Lycanthropy

Lycanthropy () was a condition, disease or curse that caused humanoids and giants to change form, usually into hybrid humanoid-animal states, becoming a creature known as a lycanthrope.In 4th edition, lycanthropy was made into only a hereditary condition, though Dragon #410's article "Howl at the Moon" refers to this as merely "positing" and that lycanthropes could potentially come from other sources. 
Some, such as the famed monster hunter Rudolph van Richten, referred to the condition by different names based upon the source of transmission. True lycanthropy, also known as natural lycanthropy, was inherited from birth. Maledictive lycanthropy and pathologic lycanthropy, coined by him in his work Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts, referred to affliction through curse and disease respectively.
==Culture==
Some organizations made it their mission to study the condition of lycanthropy, such as the Cabal of the Moon's Blood and the Silver Stake. The latter group would sometimes capture and attempt to cure those afflicted with lycanthropy. And their leader, the Mielikkian priest Karel Mahorne, worked alongside her fellow Mielikkian clerics to gather lore on curing the condition.
No deity in the Realms had the condition as a part of their divine portfolio. However, priesthoods had conflicting claims on this topic, as some gods were often associated with lycanthropy. For instance, some priests of Nobanion claimed that he had dominion over the condition, but not lycanthropes themselves.
In most cities and large towns across Faerûn, it was customary to cremate the remains of those that had been afflicted with lycanthropy. In the nation of Dambrath, many of the nomadic humans who called the land home were Malarites or Selûnites who viewed lycanthropy as a blessing and sought to contract it.
==Acquisition==
As a disease, lycanthropy was generally contracted through open wounds being exposed to the blood, saliva, or other secretions of a true lycanthrope or another infected. Some legends also claimed the disease could potentially be contracted through love making.
Animals could also act as carriers of the contagion, such as spiders, wolves, worgs, and practically every kind of avian or mammal. It was less common for prey animals to be carriers, as they typically didn't survive encounters with lycanthropes. The type of animal determined the phenotype that was passed on to the afflicted, thus a spider carrying lycanthropy would inflict the werespider phenotype. And Malar's avatar, the Beast, inflicted a random form of evil lycanthropy upon those bitten by it.
The offspring of a lycanthrope and non-infected had the potential to inherit the condition. If the condition was not inherited, the offspring and its descendants would instead gain a resistance to lycanthropy. If ever exposed to the contagion they would become what was known as a quasilycanthrope.
Humans and demihumans were susceptible to all forms of lycanthropy. Other humanoid races were less uniform in their susceptibility, being less likely or outright immune to contracting certain phenotypes through pathologic means. Some of the humanoid races that were known to be susceptible to lycanthropy included bugbears, goblins, gnolls, hobgoblins, kender, kobolds, ogres, orcs, sahuagin, trolls, all true giants, firbolgs, voadkyn, and cyclopskin. Creatures that were highly innately magical were generally immune.
As a curse, there were a number of ways in which lycanthropy could be acquired or afflicted. This included the Dark Powers, wish, curse of lycanthropy, some cursed scrolls in the land of Zakhara, and could by chance occur from drinking a great elixir.
==Effects==
===Transfiguration===
Those who were afflicted with lycanthropy often didn't have full control over their ability to transform and could be triggered into doing so by a certain circumstance(s). The most common of these in the Realms and elsewhere was a moon, such as Toril's Selûne, entering its full-moon phase. By contrast, true lycanthropes were said to be generally unaffected by such triggers.
Notably, exposure to the Selûnite substance moonfire could give a lycanthrope complete control over their transformations for a span of seven moons. And incense of lycanthropy could potentially suppress the forced transformation brought on by a full moon. Conversely, there were some things that could forcefully trigger a transformation, such as moonbeam or being in the presence of a moon dragon in its white-phase.
