins to actively avoid activity to limit the drain on their reserves. Hunger-pains take on a different meaning for changelings. While they do not enjoy being low on energy, it is not precisely painful at this point, but rather a discomforting emptiness. When the pain begins, it's a sign of permanent damage taking place in a changeling's body, as the energy that sustains their individual cells starts to falter.
It should be noted, that a changeling can choose to continue to expend their remaining energy freely, up to the point where they actually die, or more likely fall unconscious...and then die. This does go very heavily against any notions of self-preservation and most changelings wouldn't be able to bring themselves to this point.
At this point, a changeling's cells will actually start to necrotize, causing their body to start to die all around them. If a changeling is conscious and capable they can consciously attempt to displace their remaining energy towards their more vital parts, though unfortunately the injured, the very young and very old are usually not capable of this. And as mentioned before this damage is usually permanent; even if they are provided all the energy they need afterwards. Worse still this damage to their bodies often compromises their ability to retain and process energy later on, leaving them in a state where they need to be perpetually provided energy just to survive. This is the common fate of many Changeling Queens, a result of the immense strain that comes with elevating their successors. Chrysalis' swarm has been one of the only one's to maintain a high enough yield of energy to sustain a queen that no longer reigns.
In addition to what's already been stated, and the fact that the process is usually terrifying and painful, a changeling will tend to suffer effects typical to what one might if various parts of their body started spontaneously dying. As mentioned, this damage is nigh irreversible, in all but the lightest of cases and in the cases involving very young changelings, whose bodies are still developing.
One last thing to note, is that among changelings, the body of a changeling that has died due to starvation is especially disconcerting. The changeling ability to subconsciously sense the quasi-magical life force of most every living thing, often reveals these corpses to be utterly devoid of...well, anything. A changeling that dies of other causes, and for that matter most other dead creatures, will show the lingering energy left in their bodies. A changeling that has starved to death cannot be sensed in this way at all. There are some objects that will feel more alive to a changeling than the body of changeling that has died of starvation. Being exposed to this tends to be very upsetting, for fairly obvious reasons, and contributes to the changeling idea that starvation is flatly the worst way to die.
Induced Transformations-
Conversely, changelings that take in or are infused with excessive amounts of energy, can undergo more positive changes. This is normally performed by the Queen of any given swarm, and usually quite sparingly given that it requires a heavy investment of a limited resource. But by forcing into a changeling more energy than they could normally retain, their innate capabilities can be enhanced. This is both the basis for the seemingly unnatural degree of diversity between different changeling swarms and also the means by which Queens are created.
As nearly every function of changeling's body is fueled by the expenditure of love/magic/life energy, it also follows that some parts of their body will use up more energy and thus have more energy, subconsciously or consciously, directed to towards them. As a changeling's ability to retain this energy tends to be very elastic, the changeling's body naturally needs to find a way work off this imbalance. When these energy imbalances accumulate, as the changeling more and more often utilizes particular parts of their anatomy, this can cause these parts of their bodies to overdevelop.
As an example, we could say that a baseline changeling, a changeling that's fairly close to a member of Chrysalis' swarm in form, were to migrate to a heavily jungle-laden area. This might prompt the changeling in question to rely more heavily upon flight and climbing to make it's way around it's environment. The changeling flies around more often, leaps more often, and climbs more often, causing their energy to shift more heavily to these areas due to exertion. Consequently, their wings might become somewhat larger and their legs might become stronger, while their exoskeleton lightens and other abilities start to atrophy.
These changes are relatively limited in the course of a single changeling's lifetime, except in the cases where it's purposely induced with large amounts of energy. However, due to the nature of how changelings give birth, there is a strong tendency for a changeling's offspring's...energy pathways, for lack of a better term, to be mirror their parents to a degree. Within a few generations, these changes can be even more pronounced, and essentially become a part of a changeling's natural development.
To continue the above example, let's say that instead of one changeling, there's an entire swarm that moves to this hypothetical jungle biome. While not all of these changeling's will exert themselves in the same way, enough of them will need to, that within a few generations a new baseline will have been established. The longer they reside in this region, and the more extreme their needs are, the more specialized the population will become to the area. Chrysalis' changelings don't need to many adaptations to thrive where they are situated. They don't need to specialize overly much, and thus also don't need to neglect other abilities that they might have. A sea dwelling swarm of changelings though would seem radically different from other swarms, and would all but sacrifice certain baseline changeling capabilities.
This is the passive form of this trait, and what contributes to the seemingly accelerated form of evolutionary divergence among different groups of changelings.
When induced through heavy infusions of energy, usually from a Queen towards their more exceptional drones, a similar process occurs, though at a greatly accelerated rate. It should be noted that, this process does not usually have a strong impact upon the swarm as a whole. While the offspring of these changeling's can be predisposed towards whatever strengths are found in their parents, post-alteration, they are often mitigated when bred with the baseline changelings of the swarm. Since even minor alterations are energy intensive this is not an effective way of 'guiding' the development of a swarm. Unless the majority of a swarm is given reason to emphasize certain assets over others, swarm-wide changes should not be expected.
