All shifters face the beast within. Some cannot keep it chained and unleash its animal fury on their enemies. Others stare into the fierce visage of the beast with a cold gaze and learn to channel their rage into complete martial mastery. This path of self-cultivation is referred to as the Way of the Shackled Beast and many shifters train in its secrets, learning to hone their fighting skills through self-control and a unique system of martial arts focused on their shape-changer physiology and spiritual path.
The purge of lycanthropy lasted fifty years, and it waxed and waned as any conflict does. For the first few decades it was a brutal conflict, with crusaders facing packs of werewolves and wereboars, fighting to defend the people of Aundair from these vicious assaults. But as the tide slowly turned in the favour of the Silver Flame, the surviving lycanthropes grew crafty and cunning. Many hid among shifter communities. This was a war of paranoia and manipulation, as wererats and other cunning lycanthropes turned human and shifter against one another. It’s well known that the conflict left deep scars between the Church of the Silver Flame and the shifters; what few people realize is that many shifters hate lycantbropes just as passionately as they hate the Silver Flame, as both forces brought suffering and death to their people.
The chaos of the Purge drew many Aundiarians to the Silver Flame, and today the nation is a stronghold of the puritan movement. Where the templars of Thrane had come in search of justice, many of these new converts sought vengeance, and the shifters suffered as a result. At the height of the crusade, full-moon hunts across leagues of countryside left hundreds of mutilated shifter corpses in their wake. During one such dark hour of fear and persecution a shifter monk named Zev Jhaxos earned the scrutiny of the Aundairian inquisitors. A patriot and high-ranking captain in Shadukar’s town garrison, with a widespread reputation as an honourab1e defender of justice and good, Zev appeared as ordered to present himself for trial at the Inquistor’s Crucible in Sigilstar. Zev stood before a tribunal of bishops certain they would peer into his heart and find nothing untoward within. He was shocked when they sentenced him to a lengthy term of “purification”.
At this particular period of the crusade, a newborn faction of Aundairian inquisitors held large numbers of shifters captive in puri£cation camps, where bloodlines and “evil beast-like proclivities” could be purged with intensive re-education (mostly consisting of excrμciating torture by blade, fire and mind-numbing barrages of enchantment magic). This practice was quickly condemned by Flamekeep, but many shifters suffered at the hands of angry Aundairians before the camps were destroyed.
Within one camp, shackled hand and foot, Zev Jhaxos sought salvation from within in order to defeat the enemies around him. Prior to his imprisonment he practiced the Mironite monastic discipline of Thrane, but sequestered among his own people under such dire persecution he quickly realized the shifter race needed its own path to enlightenment. Still a devout believer in the Silver Flame, he supposed his imprisonment in the purification camp was destiny, and his holy mission was to free his own people from the persecution of false priests by creating a new style of martial arts.
Zev Jhaxos’s scrawled the walls of his dank cell with his complete doctrine, but only fragments survived, passed down amongst his followers. After their master’s demise, Zev’s senior disciples went their separate ways to better spread his art. These two reasons account for the fractured nature of the way’s doctrine today. Some followers claim Zev was a devout believer in the Silver Flame to the dying end, while others insist he fled the flame’s embrace and scorned the church. Many sects of the way view the chureh as their nemesis and actively seek its downfall. Others see a higher calling of self-mastery in Zev’s teachings. Sadly, various groups within the way find themselves in conflict with one another today. The idea of his martial art being used by shifters to shed shifter blood no doubt torments Zev Jhaxos’s restless spirit.
What follows are a few of the fractured remains of Zev Jhaxos’s doctrine.
The following feats are taught to followers of the Way or their allies. Fighters can only gain them as fighter bonus feats if they have connections with a mater of the Way of the Shackled Beast.
See Disrupting Strike [Shifter].
See Shiftsilver Mastery [Shifter].
The Way of the Shackled Beast is a new fighting style available to shifter monks. A 1st-level shifter monk (regardless of character level) may select the Way of the Shaekled Beast style, dictating which bonus feats she gains at 1st, 2nd and 6th levels. In addition, she gains a +2 bonus on Jump checks. Finally, if she meets the listed prerequisite she gains the listed bonus. If the shifter monk hasn’t yet met the prerequisite, she doesn’t gain the bonus ability, even if she meets the prerequisites at some later time.
Shifter monks who practice the Way of the Shackled Beast utilize the ferocity and power inherent in their race.
