CHARACTERS

1-4 ALL IN THE 16-17 AGE RANGE.

Character 1: Tall and gangly with a mop of wavy, strawberry brown hair, he has a very airy way of moving and speaking despite his young, awkward appearance. Light freckles dot his pale cheeks and travel briefly unto the bridge of his nose. He has a pair of childlike, light green eyes, and thin pink lips that are often curved in a slightly distant manner.  I picture a… zoned out expression?  Something like: [link].  Closest to what I imagine that I could find in google search, lol.  He's got a small leather bag/pouch full of sorts that he's got hanging from his belt.  Looks fairly used, like it's been around for ages.  

Character 2:  Dark blue eyes stood in stark contrast to his milky white skin. His head held a mess of dark blonde hair that came to its longest down his back. He is of average height and slender in a statuesque manner, though not a muscle was visible. He has smooth features and a pale pair of lips – stoically set in a way that made him seem coolly distant.  He wears gloves that would be a stylish sort that'd go with the rest of his generally more fancy attire.

Character 3: He is characterized by his wild mane of dark red hair that hangs in thick, wavy curls from the top of his head to the middle of his back. Warm, brown eyes, usually crinkled at the corners by a wide, amused grin, look out from a face touched with sideburns on each side. Above average in both height and physical strength, his appearance makes him intimidating, though in nature he's very easygoing. He sometimes wears his hair back with what looks to be a leather tie. A small silver ring is also stuck in one of his ears.   He has less of a wide stature, if that makes sense having a tough, intimidating guy not on the burly side.  He has a small knife for various basic purposes attached to a belt.

Character 4: He's known for his abnormally short stature, topping just over five feet. He has speckled hazel eyes that look from a face of a medium-brown shade. His features are best described as mousy, making him seem a mere child, but his gaze is able to hold a level of maturity and passion unmatched by adolescence. Thick, dark brown hair – almost black – tops his head.
REFERENCE TO 1-4: [link]


5-7 IN MID-TWENTIES AND ALL 5-9 HAVE SPENT LIVES IN WOODS

Character 5: Thick long hair that is such a dark brown that it appears to be black, which is caught up with various intricately combined and twisted vines, as well as pieces of wood that seemed to have been hand-carved into small, color-stained beads – which are randomly throughout, and also hanging like strands of hair themselves. His clothes are often the same, altered with colors/drawings and places to hide things. Dark gray eyes. A body toned from that of running /climbing, and a sharp-featured face.  He wears a belt from which several different sorts of hand-made weapons hang (various sized knifes/blades, small axe, perhaps a conveniently sized spear, assortment of pouches for things like herbs, sharpened stones, food, water, etc.)

Character 6: Golden Yellow/Green eyes with lots of extremely curly, light brown hair. Has facial hair, which today would be commonly called "short boxed beard." Rectangle-like facial shape and very lithe and thin.   Has a handmade bow and/or spear, and a bag for arrows strapped to his back or sides.  As well as something for water.   I see him with less of a serious expression, maybe even smirking or grinning in a playful manner.  The hair is also a different sort of curls.  Will Ferrell curls are all I can summon up as an example, haha (so like [link], but I see morrrre hair, as he wouldn't be regularly cutting it.
REFERENCE TO 5-6: [link]

Character 7: Looks more or less like an older version of #3 in first set of characters (they're brothers, and this one is older by ten years), but with bright blue eyes and light freckles everywhere. His wild hair is also longer; it has grown a short ways past the entire length of his tailbone and is kept untied. He's often wearing a spitefully amused expression, or an eerily cold stare. Has a dirty look about him.  He'd have much like what #5 & 6 have, though more of a selection of weapons than of pouches.  Could even have swords/knives/hammers taken from towns.  Also quite a few adornments around his neck/ wrists/belt displaying jewelry, valuables, locks of hair, small trinkets with photos, teeth and claws from animals, etc. that he's taken as prizes/records of his "misdeeds."  

Character 8:  An elderly man in his early seventies with short peppered gray hair he simply cuts away with the blade of a knife, which is always brushed back. He only stands at about 5'5", and has darker, sun-touched skin riddled with old scars, even one considerable one curving from his scalp down to his jaw, just before his right ear. Chocolate brown eyes gaze out of a round face, which tends to hold a serious or severe look, as if constantly going over somber events in his head or unable to tolerate senseless behavior.  Could have a walking stick, a handmade crossbow and arrows (better quality since he's had far more many years), and maybe a line/net of small dead animals slung over a shoulder.  

Character 9: This one is in the late teens like the characters in the first piece, and is the only female character.  Ashen blonde hair that hangs nearly to the back of her knees, usually tied into a single braid and kept with thin vines or springy branches. Has a dirty look about her, as if she doesn't often have access to water for cleaning. Isn't very curvy, small chest, and is often wearing baggy clothes, but she's of average height (possibly about 5'5"-6"). Light brown eyes.  I see her rather scratched/bruised up (at least more than the usual forest-dweller, as she plays a sort of servant role).   There's a more childlike wariness/unsureness in her expression.
REFERENCE TO 7-9: [link]

