Hengeyokai

The hengeyokai (also known as katanga in Malatra) are an incredibly varied species of shapechangers. They believe themselves descended from humans and shapeshifting animal spirits or fey versions of primal animals though some scholars of Faerie instead believe them to be either awakened animals infused with the magic of that plane or creations of the formorians.

Physical Characteristics
In general, most hengeyokai are more agile than the average human. They are also quite long-lived - frequently living past the age of two hundred - though some seem to mature slowly, not reaching adolescence until the end of their first century.

Abilities
Despite their variety of appearances, each subrace has one feature in common: They have three forms - their animal form, a human form and a bipedal form that shares features of both.

The animal form of a hengeyokai subrace is thought to never be as big as an adult human, though rumors persist, especially in the south, that there are some subraces that have animal forms which can be larger than most men.

A hengeyokai's bipedal form gains some of the abilities and/or attributes of its animal form, such as a thicker hide or the ability to fly.

Unlike lycanthropes, which they superficially resemble in many ways, hengeyokai have no relationship with the moon, never change forms unless they want to, are not especially vulnerable to silver, do not transfer power through inflicted wounds, do not heal when they change shape and do not have to have a predatory animal form, though they do frequently take on a superficial likeness to their animal when in human form.

Psychology
Most hengeyokai avoid contact with other sentient races with the exception of the spirit folk. They are a secretive race who prefer to live alone or in very small communities. Most will actively retreat from encounters with humans, realizing that they have more in common with spirits than they do with humanity, despite having the ability to appear just like a human.

Good hengeyokai sometimes take it upon themselves to watch over and protect a human settlement, living on the fringes of the human community until it is in danger, whereupon they quietly move to deal with the threat, oftentimes completely unbeknownst to the settlement's residents. Evil hengeyokai instead play cruel pranks on humans, extorting offerings from those they prey upon in order to leave them alone.

All hengeyokai are, to some extent, unpredictable and value both their freedom and the freedom of others greatly. The greatest insult one can give to a hengeyokai is trapping them in a cage. Seeing a slave or a trapped animal is abhorrent to them.

Hengeyokai also frequently share personality traits with their animal.

History
Being reclusive sorts, hengeyokai don't have much of a cultural history. Native to Faerie, they first entered Toril in the wake of a massive war between the eladrin and the formorians where evil hengeyokai served the formorians as spies and assassins. After the eladrin emerged victorious, they went on an almost genocidal purge of all hengeyokai, causing the species to flee Faerie en masse. They then lived in peace on Toril for many millennia.

When the Tuigan Horde threatened Kara-Tur and later, when Tan Chin attempted to invade Shou Lung, many hengeyokai emigrated west into Faerûn with yet more travelling west after the Spellplague.

Many rat hengeyokai left the Tenmei province of Kozakura after a costly war with local korobokuru and during the Spellplague civil war in Kozakura, most of the hengeyokai population remained staunchly neutral, though some acted in defense of innocents caught between the warring factions.

A section of Faerie moved closer to the Sheng Ti province of Shou Lung shortly after the Spellplague, which empowered the spirit folk and hengeyokai of the region, but despite this the two races remained completely loyal to the Emperor and, in gratitude, they were allowed to enter the civil service in 1396 DR, which had previously only been open to humans - few actually took the opportunity but it remained nonetheless, despite groups who actively opposed the move.

Homelands
Hengeyokai typically lived on the fringes of human civilization. They had particularly large populations concentrated in the Ama Basin of Kara-Tur, though they could be found pretty much anywhere in Kara-Tur where there is any wilderness area.

In Faerûn, populations could be found living along the Golden Way in the Great Dale, Rashemen, Thesk and along the Dragon Coast.

Almost every shou town in Faerûn had some hengeyokai living in or near it (though in places like Nathlan, hengeyokai were careful to remain in their human form). A rare few struck out away from familiar surroundings to live in Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Western Heartlands and the North.

Subraces
There was substantial variety in the hengeyokai race owing to the variety of animal species in the world.
 * Badger
 * Caiman
 * Carp
 * Cat
 * Crab
 * Crane
 * Dog
 * Drake
 * Fox
 * Hare
 * Hedgehog
 * Impala
 * Monkey
 * Ostrich
 * Pangolin
 * Raccoon Dog
 * Rat
 * Snake
 * Sparrow
 * Spider
 * Spider katanga look out only for other spider katanga, and view most other species merely as food. Thankfully, their numbers seem restricted entirely to the Malatran Plateau, though occasionally, a Mother of a Thousand Young emerges from the populace and births a mass of new spider katanga to threaten the other races living on it.
 * Impala
 * Monkey
 * Ostrich
 * Pangolin
 * Raccoon Dog
 * Rat
 * Snake
 * Sparrow
 * Spider
 * Spider katanga look out only for other spider katanga, and view most other species merely as food. Thankfully, their numbers seem restricted entirely to the Malatran Plateau, though occasionally, a Mother of a Thousand Young emerges from the populace and births a mass of new spider katanga to threaten the other races living on it.
 * Rat
 * Snake
 * Sparrow
 * Spider
 * Spider katanga look out only for other spider katanga, and view most other species merely as food. Thankfully, their numbers seem restricted entirely to the Malatran Plateau, though occasionally, a Mother of a Thousand Young emerges from the populace and births a mass of new spider katanga to threaten the other races living on it.
 * Sparrow
 * Spider
 * Spider katanga look out only for other spider katanga, and view most other species merely as food. Thankfully, their numbers seem restricted entirely to the Malatran Plateau, though occasionally, a Mother of a Thousand Young emerges from the populace and births a mass of new spider katanga to threaten the other races living on it.
 * Spider katanga look out only for other spider katanga, and view most other species merely as food. Thankfully, their numbers seem restricted entirely to the Malatran Plateau, though occasionally, a Mother of a Thousand Young emerges from the populace and births a mass of new spider katanga to threaten the other races living on it.


 * Tiger
 * Weasel
 * Weasel