Lycanthrope

A **werewolf**, also known as a **lycanthrope** (from the Greek λυκάνθρωπος: λύκος, *lykos*, "wolf", and ἄνθρωπος, *anthrōpos*, "man"), is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (e.g. via a bite or scratch from another werewolf).

## Society

### Triggers

Most werewolves have a trigger that makes them transform. For example, if a werewolf is in human form and it gets too hyper, it will transform. Other triggers are: getting too angry, getting hurt, getting too much adrenaline, or to protect something or someone.

When they die or get a knockout, most of them turn back into human form.

The worst way for someone to trigger their werewolf curse is if they take a life, or simply put, kill somebody. It also does not matter if the gene was activated accidentally, or it was intentional.

But if anyone triggers their curse through these ways, either way, once they have triggered their curse or gene, their eyes will change color and their powers will activate instantly. A Werewolf who has yet to trigger his or her curse will only exhibit increased aggression and overwhelming fits of rage during nights of the full moon.

### Awakening

Immediately or somewhat past puberty, the young werewolf will go through a second biological transformation where their ability to shapeshift will manifest. The time of awakening is always chaotic for the young were. Mental, emotional and biological changes engulf their world, much like puberty in that they often have little understanding of what is going on, but unlike puberty, the process culminates in a single explosive moment when transformation first occurs.

### Werewolf 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 hours of intense pain before transforming. After the first transformation, it will get faster but still hurt. During the transformation, the body of the person is twisted in an unnatural manner as bones reshape and shift to form a wolf skeleton, causing the person immense pain. Later, the person grows excessive body hair and becomes feral with huge glowing eyes and fangs. then in minutes, the werewolf will become a wolf. A werewolf returns to their human form in after a few hours. 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.

### Shapeshifting

Once a werewolf has awakened there are three forms they may transform to and from. That which is their birth form, either a wolf or human; a transitional bipedal, wolf-like form; and the opposite of their birth form, either human or wolf. The assumption of the transitional form holds many religious connotations for much of werewolf society, and the assumption of that form is usually reserved for sacred events, such as; ritual, mating or combat. Many, although not all, werewolves also may assume an additional wolf form, that of an exceptionally large (300-600lbs) dire wolf. (Normal wolves rarely reach 200lbs.)

### Moon Aspect

Werewolf biology for both females and males is greatly influenced by the moon and her phases. Each werewolf is bound to the phase of the moon under which they first transformed. During that phase, they are especially drawn to assuming the transitional form. Werewolves with insufficient, and some may say unnatural, willpower is irresistibly compelled to assume the transitional form during the height of their moon phase. There are also other, behavioral changes that occur preceding one's moon time. A werewolf approaching their moon time will become increasing irritable, emotional and aggressive, much like a female entering her menses. It is common practice for werewolves to go on religious retreats during their moon time.

As with humans and the zodiac, werewolves assume a psychological affinity with their particular moon phase, called their moon aspect.