CREATURES
NO VISUAL REFERENCES

First species:
They, for the most part, take the shape, form, shade, pattern, etc. of whatever they like, though it has to be a living thing such as a person or animal.  The main one, however, commonly takes the form of a little girl.  The girl looks typical of a wild runaway.  About eight years old, long and tangled brown hair, slightly malnourished-looking, dirty, dark, wild eyes (they literally are black, when seen up close), clothes made of leaves, sticks, etc.  What makes them distinguishable are that no matter what form they take, they always have the same color eyes, and the same markings they may have on their original form.  Their original form is extremely adaptable to a forest environment, as if they were made specifically for it.  Their eyes, though still a certain color, are very reflective of whatever they're surrounded by, whether water, trees, earth, or sky.  They have fur in the winter, shades of earthen colors that are random and have just of random of patterns depending on the individual, and it sheds in the summer.  Their body's structure can be compared to that of wolves (but perhaps twice as larger, broad, and heavy), but they do not reproduce sexually, so they have no reproductive organs, nor parts for taking care of infants.   Their paws, however, are meant for climbing and have large, retractable (much like cats) claws.  They can run swiftly and quietly due to the padding at the bottoms of their feet as long as they have no leaves or crunchy objects beneath them, of course.  Their tails are much like a snake, about as long as the average snake and able to crush things by wrapping around something, as if it has mechanisms of its own (it can even curl itself).  Their entire body is covered in fur, aside from their tail, and that and the rest of their skin beneath are like the skin of a rhino or elephant.  Their ears are reasonably large, set on their head like a fennec fox, but much skinnier and able to lie flat and back against their heads.  Their head is also like that of a wolf, proportional to their larger size (of course), but eerily so, their necks are far more flexible and can turn very far to the side - just not completely around.  They do not blink, and when they do close their eyes to sleep, two slips of skin come together diagonally to meet in the middle, closing their eyes from view.  When the fur is shed, they have a very slim amount of fur left covering their skin, which is tough, like mentioned, and still earthen colored beneath, though more dull and patchy looking.

Another interpretation for Species 1:
The creatures appear to the beholder as a reflection of themselves, between transparency, solid, or several alternating states at once that make it seem a flickering figure against scenery or a shape of obvious, changing colors, visions, etc.  It can even alternate in size.  They usually reflect only one's active forms, and when it isn't, it's simply an invisible figure only sensed by a shifting in light or movement against the environment being looked upon.  However, the creature cannot appear as described in a group.  If in a group, it takes on the aspects of the environment itself, adapting quite conveniently so that all can see it as a similar being, and so it can survive suitably where it is.  They are creatures of constantly shifting states of being in itself.

Species 2:
They basically look exactly like feral cats (like a shaggier, darker lynx), and they reproduce just like regular mammals, but their ability to claw, bite, and sprint is far more powerful, so they do have much more defined muscles in their legs and far sharper, longer teeth that are black rather than white.  Red eyes guide them.

Species 3:
A bit like a smaller scale of human, more like the size of a child.  They have almost transparent bodies, and thick, rock-hard spikes that grow down their back, growing smaller as they approach the buttocks.  They wear a tiny kilt of sorts, to cover their bits, and their hair is incredibly thick, and black, and long enough to tie back with roots or vines.  Their eyes look transparent as well, shining a silver, white, or black.  Their nails are long, sharp, and white, as are their toenails, and their teeth are just as sharp, but a dark silver, shiny color which borders on black.  They usually stay near water, as it camouflages them better, but they do reasonably well blending in during the night.

Species 4:
They have the skill of jumping, so are often found in trees.  Their hands are basically claws in themselves, with prickly undersides to make clinging and balancing on things very simple.  Their feet are the same, minus the claws.  They have more of monkey-like feet, for steadying on the branches they frequent.  They have long, lithe bodies of a dark green color (6+ feet tall), with no distinguishable shaping, other than the obvious arms, legs, and head.  They have long, skinny tails that are almost as long as their bodies, extending from the end of their back to the beginning of their head, which mostly resemble rat tails, but with what could be called split ends - and dark green color to resemble hanging vines.  Their ears are two small holes on either side of their head, and their eyes perfectly set so they can roll around in almost any direction, including the front view and excluding the back.  Their eyes are multicolored, glowing bright specks in each seeming to be the core of them.  They have no nose, but a large slit for a mouth with a tongue like a large lizard - on a head that's shaped like a lizard, albeit a skinny one to go with the rest of their body.  No teeth - just a gaping hole when opened.

Forest and/or Town Environment:
It's a reasonably small town secluded within the woods - maybe 500 people, the buildings made of wood and stone.  Their only form of light is candles, and solar-powered lamps, hovering lighting devices, and occasionally a flashlight - all which are regularly shipped in from the elsewhere.  Transportation to and from and within the town is either by foot or dogs (closely descended from wild wolves) and buggies, such as horse drawn carriages, but instead of horses, dogs and much smaller carriages.  There is no pavement, just the forest dirt, and the sky above is blocked and almost blacked out by the tops of the trees (why there is need for such lighting systems).  The town's outermost ending points on its every side is made clear by it being surrounded by a thicker expanse and wall of trees that people rarely venture into.  There is but one road that leaves the town, which is used for the shipping and comings and goings.
REFERENCE: [link]
(MUCH LIKE THIS IN REGARDS TO THE OVERHEAD, BUT IN MY STORY THE BRANCHES WOULD BE THICKER AND WITH MORE LEAVES, BLOCKING OUT THE LIGHT SO IT'S MORE IN SLIVERS THAN THE AMOUNT THE PHOTO REVEALS.)