The exact process of altering a changeling through infusions of energy, varies based on what strengths want to be cultivated. A Changeling Queen might encourage the overdevelopment of the wings in an exceptional scout, or increase the muscle mass and exoskeleton mass of warrior changelings, and so forth. It should be noted, that the most difficult trait to improve upon in any given changeling is the ability to efficiently retain greater amounts of energy. To see any notable increase in their body's ability to hold onto energy, a changeling needs to have very nearly their entire body suffused with energy, inciting development in the changeling's whole form. While arguably simpler than picking specific parts of the anatomy to enhance, it's far more energy intensive and rarely seen as worth it. The exception is in the creation of a Queen, a process which is normally only undertaken by an existing Queen.
With all that being said, it is possible for non-Royal Changelings to induce changes, up to and including the creation of a new Queen. Though without the power and control of a Queen, the process can be unpredictable, significantly less efficient, and risky, with a greater change of...undesirable developments. These can include detrimental physical developments, the burning out of a changeling's ability to retain energy, or psychological defects in the changeling to be changed.
The process by which a Changeling is elevated to Queen status is usually a huge sink on a swarm's resources, one that can years to see through to it's end. It typically takes between 1-2 decades for a changeling to complete the transformation into a Queen, during which time the prospective Queen must be given constant heavy infusions of energy. If these infusions ever taper off, even for a few days, the changeling runs the risk of having their bodies stabilize. If this happens, it can take even more energy to try to restart the process. If the existing Queen has already burned herself out by this point, it's possible a swarm could be left without a Queen.
A number of factors determine the effort and time that are needed to elevate a changeling. Younger changelings, that are still developing seem to have an easier time undergoing the transformation. Females likewise seem to have an easier time undergoing the transformation. This is not as obvious as it seems, as changeling males can also be elevated into Changeling “Kings” through the same process. Oddly over the course of the transformation, males tend to steadily become more physically feminine over the course of the process. To the point where even some changelings might have difficulty telling that they're male. While they remain basically male, a fully realized Changeling “King” can be hard to distinguish from a Changeling Queen. The changelings themselves have no idea why this occurs, but they do tend to take is as a sign. Though, while a preference is given towards selecting females for elevation, there's not a great deal of stigma towards males taking the role; usually being an indicator that the male was simply the most exceptional candidate.
Lastly, some changelings believe that the direct children of a Queen, or King, are innately more likely to make great Queens themselves. Oddly this doesn't hold out as true very often. Indeed, Chrysalis, one of the most powerful and successful Queens in present day, was adopted by her predecessor for the role.
More on Changeling Royalty will be covered under Changeling Culture.
Changeling Reproduction-
This section is mostly a supplement to what D48 has already outlined in his very helpful notes.
During the incubation period for a changeling egg, once the egg has been deposited outside of it's parent's body, it needs to be infused with energy, in order to be sustained. Like in other parts of a changeling's development, while a typical changeling egg already contains the physical nutrients needed for the unborn changeling, provided by the parent eating a good deal of actual food beforehand, the unborn changeling needs to be fed energy to survive and grow. Either from their parents or dedicated caretakers for the hive, the unborn changeling will need to be provided a fairly steady stream of harvested energy. A steady stream of energy, being key here. An unborn changeling can get by with a small amount of energy over a fairly long incubation, or a larger amount in a shorter timeframe. But the amounts needs to be consistent for the unborn changeling to develop normally. Sudden peaks and valleys in the amount of love/magic/life energy being supplied to the unborn changeling can often lead to anomalous developments and defects.
As an example, Chrysalis lacks the outer eye layer that most changelings in her swarm have, that provides protection and the nightvision typical of her swarm. This was a result of a brief shortage in the 'love' harvesting of the swarm. When the shortage was alleviated, the caretakers overcompensated in providing her, as an unborn changeling, energy. This caused the region around her eyes, which was developing at the time, to suffer minor burnout. This stifled further development, leaving her without the outer protective layer, leaving the underlying eyes exposed.
Among other possibilities that can arise from inconsistent supplies of energy to these eggs, are twins, which are even rarer among changelings than other species. This most typically arises in times of relative excess for the hive, though it's not unheard for them to arise during leaner times. At one point a fair amount of superstition surrounded changeling twins, though in modern times they're just seen as...a bit different. It's usually pretty obvious when twins start to develop, as the eggs are semi-translucent to begin with. Their development usually requires that, at later stages of the incubation process, the egg be prematurely opened and the twins transferred into their own separate fabricated eggs. This is usually to avoid the issue of crowding in a single egg that tends to arise, though it's not unheard of for them to safely share one egg until hatching.
Among changelings, twins tend to come across as rather odd. Perhaps as a result of developing together, the innate empathic abilities between twins tends to be extremely strong. To the point, where a changeling twin will often have trouble dealing with changelings other than their twin. They can typically read one another so intuitively, that they don't need to rely on words to communicate, once leading to the notion that twins were really a single changeling in two bodies. Twins also tend to 'feel' very similar to one another, to other changelings, to the point where their subconscious empathic abilities are often confused by them.
This inherent strangeness tends to result in some mild ostracism for twins, which often compounds the issue, as the twins increasingly spend more time around one another.
Another major facet of the changeling reproduction, is that changeling children are significantly less influenced by things like bloodlines, though changeling as a whole are unaware of this. The actual process for creating changelings, is on a deeper level more like self-duplication, rather than the breeding that most creatures undergo. While a changeling's mate does have some influence on it's child, most of a baby changeling's qualities are brought about during the incubation period. As mentioned before, what is most heavily passed down to their young is their body's predisposition for the distribution of energy throughout their bodies.
