Post by Cerberus Jones on Jul 12, 2013 14:10:39 GMT
"WEREWOLVES
As long as there has been magic, there has been the beasts that were forged into sentience from that magic. Like vampires, werewolves were born from some of the first beasts that were given life by the Source of All Magic. Known as the Old Ones, these beasts wrought havoc among the newborn world. It was not until the first humans discovered the All, and were granted the powers of magic, and thus the ability to effectively combat the Old Ones. However, not all humans were granted magical powers by The All, and were thus, vulnerable to the wrath of the Old Ones. Some were killed, while others were infected by the disease of these creatures. Though those that were infected were killed instantly, the ones that were with child at the time of infection gave birth to fully developed infants, who were not like the beasts, but not entirely human either. These were the first werewolves, and the first vampires, among other creatures. Eventually, however, the Old Ones were finally imprisoned far beneath the Earth, and their offspring between human and beast were left to fend for themselves. In time, they began to grow in strength and power, and began to increase in numbers, biting others with their lesser venom and shifting them into their own kind.
Physiology of Werewolves In Their Human Form
Naturally, werewolves appear human throughout most of the time. In their human forms, werewolves are not super-humanly powerful, however they are at the zenieth of human conditioning and perfection. Their strength, speed, endurance, stamina, and reflexes are on par with that of the greatest Olympian athletes, with a focus unlike even the most above average human. The only thing that could be considered superhuman about them, are their five senses, and their regenerative healing factor.
Senses:
- Taste: A werewolf's sense of taste is significantly different from that of a human's. Much like a computer that can detect impurities in a person's bloodstream, so can a werewolf's sense of taste detect imperfection's in a person's blood, that can taste chemicals, both natural to a person's body, to drugs, toxins, and poisons. This is also used to determine things solely about chemicals, foods, and even beverages.
- Touch: The touch of a werewolf is highly sensitive in some areas, whereas different in other areas. One particular example is a werewolf's ability to feel microscopic specs of germs, dust, and dirt on even the most clean of objects, and even feel imperfections that a human's touch cannot pick up. Another example is their pain tolerance. While a werewolf can feel pain, it is either very small, compared to how a normal human would feel pain, or they can feel the entire sensation of an injury, but it is for only a moment before their bodies dull out the pain to near nothing. There are exceptions to this, which are explained further below.
- Sight: A werewolf cannot see in the dark while in human form, but their vision is significantly different compared to a regular human's. As they can see things more clearly in ways that the average human cannot. People and things are outlined far more sharply and significantly than what the human mind could ever allow. Even more so, their eyes allow them to see where stains, such as dirt, chemicals, and bodily fluids have been, even if they have been wiped clean. Furthermore, their focus is tuned so sharply, that a werewolf can notice imperfections in places, that humans can often miss, and can even take notice to certain muscle movements in a person's facial features, and body, which can help them in detecting a person's emotional state, or if someone is lying to them.
- Hearing: Their hearing is far above the norm of what a human is capable of. They are able to hear water drops from the other end of a house, even if it is highly faint to human ears. On the wide scale of things, a werewolf can hear someone's movements from a couple of blocks away in their human form, which allows them to be more than capable of eavesdropping on a conversation.
- Smell: Werewolves have a distinct sense of smell, which is highly profound. Like in the legends, and in most modern stories, a werewolf can pick up a person's scent from distances away, and detect traces of blood even further off. For them, the smell of blood is highly tempting, but even more so, their sense of smell allows them to pick up even odorless chemicals in the air, which does not have a particular "smell" in general, but does cause the air to smell slightly off to a werewolf. Another prime example, is a werewolf to smell past even perfumes, colognes, and other odor-altering chemicals which allows werewolves to pick up the "true scent" of people and things, and once a werewolf has caught the scent of another person, they can track that person indefinitely. A seasoned and more experienced werewolf has the ability to differentiate between scents and odors, to pay attention to a single, significant scent and track down the owner of that scent.
Regenerative Factor:
In their human form, a werewolf's regenerative factor is fifty times faster than that of a regular human's meaning they heal instantaneously from most forms of harm. Furthermore, their regenerative factor also causes their metabolic rate to burn over ten times faster than that of a humans, meaning that they cannot get intoxicated by alcohol, drugs, or toxic chemicals under normal circumstances. Furthermore, a werewolf's regenerative healing factor is so entirely constant, that they are rendered biologically immortal, and thus cannot age. For pure born werewolves, they simply stop aging once they reach full maturity, around the age of twenty, or so. There are, however, stipulations to the healing factor of all werewolves that are explained below.
Transformation and Phases:
When transformed, a werewolf's natural powers skyrocket to juggernaut levels. Their natural strength is unable to be measured, but what is known, is that it is far greater than that of a vampire's.Their senses alone are so much more sharper and reach a much farther range, and their regenerative factor, depending of the phase is anywhere between 100% to 200% more powerful. Contrary to popular belief, a werewolf is only evil if the person that was bit was evil to begin with.
Werewolves have two main phases: Phase I and Phase II werewolves.
