User:Jetfire/Paradigm Shift Overview

Paradigm Shift

On March 20, 2023, the residents of Titan's Step Colorado (and surrounding areas) changed into strange technocolour centaurs over the course of a day. The cause of the change was unknown, as was the mechanism. By the end of the day, about 100,000 people in south eastern Colorado (and part of New Mexico) had changed.

Chaos followed in the days, weeks and months that followed, as entire towns had to be rebuilt to accommodate 8ft tall centaurs, and everyone tried to come up with an explanation or a way to change them back.

By the end of summer, there was still no explanation, but life was starting to stumble forward and settle into a new normal both for the Titans (as the centaur changed came to be called) and for the rest of the world.

Until September 23, when everyone in Fort Parker, Montana, near the Alberta border (and everyone around it, including parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan), changed into hermaphroditic griffons, with just as much warning (no warning) as the Titans change had.

Paradigm Shift is a setting intended to look at the 'Now what?' question. It's meant to examine how the Changed react and adapt, as well as how the rest of the world adapts. Thousands of people have transformed at once with no explanation. No one knows if it will happen again, or where or when it will happen again. Thousands need to learn how their new bodies work, while also piecing their lives back together. The rest of the world needs to adjust to handle their appearance, as well as the fear that they might be next.

Some physics 'bending' is allowed to let a form work (like to let Griffons fly), but try to minimize that bending as much as possible. Be creative, but also think of how the form would work and what the changed might discover about their new bodies as the days and weeks go by. The Titans will probably be one of the more extreme changes, but even vanilla furry types might have unexpected quirks they don't expect.

Overview

This takes place on Modern Earth, starting in 2023. The world is just like ours (other than some cities/places moving for the sake of plot), still recovering from COVID and dealing with the mess in the Ukraine and other things that have happened or are happening.

Change days are the yearly 'flex points', the Solstices and Equinoxes. The times of the years when the seasons change, and the day/night cycle crosses an annual milestone.

At 10am on a Change Day, almost everyone within a hundred kilometers of a specific point will begin to change. (10am at the central point and/or for the portion of the region with the most people, in case the point lands on a time zone border)

The cause and triggers of the change are unknown. If a human is in a given area at the exact moment a change triggers, they will begin to change.

Change properties

• The change tends to take most of the day.
• Everyone becomes the same type of creature.
• The change is relatively painless, though can be uncomfortable.
• Big cities tend to be avoided, the regions tend to have around 100,000 people total in them.
• Pre-adolescent children will not change.
• Pregnant women will not change
• Comatose people/people on life support with little/no brain activity will not change.
• Illnesses and Injuries are cured/healed.
• Biological clocks are generally reset back to the equivalent of early 30's (if the changed is older).

Form limits

A bit of a Work in progress

• Standard Furry forms are common.
• Mythological forms are also possible, as well as forms seemingly derived from pop culture.
• Size for bipedal forms will be roughly human scaled on average. (5.5ft/1.6m)
• Taur types can be larger, but tend to top out at 8-9 ft (2-3m) when upright.
• Life spans will be similar to human (~100 years). So on average, barring accidents/illnesses, Changed will have at least 60+ years ahead of them.
• Forms must be:
  • Mobile
  • Individual (no hive minds)
  • Dexterous (still having hands/able to manipulate items like humans more or less)
  • Sapient (you keep your mind)
  • Air breathing (hybrid water breathing will be allowed)
  • Fertile
• Physics can bend a little to make a form 'work' (for example, to let flying types fly/glide), but no world shattering powers.

Important Dates

2023

• Two Change Days:
  • March 20, 2023: The residents of Titan's Step, Colorado experience the first change during a late winter/early spring blizzard. They become what will be known as Titans.
  • September 21, 2023: Fort Parker Montana (as well as a chunk of Alberta and Saskatchewan) change into hermaphroditic griffons.(Actual point is the Tripoint where Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan meet)
• Areas of Change

2024

• Four Change Events:
  • March 19, 2023: Spoilers
  • June 20, 2023: Spoilers
  • September 22, 2023: Spoilers
  • December 21, 2023: Spoilers