This means changelings have very little to worry about, when it comes to genetic disease. This allows changelings to maintain surprisingly small populations, without worry of collapsing due to constricted genepools. As mentioned above, changelings are largely oblivious to this, and still believe that strong bloodlines play a factor in their reproduction.
Changeling Goo-
The ability to create the eponymous Changeling Goo is one that's shared by most changelings. A result of the changeling ability to exert conscious control over certain portions of their bodies, in this case their digestive tract, allows them to generate this multi-purpose substance. Typically it's comprised primarily of water, a mixture of whatever the changeling's recently eaten, and their own energy, with the amounts of each of these components determining a great deal about the exact nature of the goo. There are a number of somewhat standard sorts of goo that Chrysalis' changelings can generate themselves, with other swarms knowing their own tricks that can be performed with it:
Quick-drying or Combat Goo- The most easily generated form of goo, is mainly a mixture of a water and concentrated energy, along with some other substances drawn from their own body stores. It's quick to manufacture and fairly versatile. As one can guess it quickly begins to dry out when it comes in contact with air, first becoming viscous and sticky, before hardening, all within the course of a few seconds. It's not particularly strong, but can easily hamper or temporarily pin an opponent. It also has many more mundane uses, any that could call for a fairly strong, if temporary, glue. It's nature is itself maintained by the energy installed into it, and it can be easily broken down by a proper application of changeling magic. This quickly reduces the substance into a watery form once more.
Cement Goo- Requires more skill to generate, though it remains somewhat similar to the quick-drying goo. With higher infusions of energy and less water, a changeling can expel out a goo that when mixed with sands, dirt, ash or similar materials, can be used to create a cement like substance. As long as a changeling maintains a small flow of energy into the goo, as it's mixed in, it can be kept from drying out too much, allowing the sand to be first coaxed into a clay like malleability. When set however the changeling wish it, they can cause it too quickly harden by actively draining the remaining energy in the mixture causing it to dry and set. Different mixtures of energy, water and grit can result in range of different sorts of cement, suitable for construction.
Energy Storage Goo- A goo formed for the purposes of storing large amounts of cultivated energy for the long-term. Another fairly easy to create form of goo, it requires a mixture of inert materials and a significant amount of fluids to create. It requires a significant amount of control to create these little stores of energy, requiring that the inert material be brought out to the outer most layer allowed to harden like Cement Goo, creating a sort of shell. This shell then serves to hold a second sort of goo with a high energy retention ability. When the energy is needed, the shell can be opened up and the goo can either be digested directly or have the energy sucked out of it. This is also the method by which changelings can create eggs, if for some reason an unborn changeling needs to be moved from it's natural egg.
Energy Suppressing Goo- A variation of the energy storage goo, this also takes some traits from basic combat goo. While this goo retains the high energy retaining abilities of storage goo, it instead of remaining fluid, hardens like combat goo. When drained of any residual energy, this goo can be used to restrain a target, while also draining off any magical energies they might try to expend. This is typically done by directly applying the goo to a changeling, a unicorn, or an alicorn's horn.
Nutrient Goo- This a rather benign form of goo, formed by skilled changelings taking in water, edible nutrients (Typically cultivated edible fungi) partially digesting it, and infusing it heavily with energy. It's primarily used for feeding young changelings, as it easily provides just about everything they need in one sitting; water, nutrients and biomass for growth, and raw energy. The fact that the energy is ingested with the food also aids in digesting and absorbing the nutrients. It's also used to feed changelings that might be suffering heavy injuries, or just those that for whatever reason need to replenish certain nutrients and minerals in their bodies.
All forms of goo tend to have a high water requirements, often necessitating that after heavy use, the changeling in question re-hydrate. As mentioned other changeling swarms have other forms that they might have developed but these are what might be considered the standard variations.
Miscellaneous-
Most changeling can, with practice, learn to shut-off certain parts of their body to conserve energy, most often the digestive tract when they don't need to actually use it. This does give changeling a certain innate resilience to ingested toxins, as with their tracts in a sort of standby mode, very little of the poison may get absorbed, and instead will pass through the body. This offers no special protection against other kinds of poisons, as a changeling can't very well shut-off their lungs or stop their blood from moving.
Changelings do suffer from ailments as the others races do, and are similar enough to ponies that cross-species transmission of diseases is not uncommon, though they tend to interact with changeling physiology in different ways. They also often have to deal with certain aggressive molds and fungi that have tendency to take to their bodies, creeping along their exoskeletion and working their way into the gaps. Fungal infections are less uncommon among changelings than other races.
Lastly, provided a changeling chooses to process them, changelings tend to have very pronounced reactions to the ingestion of both chocolate and alcohol. Alcohol tends to result in a similar state of drunkenness to other species, though much more quickly. Changelings are typically light-weights when it comes to consuming alcohol, and usually can't handle half of what an average pony might. With chocolate, in addition to being fairly tasty and sugary, sugars taking less energy to process than other substances, the same pleasure inducing chemical reactions that occur in other species happen in changelings. Like with alcohol it tends to be more pronounced, often coming close to the experience of feeding upon energy flavored with love, without all the messy moral issues that come with feeding on another sapient. It does not provide them with any actual energy, but it is usually considered a pleasurable experience.
