Werewolf

> "When the full moon crests in the sky, whoever is unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf. [...] If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse."
>
> Conri reading off a book about werewolves

## Species Information

### Related Species

* Human
* Witch
* Hunters
* Kitsune
* Shifter Werewolf
* Hybrid
* Immortal Hybrids
* Immortal Werewolves
* Werewolf-Witch Hybrid

### Distinction

Transform into hyper-aggressive and large-sized wolves on the night of a full moon, provided their gene has been triggered

**Werewolves** (often referred to as **Lycanthropes, Shifters, Loba, Ulv, Beasts, Weres,** or simply **Wolves**) are supernatural shapeshifters, able to who unwillingly transform into large, fearsome, and extremely hostile wolves on the night of the full moon.

They are also referred to as **Genetic Shifters** as each member of their werewolf species is born with the gene to become a werewolf in their body, even if they never turn into a werewolf. These werewolves are separated into distinctions, to keep balance within the pack and with the rest of the population that are not werewolves.

## History

### 500 A.D.

Though the origins of werewolves were unknown for a long time by everyone besides the alphas and elders of the ancient werewolf packs, they were ultimately revealed in modern times. A powerful witch, that was known as "the Hollow", or Inadu, had cursed the members of her tribe that were responsible for her murder. In her last moments, she cast a final spell, empowered by her own death, and created the werewolf curse and bound all those present to the full moon.

This curse forced them to change into the very beasts that were used to hunt her down. This ultimately began the seven original bloodlines of werewolves with her mother being the first werewolf of the Crescent line. The Hollow was hunted by wolves, and was killed on the night of a full moon. These circumstances would cause future werewolves to have to take a human life to activate the werewolf gene, forcing the species to have to painfully shapeshift on the night of a full moon into the very animals that hunted Inadu down.

### Middle Ages

Werewolves actively populated the New World during the early Middle Ages during the time that Viking invasions began in Europe. Many villages across the land were highly populated by werewolves and they lived along side one another in villages. They also lived alongside humans, although to protect their human and untriggered loved ones, the wolves made sure that they had access to natural means of protection during the time that they were changed. Beneath the villages were a series of tunnels that provided protection for the humans while the werewolves were turned on the full moon. One clear rule of the village was that the humans were forbidden from being around the wolves while they were transformed for their own safety, as the majority of werewolves are unable to control themselves when transformed and could easily maim or kill any non-werewolf species in their vicinity.

A notable event in the history of the werewolves comes with the arrival of inhabitants of the "Old World," where a plague had been devastating the population. This family came during the reign of the last Alpha of the Northeast Atlantic Pack, Ansel, and his second in command alpha brother, Lucius Tlanta, who had married and mated with a witch, named Cassandra, who became the village healer. They had a daughter, named Danae a few years after the newcomers from the "Old World" arrived on their shores, integrating themselves with the human village. Danae grew up with the family as a result, and grew very close to the elder sons, as well as the one who was practicing magic, and they all lived in peace for many years as the children grew into adulthood, before Danae triggered her werewolf gene in her teenage years, after practicing magic since birth.

When Henrik and Klaus, two of the boys in the family broke their village's rule one full moon night and went to watch the wolves turn, Henrik was accidentally attacked and killed by the turned wolves, who ended up being revealed to be Danae. Determined to not lose any more family, but also not wanting to move away again, Mikael, the father convinced Esther, his witch wife to tap into Dark Magic to perform a modified version of the Immortality Spell in order to turn Mikael and their children into nearly-invulnerable beings. Once turned, Mikael and their children gained enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, and healing superior to the werewolves that would ensure their protection from their supernatural neighbors, and their new species eventually became known as the Original vampires. However, the ritual had unexpected side effects, and the newly-turned family's lust for blood eventually led them to inadvertently shatter the peace of their village, as their lack of control over their newborn vampire hunger led to them being unable to resist feeding on the innocent inhabitants of the town.

