Alternative Werewolves

[WolvenOne]

Okay, so far we've covered Werewolves that can change during the full-moon, werewolves that can change at will, and werewolves that change based on thier emotional state.

However I'm pretty sure there are other options for werewolves we haven't explored yet, so I'm wondering about unusual twists to werewolfism. The more unusual the better.

[Figarou]

Okay, so far we've covered Werewolves that can change during the full-moon, werewolves that can change at will, and werewolves that change based on thier emotional state.

However I'm pretty sure there are other options for werewolves we haven't explored yet, so I'm wondering about unusual twists to werewolfism. The more unusual the better.

Hmmmm..werewolves that can shift at the press of a button!!



*presses belly button*

[WolvenOne]

Okay, I'm going to start off with Werewolfism as an addiction. More specifically, that there's a magic-compound that allows people to temporarilly become wolf-men, but that it's highly addictive and that even after one use whomever took it will be left with a craving to become a werewolf once again.

Now, traditionally such addictions are physical but in this case it very well could be psychological. Humans you see have some of the highest levels of self controll on earth but this drug would completly strip that self controll away and leave only the persons core-id. After experiening the freedom of fullfilling every whim and desire without regret or hesitation, it simply becomes very difficult for people to go back. In short they become addicted to the animalistic nature and cannot truely return to that state in human form.

So they fall, quite litterally. Much like a traditional RL drugie begins to do horrible things to get thier next fix, those addicted to werewolfism also do horrible things. For them however it only serves to make the need stronger as they're racked by guilt and other emotions they simply can no longer cope with, which drives them to delve deeper and deeper into thier own animalistic addiction.

So a spiral forms, in order to escape the guilt temporarilly, the addicted must do things that pile more and more guilt upon thier shoulders. Ultimately this would likely end much like real world cases end, through death, recovery, or an overdose, and in the case of a werewolf-drug, an overdose would be, quite interesting.

[Figarou]

A werewolf drug? You should know that some drugs have side effects in the human body. It could range from dizzyness to death. It depends on the dosage.


Also the human may have an Allergic reaction to it. The compunds that make up the werewolf drug will not be the same as being bitten by a werewolf.


Now, is this werewolf drug a prescription type drug? Over the counter? Is it used to become a werewolf? Do you take it during the full moon? Can you mix it with alcohol? food? It takes a lot of thinking to have a werewolf drug.


To become addicted to a werewolf drug means that you're taking risks. The human body was not designed to operate as a werewolf. The high metabolism of the werewolf will make the human consume more of the drug instead of finding the proper nutrients it needs to for its metabolisim.


heh...what do I know.

*presses belly button*

[outwarddoodles]

Well I could imagine becoming a werwolf it's self a drug. Ofcource its that person's thrill of being such a creature that they want to become it over and over. But posibly they may become addicted to the feeling of shifting. I've seen many shows on Tatoos where they said that people who become tatooed many times often may like the feeling of needles because of the endorphines (sp?) their body creates. Being the body is going to create this natural drug when they shift between forms I could imagine someone just stuck on that certain feeling.

[WolvenOne]

Fig, well first this would be a magic-like compound, eye of news and heart of lawyer and all that jazz.

Beyond that though, all those negetive side-effects and dangers you mentioned were, kinda had I what in mind. I was thinking that this sort of werewolf would be an embodiment of self destructive behavior. So this isn't the sort of werewolf one would easily be able to live as.

[Figarou]

Fig, well first this would be a magic-like compound, eye of news and heart of lawyer and all that jazz.

Oh...magic...I missed that. DOH!!!

Beyond that though, all those negetive side-effects and dangers you mentioned were, kinda had I what in mind. I was thinking that this sort of werewolf would be an embodiment of self destructive behavior. So this isn't the sort of werewolf one would easily be able to live as.

I see............interesting.

[WolvenOne]

erk... man I have to learn to re-read my posts for typo's before sending em.

"were, kinda -What- I had in mind."

Sorry about that.

[Lupin]

Now, is this werewolf drug a prescription type drug? Over the counter? Is it used to become a werewolf? Do you take it during the full moon? Can you mix it with alcohol? food? It takes a lot of thinking to have a werewolf drug.

Hmm I can just hear the ads now "A shift lasting for more than four hours, while rare, requires immidate medical attention..."

[WolvenOne]

Now, is this werewolf drug a prescription type drug? Over the counter? Is it used to become a werewolf? Do you take it during the full moon? Can you mix it with alcohol? food? It takes a lot of thinking to have a werewolf drug.

Hmm I can just hear the ads now "A shift lasting for more than four hours, while rare, requires immidate medical attention..."