#### Types Of Moons & Effects On Werewolves

* **January - Wolf moon** - High werewolf activity after Christmas dormancy. Werewolves will team up in an uncharacteristic manner in wolf packs. Although this happens in remote areas where ancient Native American burial grounds lie. Often times Native American werewolf packs take them on as a right of passage. In these areas, regular wolves cower away in fear.
* **February - Ice moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **March - Storm moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **April - Pink Moon**- Less aggressive werewolves especially with the power of Easter.
* **May - Hare moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **June - Flower moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **July - Thunder moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **August - Lightening moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **September - Harvest moon** - The first full moon closest to the autumnal equinox causes werewolves to have more power due to the increased moonlight. Although it doesn't increase aggression all that much. The harvest moon also causes them to leave the woods and prowl about farm fields. Greater chance of running into a werewolf crossing roadways or through people's backyards. Much increased the chance of contact with people which fuels their lust for blood and fresh meat. Werewolves being human in origin are naturally drawn to human meat. The big bright harvest moon is often used by farmers to continue working into the night which places them in harms way as well.
* **October - Blood Moon** - General increase in werewolf activity especially with Halloween. The hairy horrors are more aggressive and dangerous in nature. The moon of werewolf origin. Also called the sanguine moon or hunter's moon.
* **November - Frost moon** - No Unusual Effect
* **December - Yule moon** - Causes Werewolves to not transform in some cases. If they do then they will be white albino docile werewolves who will only forage for plants, and not attack anyone. This annual lull in werewolf activity is thanks to the power of Christmas.
* **Blue Moon** - Four full moons in a season rather than the usual three. A second full moon in any given month. This results in a super werewolf similar to the Super Moon werewolf.
* The **13th full moon** of the year in December nullifies the usual good Yule Moon and werewolves run rampant through Christmas when normally they're dormant.
* **Friday The 13th Full Moon** - Causes demonic possession of werewolves. Demonic werewolves are the most violent and deadly of all werewolves. Only albino werewolves come in a close second followed by Super Moon werewolves.
* **Super Moon** - Moon closest to Earth. Causes an extra powerful & aggressive hulked out a werewolf.
* **Lunar Eclipse** - Causes werewolf de-transformation yet they maintain their werewolf persona in human form going on serial killing sprees. It's also rumored that the werewolf virus is vulnerable during an eclipse and that there's a chance for a cure and the restoration of full humanity.

### Classifications of Werewolves

* **Alphas:** Alphas are the werewolf pack leaders. The most dangerous of werewolves, they are larger, faster, stronger, more powerful, more animal than betas, omegas, and even purebloods in every single way. They can also control their abilities and wolf tendencies very well. They also have more control even when in wolf form. Their empathy ability has progressed to telepathy, the ability to hear the thoughts of others. When in the canine form they are noticeably bigger. Alphas have glowing blue or bright red eyes instead of golden. Purebreeds, Betas, and/or even Omegas can become alphas in two ways: **1.** Either by defeating and killing another alpha, hence stealing or taking that power. Or **2.** By rising purely through strength of character, virtue, or the sheer force of their own will alone. These are called “True Alphas” and are very rare. In other rare cases, Alphas can literately turn into actual wolves, but in a larger appearance.
* **Betas:** Betas are the most common type of werewolf. They usually have pack members to back them up as they are stronger in numbers. Because of this association, they are considered stronger than Omegas. They possess all the listed abilities of a werewolf and do not seem to have any special abilities.
* **Omegas:** Omegas are werewolves without a pack. Literately "*the lone wolf*" the outcasts, existing without a pack or even another werewolf. Being the weakest of the Lycanthrope, they are weaker than Betas because they have no pack backing them up. Werewolves become Omegas either by choice or being forced out of a pack by the Alpha or by circumstance.

* **Pure-Breeds:** Pure-Breeds are werewolves who have lycanthropy in their blood and were turned by activating the curse instead of being bitten. They are basically werewolves that were born with lycanthropy. They tend to be more respected among packs.

### Family - The Pack

Werewolf society is based on the pack. The pack is a family, biological or adoptive, of werewolves who live and function together as a unit. The emotional ties of the pack are very strong and are the central focus of werewolf existence.

Much like wolf packs, werewolf packs are led by one strong leader, often male, but sometimes female. Newly adult members must "prove" themselves in order to earn a place in the pack hierarchy. All members of the pack are loved. All members of the pack who have proven themselves as valuable members of the pack are respected. Only one may rule, and that one must prove themselves to be the strongest and most capable member of the pack. Pack leaders are self-elected and must prove themselves before their rule is fully accepted.

In addition to the pack leader, another mainstay of the werewolf pack is the pack mother. Almost always a female, the pack mother is the primary caretaker of the pack. The pack mother is also the spiritual leader of the pack; providing guidance, perspective, and a stable ever-loving presence. Aged pack mother will pass on their responsibilities of everyday pack maintenance to younger women and recede into the background as Grandmothers, the mystics, and oracles of the werewolf race.

