<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">The Order of the Mask</span><br/><br/>In ancient times, changelings were a feared and hated lot.  The vilest among their number would kill the benevolent and wise, usurping and corrupting their legends into a reign of terror and tyranny.  The common folk came to distrust and despise any changelings, which led changelings to go into hiding.  It wasn't long before the only changelings ever commonly known were discovered after their death, leading to the fervent belief that they were attempting to usurp good people's lives, never possibly having been the good people all along.<br/><br/>The vicious cycle was broken not by the changelings themselves, but by a druid.  Lyna, an elf of the Circle of the Moon who was powerful enough to master the thousand forms, though she was well known and respected enough to be trusted.  It didn't take her long to recognize the many ways in which her gifts could be used for good, but she was still only one person and unable to meet all the demands placed upon her.<br/><br/>Although the exact origins of the Order of the Mask are known only to its members, its existence is as easily found and understood as any other.  Over time, its many members have divided themselves into categories, bound by disparate philosophies but happy to work together for their many common goals.<br/><br/>Most common are those of the Clay Mask, who see the many facets of their form as the costumes of an entertainer.  All of them and none of them are their own, and while some question whether they even have a true self, few ever manage to find it.<br/><br/>By contrast are those of the Glass Mask.  All Changelings or other shapeshifters, these are those who consider their existence an unnecessary quirk, a pointless endeavor that isolates them and causes distrust among those who know their abilities.  One and all they take magically-forced vows never to use their shapechanging abilities, remaining in their natural forms until their deaths.<br/><br/>Changelings of the Bone Mask have found a singular form which they call their own, which may or may not even be understood or known by the others in their lives.  They live in secret, but otherwise completely honest lives of a single form.  Many write letters delivered upon their death, so that loved ones who discover their true nature can understand that they have always been, not simply usurped by a vicious trickster.<br/><br/>One of the more recent - and far more varied in race - subdivisions is the Tragic Mask.  These people - for whatever reason - simply fail to identify with the flesh that the gods have given them.  Whether they lack the proper sex, race, or whatever else, they have found a home among those who live in a skin not their own.