If a silverstar (a variety of Selunite specialty priest) was infected by a lycanthrope who was morally upstanding, without any care for ethical standing, or the moral and ethical outlook of that creature was in line with that of the silverstar, then the priest's condition would act in a manner comparable to natural lycanthropy.
The process of transfiguring between lycanthropic states was a painful experience for all but true lycanthropes. If killed while in its animal or hybrid form, a lycanthrope's body would revert to its natural humanoid form.
===Mental Effects===
Once the transformation was complete, an afflicted lycanthrope's personality would be subsumed and overtaken by a ravenous, predatory mindset until they returned to their original form. This altered state of personality slightly varied between strains of lycanthropy, incorporating behavioral aspects of their strain's animal. This personality typically retained all the memories possessed by their humanoid state.
When an afflicted lycanthrope finally did return to their base humanoid form, their memories of the time spent in their animal or hybrid forms was either hazy or outright forgotten, as were any memories of the pain they experienced during the process of transfiguring between states and of the transformation process itself. If an afflicted did manage to retain memories of the time spent in their animal or hybrid form they would be indistinct and surreal, as if one were recalling a nightmare.
By contrast, true lycanthropes and silverstars retained their personality in their animal or hybrid forms and their memories of the time spent in either form remained intact in their humanoid forms.
===Vulnerabilities===
Lycanthropy brought with it a tremendous resilience to most forms of damage, that was generally seen and known to be overcome only by magic and silvered weaponry. However, they could also be injured and poisoned by the gemstone variscite. And some monster hunters, such as van Richten and the Silver Stake organization, found that all lycanthropes suffered from at least one or more non-magical vulnerabilities that varied between each phenotype, and in some cases between individuals. This vulnerability was a severe allergy to a specific type of plant and mineral, which they would be sensitive to in their humanoid, hybrid, and animal form. Low doses could incapacitate or weaken them, while greater doses could prove deadly.
;Known Lycanthrope Allergies
Phenotype 	Mineral 	Plant
Werebadger 	Silver 	Poppy
Werebat 	Silver 	Skullcap mushroom
Werebear 	Cold iron 	Belladonna
Wereboar 	Silver 	Camphor
Werecrocodile	Flint 	Mandrake
Werefox 	Canine bones 	Juniper berry
Werejackal 	Copper 	Fennel
Werepanther 	Amber 	Catnip
Wererat 	Silver 	Poison ivy
Wereseal 	Whale bone or ivory	Amaranth
Wereshark 	Petrified wood 	Mangrove leaves
Weretiger 	Obsidian 	Ginseng
Werewolf 	Silver 	Wolfsbane
Notably, through a boon with their goddess Selûne, lycanthrope silverstars lacked the famed vulnerability to silver.
==Prevention==
There existed a number of magic items and spells in the Realms that could be used to preemptively protect one's body from contracting lycanthropy. Some such spells included Mordenkainen's defense against lycanthropes and the Kelemvorite exclusive Kelemvor's grace. In the Old Empires region there were silver rings of immunity that could prevent lycanthropy, as could the similarly named ring of disease immunity. Among the Ffolk and druids of the Moonshae Isles a torque of the Goddess was commonly used.
Priests of the Church of Moander, noted for their general resilience towards all manner of diseases, were said to be immune to contracting lycanthropy. And Master Harpers, due to a blessing from Selûne, were immune to the condition. This blessing was known by some as lycanbane.
Following the Time of Troubles, a tavern in the city of Purskul by the name of Threshing Flail had a wild magic effect in its taproom that caused any gnome who shed blood there to be immune to lycanthropy until the next full moon.
A potential post-preventative method against contraction of lycanthropy was to use the spell wound bind on an injury produced by a lycanthrope, though it only lowered a victim's susceptibility to contracting the disease.
==Treatment==
Suspended animation could be used to halt the progression of lycanthropy in a victim until an effective means of curing them could be found. If an individual's lycanthropy was hereditary, there was nothing that could be done to rid them of the condition.