Alright, that covers the first part of my guide to my version of the changelings. Next up, will be General Changeling Culture and History. If your wondering why I felt the need to break it up like this, the history more or less spans around 6000 years, and I have four changeling swarms other than Chrysalis' that I would like to describe.
I welcome any questions, criticism, or suggestions that anyone might have for this little project. Anyone that's taken with my ideas should feel free to make use of them. Once all three parts are complete I do plan on posting them to some of the Changeling groups here on FiMFiction, for more of that. I'm sure this whole thing could use some more formatting to 'pretty it up' but for now, I think this will do.
The plan for this week is to finish up "Conversation Piece" then write up the next part of this little guide.
Enjoy.
That was good and informative, a nice read.
That's a nice pack of info. Pitty I already knew/subspected most of it.
2823204 Yeah, the Physiology section is mostly just dealing with easy to figure out stuff, that still needed to be said. The Cultural and History section and the Modern Swarms sections are where I put most of my creative efforts.
2823273 Lookin' forward to it.
2823273 You talked with D48 right? No offense to that guy but I don't exactly agree with him. He's good fun though I guess.
Also tl;dr.
Interesting, given their size I might have just made them armored endoskeletal creatures.
2823541 It's all good. I'm not the kind of person that needs everyone he knows to agree with one another. And if you have you're own thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear them too.
And D48 did provide that early on for me, which gave me incentive and a leaping off-point to build my own ideas, so it seemed fair to give him due credit.
EDIT: And yeah, this is a bit of a word wall. Again, mostly because most of this first part isn't going to be terribly important in future stories, narrative-wise. I'll be breaking down the content in more easily digestible chunklets in the other two parts.
2823672 That's a fair point. I can't think of any particular plot-point in any of my future stories that will rely upon that particular detail (not saying it won't though), so in some ways it's still kind of up-in-the-air.
It's kind of like a Schrodinger's Cat scenario, where until I actually give credence to a particular detail in one of my stories it's not really set-in-stone, even when they're my own ideas.
As always, I'm open to suggestions like this.
EDIT: It should also be noted that, most of Physiology stuff here isn't counted as my most story relevant information. Most of the stuff that will be relevant to future stories will be found in the next 2 parts.
This first part is mostly just old ground that needed to be semi-settled, if you get my meaning.
2824759
Well, it partly depends on whether you want to make them arthropods that resemble ponies or ponies that resemble arthropods, I suppose.
Also, this line was interesting:
It explains why Chrysalis' mother is so withered. Though, it does beg the question of why they even appoint successors, given that she's survived so long in even her deprived state, Changeling queens may be effectively immortal (which would actually be a good thing for Chrysalis' romance with Celestia).
2825279 It's mostly a cultural taboo against Changeling Queens reigning for too long, that Chrysalis has basically decided to ignore as being a pointless tradition. It's believed that it leads to a greater risk of a Queen devolving into insanity, and becoming a so-called Mad Queen. However this scenario, according to their own legends hasn't occurred for thousands of years, and they aren't even sure about the actual details from that far back. So she concluded much the same as any would, that keeping a powerful experienced ruler is better than a possible new ruler, despite a hypothetical risk that might not even be real. Seeing her success has encouraged the other swarms to start putting off seeking successors as well.
It's was also believed that Queens are inherently incapable of working with one another for too long, and that problems will inevitably arise in a swarm with more than one Queen. That Royal Changelings are incapable of treating one another as equals, and that one will inevitably try dominate the other. This is another tradition among the modern Changeling swarms that is steadily being abandoned. I'll be covering this sort of thing in the next two parts of this little project.
And, yeah, as far as changelings know, there is no known limit to how old a changeling Queen can live to be, provided they maintain their energy levels and don't die to outside causes.
EDIT: Oh, and there is another way to elevate a changeling to Royal status, without a huge investment of energy from other changelings. Force Feeding is one of the few methods that let's a changeling sort of bypass their normal limits for energy retention, if only in the short-term. That being said, it would requiring draining to death hundreds of magical, sapient beings, in a short time to achieve. Given that a willingness to do such a thing through forced feeding, would be seen as wildly psychopathic by most changelings, you can see why it wouldn't see much use nowadays. You probably wouldn't want a Queen that was willing to do that around.
2825686
You might want to work some of that bit into the story, if you can manage it without totally breaking flow, because the whole thing with Chrysalis' mother probably has some people wondering about exactly how her lifespan works and not everyone is going to read your side notes.
I'm also curious as to why those traditions would start, there's usually some basis, even if it's been warped over the years or was a lie to begin with (in the latter case, the tradition would start because the lie benefited someone a lot of the time).
2826147 Both of those details I'm going to be working into my stories as things go along. I just want to avoid falling into the trap of shoehorning this kind of information into the first place I can force it, creating out-of-place expository blurbs, so it hasn't come up yet in my stories. Not that it will be terribly hard; Twilight will be interested in spear-heading pony efforts into finding out more about Changelings in general, and in a future story Luna and Chrysalis are going to be discussing some of these issues.
Where these notions came from will also be explored later on, and will play an important part in a future story. For now, changelings just patently aren't sure about the exact events surrounding these stories; that far back is more myth, than history. Though it could be reasoned that something big happened that could have inspired such species wide taboos.
EDIT: Actually, I think the final chapter of Intermediate Lessons, will prove a good spot to have a few questions answered that Twilight might want answered, including the lifespan thing. Things are calming down in the story, and she would see it as a good way to distract Chrysalis from the party...that seems like it could be fitting.
