Age

[WolvenOne]

Okay, it's plausible I suppose....

However, I like the idea of...

A: Werewolves rarely reaching old age due to thier hectic and often violent lifestyle.

B: having rare occasions of really ancient werewolves. As in, being 95 or older and still not looking much worse then a normal 60-65 year old.

To me it just emphasizes something that I feel needs to by emphasized, and that is, that the social impact is the real curse. These people would live for a heck of a long time if they could live like everyone else, but they cannot, and because they cannot, many of them don't even LIVE to old age.

I don't like the old age aspect for Vampires and Elves because in each of thier perspective settings, then can live somewhat normal lives. Well, elves can, even a modern day vampire is gonna be stuck doing everything at night.

Anyhow, it's different for werewolves. Because of thier very nature they are forced into a lifestyle that is hectic and violent, they risk constantly being uprooted, hunted, and it's likely that many werewolves would never live to see old age. Plus, they lack both eternal life and eternal youth. Even if they do live to see old age, they age only enough so that they cannot start thier lives over.

Yet they don't face the prospect of immedietly dying if they way a few more years. Instead, they are forced to linger, to slowly fade away, not over a matter of years, but potentially decades. By this point, they probably have no pack nor any family anymore, they've outlived all of them, so, they're simply all alone.

All alone, unable to start over, yet unable to move on. Those that do live to see old age, may actually consider themselves to be the unlucky ones.

So what would be a gift, becomes a curse, merely because werewolves would be forced to hide what they really are from the world.

Anyhow, that's my ideal view of the lifespan of a werewolf. Of course, I expect not everyone will agree with that view. That's okay though, debate was the entire reason this forum was created after all, well, sorta.

[Terastas]

If I recall correctly, according to the current script, a lycanthropic shift can sometimes be a fatal process as the regenerative abilities kick in some time midway during the shift, so the pain can be so unbearable that a lot of first-time werewolves don't even survive it. By this mentality, it wouldn't matter how many diseases lycanthropy cured because lycanthropy itself could be just as fatal.

Another possibility is that werewolves could have trouble breeding. First, lycanthropy alters the individual's genetics, so it could theoretically distort them to the point of being sterile. Also, it could be that when a werewolf is pregnant, their unborn baby is subject to the same hazards they are. It might be dangerous for the mother to shapehift because her baby might not adjust to the changing conditions, and it might be even more hazardous of the baby itself is subject to shapeshifting urges because, as stated above, the lycanthropic shift is painful and often a matter of how long the werewolf can endure the pain to how long it will take the regenerative capabilities to kick in.

This is what would keep the werewolf population in check: they can live for centuries, but might only be able to successfully reproduce an average of once every ten years. Combine that statistic with their dangerous lifestyle and their negative image among humans and the population would wear thin.
As an add-on, that could be a werewolf's incentive for infecting another.

[Apokryltaros]

I can’t remember the exact source, as it has been a few years since I saw the documentary, but there was a theory that aging was directly related to a particular chemical, gene, whatever, inside human cells. This “gene” (I will call it this for lack of knowledge of the proper term) was present at birth and was not replenished. Basically every time a cell splits it uses up some of this gene. Once the gene is used up, the cell cannot split anymore. This then causes bone loss and worse because damaged cells cannot be replaced, in turn leading to death.

Supposing this is true, then a werewolf would use the gene up far quicker if he would shift often, and perhaps even just by being in the half form. This could be the equalizer. If you want to spend your entire life as a wolf, you will live to maybe 35-40, if you want to live as a human, you can make it to 75, like normal people.

Shifting is bad for your health, just like smoking, eating and breathing

It's not a gene, they're the "ends" of the chromosomes, called "telomeres." As cells divide, the telomeres get frayed and degraded, and after a number of divisions, the cells eventually die. Effectively, the telomeres determine the lifespan and aging of various organisms. However, some cells have telomeres which are repaired and or restored after division, and some organisms do not die of old age because their cells' telomeres are constantly repaired after division, like tortoises, for example.

Mmm... I'm not sure I buy that. If that were the case then most people that died of old age would die at roughly the same time. Yet it's been scientifically proven that taking care of yourself and living certain lifestyles can increase your lifespan dramatically.

It's my understanding that really, we don't know what causes people to age and why some people live so much longer then others. There are lots of different theories though.

The chemicals you're talking about are probably oxidants or free radicals, chemicals that degrade tissues in the body, and we age as this degradation accumulates.