- Phase I Werewolves: This is the phase that all werewolves, bitten and born, begin in. For pure born werewolves, they begin this phase when they begin puberty, and for those that are bitten by werewolves, it begins immediately. Phase I werewolves are those that are unable to change at will, and are under the mercy of the full moon. In this phase, the transformation is incredibly painful and sudden, and they transform into a large, quadrupedal wolf-like creature, a nearly complete, feral mind. This means that the personality of a werewolf when they are in human form is almost completely gone, and in its place is the mind of a wild beast. This phase is also the weakest phase, as they are completely vulnerable to silver, and if their internal organs are penetrated with silver, death is almost certain and almost always instant. Compared to a pure born, those that are bitten only have to suffer through this phase from a time range of a year, or two. Whereas a pure born must go through all of their puberty as a Phase I before they reach their Phase II stage.
- Phase II: This is the permanent and final stage of 99.999% of werewolves. During their Phase I stage, a werewolf is developing a second heart, and upon the completion of this heart's formation within a werewolf's body, they evolve into a Phase II. In this form, a werewolf can change at will, and retain most of their personality when they transform, if not at least develop a "distinction" between friend and foe. A Phase II also differs greatly between a Phase I in their beastly form, as they have now evolved into a more bipedal form, with a more humanoid form, with hands in place of where their front paws used to be. More hair is prominent on a Phase II's beastly body, along with greater strength and agility in this form. Their immunity to silver is also greater, however is exposed to enough silver, they can still be killed. Should both hearts be punctured by silver, death is assured, and can range between a few minutes to an hour.
- Senses: A werewolf's senses, as stated above are far superior when transformed. The most prominent changes are in their vision, where they can now see in the dark, their smell, where they can now pick up a person's scent within a fifty mile radius, with a similar stating for hearing as well. As for their sense of touch, their skin is now nearly impervious to most forms of harm, and only the strongest magic is known to even harm them in this stage.
Alphas:
This is actually a third stage of werewolves, but only a select few can become an Alpha werewolf. Unlike ordinary werewolves, those that are Alphas, are actually born with the latent, and dormant Alpha gene in their blood. Some believe that Alphas are chosen by Destiny to become the natural leaders of the werewolves, and as such, become an Alpha, rather than a Phase II, at the end of their Phase I stage, which is also by far shorter, and long lived compared to that of regular werewolves. Alpha werewolves are also gifted with powers not like those of their brethren which include:
- Thrall: This is a powerful ability bestowed to only true Alpha werewolves, where they have the ability to command and psychically order their lower brethren to their will. While strong-willed lower-werewolves have the ability to fight the Thrall, it is highly difficult and almost deadly to resist.
- Enhanced Physical Abilities: Alphas are far stronger than regular werewolves, even in human form. To date, they are the only werewolves that are able to display superhuman physiology in their human forms.
- High Resistance: Alphas are far more resistant to silver than normal werewolves. To date, no Alpha has ever been able to be slain, even when exposed to high degrees of silver. Furthermore, Alphas are incredibly resistant to mental attacks, making mind reading nearly, if not completely impossible to perform on them.
- Partial Shifting: Unlike others, Alphas can shift certain parts of their bodies into wolf form, and use them for superior fighting maneuvers.
- Transformations: Alphas can change at will, and unlike their Phase II counterparts, they can shift into a more prominent, and muscular version of their Phase II counterparts, with a more defined snout, and more defined and pointier ears, and more fur on their bodies than previous incarnations of werewolves. Furthermore, they can shift into a full wolf form, which is also complete with more fur than the Phase I, and is a few inches larger than Phase I's as well.
Weaknesses:
There are three things in all of the world that a werewolf is weak against:
- Silver:All werewolves are highly allergic to silver. Even in their beastly forms, it is the only thing that can pierce their skin, and render them incredibly weak, or dead. In their Phase I form, it takes only a small amount of silver to kill a werewolf, as even a simple silver bullet is enough to kill one. However, as a werewolf grows into a Phase II, it takes a little more silver to kill them, and with age, comes the need for more and more silver, but even the oldest of Phase II's does not need too terribly much silver to be killed. It should also be noted, that although silver can kill a werewolf, it is only clinical death for the first day or so. Should silver be completely removed from their bodies, while in this clinical death state, it is only a manner of time before their healing factor starts back up, allowing a werewolf to return to life indefinitely, albeit in a very weakened condition. In order to effectively kill a werewolf with silver, without fear of their return, they must be stabbed, or shot in the heart and the brain in order to ensure absolute death.
- Fire: While not AS effective as silver, fire can kill a werewolf, if one is able to keep one there long enough for the flames to do their job on the beast.
- Monkshood: Also known as wolfs-bane, this plant's ability on werewolves have many beneficial traits that can be a strength as well as a weakness towards werewolves. While monkshood can definitely stave off transformations, and even shift a werewolf back to human form, it also renders them completely vulnerable to the same harms that can affect humans. Meaning normal gunshots can harm a werewolf, so can poisons, and toxins. Even more so, monkshood can strip a werewolf of their powers.
Blood:
A werewolf, much like vampires, are highly addicted to blood. Although they have a better hold over their bloodlust, should a werewolf find themselves feeding too much on human blood, the addiction can draw them in, and make them into murderous creatures in both their human form and their wolf form. While it is possible to break the addiction, the withdrawals can sometimes drive a werewolf to a complete, mental breakdown, and leave them in a catatonic state.
Current Werewolf Population: 240,000