A Werewolf Charter of rules.

[Silent Hunter]

While in bed last night I was thinking about the game, Crimson Skies. In the game, the pirates had a charter of rules which included payment, maintainance etc. Now I am thinking: Could such a thing apply to a person wanting to be a werewolf?

To clarify, lets say you have a person who knows about some werewolves, is in contact with them and is trusted by the pack. This guy who shall be named Bob for this sconario wants to join a pack and become a werewolf himself. The pack has made sure that Bob has been medically checked (though of course he wont say the real reason in front of the doctor) and is pretty much green lighted physically and mentally to be bitten.

What would you think to the Packs's head or alpha giving like a written little contract? Why would you need one you may ask. Well there is plenty of reasons. If a Pack is financially surporting itself for example via money and assets like safehouses it could tell who gives what etc would factor in, as well as how to give money. On top of that it would basically give Bob an idea of what to expect and how the pack will treat him on certain things. For example the contract may require him to not give away the the secret on purpose unless he wants to die fast through the pack. It could be what who he should talk to in an emergency. It could be the agreement that the pack could kill him if he goes all Hollywood on them during a shift. It could be an aknowlegement that he may not survive a shift.

In essense it may take some away some of the mystical "welcome to the pack" aspect out of it yet I think it makes sense for an orginised pack. The document would probably in physical form and would be shredded and burnt after or hidden).

What do you think on this and what rules or things would be on such a contract?

[Sevena]

im not sure about a contract on paper.especially if its not going to around for reference later.if a pack was to have a contract for newbies to sign upon approval and entry into the pack i see it being something concrete.maybe symbols carved into stone where each symbol has a meaning,and each member of the pack leaves their mark at the end of it,showing that they will obide by them.this is something that can be passed down through the generations and not be altered ,even when there is a new leader,or the pack has come under financial crisis(no one member pays more dues than another) it also helps remind the members of their pledge to the pack(when they can go and look at it in difficult times),and makes not one wolf greater than another because they all pledge the same thing.just my take on a pack contract.


yes the leader does have a right to change things when times call for it,an old rule may be out of date and need to be revised at times but at one point they were new as well and this would remind him of that should his status give him a more than suitable ego.

[Terastas]

The problem with an actual written contract would be that someone else could find it. The pack shouldn't leave a paper trail or anything that could be used to prove, if not that there are werewolves, that the werewolves by name are all involved in something.

If there was a werewolf code, it would have to be something more along the lines of how parlay was used in Pirates of the Caribbean; simple and basic enough for anyone and everyone to remember and understand, but sufficing more as guidelines than actual written law.

The werewolves in the Night Life setting more or less work this way. They have some universal laws which they consider to all generally be common sense, and but not anything so complex that anything should need to be written down.

Using the Freeborn script and what we know about it, for example, the rubber duck is a rule that requires no writing in stone. They don't need a written document stating that all safehouses shall be marked with a rubber duck; all it takes is for one werewolf to take any newcomer along and say "See? Here's how we mark them."

The pack might not always be able to operate that simply and without any reminders, but I think they would try to keep things simple like that whenever they possibly could.

[Scott Gardener]

Enforcing such a contract could indeed be tricky. You can't sue for breech of contract. I suppose there could be enforcer werewolves who are particularly big and nasty who could show up and pound the non-compliant individual into oblivion.

Might make for a great story--someone seems to have problems with a mafia-like organization, but it turns out that he's a werewolf, and the others aren't happy with his lack of contribution to the Pack.

Of course, one could also get too organized...

(Inserts DVD into home theater, and a werewolf appears on the screen.) Welcome to the lycanthropic community. I am DarkShadowSaberFang, your host and guide through the transition process. Becoming a werewolf can be a frightening and intimidating experience, but if you learn and observe a few simple rules, you can look forward to many years of excitement and fulfillment...

[Terastas]

Enforcing such a contract could indeed be tricky. You can't sue for breech of contract. I suppose there could be enforcer werewolves who are particularly big and nasty who could show up and pound the non-compliant individual into oblivion.

The more likely (or at least easier) route would be to just let word of the violation spread through the proverbial grape vine. Again, rather than having a written law, it would just be left to the mutual understanding that the person(s) in question violated their trust and let them decide how to respond to it.