Species

Appearance

They are hooved animals that have a lot of insect features, looking like a combination of pony and bugs.

Dark Changelings

Dark changelings are often black or a dark grey, with carapace-like, furless exteriors, webbed manes and tails, blue non-reflective eyes (unlike their queen's), fangs, bent horns, jagged ears, insect-like wings, and holes in their legs.

They feed with love whcih they suck out of their victims. They reproduce through eggs laid by their Queen, Chrysalis.

Reformed Changelings

Following their metamorphosis, changelings have varied coat colors and insect characteristics, such as Thorax and Pharynx's horns, and they no longer have fangs or holes in their bodies. They also have more physical differences among them: some possess longer, more jagged horns, and others no longer have horns at all. Others still no longer have tails. Some also have a trio of gemstone-like objects in their chests.

They no longer need to feed on love.

Kirinaria Changelings

Changelings from the Kirinaria Mercenary group don't need to feed on love, but they sometimes choose the appearance of dark changelings. For them, whether they look like a dark or reformed changeling is a choice. They can still suck the love out of someone if they want to, but they usually use this only in combat.

Bases

See on Discord

localization

before the great cataclysm

Settlement: The Changeling Kingdom, in the proximity of the Forest of Leota.

Relationship with grifix: They interacted with the grifix before the First Great Migration, but since they had no grifix interactions. While their Queen is aware of the grifix's existence, they take no interest on grifix.

After their metamorphosis they most probably don't even know that grifix exist.

Relationship with other species: They interact a lot with ponies after their metamorphosis.

Clothing and accessories: None

After the great cataclysm

Settlement: The Kirinaria Mercenary Camp

Relationship with grifix: Mostly interactions with grifix scholars from the Frozen Empire, that come to the mercenary group for knowledge gathering, or herbalists that come to gather exotic plants.

Relationship with other species: they are on good terms with zebras, kelpies, abada and hippogriffs. They live together with kirin in the camp.

Clothing and accessories: Unrestricted

Reproduction

Queens are pretty much the only changelings that lay eggs in the swarm, and therefore they are the mothers of every changeling.

Young Queens are future queens that have not yet reached maturity and can't reproduce yet.

All changelings can have 2-3 eggs, but they struggle a lot more with laying them and they are less likely to hatch properly. And they can't have as many.

During Chrysalis's reign, they never had offspring, only she did. But after she left, the changelings had to start reproducing on their own. This proved unsustainable for the hive so they decided to raise a queen - however, being worried about her turning up like Chrysalis, they thought they could try to make a few more - just as many as they were able to sustain with royal jelly as a hive. That number is around 3 to 5 queens at once. If there are multiple queens at the same time, there would not be one to raise above the whole hive - they thought. It also helped cause when a queen got too old to reproduce, there would always be a young one to take over, since they were no longer immortal.
In the reformed hive and Kirinaria Mercenary Group there's always 2-3 active queens and 1-2 young queens.

A new queen in the hive is chosen and raised - she is not born a queen. All baby changelings feed on royal jelly during their first days alive, but the baby chosen to be raised into a queen will continue to feed on royal jelly for the rest of their life, and that will allow their body to develop differently.

The only changelings that have the potential to become queens are those born from regular parents. Queen-born changelings are unable to grow into queens.

Royal jelly

Royal jelly is a substance produced by changelings' bodies, similarly to bees.

If a regular changeling starts eating a lot of it, they become slightly more fertile so they usually start eating it if they are trying for offspring.

If a queen stops eating royal jelly they will stop laying eggs, but their body will not change from that of a queen, so they can always get back to it. They usually do this when they want to retire.

Queens will only start laying eggs once they are old enough for their body to be able to handle it. If they do not feel ready for it, they will usually stop consuming royal jelly once they reach maturity and only start eating it once they feel ready.

(note: the royal jelly is not what fertilizes the eggs. Infertile eggs can be born. I will not go into that though.)

The hive has a limited supply of royal jelly, that is why they can not sustain more than 3 to 5 queens at one time (plus they also need it to feed the babies).

Changeling eyes and families

Changelings have two possible eye types: with pupils and without pupils. Those are determined by their parents: If a changeling is born from a queen they will not have pupils, otherwise they will.

Chrysalis is the first ever queen, she wasn't born from a queen and she has visible pupils. All the changelings in the dark hive were here offspring and therefore they had no pupils.

Following Chrysalis's departure, changelings started to form families. They would either try to have offspring of their own or adopt children born from Chrysalis' eggs, hoping to live in a more loving environment that way - and offer a loving upbringing to all the children.

After the Great Cataclysm, the hive has a lot of changelings that were born in families and not by the queen - they can be told apart by their eyes, cause they have visible pupils.

Offspring of queens are usually adopted into families, because a queen can not raise all those children on her own. Most families in the hive are adoptive.

Eye examples from official sources:

1 result found.