Werewolves

Werewolf in Wolf Form

**Werewolves**, also known as **Lycanthropes**, are a species of Downworlders. Their demonic infection gives them the ability to Turn into powerful wolves and gain inhuman strength and enhanced capabilities.

## Description

Like vampires, werewolves are humans infected with a demonic disease—Lycanthropy in their case—which gives them the ability to transform into powerful wolves, Changing at will. In their lupine and human forms, werewolves possess inhuman strength, speed, and other enhanced capabilities, with strong claws and canines.

While Turned, they can bear a little bit of resemblance to their human selves through their coat's color or pattern, though their eyes become that of a wolf's; their eye color changes to green. They also develop much sharper senses, able to see, hear, and smell very good. A werewolf's eyesight problems also improves when in their wolf form, though the defect returns while in human form.

In addition to their supernatural strength, grace, and reflexes, werewolves have the same unnaturally accelerated healing abilities as most other Downworlders. They cannot regenerate a severed limb, but they can recover quickly from most mundane wounds.

In human form, they look like they would as mundanes, and they retain their superhuman capabilities. Werewolves are also mortal; they age and die normally like ordinary humans, though they do grow slightly faster.

An alpha werewolf has poison in their bite. This poison is fatal and needs serious intervention to be survivable. Known side effects of the poison are random transformation of the werewolf and hallucinations.

## History

It is unknown what demon created werewolves, or even when exactly they first appeared. It is believed that lycanthropy first appeared in the forests of Central Europe in the 13th century, spread rapidly through Europe, then more slowly to the rest of the world.

Persecuting and publicly burning werewolves was prevalent in the late 15th century and early in the 16th century.

## Creation

Humans are Turned when bitten or scratched by a werewolf; though not all bitten or scratched are Turned, this still cause lycanthropy in its victim approximately half of the time. In modern times, many safeguards and organizational work by Shadowhunters and by werewolves themselves against werewolf bites are in place, so rogue werewolf bites are said to be a rare occurrence now.

Werewolves can also be born from two werewolf parents, though not all children of werewolves will necessarily be born with lycanthropy. The child of a mundane and a werewolf has a chance of being infected, but they may also fight off the infection in the womb, thus resulting in a mundane child, while the offspring of two werewolves may or may not become a werewolf. If the child is born an ordinary human, they would bear a few un-ordinary properties. Half- or part-werewolves—or those with the dormant virus—have increased speed and strength and can pass on the virus, but can never Turn into actual wolves.

Newly-made werewolves need to learn to gain control of his or her transformation. When werewolves first Turn, any stress or emotion, especially grief, can set them off, making them lose control of themselves and their consciousness to happenings and people around them.

With self-possession and proper training to control themselves and their transformations, werewolves can easily adjust and live among mundanes peacefully without detection, more so than other Downworlders.

## Weaknesses

The only ways to permanently wound or kill a werewolf are either through a seraph blade or with pure silver. Silver is associated with the moon, and wounds made with silver weapons will not only cause permanent damage to the wounded but will also cause them great pain, as even their enhanced healing abilities are not effective when a wound is inflicted by silver. Institutes have a cache of silver weapons in place for just this reason.

## Culture

Many werewolves, like vampires, belong to a group: in their case, a pack. There are also some packless wolves, and those tend to travel alone at night, keeping to the byways and country roads. The Praetor Lupus is in charge of ensuring that all new Downworlders find their place in their respective society, including finding packs for orphaned werewolves.

Each werewolf pack is lead by an alpha wolf. Any werewolf that kills the pack leader will subsequently gain control of the pack. Aside from battle, a werewolf leader can also simply depart and name a new one to replace their.

A Beta is the second-in-command to the Alpha, chosen either for strength or because the alpha trusts them. There is also often a third-in-command, as well as a Warrior subgroup, led by the strongest of the warriors.

## Known Werewolves

* Alaric Rodriguez
* Glenn
* Gretel Monroe
* Justine
* Luke Garroway
* Maia Roberts
* Russel
* Taito
* Theo †

## Trivia

Because their clothes are torn off when they Turn, it is considered protocol, at least for the wolves of the New York pack, to stash clothes around town