Why silver?

This is the place for discussion and voting on various aspects of werewolf life, social ideas, physical appearance, etc. Also a place to vote on how a werewolf should look.
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Re: Tse tse on me!

Post by Apokryltaros »

Scott Gardener wrote:
Just to be nitpicky, what with being the resident buglord here, but, tse-tse flies transmit the infectious agent of sleeping sickness, Trypanosoma brucei
Oops; my bad.
Anopheles mosquitos are the usual carriers of malaria, and Aedes mosquitos the normal carriers of yellow fever, and sand flies are the carriers of leishmaniasis.
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Post by Silver »

ok, we discussed this at length in another thread. I believe in some depth as well. Here's the conclusion:


Werewolves in Gestalt form are highly allergic to silver. It is very painful and can cause severe damage - as bad as a 3rd degree burn (however, not identical to one). A single silver bullet could not kill one, but three or four, even if not in fatal places, could.

The human base of a WW might have some small dislike of it, but as time passes, it could get over it.


I realize that I've not put it out on Silver's Corner, so I just did.
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Post by W0LVERINE »

Well werewolves and silver are in the moves and stuff, what I read from a book"The Wereling" which I though was interesting was that the rumor of silver killing werewolves is just a rumor, making humans think that getting a regular gun or wepon was no use. :D I thought that sounded cool.
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Post by Silverclaw »

but three or four, even if not in fatal places, could
I dont really agree with that; like, if the ww where shot in the leg a few times it would kill them? I think their would be some burning/allergic reaction to silver(especially when it breaks the skin) but nothing really as bad as that. *shrugs* Just what I'm a thinkin'.
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Post by Vuldari »

Silverclaw wrote:
but three or four, even if not in fatal places, could
I dont really agree with that; like, if the ww where shot in the leg a few times it would kill them? I think their would be some burning/allergic reaction to silver(especially when it breaks the skin) but nothing really as bad as that. *shrugs* Just what I'm a thinkin'.
I agree...just touching it could cause a severe, localized reaction (if the version of werewolves includes that weakness), but I don't think four shots in the foot should be lethal unless the silver was a form that could disolve into the bloodstream. (Like the Silver Nitrate weapons in "Underworld")

...unless the werewolves are more mystical in nature, and the silver holds a more supernatural significance. Then I think mere contact would be more significant.
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Post by Ultraken »

The way I figured it, silver doesn't cause injury by itself, but interferes with the werewolf's accelerated (or supernatural) healing abilities. Thus, silver bullets are dangerous to werewolves as normal bullets are to normal people. Now, it's a matter of debate as to how much non-silver injury a werewolf can sustain, but even that has limits. (A werewolf isn't getting up after being shot in the head with a .50 caliber rifle or hit with an anti-tank rocket...)
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Post by greniar »

celtwolf wrote:right, which is why if a werewolf wears silver, they can control their change.
this idea is stated in the origional "Wolf Man" and in the Jack Nickolson movie "Wolf" though in the wolf man it was in the shape of a pentagram
GRIFFON:I'm Griffon ,and I'm a werewolf
GIRL:your crazy!
GRIFFON:Perhaps I was too forward.
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Post by RedEye »

celtwolf wrote:ok, let me clear up your 'vision' that silver cleaves werewolf flesh, Aki, with a simple question for you to answer.

WHY and HOW does silver cleave werewolf flesh so easily?

and give a defendable answer. not something as simple as "it's magic" or "werewolves are weak against silver". at the very least your answer will clear up my confusion.
Well, Silver is a superior Bacteriostat...it will kill anything that isn't connected to the Host's circulatory system.
So...Werewolves probably have a super-active Antibody system, and Silver Kills antibodies. They probably develop a sort of Super "Stem Cell" that enables them to heal nearly instantly (to minor woulds). Silver destroys all of that: it Short-Circuits the Werewolf's healing and anti-infection systems. Add in a species sensitivity to Heavy-Metal Poisoning with Silver (happens to Smooths, too), and there you are. Simple and Fatal in the Long run...
(Note: Smooth=Non Were'..ie: Human non-Amplified)
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Post by Apokryltaros »

Silver doesn't kill bacteria directly, like, say, iodine or penicillin.
"Bacteriostatic" doesn't mean "bacteria killer."
That would be "bacteriocidal."
A bacteriostatic substance, like gold or silver, harms bacteria by causing their metabolisms to stop while they remain in contact with the substance. If the hapless bacteria remain in contact with the substance, they eventually die, given as how they can't carry on their life-saving cell-processes, like processing food or making ATP.
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Net Effect