No no stop right there, it hurts my brain AIIIIEE!

[Scott Gardener]

There's the classic legends, about the wolf skin pelt, or the magic ointment. (Did you hear the one about the magic pelt?) The old legends are quite different from contemporary lycanthropy in that regard.

A lot have described lycanthropy as hereditary and non-infectious; both Teen Wolf and the game Werewolf: the Apocalypse followed this method. If a werewolf bit you, it hurt, and you could bleed to death, but if you survived, you didn't get to experience a life-changing experience the next full moon.

Ginger Snaps Unleashed (which I have not seen, but have read about--though I have seen the first one) explored the idea of standard infectious lycanthropy being controlled and suppressed with a drug. (Note that the method, if it was the same as in the first movie, would not work medically--it would almost certainly be lethal.) American Werewolf in Paris worked with infectious lycanthropy, but introduced use of drugs to induce a transformation in a type that otherwise only shifted on full moons.

"Magic" can encompass a great many things. In the current version of the game Dungeons and Dragons, I can think of at least four different ways one can role-play a werewolf-like character. The first is one bitten by a werewolf. (Not that desirable, since the default game mechanics make the character forced to do evil crap.) The second is a wizard or sorcerer using polymorph spells. The third is a druid using an inherant class ability--they can shapeshift to all kinds of different forms; a wolf is one of them. The druid might be the easiest way, as it comes at a fairly low level and doesn't tie up other abilities--that is, you don't have to devote spell slots that could be used to do other things. A fourth method would be any sort of magic artifact, be it a polymorphing potion or--like actual old legend--a shape-shifting pelt. Other methods may exist as well, as the game itself is one of the oldest and most heavily developed role-playing games in existance.

[WolvenOne]

The skin pelt or magic ointment bits always been interesting to me.... especially the idea that somebody without knowledge of what it is might accidentally use it on him or her-self.

[Set]

Fig, well first this would be a magic-like compound, eye of news and heart of lawyer and all that jazz.

Things such as eye of newt are actually folk names for real plants. Also wolfsbane is the exact same plant as monkshood, and is extremely poisonous. Just touching the plant can hurt you. It was used in several "werewolf ointments" back in the middle ages though.

Heart of lawyer?

[Scott Gardener]

Reilune:

wolfsbane is the exact same plant as monkshood, and is extremely poisonous. Just touching the plant can hurt you.

But, in Ginger Snaps, you can buy it in bulk at craft stores.

[WolvenOne]

I would've put down "Spine of Politician," but those don't actually exist.

[WolvenOne]

Okay, at the risk of sounding wierd and creepy, I'm gonna throw out the idea of a werewolf shifting upon entering a state of arousal and I'm gonna ask people what they think the implications of such a thing would be.

[Terastas]

The form that I'm surprised nobody has bothered to mention yet is the Totemic (IE: Therian) variety -- the werewolf that attains his/her wereform during a moment of mental clarity and shifts from one form to the other by meditating or entering a dreamlike state.

And then you've got the only thing close to werewolves that have been seen in the real world: people that are fully human and do not shapeshift, but have either been raised by wolves, prefer the company of wolves or just for one reason or another act like wolves and in turn come to resemble them more than they do their fellow humans.

[Vicious]

I guess this may fit the alternative origin.

I have been working on a story in which a werewolf is someone with a wolf soul, but is trapped in human form.

In order to release the wolf, and take wolven form, they must kill the human, literally. A ceremonial suicide leads to rebirth and transformation. Permenant transforamtion though, in my story.

Some of this comes from my own desire to destroy my own humanity. If i could escape this human shell by killing it, i would.

[Shadow Wulf]

I guess this may fit the alternative origin.

I have been working on a story in which a werewolf is someone with a wolf soul, but is trapped in human form.

In order to release the wolf, and take wolven form, they must kill the human, literally. A ceremonial suicide leads to rebirth and transformation. Permenant transforamtion though, in my story.

Some of this comes from my own desire to destroy my own humanity. If i could escape this human shell by killing it, i would.

dont kill my hero arnold swarzenager

[CrypticIdentity]

Well, Transfur has a whole list of possible causes for transformations:

Caused by:

• Bite or Attack
  Clothing
  Collar or Harness
  Costume or Mask
  Cursed Location
  Folklore
  Food or Drink
  Genetic Manipulation
  Injection
  Magic Spell
  Moon
  Object
  Ray, Blast, or Beam
  Scent
  Second Skin or Fur
  Sexual Relations
  Speech
  Substance
  Wish
  Mad Scientist

Transformation as Punishment
Transformation as Reward

Needless to say, some people get goofy with some of the ideas (like the ray, blast, or beam one)

[Scott Gardener]

Of course, calling a pelt-skin werewolf "alternative" is not unlike calling acupuncture "alternative medicine"--the Chinese were using pins and treating meridians long before my colleagues were writing scripts or consulting surgeons. We in fact could be infatuated with the alternative werewolves.