[Darksong17]

Changing into a werewolf should heal fresh wounds in severity up to broken bones. No regenterating limbs. Bones would take a few days to heal rather than weeks. Scars remain as well. Cancer and other diseases? Some stay and some are thwarted by the virus.

[WolvenOne]

As per the issue of, reproduction....

I would assume that due to the virus, some might be borderline sterile, most should have a slightly more difficult time reproducing, and a lucky few should remain unaffected.

I'm a firm believer that every once in awhile at least a select FEW should luck out. ;) It sorta gives hope to everybody else, well, gives hope and sometimes causes resentment but still.

On a side note, I think werewolves should have little problem reproducing with other werewolves. This of course, would be added incentive to infect others. Even with this incentive though, I imagine quite a few werewolves would be highly reluctent to force somebody else into thier lifestyle.

As for what I can see thier regenerative being capable of healing....

Bones are fine, as are many dieseases, though when it comes to bones, I would say it should take at LEAST a week, which is an immense improvment over the natural period of time it takes to heal. A little issue here is the matter of setting the bone, the more quickly it heals the more quickly it has to be set or the werewolves would risk it healing improperly. Granted, the improper healing would probably be fixed next time said werewolf transformed, however, until then he'd he walking around with a crooked arm.

Which is not a good thing.

As for cancer, based on my knowledge of how cancer works, regenerative capabilities would not help any. Infact, they would probably drastically accelerate the growth of tumors.

Though the regenerative capabilities might counter some of the harmful effects of a tumor growing inside of your body, all this would probably do is keep a person alive longer during the more severe and unpleasent stages of cancer.

So in short, it would really stink.

[Lasthowl]

Humans aren't that fertile to begin with. Certainly less fertile than wolves.

Perhaps difficult births, high chance of miscarriage and death of the mother in childbirth.

[WolvenOne]

Hmm... in cases of werewolves impregnating human females, the high chance of death for the mothers, makes sense. In cases of werewolf woman being impregnated by humans though....

Well, I would think that the regenerative capabilities would aid the mother, make death a bit less unlikely.

One problem with this though, is the simple fact that we're talking about werewolfism being transmitted in ways similer to aids. Which means that any werewolf-human intimacy, would likely result in somebody becoming a werewolf.

This of course, wouldn't always be the case, but it'd happen quite a bit.

Here's an idea... how about, becoming a werewolf during conception or pregnency results in a miscarriage?

Anyhow, it'd simply seem to me that between all this, anything other then breeding between two werewolves would be fairly rare. Which may or may not be a problem, depending on whether the fertility rate between werewolves is as high as it would be for reguler humans or not.

[Terastas]

Thought about it a little more in terms of diseases, and here's what I came up with:

Lycanthropy doesn't necessarily cure diseases like AIDS, but instead continuously repairs the damage caused by AIDS. AIDS is an extremely slow process -- it takes years before a person can even be diagnosed as being HIV positive; even if a lycanthrope's regenerative capabilities are only active once a month, that would still be enough to continuously repair the damage caused by the virus, so much so that a lycanthrope could carry the virus for over a decade and not even know it. And, since lycanthropy is transmitted in all ways the AIDS virus is transmitted, anyone that recieves AIDS from him/her would be infected with lycanthropy as well and subjected to the same regenerative immunities.

By that definition, the only diseases a werewolf would have to worry about are the ones that become active in a shorter time than a werewolf's regenerative capabilities. The Ebola virus, for example, would be fatal to a werewolf.

Cancers also might be a possibility, although the shift from man to wolf or vice versa really shouldn't make them grow faster, especially if this is an infection which can help regrow missing limbs. The only types of cancer that I imagine would be immune to the lycanthropic regeneration would be any that run in the werewolf's family. Any other cancers the lycanthropic bactirium would likely treat the same way it treats wounds or defficiencies -- as abnormalities -- and repair them.

[Lasthowl]

The thing is, the cancer itself would be subject to lycanthropic regeneration, and thus would be very hard to eliminate by chemotherapy or radiation treatment.

[Apokryltaros]

Actually, I don't think that cancer would be terribly difficult for a werewolf's regenerative abilities to handle, or at least, some kinds of cancer, at least.
Cancer cells may have originated from one's own body, but they do register as "foreign cells" to the immune system. Tumors arise when a cancer cell manages to remain sequestered from the immune system long enough to grow into a lump before the immune system can mount a response and destroy the growth entirely.

