what "IF" they're real

[Anubis]

yeah but most people don't feel that way

[Shadow Wulf]

Cause they lack reasoning.

[Anubis]

no that i goes against thier regious belifes, moral, and the fact that they just dont want to!

[Shadow Wulf]

No Im saying many other laws are because of people with no reasoning power.

[hydrocarbon]

I think the majority of the population would be s***-scared and freak out ;)

[Shadowalker]

Well, I think that even if they are real (Which I think they are) That they wouldnt show themselves to anyone who they didnt trust with their lives, because of the fact that people are scared of what they dont understand, plus, some people would try to kill them, etc, etc, its better to stay hidden.

[Figarou]

Well, I think that even if they are real (Which I think they are) That they wouldnt show themselves to anyone who they didnt trust with their lives, because of the fact that people are scared of what they dont understand, plus, some people would try to kill them, etc, etc, its better to stay hidden.

Well, if they came out, I'll be waiting with one of these!!

[Akela]

Actually something like that could be very profitable, especially considering how many guillable fools like shoppers on ebay there are.

"Step right up folks, furfill all your anti-werewolf merchandise needs here! Anti Werewolf toilet paper, anti-werewolf paper clips, and the... the kids love this one... anti-werewolf flamethrower"

Divisions would probably arise between the old werewolves, and the bitten ones. The reaction would probably be similar to an experienced gamer encountering a 'noob'.

Nice anaology, a situation I've encountered all too often.

"Whoah!!! And to think all this time I thought the Landraider was some kind of plane!"

[Scott Gardener]

Whew. Where to begin...

This BBS:

Likely would get more hits than ever. One of the big topics that might get started is meetings for people to exchange getting bitten.

People exchanging getting bitten (assuming it works that way):

There would be people like many of us, who would want to get bitten for personal, metaphysical reasons. There would be others who would want in because it's a form of empowerment. And, there would be people interested in some of the fringe benefits, like enhanced regeneration, if they are part of it.

But, that would obviously scare a lot of people. (See below.) Efforts would be made to pass laws forbidding the spread of lycanthropy. Some places would try to ban its exchange outright, whereas others would see such laws as a limit against personal freedom. The most likely average consensus law is, only between consenting parties, and no one under a fixed age. ("Gotta see some I.D., Sport.")

Who would oppose werewolves:

No brainer that the Christian Fundamentalist movement would lash out against it. Werewolves would likely be compared to the "Beast" of Revelations. Fundamentalist Islamic extremists in the Middle East would likewise see lycanthropy as a divine curse, seeing it as an irrevocable contamination that must be exterminated. (Like they need another motivator behind the militant Jihad groups...) Politicians in the United States would certainly cash in on the Christian opposition, and thus the Republican Party would oppose lycanthropic interests. In response, the Democrats would favor a more "progressive" pro-lycanthropic stance, and would market it as the next civil rights movement.

Who would really oppose werewolves:

There would be radical factions of all kinds of viewpoints. Human supremacists would no doubt surface--maybe taking on names like "Silver Bullet Society" (even if silver bullets don't work that way, see below). There would be people convinced werewolves were all minions of Satan, and would see our extermination a holy crusade. On the other end of the spectrum, there would be people who would embrace it as the next step of human evolution, or a divine providence--maybe a Pagan religious movement that sees it as a reunification of humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. There might be radicals among the werewolves, who see non-lycanthropic humans as inferior. Some might feel compelled to exterminate humans out of a desire to, say, protect the environment. Others might feel a need to help humanity make the painful but inevitable transition into an all-werewolf species, by dragging everyone kicking and screaming into lycanthropy; Resistance is Futile (tm.)

A Silver Bullet to fix your economic woes:

There would be a lot of misconceptions. Everything that wasn't true about werewolves might still be treated as such. Popular culture says a lot about hair on the palms, pentagrams on the palm, silver bullets, full moons, eyebrows that meet, and the like. Some of these may be true, but all the bogus things will also be believed until public knowledge gets better. One big Hollywood myth is that killing the first of the line will somehow cure everyone else infected from that line. This might lead to one or more assassination attempts against some of the first werewolves to come forward. Not to mention the sudden but temporary spike of silver bullion on the international market. It would go up over a matter of days after werewolves revealed themselves. If lycanthropy didn't involve silver bullets or a stick with a silver handle, then silver would gradually go back down over the next year and a half as people start to learn.

As a side note, there'd be a lot of urban legends, like the one about the guy who got lycanthropy from a dentist or a mosquito that bit a werewolf.