#### Society - The Tribe

Much of werewolf society is organized into tribal groupings. A tribe will consist of a bunch of packs affiliated by blood or alliance. Tribes do not usually live together but do gather periodically to reaffirm bonds and discuss and rule on important issues. Each tribe, in one form or another, is nominally ruled over by the council of elders made up of the most powerful pack leaders and pack others within the tribe.

## Physiology

### Nutrition

Lycans are flesh eating creatures. When feeding, it is absorbed throughout the body, and it satisfies their lupine urges and gives the werewolf a slight amount of control during its lunar transformations, but not necessary for life. The absence of devouring victims will result in them lacking all control mentally in werewolf form, inhibiting their ability to have that tiny ounce of control in which they achieve in when they feed, and ultimately resulting in them losing all sense of humanity and rationality in their transformed state. Despite lacking no bit of control in their werewolf form if they do not feed, a werewolf will 90% of the time devour prey. Some turned werewolves attempt to lock themselves up during their transformations in order not to harm anyone, but either that night or shortly after they will eventually break out.

### Physical

#### Human

In human form, Lycans appearance is entirely indistinguishable from humans', although they can be identified by their naturally peculiar colored hair and eyes. They are usually in good physical condition unless they are very old.

Lycans can be of any height but they are rarely overweight due to their fast metabolism.

#### Anthro

In anthro form, Lycans are bipedal-quadrupedal, with the spine extending to form a tail. They possess a vaguely human bone structure in the limbs, hands, and feet. They have very sparse coats of thick, fur. They will grow large fangs and claws, pointed ears, and a canine nose and snout. Their human eye color remains the same while in wolf form

Their forelegs are more powerful than their hind legs, and they still have usable hands with opposable thumbs.

#### Hair and Eyes

Hair and fur color are related to each other. Because of this, a werewolf's hair in human form can have very distinctive color, depending on the fur color in anthro and feral form. Werewolves' fur is thick and layered, partially protecting while fighting. It gets thicker during winter and thinner in the summer. The eyes can be basically of any color but in the purest lines of werewolves, they are usually yellow or blue. Eyes have the same color in all forms.
Their eyesight is excellent in all three forms but in anthro and feral, they also have great night vision. They detect movement much better than humans and are masters at deducting distances.

## Psychological Characteristics

Werewolves are known to be aggressive even in human form. Those 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 but they cannot fully transform. Also, werewolves have a higher body temperature than humans. Tyler says this when he just activated his curse. He says that he feels as if his skin is on fire. With the curse activated their eyes turn yellow while enraged. Activating the curse is also painful. When there is a full moon after sunset they will transform into canine form, looking very much like a timber-wolf, although larger. They can also be distinguished from regular wolves by their displays of supernatural strength and speed.

### Infection

All werewolves were, in the past, once humans who were infected by the werewolf curse when they were bitten or scratched by a transformed or transforming werewolf. Werewolves are not as common as other supernatural beings, as werewolves, once in their wolf form, will attack to kill rather infect, unlike other similar creatures such as Vampires. A werewolf will leave a lifelong scar or bite mark after infecting a victim. This makes werewolves relatively easy to identify whilst in their human state.

### Half-Blood

Half-Bloods are the result of a birth, and not of an infection. They are the result of a union between a full werewolf and a full human. The resulting child would only be considered half of each species. They would have some of the senses of the werewolf, but likely in a diluted / weakened state. They would appear much more human than a full werewolf, and would have little problem resisting the urge to transform. Many half-werewolf half-humans live their whole lives not knowing the truth about who they really are. They feel different, but never have any kind of explanation for what they feel. Their lifespan is typical to that of a human, though most tend to live at the very longest end of the human lifespan. Most tend to keep a fairly youthful appearance their whole lives.