EDIT.EDIT: Actually, I just recalled that I left the last chapter of Intermediate Lessons on the perfect note for Twilight to ask about Chrysalis' age, and by extension her mother's.
Sorry for disappearing on you, I got wrapped up in another major worldbuilding project with V-Pony on how ponies would fight and how exactly you would design a functional wingblade which should be going up soonish in the Bronies With Blades group now that I have the CAD half of the project done with 3D models and technical drawings ready for release (the things I do in my spare time
). Also, I deliberately avoided reading your stuff when I needed breaks to give me more motivation to get the drafting done.
Anyways, I read through this and wanted to go over a few points that stood out with what looked like either confusion or you having to redo some of my work because my notes are a bit on the vague side in some places due to the fact that they are mostly written for my own reference, although before I start I want to say that I generally just refer to "love/magic/life energy" as "energy" to keep things concise with more physical exertions referred to with words like "effort" or "work". I have also added to my notes as time goes on so I will dump the latest version of that at the end of this post so you can see what I have added up to this point which includes a few brand new clarifications on things like the energy use in eggs because you just made me realize that was not especially clear.
First is the food. It looks like this is not really covered in the old version of the notes I gave you, but my thoughts on solid food were exactly the opposite of what you wrote here. With changelings having so much trouble acquiring magical energy, I figured their systems were tuned to rely more heavily on nutrition acquired from solid food than most other life forms including ponies in order to reduce the strain on their energy reserves.
Second is the inheritance. I will admit that I am not 100% clear on what is going on there, but I cannot see any possible transmission vector for changes developed over the lifetime of the individual because the egg is ejected from the body so quickly. That said, we have seen that external conditions can have an enormous effect on how children develop and I would expect this phenomenon to be even stronger among changelings with your focused growth mechanism so I think you can get the final effects you are describing without any special transmission vector beyond normal genetics.
Third is the egg energy flow which I realize I completely failed to define in anything even remotely resembling detail before so I will just go over what I was thinking and you can do with that as you will because what you have works fine as is. What I was thinking was that when the egg is fertilized, the mother's body starts rapidly building up a large egg with lots of physical nutrients like a normal egg laying process with the other modifications I mentioned in the notes. This egg also contains a significant "battery" of sorts to store a large energy reserve which is initially charged from the mother's internal reserves. This battery then provides a steady stream of energy for the developing embryo over the eight month incubation period, however it is not big enough to store all the energy that will be needed over the full incubation so it must be recharged by an external source (normally a changeling, but other species could also do it if they wanted to and knew how with earth ponies generally having the easiest time because of their natural growth-based magic). So long as the battery has energy to dispense everything will go fine, but things can and will go very wrong if it runs dry. This does not look all that different from what you did, although that does not change the fact that I screwed this one up big time.
Forth is Chrysalis's eyes. That outer layer is purely protective so her night vision should be fine unless it has been damaged by the sun or something (which is entirely possible without the protective layer). What this would actually do is make her uncomfortable in bright light and especially direct sunlight, although the slit pupils block more light than round pupils can (this allows a bigger change in light admittance which is why they are common on creatures with good night vision, they let them control the amount of light reaching their more sensitive retinas better) so she can probably manage well enough, especially if she stays inside most of the time which seems to be the case. Incidentally, I would expect her to try to get herself a pair of good sunglasses to replicate that protection and make her more comfortable in direct sunlight, although the process of getting them without looking "weak" might be tricky (and amusing).
Fifth is the goo composition. While that is about what I was thinking overall, the chemical composition of the base goo would be a carefully tailored mix of organic compounds produced by the changeling's body like every natural biological building material rather than something crude like whatever they happened to eat that day. I also feel like the digestive tract is a bad place for those glands because it has other things to do so the holes in the hooves or the inside of the mouth are probably better places for them. I feel like we saw a changeling applying goo to something at one point in the show or something, but I can't remember or find anything on it in the wiki so I might be thinking of a fan work. If you have an official answer to that question I would love to hear it, and if not I will have to do some digging and thinking about where to put them because both work well. The mouth seems like a more logical place to me because these kinds of things tend to be on the core like that most of the time, but putting them in the holes in the hooves would add some extra flexibility to how it is applied and help justify the existence of those silly holes which is also good because those stupid holes are one of the biggest biological headaches of making working changelings.
Sixth and last is cross contamination. While some diseases could definitely jump between species, changelings are fundamentally arthropods so they will have radically different immune systems from ponies which means many bugs will only be dangerous to one species and either die horribly in the other or, more worryingly, be carried without any apparent effect in the other and create a dangerous transmission vector. Viruses in particular are almost certainly not communicable between species (many viruses are limited to a very narrow range of species or even a single species like smallpox), however a number of parasites can and do affect both mammals and arthropods so there is definitely a real risk of cross contamination in some cases. This is something that could be extremely useful if you are dealing with a nasty airborne disease like smallpox which only infects one species because the other could safely work with those infected which is obviously a tremendous help, although you would have to be very careful to make sure they do not transmit the disease to other members of the vulnerable population. Regardless, this whole thing gets incredibly complicated with staggering speed so I would definitely avoid it unless you have a real medical background in epidemiology because you will undoubtedly make serious mistakes without that kind of knowledge (and given how difficult diseases can be to predict, even a PHD in the subject and decades of experience is no guarantee that you will not make a serious mistake).
