Caged Pendant

Shifter Totem

The totem for Faina Parker, the Shifter's ability to shift between her human and beast forms.

The pendant is an oval cut gemstone in a deep ruby red - and there is a second, smaller stone near where the clasp sits. It is the same deep ruby color of the main gemstone. The large center gemstone is held in place in the center of a triangle frame by thick, silver wire wrapping. Its look is reminiscent as if the stone has been trapped in a cage.

While the totem is a necklace, the chain it sits on is not considered part of the pendant. It can be removed from its chain should the owner desire.

The two stones appear to be rubies of a deep red hue. The frame and wire wrappings appear entirely made out of silver.

less than a pound

Faina's totem has gone through one transformation since its creation.

Originally, the totem was a blue circular center stone surrounded by delicate silver filigrees worked into the shape of a crescent moon. The gemstone in the center appeared multi-faceted under its smooth surface, reflecting sparkles and shimmers under direct light and causing the blue to shift in hues of sapphire.

Faina's turning

Wearing the totem allows Faina to shift between her Human form and her Beast form.

Faina's Beast form is an Alaskan Red Wolf - larger than normal for the breed. Its coloring and markings are otherwise the same russet red and browns of the red wolf.

There is a Bonding Spell on Faina's totem that only she and Sam Skiles have the ability to alter.

This spell was not forged by normal magical means, but rather by the supernatural entity that resides within the wild magic well of Snow Haven. Thus, it's nearly impossible for anyone to be able to read beyond the bare components of the spell.

In essence, in an act of devotion and determination, Faina willingly gave her totem to Sam - as long as the totem was in his hand, he became her totem holder and activated totem possession, but she also verbally said "But while we both wish it, I give to you that which is mine to give". The vows they exchanged while she gave him that power were then taken quite literally by the magicks involved - the totem, the love potion, and Faina's wolf.

She has sealed herself to Sam/his beast in a similar fashion that a Mage seals a Familiar, only the bond is via her totem (hence the slow physical transformation) rather than the mental bond experienced the normal way.

The bond is similar to but also different from an actual Familiar bond; she doesn't share a connection with him mentally, nor can she necessarily draw strength and power from him the way a Mage/Familiar would.

Distance is a factor, she couldn't tell you where he is at any given point in the world, but her wolf is able to hyper-fixate on him whenever she becomes aware of his presence - and she is able to sense where he is and keep track of him from there, no matter what else is going on, provided he doesn't go out of her wolf's natural sense range.

She is able to sense his general physical state and the extent of any injuries. She is also, as a general rule, unable to intentionally hurt him or cause him harm, as that breaks one of the vows.

Most importantly, it has sealed into a permanent, magic spell all of the vows she made to him:
- I give to you that which is mine to give
- I shall be a shield to your back as you are for mine
- I pledge to you my living and my dying
- I will cherish and honor you through this life... and into the next
- Come back for me, Sam. I'll find you. Call for me, and no matter what stands in my way, I'll be able to reach you. Whatever hell you're in. My heart is bound to yours.
- You're mine now. Come what may.

The nature of the magic and the totem possession basically set into stone everything she said to him, that can't be broken unless specific conditions are met. She is compelled to honor her vows… but the consequences of not doing so are a little different because Sam is not actively holding the totem any longer.

For one, Faina still has full autonomy of herself, as she stated, "You cannot possess me, for I belong to myself,"; as long as she has her totem, she is fully capable of resisting what compulsion may come from the spell's effect. The cost of doing so is physical pain, namely from the wolf in her skull, but also from the totem itself taking "magic damage", causing injury to the totem and therefore causing injury to its owner. Still, it's nothing life-threatening (as it stands at the moment) and after a specific duration of time, if she doesn't cave, or is prevented from meeting the vows, the pain will fade and the damage will repair itself the way totems do.

However, if she does not have her totem on her, she is unable to resist the compulsion because she has been separated from the control of her own magic; and will become transfixed, hypnotized, with the sole goal of meeting whatever condition has been set forth by the vows (to answer his call, being the most relevant example) - and will become violent if prevented from doing so. The cost is the same but if the spell's command is not continuous, it will fade away like above.

While someone else can still use her through the totem as normal totem possession, they are unable to have any effect on the spell or its content and the spell overrides any command she may be given, as they are not the 'true' totem holder. (For example, Madison could not take the totem and compel her to break the spell or otherwise compel her to do something that goes against one of the vows, because the spell would override it.)

If Sam were to have her totem, as the totem holder, the ordinary rules of totem possession apply and Faina is compelled to obey. He cannot, however, alter the contents of the spell once he no longer has the totem without her consent, as again the spell is outside the rules.

The totem's new appearance looks strikingly similar to a necklace Faina once owned - one Sam bought for her but she rarely wore, not being very into jewelry. The original has since become Sam's Amulet and the totem changed itself to become an interpretation of its new twin. It's nowhere near an identical copy of the original, but it's similar enough to bear more than a passing resemblance.