young forever in the sun

After noting a surprising lack of resources for polymorphs/polymorphkin +etc, we decided to make up some of our own terminology. If only just to make some sense of what’s going on with us personally, but all polymorphs are welcome to engage/use these terms if they would like to. 

So without further yammering, 

Here are some of our proposed polymorph terms & their meanings: 

The Basics:

Form: the configuration of attributes + traits which a polymorph can transform themselves into. This may be a pre-existing cohesive creature or it may just be a combination of various traits. 

Base-Form: the configuration of attributes + traits that a polymorph takes up space as when unshifted into any of their forms. Otherwise: their default form. 

True-Form: A form which is the rawest form of a polymorph.

This is sometimes also the base-form, but not always.

Form-State: The form and corresponding mindset/ontology which a polymorph is shifted into when occupying a particular form. 

Flux-State: A state in which a polymorph is rapid-shifting through all of the forms available to them. This is usually involuntary, but doing it voluntarily is possible too. 

Favored-Morph: a form that is a polymorph’s preferred form-state.

[may be the same as their base-state but not always]

Amorphous Polymorph: A polymorph that has no easily definable base-form and/or no true-form.

Intermediate Terms: 

Mimics/Mimic-Morph: polymorphs which mimic other creatures/beings by shifting into the forms of said creatures/beings around them.

Proximorphs: Polymorphs which approximate creatures/beings by shifting into the forms of those creatures/beings but cannot quite get it right which ends up landing them somewhere in the uncanny valley. 

Fabrimorphous Polymorph: a polymorph with forms which are created by the polymorph themselves, either by being able to choose which combination of traits they would like to shift into, or by being able to create new species by shifting into them. [common amongst polymorphic deities and the like].

Consumorphism: A type of polymorphism where a polymorph gains/retains a sense of identity/ontology from their various form-states even when they are not shifted into those forms. [The ways in which a consumorph identifies as their various form-states may be to different degrees, and is highly specific to each consumorph].

Separamorphism: A type of polymorphism where a polymorph does not gain/retain a sense of identity/ontology from their various form-states, shifted or unshifted. [Separamorphs may experience some sense of gained ontology while being shifted into another form-state, but once unshifted they will lose the corresponding ontology to said form-state].

Metamorph/Metamorphous Polymorph: Polymorphs which go through metamorphosis of one kind or another. 

Post-Polymorph: Polymorphs who after shifting into a particular form can no longer shift back and have now become that form permanently.

Numerical Terms: 

Monomorph: a polymorph which only has one form overall, but that one form has multiple different presentations. [ex: a crow polymorph which sometimes has 4 wings instead of two, or 5 eyes instead of 2 +etc]

Dimorph: A polymorph which only has two forms that they can shift into.

Janusmorph: A polymorph who switches between opposing form-states. 

Numermorph: A polymorph with a set amount of forms that they can shift into.

Infinimorph: A polymorph with infinite forms that they can shift into. 

Miscellaneous: 

Chimæric-Polymorph: being a polymorph partially or predominantly as the result of being plural/part of a system. 

Omnimorph: a polymorph that can shift into any appearance/form.

Almorph: A polymorph that presents as a combination of all of their form-states simultaneously.

Quantumorph: A polymorph whose form-state will change once observed.

Mirrormorph: A polymorph which presents as the forms of whoever/whatever they are interacting with. [a sub-type of mimic]

Ambomorph: A polymorph which remains in a flux-state of being both everything and nothing at the same time. 

Schrödi-Morph: A polymorph who is simultaneously dead and alive at the same time and carries this trait into each of their form-states. 

Dopplermorph: A polymorph with a standard version and an inverse version of each of their form-states. 

Perma-Morph: Polymorphs who, in every iteration of themselves both past-and-present have also been polymorphic to some degree.

All terms are open to name-changes in the future, please feel free to suggest better terms if you think the ones we chose are hard to pronounce or could just sound better.

Thanks for reading!