Throughout the multiverse a majority of curative spells, psionic powers, and methods that could usually rid one of a disease had no effect against lycanthropy. These included cure disease, breath of life, cleanse, dance of life, synostodweomer, the psychometabolism powers absorb disease and cell adjustment, and the curative foods of Luiren clerics. Others claimed that the spells heal and remove disease could rid one of the infection, but it had to be done by a powerful priest within three days. Lesser known spells that could cure the condition included the phaerimm developed heal self and the Talontar spell Talona's blessing.
When it came to those suffering lycanthropy as a curse, it was said break enchantment or remove curse would be effective if cast on the night of a full moon, the night preceding it, or the night following it. Some claimed the curse or infection could be cured through prayer, such as The Healing Power of Prayer: Curative Rituals of the House of Ilmater.
In terms of mundane methods, consumption of the plant belladonna was widely believed to be capable of curing lycanthropy. However, it had to be fresh, picked within the last week. Some also claimed that leeches could be used to cure a victim, though this was demonstrably false. Due to their lycanbane blessing, ingesting the blood of a Master Harper or being bitten by one had a similar effect to belladonna. Alternatively, the blessing would cure anyone that reached the status of Master among the Harpers.
Some rare magical substances were said to be capable of curing lycanthropy, such as the Tear of the Dragon or the dawnstone. Some spoke of the existence of potions of curing lycanthropy, with Selûnite priestesses in Waterdeep making them from the very essence of Selûne, and the unique potion produced by the spell Water of Eldath was also an effective curative. 
Finally, there existed some magical sites or phenomena that had the power to rid one of lycanthropy. The stone idol of Savras in the village of Sendrin was said to be capable, but only in the early stages. Drinking from the waters of one of the Moonshae Isles's moonwells had the potential, though it was not guaranteed and it could only be tried once per moon phase. The well of spells that occasionally appeared in caverns across Toril. The minor mythal that protected the Green Glade in Ardeep Forest was said to make the spells cure disease and neutralize poison capable of curing lycanthropy. And spending a night sleeping on the moss of the hilltop Dancing Place was said to rid people of any curse, including lycanthropy.
A more violent and rumored cure surrounded a fountain depicting the goddess Chauntea outside the Bounty of the Goddess in Archenbridge. In that area of the Dalelands it was rumored that if a Chauntean priest was slain in the Arkhen Vale the fountain's waters would turn to blood for a day and that touching said blood could cure anything, even lycanthropy. Suffice to say, Chaunteans discouraged the spreading of this rumor.
===Treatment in Ravenloft===
The process of curing an individual afflicted with lycanthropy was a far more arduous and difficult task in the Domains of Dread then it was on the Prime Material plane. Unlike on Prime Material worlds, belladonna in Ravenloft lacked the ability to cure lycanthropy.
In Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts, the eponymous monster hunter observed that throughout his travels of Ravenloft there were usually three distinct phases to the curative process. The first was to hunt down and kill what Van Richten referred to as the "progenitor", the true lycanthrope that started the chain of infection or directly infected a victim, having the infected perform some kind of atonement for the evils they committed while transformed, and finally having a priest cast atonement, cure disease, and remove curse on the victim in quick succession while the victim was transformed.
When the werewolf Rengard Boltsmann was chosen by the Dark Powers to be a new darklord, dragging the city of Ravens Bluff and nearby parts of the Vast into Ravenloft to become his domain, it was this three stage process that was used to cure him.
==History==
The exact origins of lycanthropy were unknown, mired in legends and speculation.
In the , there was a large outbreak of lycanthropy in the city of Calimport, an event that came to be known as the Moon Plague.
==Rumors & Legends==
Lycanthropy was mired in misconceptions as there existed several myths, legends, and folktales surrounding the condition. For example, one often quoted folktale in the Domains of Dread claimed that the condition only lasted for 15 or so years as the "animal inside" would allegedly die of old age.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Curses
Category:Diseases