Inherit Shifters

Inherit shifters are born with the ability passed down from their mother, father or both. These particular kind of shifters tend to be the strongest among all three subspecies as they gain control over their shifts fairly quickly, their first shift taking place sometime in their adolescence. If the shifter was born to a cursed parent he or she is technically an inherit shifter but only the qualities of cursed shifters apply.

Transformation
The first shift into their animal takes place sometime in their adolescence coinciding with the start of puberty. This gives them an advantage over other shifters as they learn to control their abilities from a young age with help from their parents and pack members if they are a part of one. The first shift isn’t smooth and will hurt but eventually with time it will become easier and painless for the shifter. Shifting more than once a day is very exhausting and ill-advised unless in case of some emergency.

Towards the start, the full moon controls their shifts but only until the shifters learn to control it themselves. How quickly they control their shifts depends on how old their bloodline is and how much help they receive in the process. The older the bloodline the faster it will be but even new bloodlines can learn fairly quickly though slower than those of older ones.

In animal form they will have control of their beast while conscious of every move they make. Even during their first shift they have some control over what they do in their animal form; it is rare when there is no control at all. These shifters have no fear of unexpectedly attacking innocent bystanders and choose to let their animal roam free where it is safe for them to do so in their own territory or unclaimed areas if the shifter does not belong to a pack.

If the bloodline the shifter belongs to is among some of the oldest then there is a chance they have abilities other shifters do not. These abilities include being able to shift into an anthropomorphic version of their animal that walks on its hind legs and is capable of human speech and having total control so that they can shift parts of their bodies while the rest stays human. A few examples are being able to grow claws at will, changing eye color, growing fangs, etc of course it depends on the animal they shift into. That being said these types of shifters are rare since there are very few bloodlines that are centuries old as most of them have died out.

Full Moon
The full moon has very little sway over inherit shifters; the only time it had real control is at the very beginning otherwise they shift at will. Some shifters enjoy changing at the full moon as they still do feel a slight pull to do so but have the option not to change if that is their wish.

Enhanced Abilities
While in beast form a shifter will have all the acute senses of the animal he or she transforms into, obviously this varies from animal to animal. In general though, all shifters’ senses increase and are above that of normal human senses.

Even while in human form a shifter will have enhanced senses though nowhere near as keen as in animal form, initially. They will have an edge over regular humans and with time can learn to hone their skills enough to further develop their senses while in human form and as they are inherit shifters it will only take a few short years to do this.

A shifter’s ability to regenerate significantly increases, making them that much harder to kill. Small cuts and bruises heal almost instantly while larger wounds take hours to completely heal but it is still much faster in comparison to the time it takes a human to heal from the same kind of wound.

Silver
Silver has no affect on a shifter in their human form but does in their animal form. Silver weapons significantly weaken a shifter and in large quantities can indeed be fatal.

To kill a shifter for good immediately, one has to do damage to the brain and heart that is beyond repair with a silver weapon. One can stop a shifter in its tracks by hitting any other organ or the bloodstream with silver, which would leave it weak enough for one to really kill it off.

Dietary Habits
Shifters can eat and digest regular human food though their bodies will have a faster metabolism rate. Many shifters maintain a normal human diet while some do acquire a taste for rare cooked meat if their animal is a carnivore whilst others go vegetarian if their animal is an herbivore. There are also those that embrace their beast and prefer to hunt their food rather than buy pre-packaged meat.

Reproduction
Shifters can mate and reproduce as if fully human; however there is a large chance his or her child will be born with the ability to shift a chance that almost becomes a certainty if both parents are shifters. A parent will not know if his or her child is a shifter until said child reaches adolescence as that will be the time the first shift takes place.