Shortly after being turned into a vampire, Klaus made his first human kill, which resulted in Esther's darkest secret coming to light; Klaus was not Mikael's son, but instead was the product of an affair Esther had with the Alpha Ansel, and Danae's uncle, making Klaus and Danae cousins. Killing a human activated Klaus' werewolf gene, which turned him into the world's first werewolf-vampire hybrid. Furious at his wife's betrayal, Mikael slaughtered Ansel - whose pack was also responsible for Henrik's death - along with half of the remaining werewolves in their village, smelling Henrik's blood on Danae's clothing, and going after her, driving his sword through her heart after she drank the Immortality Elixir after traveling back in time, granting her immortality, and igniting the war that still exists to this day between the werewolves and the vampires. However, enough of Ansel's family survived the attack to continue the bloodline, which still exists into the 21st century, thanks to Danae and her son, Conri, who carried on the bloodline, mixed with the blood of Shifter Werewolves in his son, Eli Hale.

### Werewolf Genocide

After the decimation of the Northeast Atlantic Pack, save for the survival of some members, and Danae Tlanta, along with her unborn child, the war between vampires and werewolves came to a head at some point in the centuries afterward, when the vampires discovered that the bite of a werewolf was lethal to their kind. This spurred the vampires to preemptively commit mass murders of werewolves to protect themselves from death at their hands. As a result, the werewolves were driven to near-extinction by these massacres, and vampires who were turned in the period of time following this Werewolf Genocide began to believe that werewolves were nothing more than a myth or legend.

In reality, many werewolves had survived the genocide, keeping their supernatural identities a secret as they began to reorganize themselves into packs in order to help them evade the vampires. These packs, which varied in size from one dozen members to upwards of a hundred, also helped give the werewolves a support system to assist them through their very painful transformations each month during the full moon. Many werewolves who were injured in the genocide were turned into immortal werewolves by either Danae Tlanta, or Conri Tlanta, due to their status as Werewolf-Witch Hybrids, able to grant immortality to werewolves and witches.

## Physiology

### Food

Like normal humans, werewolves can eat human food if they wish. However, because they turn into ferocious beasts during the full moon, they are carnivores. When in wolf form, they can feed on human or vampire body parts and organs, but they are not required to ingest them in order to prolong their existence, like vampires, must do with blood. There are no known consequences from abstaining from human or vampire flesh while in werewolf form. It seems that most werewolves do not get to feed on humanoid flesh, because most tend to lock themselves up during the full moon, or are scared or distracted away from their victim before they can eat them.

Werewolves have not been seen to attack each other in human or lupine form, but have been known to hunt both human and vampire prey while transformed under the full moon. This has been shown the most when Danae Tlanta attacked and killed Henrik when in wolf form on the full moon, and then couldn't remember doing it when she woke up as a human.

### Appearance

Werewolves in their wolf form are quite similar to natural wolves, although unlike natural wolves, werewolves have glowing yellow or orange eyes, wicked fangs, a larger size, and a much more feral and predatory appearance. They can also be distinguished from regular wolves by their displays of supernatural strength, blurred speed, and size which is comparable to fully grown humans. The fur color of wolf forms differs from one to the other (e.g., Danae Tlanta's white wolf form, Conri Tlanta's brown and gray wolf form, Jenefer Monique's white wolf dusted with gray and brown.)

Immortal Werewolves however are completely different with their glowing eyes, which glow bright blue after they're turned immortal. They can also control the transformation at will. Werewolves appear the same as any other human the rest of the month, aside from their enhanced abilities of speed, strength, and healing.

### Transformation

A werewolf will only transform into a wolf under a full moon. The first transformation is quite slow, and the person is subjected to at least five or six hours of intense, bone-breaking pain before the actual transformation. After the first transformation, the experience does not last nearly as long, but it is still painful and something many werewolves come to dread.

During the transformation, the body of the person is twisted in an unnatural manner as bones reshape and shift to form a wolf's skeleton, causing the person immense physical and psychological pain. Later, the werewolf grows excessive body hair and becomes feral. Their irises turn golden-yellow, their sclera turns black, and their teeth elongate into canines before they finally transform into their wolf shape. A werewolf returns to their human form after a few hours, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. After the first transformation, the werewolf will experience muscle aches.

Older werewolves can control themselves to some extent on the night of the full moon, but many find it necessary to dose themselves with wolfsbane to weaken them before they lock themselves up in chains to prevent hurting anyone while they're transformed.

