Farlanders are my newest original species, hailing from a place only known as the 'Farlands', they are a strange bunch, to say the least. The Farlands is a hostile environment shrouded in constant fog and clouds, with strange weather and stranger creatures, it is a place however that many call home. One day, a mysterious event caused them to be forced into our world, with the more hostile creatures being dragged with them, this also brought along the strange fog that is native to their world. They are extremely intelligent and have built a wide variety of machinery and complex cities to help them survive the harsh creatures of their world.

To start off, a Farlander's natural appearance closely resembles a shadowy blob that vaguely resembles a humanoid creature, in this form they can shift their appendages to form weapons, tools, and utilities. Farlanders are sapient and generally not too hostile, they are extremely intelligent and are capable of advanced speech. Each one has a different shape and size, however, they are all easily recognized by their bright yellow eyes, which are capable of seeing through the fog in their world as if it doesn't exist.

A Farlander also has an ability which may be seen as a curse, in our world, they are forced to take the form of the creatures living there. They retain their yellow eyes regardless of what form they take. Not only do they take on the appearance of the creature, but they also involuntarily take on minor personality traits of the creature as well, these can range from being subtle, to being defining. Regardless of what form they take, they also retain the ability to talk, even if the creature initially couldn't. Farlanders in their normal forms are genderless, however, they will take on a gender if the creature they became has one. Strangely enough, those who are close to one other may occasionally eat another, not as a form of nourishment, but as a form of trust... This, of course, does not harm them, as Farlanders cannot absorb souls, and their digestion can't do enough damage to make it permanent. This extends into their forced forms as well. They may also be more or less willing depending on if their new form is naturally voracious or not.

The transformation is almost always unwilling, and not something that can be undone (unless they got lucky and became a creature who can naturally transform), they also take on the abilities, weaknesses, and resistances of the creature they took. Outside of that, Farlanders are a fairly magical species, being able to use elements that differ from our own, as such they can bypass our own resistances and immunities, however, they also don't take into account our weaknesses as well. Think of their elements as being entirely separate from our own. Their primary elements go as follows: Fire<->Ice, Air<->Electricity, Mind<->Energy, Nature <-> Force, Light<->Dark, and Non-Elemental, these elements may react weirdly to our own, so don't always expect a similar result.

They also have general hardiness that does extend to their borrowed forms as well, they have the ability to hold on even after their physical body has gone through major trauma, being able to eventually heal it if their soul still remains. If they get damaged enough, they'll eventually melt, but as long as they keep their soul, they can eventually regenerate. If they lack the energy to do so, they are near helpless as they are forced to wait around until they gain enough energy to at least partially reform themselves. They also have decently strong souls, being able to hold onto them pretty well, especially if they're strong-willed and full of energy. This is needed to survive in the Farlands, several creatures there prey on souls, eventually digested them and expelling them in a cycle similar to our own, this makes the area especially dangerous for most users, as they likely won't have a method to avoid being preyed on. Not all creatures in the Farlands are hostile, and several of them don't even require souls as a nutritional source. Farlanders have two methods of nourishment, one being regular digestion, and the other involving eating objects of high energy and getting it that way. They have a delicacy of multi-coloured stones that contain high amounts of energy, this. however, is near inedible to most creatures aside from them. Finally, they generally form an affinity for their preferred element, eventually gaining resistance to it, and a weakness to the opposite... A select few powerful may even be immune to it, repel it, or even drain it, with some even being able to overcome their weakness with enough training.

Long story short, here are their strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths: Fluent in magic and capable of learning a variety of attacks. Has a much easier time seeing through weaker illusions, fog, and darkness. It will gain any strengths and abilities of the creature it became, with their skills adding to their own. They are extremely sturdy and hard to kill, with the ability to come back decently easily as long as they haven't expended all of their energy. Fluent in multiple languages, can always talk even if the original couldn't (I.E, if they became a Pokemon, they still can talk to humans). Extremely large diet, can eat elemental stones, and most things that normally would be poisonous to others with little effect. Extremely intelligent and proficient with tools, they also love obtaining knowledge and several of them have extensive libraries.

Weaknesses: Has two sets of weaknesses, those being its current form, and original. Often has a tough time dealing with being out of the fog. They're extremely sensitive to light and can be blinded easily, especially after just arriving. Can't take as much bodily punishment as others. Gains any sort of weakness that the original creature has, can't easily remove those weaknesses. Unless its form is resistant to that type, it takes normal damage from it, even if it normally would be a type that it would be immune to. Generally tends to be more magic focused, which might be problematic if it takes on a more physical attacker form. They tend to be extremely weak when first getting used to their bodies, and will often focus on learning basic moves whenever possible. Most of them also get tired a lot quicker than other creatures normally would, and they're a lot more defenseless when they lack the energy to use magic and special moves.

A select few of them are significantly more powerful than the others, these may have greatly enhanced abilities based on their forms abilities, or signature ability. Generally, they have to have inherited a powerful form for this to have a significant effect, but they may be able to suffice with a slightly less powerful form.