Lycanthropy; A Study

## Lycanthropy; A Study in the Impossible Physiological

### Cover Details

Russet-brown, leather bound, with the full title and author written in elegant script.

## Contents

### Imagery

Detailed anatomical sketches, prints, and copied impressions.

“*…it [lycanthropy] does not appear to embellish the afflicted with increased physical strength, but rather heightened endurance. With an accelerated healing ability, one can recover quickly from extraneous activity and push oneself beyond physical human limitation.*”
―Damyn Black
*Lycanthropy; A Study in the Impossible Physiological* is an academic thesis, printed into a lengthy tome, written and researched by the mage-scholar Damyn Black. The tome features over a decade of deeply detailed research regarding lycanthropy, with a focus on humanizing what the author deems "this most remarkable of species, whose innate greatness is overshadowed by folk superstition and mired by undue stigma" and seeks to foster understanding between men and monsters.

Black delves into the origins of lycanthropy, and by extension other forms of therianthropy, first by discussing the etymological origins of the term "werewolf", and then by positing theories as to the nature of the magic through which a normal man may be cursed. The book also contains detailed illustrations of various specimens of lycanthrope, each one with a segment dedicated to their personal accounts, thereby giving a voice to a breed of monster largely considered to embody nothing more than the mindless savagery of beasts.

## Publication

*Lycanthropy; A Study in the Impossible Physiological* was officially published in 1270 through Ban Ard's library, with high honors and the personal recommendation of Dorregary of Vole. Copies were given to each of the active professors of the esteemed magical academy, and one was placed in the grand library. It was later copied and distributed, first to academic institutions, and then to book sellers in major cities across the north in 1272 after a lengthy approval process.

Personally signed copies were given to young King Tankred Thyssen, originally intended for his father before his untimely death, his master Dorregaray of Vole, the mercenary Ishtalíareian of Zerrikania, and all of the anonymous subjects of his study who yet lived, including a mage colleague from Novigrad, a Temerian woodsman, alongside a copy each for his wife and three daughters.

## Contents

### Introduction

“*The following are true accounts and observations of the misunderstood creature we call ‘Werewolf’. I hereby commit to paper all of my relevant findings in my pursuit to better understand this fascinating species and the trials they must face as sentient non-human individuals, and to shed light on their unique biology so that the we may better understand their condition. I vow that all I have written in this tome is the unvarnished truth to my fullest interpretation and understanding of the facts herein documented.*”
―Damyn Black
As with any scholarly text, the introduction portion of Damyn Black's esteemed work is a dissertation which details his personal journey. He makes mention of his experiences at Ban Ard which lead to his eventual specialization in monster studies. There is also a long list of accolades, most notably to the many anonymous individuals who gave their first-hand accounts and offered not just their experiences, but in some cases their very bodies, for study. He notes for the reader that some of what is included in the tome may be arduous to the mind and taxing on the soul but that he included them for the sake of illuminating to the world in all the many ways that these 'monsters' can be very, very human.

The full introduction is twenty pages long.

#### Chapters I - V: The History of Lycanthropy

“*In terms of the word ‘werewolf’, the etymology itself is somewhat complicated and not always clear. It’s said to come from an entirely separate human dialect, from a time before The Conjunction, yet others still say it originates from a form of Elder Speech older than even Hen Llinge; the language of the Aen Seidhe. What seems to be clear is the reference to ‘man’ and ‘wolf’, thereby in combination becoming ‘manwolf’. However, and more interestingly, certain texts which predate the Conjunction offer evidence to suggest that the ‘man’ in ‘manwolf’ actually meant ‘male’, and that ‘werewolf’ was initially coined as a catch all term for any distinctly male monster. Interestingly, in cases where the curse of lycanthropy is afflicted by magical means, the individual is nearly always, in point of fact, male.*”
―Damyn Black
The first five chapters of Black's tome delve into the history of therianthropy and its various subspecies. In the first two chapters he details the history of the bear-men of Skellige, the feline warriors of Zerrikania and Ofir, the slinking rat-men who make their kingdoms in the sewers of prominent port cities, the vicious and monstrous boars of Nilfgaard, and finally the canid beasts of Narok and Nazair. Interestingly, he presents evidence through uncovered primary sources to support the long-held belief that therianthropes, particularly lycanthropes, have existed since the Conjunction and prior to Nordling colonization. This, as he later delves into, supports the theory that therianthropes are unique amongst the cursed class of monster, in that they are not only able to reproduce their condition naturally and without the need of magic but may also have once been established sentient races in their original worlds.