## Culture

Werewolves are known to be aggressive, strong and fast, even in human form. That with the werewolf curse still latent can exhibit some supernatural traits which can be triggered by aggression, along with unusual physical strength for the person's given size and age, but they cannot fully transform, and they also have a tendency to black out when they become overwhelmed in fits of rage. Werewolves seem to have a strong sense of duty and loyalty to protect their own and feel a responsibility to help their fellow werewolves whenever they can.

Werewolves have a higher body temperature than humans, and once a werewolf has triggered their gene, their eyes turn gold (the eyes of a wolf) while enraged, or when feeling threatened. Activating the curse is also painful, as werewolves have been seen to double over in pain before their eyes change for the first time. While some werewolves prefer to keep to themselves and keep their beastly natures hidden, most seem to aggregate themselves into packs and residing in areas isolated from general human society so they can run free on the full moons without fear of hurting or killing anyone.

### Loyalty

Werewolves are very similar to witches when it comes to their own kind. Werewolves have an unwavering sense of loyalty, and will often bond with other werewolves they meet. They form packs and work with each other, whether they are family or not, at least in modern times, while in the ancient times of werewolves, when each pack was built on blood, they would grow up together as family. The bond of loyalty between werewolves is so strong that while changed under full moons, the only beings they do not attack are other werewolves (regardless of whether or not they have activated their werewolf gene).

In ancient times, before the Werewolf Genocide, werewolves had a ritual a thousand years ago by which, on a blood moon, they would hunt and purposefully trigger their curse by killing a human, willingly enduring the pain of their transformations in exchange for the strength they gained as warriors. This ritual was meant to be a rite of passage, where young werewolves embraced their nature rather than shying away from it; this is in stark contrast to many modern-day werewolves, who do whatever they can to avoid triggering their curses and having to deal with the pain of their monthly transformations.

## Pack Hierarchy

Werewolves are social and pack creatures, thus they live in packs, where there are three distinct ranks, and two fundamental requirements for the continuation of the werewolf species

* Alpha
* Beta
* Omega

As the leader of the pack, Alphas are the strongest rank of werewolf. There is one Alpha who leads the pack, but there are other Alphas in the pack that are warriors. Their job is to protect and defend the pack from intruders, and support their leading Alpha, and his second-in-command, usually an Alpha family member. The Alphas are also hunters, and lead teams of Betas, and sometimes Omegas, who clean and process their kill on hunts to find food.

A rank below the Alpha, the Betas are just as strong as some Alphas, but don't have the same glowing red eyes as Alphas. They take up many of the important jobs in the pack, including warriors, nurses, caregivers, and in the modern day; emissaries and speakers on the behalf of the pack as a whole. Since a pack is a tightly knit unit, and works together in order to protect each other, and survive; in the older packs Betas would also hunt for food, in a party led by one of the warrior Alphas.

The lowest rank in the pack in strength, Omegas make up for their weaker fighting skills by being healers and caregivers, much like the Betas, but unlike Betas, Omegas are naturally equipped for childbirth. Each werewolf has an inner connection to the animal inside of them, what they call their wolf mind, which urges them in certain aspects of their lives, but what sets all Omegas apart, is that both males and females have a feminine forward wolf mind. This feminine state of mind within the Omega is what allows both males and females to carry young. Females carry their young the same way any human does, but at the end of the pregnancy, the wolf mind forces the Omega to shift in order to give birth in wolf form, even though female omegas can give birth the natural way. This biological imperative is put in place for the male Omegas, who get pregnant in their human form, and shift at the end of their pregnancy, into wolf form, as their wolf forms have the parts needed to birth children, but their human forms do not.
* Mates
* Carriers

A Werewolf will take a mate when they so desire, beginning this with a courting process, where they show their devotion and care to their desired mate, and if their desired mate accepts, they begin a period of modern day dating, before the full moon, where the werewolf and the desired mate shift and run together, waking up beside each other in the morning, and consummating their bond. For a werewolf, a true mate is a bond for life, and can never be broken. Even if the werewolf's mate dies, the wolf is still devoted to them and it can take a long time for them to truly want to try and love again, but they might never take another mate.