I see no reason why a werewolf's cancer cells would resist radiation, after all, radiation destroys cancer cells by damaging their DNA to the point where it can no longer be used for replication. Radiation damages a cell's DNA when it's undergoing mitosis, as the DNA is exposed then, and is why radiation can be used on a person to destroy or damage cancer growths, while leaving the rest of the other tissues (largely intact).

[Shadu]

i like the wolverine aging for the werewolves. its not eternal but slow enough to seem like it.

[Lasthowl]

This is another situation where I think the "lycanthropy begins at puberty" applies well. Thus, the slow aging doesn't become conspicuous because you age normally until the curse kicks in.

[kita]

well from all the research ive done it seems the live till mortaly wounded or ill.
besides think of it that. it could really add to the plot if there was like a village elder thats two hundred years old or somethin.

[Vuldari]

well from all the research ive done it seems the live till mortaly wounded or ill.
besides think of it that. it could really add to the plot if there was like a village elder thats two hundred years old or somethin.

That could be interesting...but only if it fit into the story.

I both like and don't like the idea of a 200 year old werewolf. ...but if I had to choose, I would have to say...No.

[Silver]

I too like the idea of immortal werewolves, but I, too, don't think that it would work that way. My opinion is that the regenerative properties might make the werewolf age differently, perhaps give them a longer age span...though I'm not sure it's going to be relevant in this particular movie.

Degenerating diseases and regeneration....man, that's very tricky. It might be a race to see which outstripped the other, and that might depend on the individual. Wow, convoluted, that one.

[Scott Gardener]

Many different takes, from dog years, when you're dead of old age before thirty (Time for Carousel!), to blatent immortality (Now is the time of The Gathering...) So, rather than saying what would or would most likely happen, I'll simply delve into my particular werewolves. Keep in mind that in the case of my lycanthropes, an alien civilization designed them intentionally, and thus problem-solving could be done intentionally and deliberately, rather than by evolutionary trial and error.

Around 2020, when lycanthropology becomes a formally recognized medical specialty, it is generally said that "lycanthropes are more likely to get cancer, but standard humans are more likely to die from it." The regeneration capability and enhanced immune system of my werewolves are good enough to stamp out carcinoma in situ a lot better than in regular humans, in part because of the very things brought up on this thread--that cancer cells are more aggressive. Lycanthropes also have more of a tendancy for cancer cells to pop up in the first place.

Cancer cells derive from "dysplastic" cells--cells that have transformed from normal, working cells into an abberration. Most dysplastic cells die off, but if a few survive by activating the right mechanisms, they begin evolving independently of the body's normal instruction sets. Dysplasia is generally most commonly seen at locations where cells undergo metaplasia--transformation from one type to another. For example, lung cancer seen in smokers is generally created by the cells being forced to transform from a normal type of membrane lining the lungs to one that is sturdier but less capable of normal maintainance. Another example is "Barret's esophagus" seen in people with severe reflux problems; the inner lining of the esophagus starts to transform into a copy of the inner lining of the first few loops of intestine in order to cope with the constant acid splash.

Cells transforming from one type to another becoming cancerous--I think you can see where this is going. This tendancy is reduced markedly by the fact that most cells, perticularly in the musculoskeletal system, do not change type at all, but are redesigned instead to stretch or shorten. But, it still has to happen, and the lycanthropy virus itself is highly oncogenic--that is, it's very prone to causing cancers to happen.

None-the-less, my werewolves generally live on average about five to ten years longer than non-werewolves, provided that they live a healthy lycanthropic lifestyle. By that, they among other things shapeshift regularly. Not shapeshifting prevents self-regulatory mechanisms from activating and repairing certain problems as they come up. Those who try to fight it are more prone to problems resembling various autoimmune disorders (like the coincidently named "lupus")--chronic pain in various places, sensitivity to light, rashes, and the like. All this clears up if the sufferer just shape-shifts a few times, but there are many of those who are either phobic of shifting, see it as counter-religious, or otherwise bear lycanthropy unwillingly.

My werewolves are not immortal, and they do age over time. An older lycanthrope has a harder time shapeshifting than a young one, but the difference is nothing compared to that of someone newly afflicted versus someone born with it or having been lycanthropic a long time.

ALMS, or, Acute Lycanthropic Metamorphic Syndrome, the conditions of the initial affliction, is notoriously uncomfortable and occasionally even deadly. Most deaths are from people who are in poor health, unable to tolerate physiologic strain, such as an elderly nursing home resident. But, a lot of people willingly subject themselves to ALMS in order to get lycanthropy not only for the reasons we daydream about (in my storyline, spiritual therianthropy becomes a nearly mainstream movement), but also for the health benefits. The regenerative capabilities and enhanced immunity can treat many problems and cure others. My werewolves do not harbor HIV, though someone in full blown AIDS is one of those at risk of dying from ALMS. It can also cure chronic pain from old injuries and simple things like baldness, though use of lycanthropy for cosmetic reasons is very controversial.

