Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd
Another common one is that animals exposed to high levels of magic - either under enchantments or living or breeding in highly magical places - tend to be mutated by it.
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"Magic as a mutagen" is a concept I'm fond of, with it typically being something of a
targeted mutagen (altering traits rather than causing cancer). The original setting for my Malofae (cat-folk, basically) had as their origin a large tribe of humans who knew shapeshifting magic, and used it to take on a form more fit to the jungles they lived in (basing it on a large predatory cat). Frequent use of this over several generations meant they gradually changed to simply be born in this form (and eventually the methods of shapeshifting magic were lost). Similarly, humans who stayed in areas that had an excess of a certain "flavor" of mana ended up transforming as well into the various other races of the setting. Mana consumption (it's not so much being around it as it is using/consuming it that has the mutagenic effect) was less pronounced amongst lesser animals, of course, so you didn't end up with them mutating nearly as much.