Carriers are another term for werewolves who have the ability to carry young, which applies to every female werewolf, but also to a number of male werewolves, classified as 'omegas' that are able to be impregnated in human form, and when there is a month remaining in the pregnancy, the omega will shift into wolf form to give birth, during one of the only times that werewolves can be comfortable in their wolf form, and hold it for more than one single night on the full moon. Female werewolves also do this, but they have the choice to give birth in human form or in their wolf form, while the male omega werewolves have no choice, other than giving birth in wolf form. Due to this, male omega werewolves are more in touch with their wolf side.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Super Strength:** Werewolves possess supernatural strength that makes them far stronger than immortals, hunters, and humans, There have been several occasions to suggest that untriggered werewolves possess more strength than any average humans, which would indicate some form of enhanced strength even before the activation of their curse. However, werewolves in their human form are not as strong as a vampire and have even been shown to be far weaker on several occasions. When they are in their wolf form, their powers amplify to a degree that excels of the non-Original vampires, making them more powerful than non-Original vampires. In wolf form, a werewolf can overpower and kill any non-original vampire with ease, and are strong enough to overpower an Original vampire in small groups.
* **Super Speed:** Werewolves are much faster than humans and some other supernatural beings. They possess this ability both in and out of transformation, with an animalistic quickness.
* **Super Agility:** Werewolves possess superhuman agility. In both human and wolf form, they have demonstrated that they can move, jump very high, climb, flip, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion. They can also jump down from incredible heights with almost gravity-defying grace.
* **Super Durability:** Werewolves can take far more trauma than humans without nearly as much discomfort or injury, however, not as much as vampires. They can also exert themselves for longer periods without tiring.
* **Healing Factor:** Werewolves possess superhuman regenerative abilities, meaning that if they are physically injured, their bodies will heal rapidly. Like vampires, werewolves can heal from the most grievous of injuries, even in human form, albeit more slowly in comparison to vampires. However, unlike vampires, when a werewolf's neck is broken, they stay dead.
* **Super Senses:** Werewolves have extremely keen and heightened senses of smell, sight, taste, hearing, and touch that exceed their wolf counterparts and that of regular canines.
* **Lycanthrope Enhancement:** Werewolves are able to make their eyes glow when angry or threatened, but only for a short amount of time. When a werewolf is furious or forced to defend themselves, their anger increases all their power and abilities for a short period of time, which allows them to access some of the power of their wolf form to give them an edge.
* **Shapeshifting**/**Transformation Control:** During a full moon, they will unwillingly transform from their human form and into their wolf form. However, if a female werewolf is pregnant, they will not turn for nine months as the transformation would kill the baby.
* **Werewolf Bite:** A werewolf's venom is extremely lethal to non-original vampires. While an Original vampire cannot die from the venom, they are not wholly immune to the effects of the bite. For non-Original vampires, the venom acts as an poison of sorts that will enter the bloodstream and deliver the toxin throughout the body, producing discomfort and weakness, developing uncontrollable hunger that progresses to delusions, hallucinations, rabid rage, and dementia, culminating in death. Original vampires undergo the same effects, but do not die and will eventually fully recover.
* **Full Moon:** A werewolf's strength, speed, agility, and all their powers are enhanced to their peak during a full moon.
* **Immunity to Silver:** Werewolves are immune to magic bonded to silver. Weapons made of silver might wound them, but the wound still heals at supernatural rates and will not be fatal to them.

## Weaknesses

* **Wolfsbane:** When ingested, wolfsbane causes a werewolf to become severely weak and feverish. Also, If a werewolf's skin is exposed to wolfsbane, it will burn them.
* **Mortality:** In most situations, minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds, and broken bones will cause a werewolf pain and slow them down until they heal. However, they still share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings and can perish from extreme trauma (e.g. suffocation, extreme blood loss, a broken neck, decapitation, fire, heart extraction, etc.). They can also die from old age.
* **Magic:** Werewolves are susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical objects and dark objects. Multiple spells have been performed by witches against werewolves to cause several effects against them, such as slowing down or speeding up a werewolf's transformation during a full moon, telekinetically ripping a heart from a werewolf's chest, or cursing a pack of werewolves to be trapped in their wolf form at all times except for a few short hours during the full moon when they return to their human forms.