Still, give me an internal viral shifting affliction over a belt from the skin of a hanged man, smeared in baby fat any day.

[WolvenOne]

Well, what I'm interested is not so much the alternative methods in and of themselves, but what sort of effect these methods would have on a story.

For example, if a shift was activated via arousal the main character would pretty much be forced into both a hermit-like life-style and may be forced into a life of chasitity. Of course there's some comical implications here too. ;)

[Jamie]

"Magic" can encompass a great many things. In the current version of the game Dungeons and Dragons, I can think of at least four different ways one can role-play a werewolf-like character. The first is one bitten by a werewolf. (Not that desirable, since the default game mechanics make the character forced to do evil crap.) The second is a wizard or sorcerer using polymorph spells. The third is a druid using an inherant class ability--they can shapeshift to all kinds of different forms; a wolf is one of them. The druid might be the easiest way, as it comes at a fairly low level and doesn't tie up other abilities--that is, you don't have to devote spell slots that could be used to do other things. A fourth method would be any sort of magic artifact, be it a polymorphing potion or--like actual old legend--a shape-shifting pelt. Other methods may exist as well, as the game itself is one of the oldest and most heavily developed role-playing games in existance.

Actually, there is one other way I can think of. A player in a D&D game I was in had an extra book (I'm not sure which one) that had something like a "master shapeshifter" as a prestige character class. It was like a unique kind of magic-user that specialized in shapeshifting so much that other abilities were limited, and in higher levels the character would be able to turn into almost anything. This character died soon, though, so I never found out much more about it.

As far as my opinions on alternative transformation triggers (other than the standard tricks of fiction, like the full moon and at-will), I think that "called" shifts are interesting. Instead of a werewolf being able to shift whenever, or being forced to shift at a predetermined time such as the full moon, the werewolf has an interesting form of partial control.

Let me explain my idea. Right after returning to human form, the werewolf is very unlikely to be able to shift again right away. Perhaps, if the werewolf's life were threatened, the werewolf could manage a shift, but it would otherwise be very unlikely. Then, anytime from a day to a week after returning to human form, the werewolf begins to feel the "call" of the next shift. He or she feels it building in his or her system. The stronger the "call" gets, the more likely it is that the werewolf could transform by trying to do so. Eventually, the "call" becomes so strong that it is difficult to resist the change. If the werewolf is in a setting where it would be a bad idea to turn into a wolf, the werewolf can consciously suppress the shift.... until some point when the call becomes so strong that there is no longer any possibility to resist.

In time, this werewolf can learn enough to become somewhat more like the "at-will" variety of werewolf, but never enough to be completely like the "at-will" variety. For example, I would envision an inexperienced werewolf having a lot of problems transforming until the "call" got quite strong, and also not being able to resist it as long as an experienced werewolf would. I also would imagine that the experienced werewolf might be able to manipulate the "call" cycle itself somewhat.

For example, maybe adopting a particular attitude (such as thinking about wolves a lot) or being exposed to certain physical circumstances (such as eating a lot of food) would tend to make the "call" cycle shorter, and perhaps other circumstances (such as getting really drunk every night) would tend to lengthen the "call" cycle, resulting in fewer shifts. But, in any case, the werewolf would never be able to gain absolute control over his or her shifts, and the werewolf would never be able to live exactly like a human (i. e. the werewolf would never be able to avoid shifting entirely, just reduce the number of forced shifts).

I like this idea because I like the idea of forced shifts, but not too forced, and not entirely predictible like they are with the moon. Also, I like the idea of a werewolf having some control, but I often find werewolf characters with total control to be boring. This way, there is a combination of forcing it and at-will.

[WolvenOne]

Hmm, that's an interesting little system you have there.... though I would suggest that you include the possability of a person shifting in thier sleep since they're not awake to consciously repress the need to change.

[Shadow Wulf]

Hmmmmm, I like that idea, have control at a curtain extent, I have to agree I like having werewolfs that are in complete control but it is a tad bit boring, but I hate even worse the mindless terminator killing machine.

*A werewolf knocks at Figarou's house*
Werewolf: are you Sarah Conner
Figarou:No, im not.
Werewolf: darn thats the tenth time in a row, oh well.
*breaks into the door and starts shifting

Anyway that system would be alot more interesting.
for example like oyu have trouble controling cravings for raw meat.