Lycan

**Lycans** are a second breed of Werewolves created in the 11th century, descended from William Corvinus's Werewolf bloodline. Once normal humans who were infected by the first born Lycan or another of his victims, they are unlike the first breed in that they retain their human intelligence and personalities while transformed, as well as being capable to take human form.

Lycans is a human with the ability to shift into a humanoid, wolf-like creature. The Lycans has enhanced physical capabilities that are far greater than any human or animal, as well as razor-sharp claws & fangs. Most lycans are seen with blue, gold, or red eyes which seem to glow, seemingly when the Lycan in question is feeling considerable emotion, oftentimes anger. Lycans are constantly at war with the Vampires due to their former status as slaves, and the Vampires begin a campaign to exterminate the entire species after the Lycans stage an uprising that nearly destroys the entire Vampire species in the 13th century. Vampire warriors trained to hunt and kill Lycans are known as Death Dealers.

## Notable Features

Lycans and Werewolves are biologically immortal transgenics, as opposed to supernaturally immortal demons . the Lycans are also carnivores, meaning that they feed on meat. They have even been shown to be cannibalistic, as they will feed off of humans and Vampires, despite the close relation they bear to both species.

Lycans are warm-blooded and have high body temperatures. They also do not appear to have whiskers. Lycans are depicted as being highly allergic to silver. their eyes are also shown to be sensitive to any glare of light off of a silver surface.

Lycans' eyes are shown to change into a cloudy deep blue when they are partially transformed. In the novelizations, their eyes are described as changing into a solid cobalt blue, the same as the original Werewolves. they are shown to turn a feral yellow. , they are all shown with solid black eyes, similar to the Hybrid forms of Michael Corvin and Marcus Corvinus.

As with all Immortals, Lycans become stronger and more powerful, both physically and socially. Other factors can also effect their strength; such as feeding. A well-fed Lycan will recover faster than a Lycan who has not fed for some time. Lycans who regularly overindulge will usually take mere moments to recover depending on the severity of the wounds. In contrast to Lycans who are turned, Lycans who are born, rather than becoming weaker with every generation, actually inherit the total sum of the strengths of both parents' Lycanthropy strains, and thus become stronger generation-wise.

## Powers & Abilities

Lycans display inhuman physical strength, speed, reflexes, endurance and agility comparable to their vampire counterparts. These traits seem to apply to Lycans even when in human form, as Lucian was seen to be able to catch up to a moving car, and subsequently survive being hit by it head on. Even in their human forms, Lucian and other Lycans also demonstrate other feats of superhuman strength, speed and agility, such as catching crossbow bolts in midair, jumping extremely high and overpowering both humans and vampires in physical combat. It is very likely that they can enter a state of hibernation and survive without blood or oxygen for centuries. They possess enhanced senses of smell, hearing and sight that are superior even to those of wolves, not just humans, and are also able to sense Vampires in close proximity to themselves. It should be noted that when in their Werewolf forms they are stronger than when in human form, able to break through solid concrete walls, and seem to be stronger than any young or old Vampires, as every hand-to-hand confrontation between the two races under normal circumstances has ended with a Lycan victory, the one exception being the Vampire Elder Viktor. Lycans can also use their claws and strength to scale sheer surfaces, having been seen to crawl along walls at great speed in pursuit of prey. They possess the ability to land on their feet without harm when falling from great heights, as evidenced by both Lucian and Michael Corvin. Other abilities include the ability to turn humans into Lycans through their bite, or through blood transfusion. Lycans also display the ability to share memories through their bite, possibly through the virus affecting their brain and nerves and making their other tissues and fluids be obtaining bio organic signals and information, which could explain the bodies healing ability.

Their most unique ability is their ability to turn at will, though they usually turn at night. The moon could only affect and forcibly transform a Lycan that had not yet learned to control their transformations, though they could use the moons influence to change when weakened, such as when Lucian was restrained in silver for a day and escaped when the moon rose in the night sky. Their transformations are quick and painless when they are in control but when the Lycan has not learned such control, the transformation is slow and painful, taking several minutes to finish instead of a few seconds like other Lycans.Lycans also possess superb physical resilience and remarkable regenerative abilities: both Lucian and Raze are wounded by silver bulletsand Selene's shurikens respectively, yet they bear no marks or scars when they reappear later. Their recovery abilities are hampered by the presence of silver in their bodies. However, to older Lycans, the silver is rarely fatal. Lucian displays the ability to force Selene's silver bullets out of his body through muscle strength, although it is mentioned in the first film that the silver is fatal if it penetrates the internal organs. Silver is the Lycans' only weakness, as they seem to be violently allergic to it. A new variation on this is the use of silver nitrate bullets to inject the silver directly into a Lycan's bloodstream. In *Underworld: Rise of the Lycans*, a wild Werewolf dies after taking two shurikens with silver blades from Sonja in the chest, whereas Raze not only survives four silver shurikens thrown by Selene but continues to walk in his human form with the shurikens stuck in his chest for quite some time in *Underworld*. This may imply that Lycans possess greater resilience and healing abilities against silver than their Werewolf predecessors, possibly due to the greater human portion of their genome, or it could be due to more exposure and acquired resistance to silver (or it could be a continuity error). Although originally Lycans could only transform at the full moon, it is explained that the older a Lycan becomes in age, the more control they can exert over their transformation, to the point that they can change at will, possessing full mental control of their wolf form. In their wolf form, Lycans also have access to powerful jaws and razor-sharp fangs and claws, making them deadly close-quarters combatants.

## Trivia

The word "Lycan" is derived from the word "Lycanthrope", meaning someone who suffers from Lycanthropy; "the professed ability or power of a human being to transform into a wolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics".

* Generation-wise, the further one is from William, the source, the weaker a Lycan's Lycanthropy strain becomes. The same is true of Vampires.
* In all incarnations of the franchise, a group of Lycans is called a "Pack", or a "Clan". The Leader of a Lycan Pack or Clan is called an "Alpha".
* According to the first installment, when a Lycan transforms into their Werewolf form, it is referred to as "the Change". Whenever a Lycan has been shot with silver, it prevents them from making the Change. During their enslavement by the Vampires, Lycans were outfitted with "Moon Collars", with silver spikes on the inside to prevent them from making the Change during the full moon.
* Only small fractions of the human population can be turned into Lycans, as most humans die from being attacked.
* Despite their immortality and regenerative abilities, Lycans can die from severe physical trauma without silver, such as decapitation or destruction of the heart. Michael Corvin and Eve have killed Lycans or Werewolves by tearing out the lower jaw, breaking the neck, ripping apart their heads, and claw-punching through the chest from the back. The same is true of Vampires.