### Bloodline

Those werewolves that are born from both parents who are werewolves are the mainstay of werewolf society, the pure-bloods. Most Elders of tribes and those who perform the unglamorous tasks of making the tribe function are pure-bloods.

Due to the tendency to interbreed with compatible races, werewolves are not always born into werewolf communities. In cases where a werewolf breeds with a wolf or human, a Half-Blood may result. Half-Bloods are physically weaker than pure-bloods, giving credence to the claims by purists that breeding with non-weres weakens the race. Although their detractors are swift to point out that half-bloods create children indistinguishable from pure-bloods. Half-Bloods are often raised at the fringes of werewolf society. Some grow up with their non-werewolf parent not knowing what they are until the change comes. Others are raised in full knowledge of what they will eventually become. The half-bloods, at least those born of man, are the strongest link between the werewolves and the humans. Being of both worlds, they tend towards being able to understand the wants and needs of both cultures. Many werewolves end up acting as mediators and facilitators for their tribes, smoothing the relationship between weres and humans.

In some cases, the union of werewolf and non-werewolf will produce a wolf or human child who is not a were but carries the trait in their genes. In future generations, a werewolf may be born of a wolf or human parents if one of those parents has some werewolf blood. These are recessive. Recessives are nearly twice as physically powerful as even the strongest pure-bloods. Invariably the change takes receives entirely unawares, making for extremely confused and often dysfunctional individuals. In cases where recesses are tamed, enlightened and integrated into werewolf society they make strong, aggressive and uncompromising leaders.

## Powers & Abilities

Werewolves are demihumans who are granted superhuman abilities by their lycanthropy. Werewolves' powers and abilities are enhanced and are at their peak during the time under a full moon, but somewhat increase as they age. When angered, these abilities are temporarily enhanced; these abilities are common to all three types of werewolves. Even in human form they appear to possess all of these abilities, though not as powerful as other supernatural creatures. Some werewolves have shown the ability to sense illness and, in one case, the onset of an epileptic seizure. This seems to be due to a combination of their "Heightened Senses" working in concert on a subconscious level.

* **Shapeshifting** - The cursed human can transform himself or herself into a werewolf on a full moon. During a full moon, however, they change involuntarily, lose their cognitive abilities, and looks more like a wolf than a human.
* **Superhuman Strength** - The werewolf possesses superhuman strength. Their more wolf-like form, during a full moon, is more powerful and they are capable of lifting at 1 ton. Their strength also extends into the muscles of their legs, allowing them to leap, from a crouch, roughly 18 feet into the air. Their strength is somewhat weaker than that of vampires. However, consuming vampire blood increases their strength to the point where they can prove a challenge to a 1,100-year-old vampire.
* **Superhuman Speed** - Werewolves can run and move faster than any non-supernatural creature and run at an extremely high speed, which causes them to become almost invisible to the naked eye to perceive their movements when they are sprinting or moving at full speed. Their speed is equivalent to that of a vampire.
* **Superhuman Stamina** - The werewolf's musculature produces fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of an ordinary human, granting him superhuman levels of stamina. They can exert themselves at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue begins to impair them.
* **Superhuman Agility** - A werewolf's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete. They can move, jump, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion.
* **Superhuman Durability** - A werewolf's body is physically tougher and more resistant to injury than the body of a normal human. They cannot be harmed by conventional weapons, as ordinary firearms and blades seem to do little more than annoy the beast. Only a silver bullet or blade can harm or kill a werewolf.
* **Heightened Senses** - The werewolf has super-humanly the acute senses of sight, smell, and hearing similar to those of an actual wolf. They can see part of the infrared spectrum and thus detect the heat signatures of objects or people in total darkness. They can smell other living creatures within 100 feet (when upwind) and follow a scent over nearly any terrain. They can hear the sound of a heartbeat in a cave at a distance of 30 feet.
* **Claws and Teeth** - The werewolf's claws and teeth are extremely sharp and tough, enabling them to rend through a variety of substances including fabric, wood, cinder block, and even some metals. Werewolves can also use their claws to crawl along walls at great speed in pursuit of prey.
* **Infectious Bite** - Werewolves can turn another person into a werewolf by biting or scratching them. Their venomous bite is fatal to a vampire. The bite wound will begin to appear infected and will hurt when touched. The infection will spread throughout the body, producing unbearable pain. The vampire will have uncontrollable hunger, and will eventually develop delusions, hallucinations, rabid rage, and dementia before finally dying.
* **Lie Detection** - Werewolves are able to sense if you're lying or not.
* **Empathy** - Being that werewolves' senses being so strong, they developed the ability to sense other's emotions through touch. With time this power grows stronger, this is used to sense a person's true intentions and if they are lying or not. At first, this ability can be very annoying and hard to control, sensing everyone's emotions without meaning to. This ability can also be developed enough to absorb pain from someone.
* **Telepathy** - Alpha's possessed a more advanced form of this power which is known as telepathy the ability to read minds. They also manifest this through touch, they not only sense the emotions they can also hear their thoughts.
* **Longevity** - Once a werewolf reaches maturity, their aging stops and they enter a state of virtual immortality in which they are exempt from physical old age and have an infinite lifespan.
* **Healing Factor** - Werewolves is capable of regenerating damaged or destroyed areas of their body with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Injuries that result in massive tissue damage such as bullet wounds, slashes, punctures, blunt force trauma and severe burns heal completely, without so much as a scar, in a short amount of time. Their ability to heal is at least 10 times that of a human.

