( a k a C h i r o p t e r a n s )
ORIGINS
The obscure race of shapeshifters sometimes called 'werebats' refer to themselves as the people of the winged hand. The origin of the race likely goes back to early human tribes who formed pacts with totemic spirits in order to gain new powers or become better hunters.
They live mostly in remote, primitive colonies, often in vast caverns. Despite their large numbers and capacity for social organization, they have a modest history; they have built no empires and made no conquests. They are hunters and foragers, and produce little in the way of crafts and culture.
 |
| a Chiropteran tribesman |
In human form, Chiropterans have a gangly muscularity, with long sinewy limbs. Their skin is usually pale, their faces are lean, and their eyes are small and dark, with almost no white. They are quite limber and agile, and are very strong climbers.
Their shape-shifting powers are magical but innate, with some variation between tribes. To hunt, they will usually take the form of large bats with a 5' wingspan. This form grants them the power of flight, greater access to their animal senses, and a more optimal food-to-mass ratio. Chiropterans may spend half of their time in human form, and the other half either hunting or roosting in their bat forms.
In all forms, their hearing and sense of smell are extremely keen. Chiropterans speak a form of human language, but can also communicate through a combination of high-pitched squeaks and pheromones that are all but undetectable to humans. This allows them to interact even in the total darkness of the caves, often over extended distances.
Diet
Chiropterans are not vampiric; they subsist on a mostly-carnivorous diet consisting of insects, rodents, birds, some fruit, and occasionally larger prey such as livestock animals. Predation on humans is rare, but not unheard of. A solitary human caught out at night in werebat territory could be at risk, but generally this practice is considered distasteful or taboo. Only the most savage tribes indulge in this quasi-cannibalistic behaviour.
Hybrid Transformation
Some Chiropterans have developed the ability to halt their transformation between states, resulting in a hybrid form with sharper senses, claws, and huge wings instead of arms. This form builds tremendous upper-body strength, and their wings are capable of delivering powerful blows. A clan's greatest warriors are usually masters of this shape, while lesser clanfolk are only able to mix human and bat traits in different ratios useful for hunting and foraging.
The natural state of the Chiropteran remains human; when slain or fully unconscious, they will revert to their human form.
SONAR ABILITIES
Werebats in a transformed state may be spooked or stunned by a sudden burst of bright light, but they recover quickly due to their highly-developed echolocation sense (known as "the Call"). Among the Chiropterans, this form of sonar-based navigation and communication allows them to form a mental map of their environments, and detect any movement around them with a high degree of accuracy, especially in caves with lots of nearby surfaces. Werebats are quite capable of maneuvering while completely blind, even under frenetic or crowded conditions. In pure human form, this ability is significantly reduced.
Humans caught in a flurry of echolocating werebats may become disoriented. In high densities, their sonar shrieks can be disruptive to human synapses, inducing pain, vertigo, and nausea. Some Chiropterans have developed even more specialized techniques, using their powerful vocal chords as a form of attack, but these abilities are rare and difficult to cultivate.
 |
| Some Chiropterans leave their primitive colonies to live secretly among humanity. |
Chiropteran society is tribal, with each colony consisting of several interrelated matriarchal clans. They are often able to sustain themselves on small animals and fungi found in their vast cave networks, but will periodically emerge into the open night air to hunt together as one large swarm of bats. For the Chiropterans, this communal hunt is a meaningful social ritual.
When Chiropterans share an area with rural human communities, they may become the object of superstitious fear, but for the most part the colony will keep to itself. In rare cases, smaller groups might live secretly in proximity to large human population centers, and lone werebats might even leave their colony behind to explore the human world beyond. Such socialized individuals are necessarily more skilled at mixing with human society while keeping their true nature concealed.
Werebats speak their own chittering language, and usually a pidgin of whatever human tongue is common to their region. They typically do not produce visual arts, but often wear tribal jewelry with a tactile appeal, or elements that create distinctive or interesting noises. They do have a form of scrawled language, inscribed in bas-relief so that it may be read by touch, or even sonar. Most Chiropterans pay tribute to a creator-deity they call the Cave Mother.
Chiropteran warriors may wear basic leather body armour, sometimes incorporating a plastron of flexible overlapping plates. The common form of this armour is sleeveless and backless, allowing it to shift naturally with the transformation to their hybrid form.
Because their primal nature is touched by magic, sorcery is not uncommon among werebats; Like most shapeshifting folk, they frequently use engraved primitive magical glyphs to mark their belongings with their true names, so as not to lose them in the act of transformation. Such objects can become ethereally integrated with the body of the shape-shifter as they change forms. In human form, this small personalized glyph will be inscribed on clothing, armour, or personal effects. In their smaller bat-form, a faintly luminescent glyph may appear to be "burned" into the fur on their chest.
THE SHADOW OF THE WINGED HAND
Queen Shrakeeris of the Taath Nahct colony armed her people well, thanks to a pact she entered into with a secret partner. This party reached out to the colony, as if knowing well in advance what the needs of the slumbering Alukah Patriarch would be. On behalf of her master, Shrakeeris treated with these strangers.
Small dark men came to Taath Nahct from afar on a great winged beast, and promised Shrakeeris weapons of war that could make the Chiropterans even more dangerous than they already were. Guided by the Patriarch's whispers, the long-untouched treasure vaults of Tath Nahct were uncovered and thrown open. The riches of the ancient city were then traded for the manufacture of such devilish devices.
These Chiropteran weapons are chilling to look upon. These complex segmented gauntlets with cruel bladed fingers make a werebat more fearsome in their human form, but when their arms grow into enormous wings, their delicate finger bones are reinforced by metal bands, and the tips of the wings become a fan of razor edges. Clawed shoes can also be worn, adding yet another dangerous, slashing appendage to their array.
The armour worn by the elite warriors of the colony incorporate a staggering engineering ingenuity mixed with clever arsenal magicks that are uniquely-suited to Chiropteran shape-shifting powers. Thus armed, werebats can inflict horrific wounds. A coordinated swarm can act as a literal storm of blades, and reduce a man to a flayed carcass in mere seconds.
Between these innovations, their shape-shifting versatility, their vast numbers, and their power of flight, the werebat horde of Taath Nahct has given the Patriarch a formidable army unlike any the world has seen
