Commissions During Break 6: Wildtouched

Arrow volunteered with more art, so I suggested he post a transformation sequence that I've done for him. Apparently this is the only one. Huh. Anyway, I think I've posted this one publicly, so I'm going to follow up with some Kaerwyn related art for another player. I'll try to post it as soon as I can, I'm just waiting on some of the details for the post.

In other news, I just need to finish Page 75 and I'll be back to my 2 week-buffer that I desperately needed. So on Tuesday, we'll start posting the normal comic updates again!

Arrow again!

Jakkal said you guys wanted some TF stuff, so here's a sequence I commissioned from her of my character Richard Peter Gallian turning into a red-tailed hawk for the first time as his Wildtouched nature awakened. The sequence was originally commissioned as a single picture (which is stage 4) but I added the other five a few months later. Thus the rather awkward switch in the clothing between stage 4 and 5; I'm sure it would've been planned correctly if the original plan had been a full sequence!

The art sequence covers Richard's 'first shift' his red-tailed hawk form as his Wildtouched nature is awakened during a full moon at the age of 15 in his bedroom. Not knowing what is happening, he just feels an unusual feeling looking at the moon, and then is quickly informed about his alternate nature.

Richard Gallian is a name I used a few times in my earlier RP/writing days online for a few different characters, but the name was finally assigned permanently in early 2007 in a small, short lived RP called "Augusta Falls", dealing with a number of shapeshifters, both natural-born and afflicted, in a fictional small town in Maine, United States. The core of the plot was that shifters had lived in Augusta Falls in secret for a long time, it being somewhat of a safe haven for them, but the veil and masquerade keeping the world at large from knowing of paranormal activity, both shapeshifting and other magic was starting to fail and questions were being asked. After the RP ended, I received permission to continue using some of the assets on an ongoing basis, and I've expanded the world setting from there.

Richard is what's known as a Wildtouched. Genetically distinct from humans, Wildtouched appear human at birth, but are infused with a certain level of natural magic. They have a mild allergy to silver and gold, with contact with sufficiently pure samples causing chemical burns, damage growing over length of exposure. Otherwise, they're more or less human in all areas.

After reaching puberty, a Wildtouched can experience an "Awakening" at any future point, when their magic goes to full bloom, so to speak. Awakening is when they experience their first shift into a nondomestic vertebrate animal; many things can trigger this awakening to allow narrative flexibility. The species of their alternate form cannot be changed; for example, Richard is a red-tailed hawk Wildtouched, as that is his alternate species. The appearance of the animal is always the same. (Though Richard's hawk form has been a bit fluid in appearance in commissioned art, that's more because I generally exercise relatively loose control over minor details.)

At first, shifts are involuntary, triggered either by a full moon (in the absence of the sun), or by significant distress to the Wildtouched, such as physical trauma, or emotional or mental discomfort. Over time the Wildtouched usually will learn how to hold back their own shifts in some situations, gain the skill to take an anthro form, and shift clothes. If they're lucky, there will be another Wildtouched in their life, often a parent or relative, that can help them adjust, though Richard had nobody like that to lean on. The full moon will still always cause a shift, no matter how experienced they

are. Gold and silver allergies are exacerbated, and they begin to experience "The Call", a general feeling of wanting to be in more natural surroundings that waxes and wanes with the moon.

Over time, Wildtouched will learn to keep their secret, and find ways to avoid unwanted attention. In Richard's case, eventually he ended up on Kaerwyn, and finished his medical training, becoming a Paramedic in Fegov. But still...forces are brewing on his world, and who knows what the future holds for him?