## Vulnerabilities

* **Silver** - Many modern werewolves are also supposedly immune to damage caused by ordinary weapons, being vulnerable only to silver objects (usually a bullet or blade). This negative reaction to silver is sometimes so strong that the mere touch of the metal on a werewolf's skin will cause burns.

* **Aconite** - Wolfsbane (a highly toxic member of the genus *aconitum*, also known as aconite or monkshood) was thought to have anti-evil properties against Werewolves, and shapeshifters for centuries, and is used in the same manner as garlic. A concoction derived from the roots of the plant was often used to wash bite wounds from wild or venomous animals, and so perhaps this is where wolfsbane derived its supposed ability to cure people of lycanthropy or other supernatural afflictions.
* **Broken Neck** - By breaking a werewolf's neck, it results in instant death.
* **Magic** - Witches are able to curse and inflict supernaturals aneurysms that cause the blood vessels of werewolves to explode.
* **Heart Extraction** - If the heart of a werewolf is removed , it will cause instant death.
* **Decapitation** - The act of dismembering or removing the head of a werewolf will result in death.
* **Lunar Cycle** - A common belief throughout all folklore and myth is that all werewolves are forced to shift during the cycle of the full moon, to some this is a gift, others a curse.
* **Mortality** - Because werewolves are still human for most of the month, they share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, fire, drowning, extreme loss of blood, suffocation, etc.) Although, it is very difficult to kill a werewolf thanks to their accelerated healing and endurance. Also, werewolves seem to be resistant to most diseases.

## Trivia

* Lycans are able to control the way that they shapeshift, and they will occasionally take on a hybrid, bipedal form.
* In human form, intense emotions such as fear or anger can sometimes cause an unconscious transformation of the teeth into fangs or fingernails into claws.
* Lycans may also have a more battered appearance. Because they are aggressive with their own kind, they often have scars and other evidence of injuries. Their habit of preying on humans also leads to many other injuries, such as bullet wounds.
* Lycans have a powerful immune system and an incredible ability to heal
	+ Cuts, scrapes, and bruises heal within hours, very small cuts such as paper-cuts within minutes
	+ Large gashes, gunshot wounds, and serious stabs heal within a day
	+ Loss of fingers and limbs do not heal
* Caffeine and chocolate can make a Lycan sick in anthro form, and is possibly fatal in wolf form.