Now for a mass note dump. I have added material and cleaned things up throughout and I honestly do not remmeber what has changed where because I keep adding bits and pieces to it. There is also a block on my history and culture stuff at the end which you can safely ignore because there is no way it will work with what I know of your work in that area.
changeling physiology
size:
height (to top of head): .9~1.2m
mass: 30~50kg
this is slightly smaller than ponies, but not much
chitinous, segmented exoskeletons must be thick and strong to support weight
joints in particular have extremely high load bearing requirements
as a result, changeling joints are much more complicated than insect joints
have a bearing pin going fully through the inner layer with cushioning tissue around it
also serves as natural armor, however healing would be very slow like bone
the thickness of the exoskeleton would make molting a slow, difficult process
because of this, molting only happens during growth or after significant injury
have a limited ability to regenerate lost limbs, but this is very unreliable without help
this is a very slow, engery intensive process which takes several years with treatment
can also be triggered by major joint wear because they are not as tough as mammal joints
this will normally happen every few decades, but extreme wear can cause it to happen more
faces are a thiner, more pliable layer with a secondary skull-shell to protect the brain
must have large, well developed heart and lungs like a bird or bat with hemoglobin-based blood
different from terrestrial arthropods to allow larger bodies and increased neural activity
use dual tracheae to allow continuous unidirectional airflow (in the nose, out the mouth)
this allow exceptionally efficient O2/CO2 transfer beyond what birds are capable of
continuous exhale allows continuous talking or singing without stopping to breathe
this is made possible by the lack of a spinal column and reduced neck muscles
neck is fairly inflexible with just a pin at each end and rotary disks in the middle
disks are like the turret on a tank, but have short range of motion locked by bone pegs
have a small esophagus to make room for second trachea
stretches to accommodate food and restricts the tracheae
this forces them to quickly regurgitate any food in the esophagus if they have to fly
must have thermoregulation to maintain physiological efficiency and observed activity
can pump blood into the wings to act as radiators or solar collectors
the wings make great radiators, but tend to loose heat fast in very cold weather
this means extreme cold is more dangerous to changelings than most mammals
covering the wings does a lot to insulate them thanks to the exoskeleton
also have sweat glands primarily around the head, back, and wing muscles
these are the highest heat generation areas, although there are some all over the body
this increases food and water requirements to mammal-like levels
senses:
must have excelent vision for flight, eyes are primary sensory input
eyes are adapted to see a lower radiation band than humans, can see near-IR but not blue
range is approximately 500 nm to 1400 nm
also have a secondary set of thermographic receptors to see approximately 9 to 10.5 µm
cornea reflects higher frequencies which makes the eyes appear blue in daylight
underneath the cornea, eyes are fairly typical, with a vertical slitted pupel
color varies between individuals with green, gold, and grey being most common
brown and red are rare but possible, but blue/violet are not due to cornea
"grey" can be blue/violet pigments or an IR-primary color in addition to true grey
all colors have varying shades, blends, irridesence, and so on
eyes may get a blue tint in moderate light from cornea
Chrysalis's eyes are damaged and lack this protection
this has damaged her eyes and ruined her night vision
this improves low-light vision, but requires larger eyes to get good resolution
this gives some extra utility benifits
they can see when something is too hot to touch with the far-IR receptors
near-IR receptors will let them see when metal is approaching its max service temp
also have tapetum lucidum for improved low-light vision
eyeshine is typically less pronounced than normal reflection off the cornea
hearing is also good, but not exceptional
touch is reasonably acute, but nowhere near human hands and not as good as ponies
primarily done through clusters of sensory cells in the outer layer of the exoskeleton
most notable feature is short, fine sensory hares like spiders have
these give changelings a slightly fuzzy texture to touch, although they are hard to see
ponies would not notice this because of their fur unless they licked a changeling
have relatively weak sense of smell because they rely on eyes for threat detection
however, they do have a number of specialized pheremone sensors to help identify emotions
taste is relatively strong to compensate for weak smell in detecting toxins
diet:
fairly standard omnivores like humans
as such, diet is fairly similar to humans in most ways allowing for regional avalibility
can tolerate pony food like hay to blend in, but cannot get nutrition from it
calorie needs are closer to earth animals than ponies because they use less magic to cheat
this means that they tend to eat a bit more than ponies of the same size
the difference is not huge, but it is noticable
this is almost impossible to pick up on for disguised changelings because they look bigger
reproduction:
after mating, females lay a single very large egg which they protect in a gelatinous cocoon
eggs typically weigh about 3.5~4.5 kg or 10% of the mother's body weight
the young typically weigh about 2/3 of that when they hatch for 2.5~3 kg
this egg is too large to fully develop inside the exoskeleton of the female
this forces the underside of their exoskeleton to open while the egg develops
females are mostly immobile during this timeframe and spend most of it on their side
between the mass and energy costs, this process is enormously draining on the mother
it ususally takes several days of recovery to get back up and moving after egg laying
replacing the lost mass takes months of heavy eating
pregnancy is not possible without a sufficient reserve of body fat and magic
this applies weather the individual has laid an egg before or not
incubation is usually a communal process when possible due to the required time and energy
in large communities/cities, there may be individuals who specialize in this
this workload may also be shared with trusted members of other species
parents still care for their individual offspring after birth
eggs have a substantial energy "battery" they use to feed the developing embryo
it starts charged from the mother's reserves and must be recharged as the embryo develops
the battery stores the surges of energy given to the egg and delivers it at a steady rate
