A Lycanthropy Primer

Ursialla is known to be a country of dark tidings and arcane mysteries. Although most of the world considers it to be something of a melodramatic place, a land of bad weather and vicious wildlife combined with a penchant for depressing story-telling, people from the country and those that surround it know that at least some of the tales to be distressingly true. Curses, whether they be hereditary, environmental or bestowed by unsavoury creatures or people, are not as uncommon as anyone would like.
The Vilkas Mountains are said to be particularly cursed, though academics struggle with the specifics. Whether it is a place tainted by extraplanar influence, arcane meddling or even some kind of rare natural occurence, that it has an unusual environment supporting otherwise-unnatural outcomes is agreed upon. There are actually a few curses that are said to be related to those mountains in particular, all of which center around the concept of deadly, monstrous wolves.
The curse of lycanthropy, a subset of a broader group of curses referred to as the zooanthrope curses, is known to originate from this location. Zooanthrope curses, though they may differ in specifics, all have the outcome of turning humans and closely related species (such as orcs, and in some instances, goblinoids) into animals and/or animal-human fusions, referred to as 'hybrids'. The Vilkas Mountain strain is transmissible and always results in wolf forms; hunters have tried purging the area of carriers on numerous occasions throughout history, but new cases always re-emerge despite there seeming to be no one left to transmit the curse to others, suggesting that there is something cursed about the nature of the land itself. It is currently suspected that there is at least one settlement of some sort within the mountain range founded around the cult-like worship of vile beasts that propogates the curse, though there is no firm proof; many who venture deep into the mountains never return, and could have disappeared for a wide variety of horrible reasons.
Lycanthropic curses have some variability in transmissibility and outcomes. The Vilkas Mountain strain is passed through the bites of cursed individuals' animal forms, as venom is passed from a snake-bite. It is not passed by other types of zooanthropic transmission known, such as through saliva, childbirth, intercourse or drinking water from their footprint under the full moon. It affects only humans and orcs. Like all zooanthropic curses, it is only curable by extremely powerful practicioners of divine magic and even then, only for the few days following the transmission, before the venom spreads fully and the magic is firmly entrenched. Permanent polymorphic alteration to a non-affected species has been successfully shown to counteract the effects of the curse, but any subsequent change to a vulnerable race, whether to the cursed person's original form or not, will result in a relapse. Permanency is the key: short-term polymorph effects, such as from Alter Self and Polymorph, are not sufficient to counteract the curse, though Baleful Polymorph has been known to succeed, for what it is worth. Extraplanar intervention has been postulated as a possible late-stage cure, but there is little to no evidence that this is truth.
The Vilkas Mountain curse compells individuals to assume a nearly true animal state on the hours of darkness on the nights of the full moon each month; this is regardless of exposure to moonlight or visibility of the moon. If a cursed individual is magically compelled to return to their true form on one of these nights, they will be rendered unconscious, and will be utterly unable to regain consciousness until the following morning.
The term 'nearly true' is used as the form taken is not that of a natural wolf, but could be confused for one by a layman. The form, though superficially wolf-like, has front paws more akin to human hands, brawny musculature that mimics a human build, and the zooanthropic resistances to damage save from silver. They also retain much, if not all, of the skills and abilities possessed by their true forms, if not the intelligence or physical ability to use them: the cursed person loses their human capacity for reason, though it is postulated that they retain some beastial reminants of their personality. This explains the somewhat curious behaviour that these and many zooanthropes who lose their reason demonstrate: some become positively savage when transformed, while others become exceptionally benign, both noticably different from the behaviour of a real wild animal.
The Vilkas Mountain strain allows affected individuals to adopt either their nearly true animal form or a slightly-canine hybrid form at will at any time of day or month. However, the hybrid form requires mental fortitude, as control must be exerted to stop the shift part-way without moving all the way to the animal form. Though the animal form always lacks reason, regardless of when it is assumed, the hybrid form allows individuals to maintain their human selves while also taking advantage of some of the animal's strength, senses and durability.
Like all zooanthropic curses, there is a reasonable amount of stigma attached to those affected by lycanthropy, sometimes even more so than in other varieties, as the outcomes tend to result in highly aggressive, infectious, predatory creatures. Certain religions condemn them, and most career zooanthrope hunters are of a divine inclination. Because of its dramatic effects on a person and its extreme resistance to cure, many people fear 'werewolves' even if they have never heard of them before and know nothing about the curse. Barring small sects of curse-worshippers and the like, lycanthropy is often seen at best as an unfortunate malady that must be effectively contained and controlled to prevent spread and harm, and at worse, it is viewed as a damnable, incurable condition that requires swift termination of the 'monster'.
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