So many issues to cover...
Before I say anything, I have to repeat that all I can do is provide my own opinion on how
I think it would work. ...which
will vary and contradict some other opinons.
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On WHAT TRAITS will pass from a werewolf to the newly bitten:
I don't follow the "Carbon Copy", idea at all. That would suggest that the persons DNA in every cell of their body would be re-written. I don't see it that way at all.
As I see it, the Werewolf contagion would not
overwrite a persons genitc code, but rather, ADD to it. (Like a "Patch" or a "Plug In" for a computer program.) Only the information about how and where hair, muscle, skin, bone, etc. should grow, and how it should be re-absorbed (where neccesary) would be added.
The Werewolf Virus/Contagion would be
Gender Neutral (NO Trans-Gender TFs), and would contain
some "Cosmetic" / "Strain Specific" trait coding, but it would be passive, in a sense, so that, (depending on the individual), the person
MIGHT inherit the Common Fur Color (for thier wolf form) of the perticular line of Werewolf that bit him/her, but it would also be possible for the persons own exiting genetics to override that perticular gene and keep their existng Hair color as their Fur color.
[Side Note: Hair and Fur ARE the same thing. The only difference with Human head hair is that it is Hair that does not stop growing, like normal leg or arm hair/fur.] {Side, Side Note: I actually have stray hairs on both arms that grow long and thick like my head hair. I've never heard of such a thing, but I have them. ...Long arm hairs...}
I also believe that a "Family" of werewolf would evolve/mutate over time, just like any other species, so that the decendants of a single werewolf, seperated by continents for hundreds or thousands of years would develop region-specific traits different from each other. (So...the American Werewolf clan and the Australian Clan could both have originated from the same French Werewolf hundreds of years ago, and yet, a trained eye could tell which clan a Werewolf came from based on the texture of the fur/ Thickness of the claws/ ETC. because they each developed unique "mutations" over the years.)
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On unique reactions from the "infected" and whether they would DIE, be IMMUNE, shift FASTER or have DELAYED reactions:
As has been discussed before, I believe that an infected individual could very easily DIE from the infection rather than become a Werewolf.
The first way would be the bodys reaction to the foreign invader. The Human body's capacity to heal and protect itself is truely remarkable...but it is also an imperfect system. Very often, (such as is the case with "Allergies" and other ailments), the body's reaction to an irritant is actually far more destructive and lethal than the substance itself. So, a person could die because their body's intense and self-destructive attempt to rid itself of the contagion before it takes hold. (The Human immune system
IS that stupid sometimes. It does not know that it should STOP if the increased bloodflow to an infected aria is giving the body a lethal FEVER, for example)
The Second way would, of course, be at the moment of the persons first shift. If the persons body is weak is some way (due to AGE, Disease, Injury, etc.) then the process of intense, accelerated growth, hormone production, as well as the stretching and constricting of Vital organs durring the re-shaping of the body, could easily cause the person to have a stroke, a heart attack, go into shock, or who knows what other ways a person can die in such moments of extreme trauma. (I am not a doctor, so I don't really know)
Some, I imagine, could be immune or resistant to the contagion, which could result in the infected person having a delayed transformation, or perhaps never contracting Lycanthropy at all. That would totally depend on many different variables, such as the amount of the contagion/virus intriduced at the point of infection, the condition of the infectee at the time (Sick, Injured, Healthy? A person who is exposed to normal viruses and toxins on a regular basis would be more resistant, as thier immune system would be on constant "high alert"), as well as specific bio-chemical/ genetic qualities of the individual, such as blood/hormone conditions could make it easier, more difficult or impossible for the contagion to spread properly throughout the body.
As for
SUPER ACCELERATED shifting...I just don't see it happening AT ALL. There is just
WAY too much stuff that has to happen in the body for it to happen that fast. The body would have to be "Primed" first. A person would need to build up a store of specific minerals, protiens and chemicals in their bodies in order to make the Shifting process possible. (Werewolf Cells need
Fuel to
grow and
do their thing)
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On "PERFECTION":
I think what Figarou was trying to ask is... "Are Werewolves Flawless?"...or..."Are a Humans biological shortcommings
Fixed when they become a Werewolf?"
...for example...Would "near-sighted" humans gain corrected 20-20 vision after becoming a Werewolf? Are Blood Diseases "Cured" by Lycanthropy? "Are arthritis, degenrative bone diseases, hormonal imbalances, skin disorders, hair loss, and/or Birth Defects
FIXED when one becomes a Werwolf?"
... that is a really tough call. I think it would vary from condition to condition and situation to situaltion. Degenerative conditions might be corrected every time the person shifts, with the body returning itself to the form their genetics say it should be. ...
unless it is the kind of degenerative condition that get's WORSE with the process of the body's cells dying off and replacing themselves, in which case, shifting would actually
Accelerate the process. (...I'm not sure, but I
think that some common ailments of AGING work that way...making repeated regeneration a BAD thing...)
Also...if the persons "near-sightedness", or "blood disease" or
whatever is part of their genetics, then it may just remain a part of them as a Werwolf as well.
...but then, the Werwolf part of them would have it's own traits as well, but what exactly they would be is a matter of opinoin.
EYES: Wolves have poor vision (in terms of "focus"). Therefore, would a persons vision "degrade" while in wolf form, being more like a natural wolves vision...or Is a Werwolf
Different in that respect. Maybe Werwolves actually have "Exelent" vision, unlike their ferral conterparts. That would make them more impressive. ...but less like natural Wolves.
MUSCLE: Again...Wolves are not Largely muscular, so If Werewolves are more like real wolves, they would be very lean. However, popular opinion invisions Werewolves as being huge, powerful beasts. So which is it? More Imressive...or More Natural?
...that's all I can think of right now.
Did I miss anything?
(once again, this is all just MY Opinion, as that is all I can give.)
Also as I've mentioned earleir, yet no one seemed to respond on: How much does the brain change?