recharging is most commonly done by changelings, although other species can do it as well
earth ponies usually have the easiest time learning how because of how their magic works
young are roughly comperable to human or pony infants uppon hatching
timeline after a sucessful mating:
exoskeleton opens at about 24 hours
egg is laid at about 72 hours, exoskeleton closes within minutes of release
egg hatches after about 8 months of incubation
genders:
there is very little biological difference between male and female changelings
females are a hair larger on average, but it is really just the reproductive organs
those organs are very small when not actively growing an egg because there is no womb
the mass for the egg itself comes from the normal body reserves of fat and stuff
external differences are similarly minor and very easy for those not used to them to miss
in many cases, those who do not live with lots of them just memorize genders of individuals
as a result, there is no gender roll split within changeling society ouside egg laying
magic/love energy:
changelings do not really eat love
they use it to get others to lower natural defenses so they can steal magic energy
lowered defenses from strong emotions like love also let ponies to work with more magic
this is mostly a survival mechanism to allow more power in a fight or flight response
it also serves to facilitate sharing and cooperative spellcasting
for example, the lowered barriers let Cadence provide power to Shining Armor
ponies can learn to voluntarily relax these defenses to "feed" changelings
ponies can learn to directly feed changelings by forcing magic into the horn
this is easiest for unicorns, but others can learn this as well
unicorns touch horns, earth ponies touch with hooves, pegasi touch with wings
this is mostly used for emergencies when a changeling cannot feed themselves at all
this can easily cause magic exhaustion in the ponies if the changeling is not careful
common side effects are a general listlessness, lazyness, and a weakened immune system
extreme cases can cause headaches, irratic urges, and in extremely rare cases, death
healthy ponies will tend to suffer less severe effects and recover more quickly
changelings can do magic, but they must draw their power from their energy reserve
it takes at least a month to build up a full charge and is usually much longer
like most life in Equestria, changelings use magic in a number of key biological processes
most creatures can draw this energy from the enviornment, but changelings cannot
this means they must have an external source of magic to survive
holding more energy induces more losses to biological processes and less efficent storage
changelings can also make magic storage goo for long term holding
this energy can all be released in a very short period of time if needed
this makes a well-fed changeling devestating in a fight, but recharging afterwards is slow
flying requires magic like pegasi, although changelings can sort of fly without it
changelings fly like insects which drastically improves their lift and thrust efficiency
as such, a changeling with very low magic can barely fly
because changelings cannot naturally gather magic, magic exhaustion is extremely dangerous
blowing out their entire magic reserve leaves them totally helpless with no way to recover
this is likely fatal without someone else to give them a bit of magic to get going again
changeling disguises are a complex network of illusions and force fields, not transformation
this makes changelings look and feel like a pony of similar size
there are very slight texture errors, but the vast majority of ponies cannot feel them
earth ponies and pegasi can learn to pick this up with extensive special training
this also involves using thier own magic to help out
more sensitive apendages like human hands can pick this out quite easily with experience
these disguises are supplemented by additional magical effects to fool other magic
this is also not perfect, but getting past it is similarly difficult for unicorns
while the horn is the primary focus point for changeling magic, disguises use more
changeling exoskeletons have a series of tiny magical nodes to help support disguises
these nodes also transmit feedback from the virtual skin to the changeling's brain
they also sense nearby objects allowing it to only generate force fields when needed
this saves a lot of magic so the disguise does not eat too much power to be practical
it is possible for ponies to duplicate this kind of magic, but it is insanely hard to do
as such, the only living pony that can actually do this is Princess Luna
changelings can conciously override their disguise magic projectors to creat magic armor
this basically turns the force fields of the disguise into protective shields
this requires them to override their normal efficiency optimization instincts to work
this means sections are not powered down when not taking hits so it burns a lot of magic
changelings can also conciously override their disguises to let them hide objects under them
this requires a lot of skill to do right and hurts disguise efficiency
it is possible to hide larger items with supplementary invisibility magic, but stupid hard
this requires not only layering more magic, but complex body movements under the disguise
changeling bodies will hold onto excess magic more than ponies giving them an overload issue
this results in some minor to moderate mental instability at extreme charge levels
the effects will vary between individuals kind of like getting drunk
unlike alcohol, this tends to act as a stimulant and usually gives a limited god complex
their bodies will still vent excess before it becomes physically dangerous though
the reason for this is to help them conserve magic and avoid starvation
msc:
changeling brains can "overclock" in high stress situations with an extreme adrenal response
this gives them excetional reaction time and makes the world look like bullet time
this lets them fly through close terrain at very high speeds
changeling feet have mini gripping hairs like geko feet to hold objects
works ok and conserves magic, but not as effective as the magic system ponies use
changelings must belong to the phylum Arthropoda in a new subphylum
for comparison, humans belong to the phylum Chordata in the subphylum Vertebrata
this means humans are more closely related to fish than changelings are to insects
this also means disease transmission between ponies and changelings is unlikely
changelings are essentially immune to electricity
bone is very conductive (45~192 ohm-m) so current flows around the body instead of through
a thin insulating layer on the inside of the exoskeleton guarantees that there is no risk
exoskeletons give changelings excelent resistance to direct heat
the surface layers will die fairly easily and leave them numb for a while