Werewolf figureheads:

There'd be a few particularly famous werewolves. The first to reveal one's self would be remembered. There'd be others shortly after--the ones most out-spoken about lycanthropic civil rights. Then celebrities with lycanthropy would spur popular culture. A lycanthropic community would emerge. I suspect they would adopt similar terms to those used by therians and Furries today--at least if the revelation happens in the next few years, before the slang changes over. "P-shifters" might be a term tossed around a few times early on. More people in the general public would know what "therianthropy" is, and the Furries would suddenly be more than "those weird people who are into cartoon characters." New slang terms would also arrive, like "speaking lycanthropese" to mean trying to talk while in wolf form.

I see a lot of conflicts coming up over all kinds of stuff. One thing that comes to mind, if lycanthropy can happen in childhood or even adulescence, is a case sooner or later in which a child gets infected in a schoolyard fight. Suddenly, parents who don't want their kids infected would have a lot of leverage to push towards segregating werewolf children from other children. (Substitute "teenagers" for "children" if you interpret lycanthropy happening only after puberty.)

I'd be curious to hear what Jay Leno or John Stewart would have to say.

[Anubis]

and after a while after they made them selves know i wont be surprised if they make "Fur walking" legal after all the sigma has calm down and stuff werewolves would push to make walking in public in gestalt form legal. but some places like school campuses and hospitals would out law fur walking in those areas.

[Timber-WoIf]

Hmm... depends... i couldn't see nude "fur-walking" happening for mabie a century after weres revieled themsleves... though so long as there were garments covering those sesitive arias, then it probiby wouldn't take long at all. Either way, it would take forever for ANYTHING progressive to happen in the states... we're so darn conservitave.....

[Anubis]

what i mean is the werewolf walking around in gestalt form wearing a shirt and some kind of pants.

[Shadow Wulf]

The military would try to use the lyconthropy as a weapon aswell. So werewolfs wouldnt be accepted by many and would be used senslessly. They should just stay underground and try infect the population a little bit.

[Morkulv]

[Kavik]

Let's see. The govt. would launch campaigns to hunt them down "for their own protection", then dissect them to see how the whole shapeshifting thing works "since they really aren't humans anymore, it's no different than medical students working on cadavers". Werewolves would never be accepted into society until a vaccine or neutralizer was released that could prevent the spread of lycanthropy. Assuming it never happens, they all get sent to reservations and open Skinwalker Casinos.

Except for a few isolated cases, I believe that werewolves should remain hidden from the world at large. It's in all our best interests for humanity to think lycanthropy is just a myth.

[Morkulv]

I think you would get something like the X-Men (if you saw the movie you'll probably know what I mean).

[Kavik]

I think you would get something like the X-Men (if you saw the movie you'll probably know what I mean).

Except that the Senator Kellys of the world would have no trouble spear-heading witch-hunts against werwolves, even IF it is possible that he had reasonable opposision in pursuing the Mutant Agenda. Mutants are powerful and dangerous, but werewolves are powerful, dangerous, and automatically percieved as evil thanks to years of superstition and Hollywood typecasting.

[Scott Gardener]

I consider the X-Men movies probably the best-done presentation of how such a thing would go--something fantastic happening in a world that is otherwise real.

But, just because it was a well-made movie doesn't make it a better predictor as to what would actually happen. Still, the only way to know with confidence what would happen would be to see it happen. So, we're back to best guess.

[Figarou]

[vrikasatma]

If:

A) it was a virally-transmitted affair, I'd probably approach getting bitten *very* deliberately. Just like I do with all other major life changes, and it would be. I'd tell friends and family I'm considering it, and assure them that I'm thinking very carefully about it. And I would be. After getting all my ducks in a row, loose ends tied, i's crossed, t's dotted, I'd go about getting bitten.

B) as in Werewolf:the Apocalypse, it were genetic, and one of my family Firsted, I'd hold out hope that I'm a Lunatic and could have a late Firsting. Until then, I'd be happy to be "just" Kinfolk and enjoy the experience vicariously. In fact, I'd probably be very content in the role of Kinfolk: you're in the life, but not in the direct line of fire. And yes, I'd stand by my Wolfkin, staunchly. Anyone who messes with friends/family, is in some savagely deep kim chi from my end.

If by one means or another, I became a werewolf, I reiterate what I've posted elsewhere: find others of my kind and hunt around for a pack. Given my spirituality I'd probably cast myself in the role of pack Theurge and/or artisan-type Galliard. Make a pack logo, totem portrait, design tattoos, et alia, guided by spirit.

Basically, life would change but there'd be continuity from my "past life."

[Morkulv]

[Figarou]

[Moonstalker]

Hmm... if I knew someone who is a werewolf I would right away to ask him/her to bite me

[Scott Gardener]

Which would be fine and well, but what if it didn't work that way?

[Timber-WoIf]

dun know about him, but i'd cry...