1st-Level Skill Bonus: Jump.
1st-Level Feat: Fear No Binds.
2nd-Level Feat: Beast Strike.
6th-Level Feat: Disrupting Strike.
6th-Level Bonus Ability: You may use your flurry of blows ability at the end of a succesful charge. Prerequisites: Jump 9 ranks, Two-Weapon Fighting.
While shifter monks have sculpted their bodies and minds into new and dangerous forms, so too have shifter craftsmen and artificers created new tools and alloys to aid their monk allies. In addition, shifter seers long ago discovered a new kind of minor artifact, the amulet of the twelve moons.
A complete version of this potent artifact bears twelve precious or semi-precious stones — one corresponding to each of Eberron’s moons. The origin of these enigmatic items of power remain steeped in debate. Many claim the first amulet was created during the War of the Mark as a means of uniting the fractured dragon-marked races. Shifter sages insist that Zev Jhaxos or one of his disciples received the first such amulet as a gift from the gods. Regardless of the amulets’ true origin, none of the few known examples today bear all twelve stones.
Each specific magic stone grants you a different magical power, and all stones act concurrently upon you when you wear the amulet.
In addition to its gems’ many gifts, the amulet of the twelve moons grants a +2 enhancement bonus on all attack and damage rolls made by unarmed strikes and natural weapons. With all twelve stones attached, this bonus increases to +5. The stones of power and the moons they represent are as follows.
Zaranthyr: A white opal represents the midwinter moon indicative of powerful storms. This stone grants you immunity to effects of winds and precipitation of all kinds.
Olarune: A clean white diamond symbolizes the late winter moon of Olarune. It grants a +4 enhancement bonus to your Wisdom score.
Therendor: A turquoise stone corresponds to the early spring moon. You gain the ability to cast either cure serious wounds three times per day or mass cure light wounds once per day (CL 20th).
Eyre: The mid-spring moon is represented by a malachite stone. It grants a +4 enhancement bonus on all Craft checks.
Dravago: An aquamarine symbolizes the late spring moon. You gain a +5 bonus on Search and Survival checks. If you have druid or ranger levels, you gain a +5 bonus on your wild empathy checks as well.
Nymm: A smoky rose quartz corresponds to the early summer moon. This stone prevents you from needing to eat or drink and you need only sleep 2 hours per day in order to gain the restful benefits of a normal 8 hours of sleep. You must wear the amulet a week before you gain the abilities of this stone.
Lharvion: A golden yellow topaz represents the midsummer moon. It grants you a +4 insight bonus on Listen and Spot checks, You may cast see invisibility three times per day (CL 20th).
Barrakas: As symbolized by a gllstening ruby, this late summer moon grants you the ability to cast discern location once per day (CL 20th).
Rhaan: An amber stone corresponds to the early autumn moon. It grants you the ability to cast sending three times per day (CL 20th).
Sypheros: The mid-autumn moon is represented by a moon-shaped piece of obsidian. This stone lets you cast displacement on yourself three times per day {CL 20th).
Aryth: A rosy pearl symbolizes this late autumn moon. It grants you the ability to dimension door once per day (CL 20th).
Vult: A creamy white piece of jade corresponds to the early winter moon. It grants a +4 natural armour bonus to your AC.
Strong transmutation; CL 20th; Weigbt 2 lb.
Forged in the light of the full moon by mixing silver, steel and the blood of a willing shifter donor, shiftsilver makes for highly sought-after weapons. Both members of the Way of the Shackled Beast and followers of the Silver Flame seek out shiftsilver weapons. Shiftsilver is pliable and flexible while remaining strong as normal steel. Weapons made of this material possess a mystical ability to find weak points in armour, skidding along the surface and weaving their way into joints or gaps. Shiftsilver weapons bypass silver damage reduction as a silvered weapon and actually deal an extra +2 points of damage to creatures with silver damage reduction.
If a shifter forges her own shiftsilver weapon with her own blood as a component, she gains a permanent +1 bonus on attack rolls with the weapon. Forging a shiftsilver weapon is the same as forging a masterwork silvered weapon, but the work must be done under the light of a full moon and requires a DC 25 Craft (Weaponsmithing) check by the person crafting it. Shiftsilver adds +1,500 gp to the cost of a weapon. All shiftsilver weapons are automatically masterwork.
Source: Dragon Magazine #355 (Page 74)