#morphingpotion

Short entry today!

It seems odd that this potion has no lid, right? Well, it’s actually because this potion is multipurpose. Meant to be worn as a ring, the Leodon potion can be used as a tool for cutting or scratching. It’s like a tiny knife for villagers without claws, and in the distant past there were special shapes created for hooved villagers. That ended when the humans left, as the recipe for creating these potions has been lost to time. Leodon potions are rare because they’re all artifacts from a time long gone.

This one’s gonna tie back into the ‘failed terraforming experiment’ mastertheory, which is the first post on this blog. If you haven’t read it, it’s lengthy but I’d suggest you go read up on that one first to understand the origin of villagers and why they have these capabilities! 

The first important bit about villagers to know is that they are all technically the same species. Though they seem to be different ‘species’ such as canine, dragon, or bovine, that’s not their actual ‘species’ and is more like a living costume, or a shell. Imagine a human wearing a fursuit, but the fursuit is bonded to their body and they gain the power and senses of that animal. That’s essentially what a villager is. They are all the same animal underneath, and have the same IQ range, can eat the same diets, have the same general organ layout, and can all breed and create viable offspring. Most of the ‘behavioral differences’ between ‘species’ is because of social perception or perceived stereotypes, but anything physical attributed to the second layer is actually there. Canines are better at following scents than dragons, sharks can breathe underwater freely where bats would need to use breathing devices. For the same of simplicity however, from here on out, the villager’s outer ‘species’ will just be referred to as a species. Just remember that it’s technically incorrect.

So, put extremely simply, there are two major parts of a villager. The “outer” layer, which creates the villager’s appearance and physical abilities, and the “inner” layer, which contains the “true” villager, including vital organs and the base DNA. Though, this is a HUGE oversimplification. Not all organs are unique to the ‘inner layer’, not all of the ‘inner’ layer is unaffected by the ‘outer’ layer. For example, sharks actually have their lungs (which is typically part of the ‘inner’ layer in other species) modified in order to breathe in both the water and in air, and horses have larger hearts than crocodiles which makes them better runners. I digress though, generally the “inner” layer and “outer” layer is a good analogy with some exception.

So how does a morphing potion change this ‘outer’ layer?

Inside the ‘inner’ layer, right in the middle of the heart, is a small, fluid-filled sack dramatically called the ‘soul’. Special combinations of chemicals are recognized by the villager’s body and end up there, and this little ‘pool’ acts as the control center for the ‘outer layer’, telling the cells how to form and what to alter. In this way, the ‘outer’ layer doesn’t actually have its own DNA, it takes instruction from the soul. This is why the soul is in the heart, it can quickly spit instructions (RNA) directly into the bloodstream to be carried to the outer layer. When new chemical is taken into the body through a morphing potion, the soul will tightly contract and spit the old chemical out into the blood rapidly before taking in the new chemical. Overloading the cells with chemical gets them ready to quickly transform into the new species. 

Transforming into a new species is a burning, painful feeling, as bones, certain organs, and muscle have to quickly snap into place. However, the pain instantly vanishes after the transformation is complete and is often described as being ‘reborn like a phoenix, out of the ashes’.

The only ‘true’ DNA villagers have is the DNA in their inner layers, which is mostly made of classic cells like the ones in human or animal bodies. When the ‘inner’ layer is affected by the ‘outer’ layer, it’s always in the form of modification. Nothing completely new is ever formed in this layer. An ‘inner’ organ can shrink, enlarge, duplicate, move a little, or even transform slightly (like tear open) for the ‘outer’ layer to build something on top of it, but an inner organ is always that organ. Yes, this means that the moths have the same basic organs as the mammalian villagers under that exoskeleton!

                                               Basic and cheap but still....