the shell material will slow heat transfer into the body and will not burn easily
this does not provide protection from smoke and other hazards though
this is still less of a concern than for humans due to greater lung oxygen absorption
changelings do not do well in deep water
the high efficiency lungs have relatively low volume and do not work well without airflow
this sharply limits ability to hold their breath, especially while exerting themselves
the holes in the legs also make it hard to get purchase when swimming
this reduced drag does make it easier for them to wade through shallow water though
the light wing structures also have serious trouble with the high viscosity of water
this can be overcome with extensive specialized traning to override flight instincts
the holes in the legs serve to lighten them while maintaining the diameter for ridgidity
the hole pattern is unique to the individual which serves as a form of visual identification
(stolen from "Love Mine")
changelings evolved from ambush predators using basic illusions to hide themselves
changelings can make a multipurpose "goo" in their bodies from water and many organic compounds
the goo has some interesting mechanical and magical properties they can exploit
this can be combined with other things for different properties and applications
sand and gravel allows them to make a natural cement-like composite
layers may be composed of different materials for complex structures
properties can be significantly altered by the water content and magical modifications
glands are either in the holes in the hooves or the back of the mouth, need to look into this
history:
changelings were closely associated with earth pony tribes to cover their weaknesses
changelings kept them from becoming food/slaves, but were hated by the other tribes for it
were initially part of Equestria and were critical to the military for their burst power
society in general shifted against them over time due to their shapeshifting
remained important to the military, were well respected by most old mil families and Luna
many changelings started going disguised at all times to avoid this prejudice
this in turn pushed more ponies away from them and made things worse
the mistreatment of changelings was part of what pushed Luna over the edge and into a civil war
changelings and most military families went with Luna, but population stayed with Celestia
some of the general population did rebell as well, although that was mostly earth ponies
changelings were driven out after Luna was banished along with sympathetic ponies
Chrysalis's eyes were damaged by Celestia at the end of the war
Chrysalis was fighting a delaying action to creat an opening for her troops to escape
Celestia and ponies erased them from history and cast them mosters along with Luna/NMM
part of the reason for this was Celestia wanting to protect them
being unknown prevented the ponies from hunting them and made it easier to sneak around
the downside was being thought of as dumb monsters meant they were usually killed on sight
this made Celestia's decision less than popular among changelings despite her intentions
changelings were forced to sneak around to gather love which renforced pony hatred of them
this made it very hard for them to survive so their population started slowly declining
this decay was what eventually forced Chrysalis into invading after diplomacy failed
she was hoping Luna would be able to turn things around, but it didn't happen
the failure of diplomacy also stirred up anti-Equestrian sentiments among the population
Royal Guard armor illusions are based off changeling transformation illusion magic
modern illusions are significantly simplified to make the armor easier to make
Luna personally does her night guard armor so it is on par with real changeling magic
this is also why some ponies think "bat ponies" are another pony subspecies
modern changeling society:
mostly confined to a single subterranian city that started as a hidden fortress in the war
current working name is Balaegost
the name is derived from Belegost from the Silmarillion and alae, beetle flight wings
there is a significant global intellegence network outside the city with long term agents
intell net gathers resources and sells information, but most resources are very scarce
this net includes branches of some old families that went back to Equestria after the war
Celestia is aware of this and lets it continue to help them out some
while Celestia knows it happens, she does not know the full extent of the leak
part of this is that they sell her information as well
the changelings maintain good relations with the griffons and trade with them some
current poplation is about 150,000~160,000 with about a 50/50 changeling/pony split
pony population is about 50% pegasi, 30% earth ponies, and 20% unicorns
changelings make up the entirity of the military due to the cultural history as protectors
ponies do serve in intellegence and law enforcement rolls
because changelings usually see themselves as protectors, they are less hostile to other ponies
counterintuitively, the pony population has a much more deep seated hatred of Equestria
a big part of this is wanting to distance themselves from the actions of other ponies
both groups want to see Equestria burn due to history and Celestia's refusal to take a risk
her refusal to let them try to reintigrate was not unwarrented under the circumstances
attempting it would most likely have caused serious unrest and a new wave of violence
the attitude of the population has a lot of similarities to interwar Germany
changelings qualify as a vulnerable species according to the IUCN
this is because they only really exist in one location
Anyways, I hope this was helpful and I am always happy to answer questions.
Now, before I go catch up on your stories, I did have one amusing thought for you. Once Twilight and Blueblood get comfortable with each other, it could be funny to have Twilight enlist Rarity's help is finding and recreating the most absurdly over the top romantic gesture from one of his books and seeing how long they can keep it going before they break down laughing.
2900133 I'll be sure to read everything you have here, but long story, made short: consider this something of a beta attempt. I'm going to be re-doing the whole things. Breaking it down into smaller bits, clarifying some of my ideas more properly, getting some better formatting done, etc... So, yeah, take everything here with a grain of salt.
2900534 Yeah, I remember seeing that, I just figured it would be a good idea to get a reply to this to clarify my thoughts and give you the opportunity to talk about it with me if you want to.
2900672 I probably will later. It's just been a long week, and I need to de-compress a bit.
2900698 Fair enough, I know how that can be.