The Karnee

---note: when a paragraph has the lines at the beginning and end ( - - ), that means that that paragraph only pertains to the game following it; if you are not in that game, that paragraph does not matter---

    Ages ago, Harmony Karn met up with Hunter Redfern. Harmony didn't know it, but she was a wolf shapeshifter. She thought she was just a regular, every-day human with stronger abilities. She didn't know she could shift, she didn't know how, and so she didn't.
    When she met Hunter Redfern, they liked each other instantly. Hunter didn't know Harmony was a shapeshifter and attempted to break one of the Night World laws and make Harmony a vampire; he was sure he would be excused.
    But instead of becoming a vampire, Harmony changed into something else. Her shapeshifter side emerged and mingled with the vampire she was trying to become, and because of something in her, some remarkable twist of her personal genes, she found she could Shift into any animal that she knew the form of, though she found the wolf form was most comfortable. She learned of the Night World and the shapeshifters then, and figured it was because of Hunter's blood and her genes that she could change into all animals. And also, because of Hunter's blood, she aged slower than humans, though she wasn't immortal like the vampires, and she had more heightened senses than most 'shifters and could heal from any wound. And, though she didn't need it, when in animal form she craved blood.
    Harmony didn't know what she was, and she was sure nothing like her had been before and could never be outside of her. So she called herself Karnee. She joined the Night World as a shapeshifter but she still saw humans when she wanted to, regardless of what the Joint Council thought. She knew Hunter wouldn't allow her to be destroyed as long as she didn't reveal anything.
    Harmony didn't much care for Hunter anymore, because she hadn't wanted to be changed in the first place. So she met and married a human, and they had a daughter. Harmony's daughter was Karnee as well, though diluted a bit. But her daughter could still Shift into any animal and aged slower and craved blood and had heightened senses and could heal from any wound if given enough time. Because of this, Harmony refused to let her daughter have any name except Redfern, simply to state that, since Hunter Redfern had made them, they were a part of the family. Harmony also realized that someone couldn't be turned into Karnee; they had to be born like that.
    Much to Harmony's grief, when her daughter was a teenager, the girl found some mercury. Mercury is deadly to everyone if held too long, but to Karnee, mercury is an instant death. Harmony figured it was because mercury is a mixture of two forms, liquid and metal, and that Karnee is a mixture of two forms as well, human and beast. If it touches Karnee skin, it burns through it. And even their quick healing reflexes cannot stop mercury once it gets on them. It will burn through them, causing agonizing pain before death. Harmony's daughter learned this the hard way.
    Harmony, after her grief had passed, had another child, a son named Walker. She gave him the Redfern name as well. She was somewhat worried because the Karnee was strong in Walker. He craved blood more than both Harmony and her late daughter put together, and was constantly Shifting to get it. That's when Harmony found out about how the human body deals with its Karnee half. She forced Walker to stop Shifting so much and had him eat a great deal. He grew up healthy and strong and was the one who decided that a total solar eclipse should be the Karnee sign, like the shapeshifters had the black foxglove. Harmony agreed and even Hunter okayed it, saying it wasn't necessary for them to have a black flower since they weren't exactly part of the Night World. So Harmony had every Karnee born, upon reaching a certain age, get a tattoo of a total solar eclipse between their shoulderblades so they could be recognized by others.
    Walker met a vampire and they married and had a child. Harmony was worried once more because this new girl was stronger and more fierce than Walker. She craved blood in Karnee and in human form. And she was an amazing telepath. Harmony then made a law in her family that they could not mate with vampires, no matter what. She feared the outcome.
    -Another fault Harmony found of the Karnee was their intense dislike of witches. Walker's daughter learned that the hard way when she met a witch on the streets, and Harmony had to forbid her race from having any contact with witches. It was usually followed, but every now and then one of the Karnee looked it over and killed a witch or two. Harmony found that the Karnee with a vampire parent had a more intense hatred for the witch species.- ( The Fellowship )
    Walker's daughter married and mated with a shapeshifter, and they had a son. It was this son that found out the other family secret: asbestos. In mythical lore, asbestos was said to have been burned and burned as fuel and resources, and yet it never ran out. For Karnee, asbestos allows them to stay in their Shifted form for longer amounts of time; up to several weeks at one time. The power is drawn from the stone, not the body, so there is no danger of physical damage.
    The line went on, unbroken. As it went on, and they didn't have children with vampires, the line slowly diluted. They could still Shift into any animal form, they still had a faint craving for blood in Karnee form, and they still had amazing telepathy skills, and far better senses, and could heal from any wound except mercury, but the need for blood wasn't so bad, much to Harmony's relief.
    Harmony lived to see her great-great-great-great-granddaughter born. By that time, some humans had found out about the Karnee race. Some close friends of Harmony's offered the information they knew, and so they all knew a lot about the Karnee, and had managed to get a lot of mercury. Harmony died just before they attacked her people.
    Harmony's great-great-great-granddaughter Peace had just had her firstborn, a girl named Gift. The baby was just a few weeks old when the attack came, and Peace managed to send her daughter with a trusted person to live with some friends. She never saw her baby again.
    After that attack on the Karnee race, Gift is the last remaining true Karnee because Julianna was never acknowledged.