[Bladewing]

I think they should age slower, resulting in a longer life span. Maybe a few decades more? Not like only 5 years more, more like 30 years more. If they're not killed first of course. ^^;

[WolfVanZandt]

Seems to me that, if a Werewolf could heal better than normal humans and on a cellular level, then they should live longer - maybe average around 120 or so.

On the other hand, dogs age 7 times faster than humans. Robert McCammon (in The Wolf's Hour) made it a factor in his Werewolves that, as long as they are shifted, they are aging in "dog years" and are, thus, reducing their life span.

[Scott Gardener]

It would take work to make a werewolf not age more quickly if one regenerates fast. But, on the other hand, anyone with sophisticated enough engineering ability to design a werewolf would also be able easily to figure out the aging problem, so my engineered werewolves are OK in that department.

However, I don't personally agree with the idea of werewolves aging faster in wolf form. I can see the justification, but if they follow the physiology I'd expect, they'd be the same organism regardless of form, and thus running the same metabolism. I suppose there could be a difference in different modes, and certainly there are real world modes the mammalian body enters--sympathetic fight-or-flight mode is more draining on the body than parasympathetic rest and maintainance mode.

A shortened overall life span, possibly down to seven to ten years post-infection, would be a good offset of all the nifty powers that werewolves have. It would make a great HIV metaphor while you're at it, if you were making an art film with political undertones. (Which, thankfully, you're not.)

[WolfVanZandt]

Yeah, if I were doing a movie, I'd leave aging out of the formula, too. Just covering all the bases, though.

[Lycanthrope]

Some time ago I've heared something about an old man, who had a hormone therapy. There was even a short record showing him, and I swear that he looked, as if his old wrinkled skin was hiding a poweful iron mechanism. My little theory is that shapeshifting could cause raise the amount of the hormones like adrenaline (Total body efficiency) or testosteron(Aggression and "hairyness").

Let's go to the point. I think that Werewolves not only live longer, but because of the balance of the organism, getting older doesn't make big problems to them. See? It even has a scientific background. Well...as far as there can be one for Werewolves.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I think the best example of an older werewolf was the old werewolf played by John Carradine ( I think ) in The Howling. Werewolves as I would see should be immune to most natural diseases that alone would cause them to live longer but the stress of shapeshifting would eventually wear on them and they would only shapeshift when they absolutley needed to.

[Terastas]

Yeah, if I were doing a movie, I'd leave aging out of the formula, too. Just covering all the bases, though.

One thing I've suggested in other threads could be the possibility that nobody really knows how long a werewolf can live to be because the lycanthropic lifestyle is so hazardous that no one really knows how long they live.

The whole concept of age could also be dealt with by thinking of old age as an illness. Instead of having twenty-year childhoods, they'd age normally up until the age of fifty, then retain that physical stature until something bad happens.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Yeah, if I were doing a movie, I'd leave aging out of the formula, too. Just covering all the bases, though.

One thing I've suggested in other threads could be the possibility that nobody really knows how long a werewolf can live to be because the lycanthropic lifestyle is so hazardous that no one really knows how long they live.

The whole concept of age could also be dealt with by thinking of old age as an illness. Instead of having twenty-year childhoods, they'd age normally up until the age of fifty, then retain that physical stature until something bad happens.

Not that I'm in favor of this idea, but suppose they aged like wolves ? Most would dead or extremely old by age 15.

[Figarou]

Yeah, if I were doing a movie, I'd leave aging out of the formula, too. Just covering all the bases, though.

One thing I've suggested in other threads could be the possibility that nobody really knows how long a werewolf can live to be because the lycanthropic lifestyle is so hazardous that no one really knows how long they live.

The whole concept of age could also be dealt with by thinking of old age as an illness. Instead of having twenty-year childhoods, they'd age normally up until the age of fifty, then retain that physical stature until something bad happens.

Not that I'm in favor of this idea, but suppose they aged like wolves ? Most would dead or extremely old by age 15.

Well, humans did have a short life span hundreds of years ago. With the discovery of medications and cures to some diseases, our life span has increased.

Wolves grow quickly. But they still can't live as long as we do if we took care of thier problems. Like Heart worms and such.