A small package wrapped tightly in a blanket was gently propped up against a guard tower in the plains by a hand so dexterous that the tiny baby inside didn't even stir in his slumber. As the tanned man left the bundle and quickly strode off for other adventures the clouds overhead gathered and Karana began the normal cleansing of his plains. The baby woke as raindrops tapped his face. He squirmed, wiggling against the wall, fell on his back and slid down the wet, muddy hill to a camp of gypsies at the base. Thus began the life of Shiften, bastard son to an elven enchantress and human pirate.

The next decade and a half Shiften spent in the company of the gypsies, travelling between their camps in different parts of the world.  With their tutelage and his hidden heritage, Shiften mastered the art of disguise. As time passed on, Shiften grew weary of the nomadic gypsy lifestyle, and with a thank you to his adoptive family he ventured off on his own.  His favorite and most practiced disguise being that of a halfling, Shiften took on the form, shortness and all, which was quite a feat since he was very tall for a half-elf.  He settled in Rivervale where he felt very much at home, as the carefree lifestyle suited him well, but after several years in the Vale, Shiften's secret was unearthed; he fled the Vale, ashamed of his roots, and with nowhere else to go he returned to the gypsies who had raised him.  For a long time he fell into despair, not confident enough to use the skills he had learned for almost a year.  Seeing a great ability going to waste, the gypsy seer brought Shiften to her tent and revealed to him that his abilities of disguise were not just based on skill but also on a natural power imbued into him by his birth-mother's magical skills -- like the most powerful enchanters, he could shapeshift to appear as any member of the races of Norrath, a power that he had since only been able to tap into subconsciously for disguises.  Confidence restored, Shiften left the camp and tried to once again make his way in the world.

Word of his powers spread and just while he had begun to settle down in the coastal city of Freeport, he was approached by a wealthy man who explained to him that there was much money to be made by his gift. The man showed him riches that he could not have fathomed before that day. Intrigued and blinded by greed, Shiften listened to how the man intended to make a profit using the power of disguise. The man explained that he was in the business of gathering information. With Shiften working for him and using his gift, he could easily blend into the crowd, venture to foreign cities, and report what he had learned back to the man.  Shiften worked for the man and became very rich, doing several jobs for the man, each time gaining more mountains of platinum. Eventually Shiften became curious about how the information he was gathering was profitable. He became suspicious of the man and one night followed him,  discovering that he was selling the information to an enemy faction of the city he had most recently infiltrated. A few days later, the militia from the enemy city had ransacked the small town Shiften had stayed in gathering information. Saddened terribly, Shiften donated all his worldly possessions to the restoration of the city and the townspeople that he had made homeless.  Shiften made a solemn vow to help those in need and to never be blinded by greed again, and to this day he has done just that.  Since this time, a choice confrontation with a mad cleric of Bristlebane while trying to protect his one-time home of Rivervale has eliminated all the restraints on his abilities, and no one is excatly sure just what the limits, if any, of his shapeshifting powers are now...