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About the Werewolves

general overview | the werewolf lines

Werewolves in the world of Traces are a type of Fae, the same type of Fae found in the story of Changeling. Fae are magic-based creatures who throughout history have been called angels, demons, monsters, faeries, spirits and sprites.

In pure human form their strengths are: keener sense of smell, slightly higher strength. As they shift more and more to Wolf form, they gain more and more of the Wolf's strengths and weaknesses.

In any form, they are extremely allergic to silver, poisoned by it, even. It will slow and eventually kill them. A silver alloy collar has been used in the past to imprison them. They are also prone to madness. He is also strengthened and weakened by the phases of the moon.

The Werewolf is a skin-changer fae, one soul bound to two bodies. He can have any shape between these two bodies, as well as the true shape of wolf or man. His power waxes and wanes with the moon: at new moon he is a plain and humble wolf; at full moon he is a master of wolves, fierce and cunning and large.

As a man, werewolves tend to have long noses with high bridges, sharp eyes of yellow or hazel or rarest blue, and coarse thick hair. His build resembles somewhat the build he wears as a wolf; if he is a lean wolf he is a lean man, and if he is a large wolf he is a large man. Likewise the color of his hair: if he is darkly colored as a wolf his hair will be dark, and if he is lightly colored or mottled his hair will be light. The exact color of his hair as a man is not necessarily the color of his fur as a wolf, however.

As a wolf he is slightly larger than a true wolf, and werewolves often have colorations that are rare among true wolves. Their coats do not change with the seasons.

The werewolf's mind is largely shaped by his experiences in both his forms. He is born with dual natures, wolf and man, but by his rearing he can be shaped more wolf-like or more man-like. When he wears the body of one his nature is more inclined to that one, but the essential soul and intelligence of him is always the same. Whether he speaks the language of wolf or man or both is due entirely to his upbringing.

It is sometimes said the werewolves were originally derived from a mix of fae and mortal blood. A popular legend of their creation claims that the seventh Duke of the Fae lay down with a Wolf and a woman, and produced the first werewolf twins under the full moon. Their species can interbreed with humans, but as the blood thins, so does the level of power and control, until eventually there is no Wolf, only man. Their species can also interbreed with wolves, with similar consequence. Unlike true wolves, they cannot interbreed with dogs.

A man cannot be changed into a werewolf by his bite.

Werewolves who change only at specific times, or whose minds are entirely changed when assuming different shapes, are usually werewolves of thinned blood. Pure-bloods have absolute control of their shape and can if they wish live the entirety of their life in a single form. Uncontrollable skin-changing in pure-bloods only occurs with madness, death, unbearable pain or puberty.

Language of the Werewolves. Werewolves are able to speak wolfish (the language by which wolves communicate) and mannish according to what they were raised with. In the height of Werewolf culture, all werewolves spoke wolfish, mannish and a third unique language that was the tongue of werewolves. It is mostly a spoken (out loud) tongue but also incorporates some of the body gestures of wolfish. It is speakable in any form between wolf and man. Outside hearers of this language describe it as a guttural growling and snarling that still resembles a language of man in some ways. (Having a pattern recognizable to the human ear as "speech.") Lately, however, most werewolves speak mannish or wolfish according to the shape they keep most often, and have lost the werewolf language entirely.

Mating. Werewolves do not necessarily mate for life, though it is common practice. In this scattered time it is much rarer; when two werewolves meet, by instinct and chemistry, they are driven to mate or fight, but even after mating they do not necessarily stay together. This is a rare instance of werewolves going into "heat" as it were. Werewolves do not normally go into an instinctive overwhelming need to mate save after a long lack of contact with other werewolves, during which their chances of conception are doubled or even sometimes tripled. Also, in times when the strength of the population is at great threat-- for example, after a devastating loss of life from attack, or after a great plague, werewolves may experience an overwhelming urge to mate and reproduce at that time. In normal times, werewolves sexual urges are more similar to human urges, with the desire to mate at any time and sex used for a variety of purposes other than simple breeding.

Sexual play can be used as dominance play and can be used to intimidate another werewolf, or alternatively to gain favor with a higher ranking werewolf.

During the particularly bad period in the history of the Hekatoi, when they were driven away and not tolerated by the Packs, they became infamous for their "heats" and embarrassing behavior during "heat"-- as they were so often solitary and away from the Pack that they often suffered the overwhelming urge to mate when encountering a Pack. This led to a misconception that the Keepers somehow mixed their arts with sex magics, or that they were crazed and in uncontrollable heat at all times.

"Packs" are both family and tribe. All the females of a Pack are usually related hence of one Line. Males leave the tribe to mate. Rank is very important in Packs and established through a variety of means, but in the end comes down to how much one benefits the pack. In hard times, this often means strength and prowess at defending the pack and keeping them fed and healthy.

On the Lines of the Werewolves


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