Doppelganger Eliminator (Basic Lore)

Doppelganger Eliminator (Killer; CR 24)
Pure Evil - Large - Protean
This creature possesses the Killer role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure. Doppelgangers are a strange race of shape shifters that act as parasites of entire civilizations. Their mindset is alien compared to most humanoid races, and their ability to steal the identity of others triggers nearly universal revulsion. Doppelgangers may exactly and perfectly mimic anyone they have had a chance to touch for a few seconds. What is not widely known about Doppelgangers, is that they come in many castes. They all have the ability to perfectly mimic other creatures, and they are all parasites that subsist upon the civilizations of others, but the Doppelgangers do not care very much about that at all. The reason that Doppelgangers are so little engaged with the other societies is two-fold: First, Doppelgangers are really, truly alien, both in their natural appearance and in their mental and spiritual processes. They have no souls, nor do they have spirits. They aren't even really alive in the same way as other races, and it is unclear if they even eat food or breathe air. They have very little in common with other races. Second, Doppelgangers are utterly and completely consumed by their war. Plain Doppelgangers (CR 3) are little more than mindless drones, pawns that exist to breed and infiltrate the world. The higher level Doppelgangers are the ones who are aware of their secret war and they are responsible for prosecuting it, to the exclusion of all other tasks. Everything is devoted to the War, every waking moment consumed with prosecuting the War or building up to make another attack. On the very rare occasions when a Doppelganger has been captured and interrogated, their answers, made in Kern, make no sense at all. The Doppelgangers seem to be at war with themselves, absolutely and implacably. No outsider has ever figured out what factions or divisions exist in Doppelganger 'society', if such a thing can even be said to exist. Most Doppelgangers placidly subsist on the largess of the societies they infest. But other Doppelgangers are much more sinister and menacing, and are ruthlessly driven to seek out and destroy other Doppelgangers. Whether a Doppelganger will see another as foe or ally seems completely random. It should be noted that Doppelgangers and Vampires, where they co-exist, are unrelenting enemies as well. Doppelgangers and Vampires both infest and feed off of larger societies, and so they see each other as competitors. Both factions will seek to destroy the other whenever they come into contact. In the weird, shadowy world of Doppelgangers, Doppelganger Eliminators are the solution to problems. In the War, Eliminators are used to crush enemy strongholds and destroy important foes. Of course, since Eliminators serve on all sides of that weird, ineffable conflict, they frequently come into conflict with one another. Eliminators are haughty and dangerous creatures, and unlike most Doppelgangers, they can never impersonate creatures below size Large. They will stoop to imitating mere beasts if it serves their mission, but far more frequently they will imitate Giants, or their most preferred mimickry, dragons. Eliminators are perfectly capable of slaying the lesser ranks of dragons, and will take their place without hesitation if they can arrange such a thing. Despite their apparent arrogance, Eliminators seem to be of a lesser status than other Doppelgangers, such as the brilliant and inscrutable Consuls. It is common for an Eliminator, or a working pair of Eliminators, to be 'working for' a Consul. It is much rarer for Eliminators to work with lower ranking Doppelganger, but given the fluid and deeply concealed nature of Doppelganger 'society', it's not impossible. It should be noted that Doppelganger Eliminators are probably not the highest ranking Doppelgangers in existence. If there are Doppelgangers of greater power, however, they are so rare or so well hidden, then the best sages, mages, cyphers, and scribes can only speculate as to the details of these shadowy behemoths.