Post by RedEye »

The net effect is the same...only in a Werewolf, the cells being stopped are the ones that repair the damage and prevent infection.
Silver is also somewhat Bacteriocidal, it is used as an antiseptic in compounds like Silvadene, a metallic silver compound used in Burns or in Corrosive damage (had my Big-Toe Claws fixed so they wouldn't ingrow: Podiatrist gave me Silvadene to prevent infection). They're healthy and a quarter-inch thick, and I have to cut 'em with Wire cutters...claw material.
That is what tripped me to the effect on Were's: it blocks their ability to replace damaged body parts...to heal. Add in the Species specific Reactivity to this Heavy Metal, and you have all the described effects of Silver.
Shoot a Were through the lung with Lead, they'll heal in hours (or less)
Use Silver...the wound never heals, and has no resistance to infection. Perhaps the blood wouldn't even clot in the presence of silver...another death sentence.
On the Plus side...Silver is much harder to work than Lead: Harder to cast, harder to swage to proper size, and more likely to just shoot-through rather than stop in the Were's body. I'd say a Shoot-through with Silver is the same as a shoot-through with Lead, damage wise...although Silver would be less likely to shed metal than Lead.
Needless to say...a Were' getting shot is a Were that didn't plan properly...they're supposed to be smarter/more clever than the average Elmer Fudd shooter.
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Post by JoshuaMadoc »

what happens if a werewolf gets injected with mercury?
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Post by Set »

kitetsu wrote:what happens if a werewolf gets injected with mercury?
They die, like everything else.
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Re: Net Effect

Post by Lupin »

RedEye wrote:On the Plus side...Silver is much harder to work than Lead: Harder to cast, harder to swage to proper size, and more likely to just shoot-through rather than stop in the Were's body.
Lead would be more likely to punch through, as it's denser than silver. It's why certain militaries like to use depleted uranium over lead. It's higher density gives it better penetration depth since you can make a projectile smaller and keep the same weight.
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Post by Rex Wolfskin »

IblisPendragon wrote:In GS they use silver in a vain attempt to fight the virus, since silver supposedly has a cleansing effect. Like, if you have gotten an inflammation from a piercing or something, just use a pure silver piercing and it will heal...
WOn't work with me, I'm alergic to silver :(
I always have to use golden piercings, else it gets irretated and i get nasty infections :(
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Post by Neilak20 »

Rex Wolfskin wrote:
IblisPendragon wrote:In GS they use silver in a vain attempt to fight the virus, since silver supposedly has a cleansing effect. Like, if you have gotten an inflammation from a piercing or something, just use a pure silver piercing and it will heal...
WOn't work with me, I'm alergic to silver :(
I always have to use golden piercings, else it gets irretated and i get nasty infections :(
Gold is the only metal you can wear into an operating room, because is a nuetral/clean metal. Nothing grows on it and very few (if any) people are allergic to it, unlike other metals such as silver. At least, that's what I heard once.
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Post by Apokryltaros »

Also platinum, titanium and tantalum, but, they're all very rare and expensive metals, with the last one almost never found outside of laboratories.
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Post by Neilak20 »

Apokryltaros wrote:Also platinum, titanium and tantalum, but, they're all very rare and expensive metals, with the last one almost never found outside of laboratories.
I have a friend that was allergic to titanium (I think, it may have been stainless steel x_x I get them confused from her story because I forget things, so she could've been alergic to the steel and they replaced it with the titanium.) But her wound puffed up, got red, and wouldnt close around the metal.

She's better now ^_^
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Post by Apokryltaros »

I would think it was stainless steel, and not titanium, as titanium is often used in surgical instruments.
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Post by Neilak20 »

Apokryltaros wrote:I would think it was stainless steel, and not titanium, as titanium is often used in surgical instruments.
It probably was, as I often get things like that confused x_x
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Post by Raltor »

Silver wrote:A single silver bullet could not kill one, but three or four, even if not in fatal places, could
Well 4 bullets seems a little low. You could pump someone full of at least 6 or 7 bullets and they still wouldn't die...so says 50 :lol: (Hate that guy)...Anyways I remember in the movie Underworld the werewolves could take rounds of silver bullets, and just have them later removed, and walk away with nothing but scars. Even those little disk blade thinger-ma-bobs when they stuck into one of the werewolves there wasn't even burning or anything...but then again I'm not 100% sure if they were silver in the first place. The only thing I would say is effective are the liquid silver bullets they made. One shot and a werewolf was done for, as the silver would enter the blood stream and travel through them destroying them from the inside.
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Post by Kavik »

