Vastaya

A Vastayan is a bipedal chimeric sentient shapeshifting being residing on Runeterra's continent of Ionia.

History
I learned that the vastaya’s origins could be traced back long, long ago, to a hidden corner of Ionia where a group of humans fled to escape the myriad horrors of the Great Void War (a subject upon which I have written numerous tomes, all of which can be found at the better Piltovan booksellers for more-than-reasonable prices). These refugees came into contact with a tribe of intelligent, shapeshifting creatures who were greatly in tune with Ionia’s natural magicks. The pairing of these two groups produced the creatures I eventually learned to refer to as vastaya. Over time, the offspring of these pairings settled into a variety of regions and therefore adopted diverse forms, from the winged humanoids of Ionia or the sporadically-limbed sandshufflers of Shurima, to the Freljordian scaled manatee with a look of perpetual discomfort on its face.

The origins of this race on Runeterra can be traced by to a hidden corner of Ionia where a group of humans fled to escape the myriad horrors of the Great Void War. These refugees came into contact with a tribe of intelligent, shapeshifting creatures who were greatly in tune with Ionia’s natural magicks. The pairing of these two groups produced the creatures which are refer to as vastaya. Over time, the offspring of these pairings settled into a variety of regions and therefore adopted diverse forms, from the winged humanoids of Ionia or the sporadically-limbed sandshufflers of Shurima, to the Freljordian scaled manatee.

Some of the vastaya risided in the sacred grove of Omikayalan. Known as the Heart of the World, in its center stood the God-Willow. This massive tree, dripping with long gossamer leaves that shimmered with golden-green light, was of immense importance to both Human Ionians and the Vastaya people of the continent, which guarded the tree from anyone who wished it harm. Unfortunetly the tree was destroyed due to an invading war party from a far away frozen land known as the Freljord, its leader was transformed by its natural energy into the being known as.

The true existence and fate of the Vastaya were unknown to the western scholars until an explorer from Piltover, Eduard Santangelo, chronicled his findings of this misterious race during his expedition to the magicaly infused continent.

Biology

 * For more information, see Eduard Santangelo's Vastaya Field Journal.

Vastaya are sexually dimorphic race of various shapes and sizes. Their animalistic appearance depends on the location in which they adapted. However, there are three distinct types of Vastayan appearances and natures:
 * With very strong animalistic features. They closely resemble upward walking mammals which have largely animalstic features in their bodies design and behavior.
 * With mild animalistic features. They closely resemble humans, but still retain a modest level of animalistic elements, most notable feline ears, or feathers. The facial characteristics are closer to human appearence than animalistic.
 * Shapeshifters. They ether retain ether a human or animal appearance of their choosing, but they are able to shapeshift in and out of each forms.

Each type of Vastaya greatly differ from one another in appearance and abilities, but all of them are in tune with the natural magics of the world in various digrees. Some are born in the race, while a rare few are magically altered to become one of three types types of Vastaya. The race has far longer life spans than humans. Some have been said to live for thousands of years, while others, rumors and legends say, might be immortal.

Culture
Not much is known about their culture due to the mysterious nature of this race. However, as they biological nature, their culture is a mix of both animalistic and human behavior which reflects both in the races individuals interaction with other sentient and non sentient beings. Their culture is also heavily shapped by the location each type of Vastaya live in.

Trivia

 * The Vastaya greatly resemble the Yordle in the sense that both are animalistic in appearance and both have a strong connection to magic.
 * Other names given to the Vastaya were the Phantasma.