Shifters kinda come in different forms. Some of them can act on free will, while others are imagined up by people who, when they get too old, forget about their Shifter, or to them their ("imaginary friend") therefore setting them free. For example, if a guy was really desperately in love with a girl and he imagined that one day they'd get married and have a child. If he imagined the child's name and what it would look like very hard, and he actually imagined it being there, a Shifter in the form of that imaginary child would appear. Only the creator would be able to see it therefore creating the illusion that it is not real:an "imaginary friend". If the creator dies or loses interest than the Shifter is freed. Once the Shifter is free it is allowed to take any shape it wants and it will be able to time travel although a Shifter's original shape is just a vapor; silver if it is a girl and black if it is a boy (yes Shifter's have genders although there is really no diff. between the two). Some Shifters have a signature form though that they use more than their vapor shape. This Tribe is a group of freed Shifters.