## Myths

* **Silver:** Contrary to popular belief, werewolves are not weakened by or allergic to silver, as the myth was probably started by werewolves. Silver actually has the opposite effect – when a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals.
* **Wolfsbane:** Several myths have surrounded the use of this herb and its relation to and effects upon werewolves, including the myth that wolfsbane supposedly either causes or cures lycanthropy. These myths are false.

## Known Werewolves

 Danae is a former werewolf and current werewolf-witch hybrid, born of the Northeast Atlantic Pack, the daughter of an alpha warrior, Lucius Tlanta, and the niece of the pack Alpha; Ansel. She triggered her werewolf gene in her teenage years, but had presented herself as a witch in infancy. She is of omega distinction, and passed that trait down to her male omega son, who is also a carrier. She is also one of the two sires of the immortal werewolf species, and immortal witch species, turning thousands of them over the course of a thousand years.

 Conri never was a pure blooded werewolf on his own, because he was born immortal, with his witch powers active at birth, and his immortality. He did however, trigger his werewolf curse when he was a young child, but the gene does not start to affect the wolf inside until they are sexually mature, in order to breed more werewolves, and protect the pack, something that applies to him, as he made his first kill as a two year old, due to his immortal nature hungering for blood, which was what was needed to sustain him, and since he was not fully mature, and unable to control his thirst, he killed a girl in the woods. When he reached adolescence, his werewolf curse kicked in and he made it through the painful first shift, but after that, he was able to control his transformations at will.

 Jenefer, or Jen; as she likes to be called, is a member of Danae Tlanta's Immortal Werewolf bloodline, and an avid auto mechanic, and former steam locomotive engineer. She was born in England and moved to Russia, where she was transformed by Danae in the winter of 1747, when she was caught in a blizzard that even her werewolf senses couldn't see past. She learned how to control herself with her newfound immortality, before she waited for her parents to die, so she could bury her mother, and get all of her father's inheritance.

 Ash was turned in 1835, and was one of the only werewolves that Conri turned that didn't travel with his sire for a few years to control his newfound immortality. Instead, he went off on his own until he fought in the American Civil War, before leaving the country, and settling down in Europe, living in Germany. He fled during the war, and lived with Conri and the rest of the wolves and witches until the war ended. After the first World War, Ash returned to Europe, not moving back to Germany, instead settling in Poland, where he lived until 1935, when he was taken to a concentration camp, by the Nazis, and was taken in as a test subject for the doctors until he was liberated in 1942. He now lives with the pack, and has a hard exterior due to the abuse in the camps.

 Gianna was turned in 1881, after she was freed from her slave owner father, and took revenge on members of his family who carried the werewolf gene as payback for saddling her with a disease that she despised. After becoming immortal in 1881, Gianna killed her biological father in her final act of revenge, before swearing off killing until she encountered the demon who had killed her in order to transform her, and used her claws, and venom to eat away at the demon, trapped in it's vessel until it fizzled out and died. Gianna became a nurse during both World Wars, and after the wars were over, she went into midwifery, and later on in 2011, helped with the birth and pregnancy of her sire, Conri Tlanta.

 Eli was born as a Shifter Werewolf and **Werewolf** hybrid, but has never activated his Werewolf gene, as he has not killed anyone, but was born with the genetics of a Shifter Werewolf, which didn't appear until he was a teenager, and manifested when he was put in danger from the Nogitsune that was trying to kill him and his father, Derek Hale, and this was the turning point for him to activate his powers. Up until now, Eli has never killed a human, which is why his eyes are still gold, due to his Shifter Werewolf status, and if he killed a human, his eyes would turn blue, but his Werewolf gene would activate.

## Gallery

Natural Golden Werewolf EyesImmortal Werewolf EyesWerewolf-Witch Hybrid EyesShifter Werewolf EyesFangsDanae Tlanta's Wolf FormConri Tlanta's Wolf FormBaby Eli Hale with Conri Tlanta in Wolf FormConri Tlanta and Derek Hale in Wolf FormJenefer Monique's Wolf FormAsh's Wolf Form