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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ForceUser" data-source="post: 2715641" data-attributes="member: 2785">You're right--it is fascinating. And I agree that schizophrenia is probably the most common form of mental illness among changelings. So common, in fact, that when I run changelings IMC they will, as a group, be acutely aware of the dangers. Perhaps, like the warforged, changelings struggle with issues of identity; while the warforged wrangle with finding an external identity within societies that fear them, the changelings wrestle with an internal search for identity. Luckily for them, they cannot be truly blank slates, because they have grown up within a culture and are thus socialized within that culture. Likewise, they have parents, and those parents will have instilled some societal norms within them. Both of these things help to shape one's self-identity. The problem is likely that as they assume more and more personas, they distance themselves more and more from their original identity, confusing who they are with who they pretend to be. Perhaps among changelings, quests of the rediscovery of self are synonymous with the search for enlightenment. Surely there is no better goal for a changeling than to keep firmly in mind who she really is. This can even lead to stratification within changeling subculture, as those who are firmly aware of self feel pity for--or scorn--those who are lost in a sea of personalities. Again, the role-playing possibilities are enormous. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As an aside, I have decided that IMC, changelings (and doppelgangers) are true hermaphrodites, possessing a unique sex organ that is both male and female (again, refer to Barker's Imajica for more on this). This makes for a uniquely homogenous and egalitarian subculture without truly distinct gender roles--which unnerves society at large. Thus, changelings cannot be who they truly are among society at large and are forced to assume identities pleasing to the members of the dominant culture. This, in turn, exacerbates their problems with identity.</blockquote>

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