Raltor wrote:Well 4 bullets seems a little low. You could pump someone full of at least 6 or 7 bullets and they still wouldn't die...so says 50 :lol: (Hate that guy)...Anyways I remember in the movie Underworld the werewolves could take rounds of silver bullets, and just have them later removed, and walk away with nothing but scars. Even those little disk blade thinger-ma-bobs when they stuck into one of the werewolves there wasn't even burning or anything...but then again I'm not 100% sure if they were silver in the first place. The only thing I would say is effective are the liquid silver bullets they made. One shot and a werewolf was done for, as the silver would enter the blood stream and travel through them destroying them from the inside.
That's fine for the Underworld creatures. I liked both flicks, but I wouldn't want to consign my perfect view of lycanthropy to the details in those films. If the silver acts as a poison, a few bullets should do it. If the silver acts as an inhibitor to the healing process, a few bullets may do it. If the "lycan" can simply will the silver projectile up to the surface and out of the wound entirely, then I guess it would take a head-shot to kill a werewolf with a silver bullet, but only one bullet.

Liquid silver doesn't remain liquid unless it is constantly heated, so the idea of using those bullets from Underworld seems as unlikely as creating UV bullets. To me, anyway.
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Post by Lupin »

Kavik wrote:Liquid silver doesn't remain liquid unless it is constantly heated, so the idea of using those bullets from Underworld seems as unlikely as creating UV bullets. To me, anyway.
IIRC, that was silver nitrate, which, in reality, is colorless in soloution.
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Post by Kavik »

Lupin wrote:
Kavik wrote:Liquid silver doesn't remain liquid unless it is constantly heated, so the idea of using those bullets from Underworld seems as unlikely as creating UV bullets. To me, anyway.
IIRC, that was silver nitrate, which, in reality, is colorless in soloution.
Silver Nitrate is also not consered to be silver anymore, chemically speaking, so I doubt it would have the same effect on a werewolf as genuine silver.
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Silver

Post by RedEye »

My original idea was that perhaps silver had a specific-to-species reaction with Werewolves: It short-circuits their healing system by 1> Killing or paralyzing the specific repair cells in the Were's blood so they cannot heal the area of injury contaminated by silver (causing a necrosis) and 2> are specifically toxic to Werewolves as a Heavy Metal (which it is...barely).
Remember: Were's appear to be Mutated Humans (and a rare Positive Mutation at that). When that happens...Mutation...there are a lot of correspondent changes in the Chemistry and Biology of the Mutant. Silver might become a deadly Heavy Metal Poison (too bad if you have implants of silver...)
Now, before anyone gets too upset over my use of the word Mutant with Werewolf, remember that we are mutants off of our original Hominid stock. The Human genome is classically unstable...that's how we survived as long as we have.
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Post by Blackfox »

vrikasatma wrote:In my Pashunara story, silver is lethal to the Shaivite Pashunara as a result of a curse that the Moon God, Chandra, put on the Pashunara for their role in His war with Shiva.

Mechanically, the silver represents alchemical water which cancels out their Fire, which fuels their shifting and heals their bodies. It's like "Bingo! You're mundane again — a 175-year-old mundane. With a knife in ya. Have a nice day, sucker!"

What interests me is that these methods of offing supernatural critters — silver bullets, stake through the heart, decapitation — would work on pretty much anything. You have a pointy object impaling your heart; doesn't matter if it's wood, glass, metal or otherwise, you're gonna die. Bullets wound and kill, doesn't matter if they're silver, bismuth, gold, iron or copper. And only a cockroach wouldn't notice if their head went missing.

"We killed it with silver bullets! That proves he was a werewolf!"

"I see a human body with bullet wounds. You shot a man to death. Tell it to the judge."
I agree completely, most people think that it's the silver but yeah it's a bullet the fact that it can be decapitated, drowned,burned alive or shot is the important thing. It also shows that a werewolf is not immortal or invincible, few things are. This would open up new possibilities for the topic of werewolves. They could pass their "curse" on through birth. If a werewolf was immortal or invincible there would be ore of them EX: Movies, books, folklore, but in the research that I've done there are only mentions of one at a time. Shouldn't there be a larger group, if not an entire community of werewolves? So there could be few due to the fact that they are easily killed like any other creature.
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