As this tome focuses on lycanthropes more than the others, he dedicates the final three chapters to much more detailed examination of the many accounts of confirmed, supposed, and assumed lycanthropes throughout humanity's history on the Continent. Black begins this examination with a look at the infamous Toina Valley, known more commonly as the Dogbane, a region situated on the western coast of Kovir. He notes that the region is incredibly rich with tales and legends of wolf and dog men, most notably the Beast of Rakverelin; a monstrous canid of unknown origin that stalked the outskirts of the city of Rakverelin, along the Toina river, and killed over a hundred people. This supposedly occurred before the time of witchers and was, in point of fact, likely one of the many horrific happenings that inspired their creation. The Beast of Rakverelin was eventually slain, but sources are mixed as to how it was managed.

##### The Cult of Wotan

Black closes out the final chapter of this first section of his tome with a surprisingly lengthy examination of one of the Continent's oldest known cults; The Cult of Wotan, based in pre-Nilfgaardian Nazair. Through the uncovering of certain lost records and a personal account from one of his anonymous sources, Black learned of a supposedly lost history and posits that this cult had among its faithful individuals who willingly took unto themselves the curse of lycanthropy. It was because of this willingness to endure ritual transformation, as well as other practices, that the Cult of Wotan may have been responsible for its initial banning from Skellige, among them the ritual cannibalism and sacrifice of their enemies.

After the fashion of the Vildkaarls of Svalblod, it is said that certain elite warriors among the Nazairi Highlanders would, as part of this ritual, wear the skin of a wolf they'd slain and given in sacrifice to Wotan. It was believed that the spirit of the slain wolf would be summoned from Wotan's hall and enter the body of the warrior, granting him the ferocity, speed, and cunning the beast possessed in life and was called *The Gift of Wotan*. Black also goes on to propose that once gained, this transformative ability could be passed on from parent to child, persisting in bloodlines for seven generations or more, but that to reinforce the strength of this 'gift' cultists would perform this ritual for every new addition to their families, occasionally also including those brought in through marriage.

#### Chapters XVI -XX: Acquisition and Cures

##### Methods of Aquisition

The very first line of this section of the tome states verbatim that the only completely guaranteed method of obtaining lycanthropy is to possess at least one lycanthrope parent or run afoul of a particularly powerful magic user. All other methods provide so miniscule a chance of success as to be inconsequential. The only exception, and the word exception is used loosely, might have been the ritual transformations purportedly performed by the Cult of Wotan, however, there exists no records of the rate of success for these rituals.

#### Chapters XXI - XXV: Primary Accounts

“*I have encountered in all my time studying these creatures only four confirmed instances of female werewolves and all of them were born with the affliction. What is remarkable, more so than their very existence, is that in comparison to their male counterparts the females are simultaneously more outwardly aggressive and yet possessed of greater control of their bestial natures. This manifests in women who are quick to speak, even quicker to act, and sometimes they don’t even bother speaking at all. I’ve yet to encounter a she-wolf, as I have taken to calling them, who is demure, timid, or ‘traditionally’ subservient.*”
―Damyn Black
Black introduces the final comprehensive portion of his great thesis by assuring his readers that all of the following accounts were compiled through extensive study, and hours of personal interviews with individuals who at the time were, at some point had been, or were even born with, lycanthropy. For the safety of the individuals, Black gave each of them aliases which he would use throughout the remainder of his publication. These aliases also served an additional purpose; by choosing aliases which were indicative of their respective everyday roles, Black humanizes his subjects in the mind's eyes of his readers. The purpose of this section of his tome also serves a dual purpose, to both give a voice to those afflicted by lycanthropy, and to prove that anyone of any walk of life can one day find themselves afflicted or be face to face with a lycanthropic individual without ever realizing it.

##### The Warrior

Despite being the second she-wolf introduced and the final of his anonymous subjects, the individual known as The Warrior boasts the longest personal account chapter, and the longest individual subsection of his entire tome. Black himself sites this remarkable individual as the primary inspiration for his work and goes to incredible lengths to detail not only her many breakthrough contributions to his work, but his personal relationship with her, and the storied history of her incredibly long lineage and its intrinsic tie to lycanthropy.

## Notes

* This is a **FAN-MADE Expansion** of the lore on Lycanthropy, as described in Andrzej Sapkowski's works.
* Most of the information presented is based in canon lore, but will also include embellishments drawn from folklore, myth, or personal headcanon. The goal is to *expand*, **not** contradict.
* This Fanon is available for collaboration and expansion but is **not** to be edited by anyone other the original author.

## Trivia

* The Beast of Rakverelin is a direct reference to the Beast of Gévaudan, a purportedly monstrous wolf-like creature that terrorized the French countryside between 1764 and 1767.