Vuldari wrote:Evolution is a fairly random thing, and usually does not "cover all the bases" like that. If it did, we would all be immune to all diseases and would never spawn children with fatal birth defects.
Also...the "Midwife" tradition assumes that most werewolves are born, or at least know other werewolves that have been born, rather than bitten, who would even KNOW of that tradition. If the pregnant werewolf coulple in question were bitten, and the one that bit them (as well as most of those in thier Pack) were bitten, then that perticular "tradition" might not be as well known or significant to them.
If they are part of a relatively small pack, or are "Lone Wolves", so to speak, who were bitten and forgotten, they might not have any wise voices to suggest that option, or think about that in time, instead worrying more about the health and well being of the mother and child.
This will seem at first to go a bit off track.
Wolves have about 200 million scent receptors as oompared to about 5 million in the human nose. I am dead certain that WereWolves will have some characteristics to their scent, which another WW would unmistakebly detect on first whiff. Completely different from either wolf or human. Thusly, I would suspect that WWs would discover one another, their traces from touching things and such with fair speed. And so, I would anticipate that they would, over time, find individuals and packs via the scent telegraph while humans would be entirely unaware.
I could accept that geographic isolation might sometimes be a credible factor, especially in our ultra mobile modern world. Example being, a WW on a business trip or vacation, bites for whatever reason, someone in some remote location not already inhabited by a wolf pack.
So, if a disconnected WW were ignorant and ultra vulnerable thereby, I could see problems for that one. But for how long is any given WW going to be extant, before some other WW, particularly one who is connected to one or more packs, discovers this one when one or the other, passes through each others sphere of influence. Folks travel a lot more in this modern age than ever they did in the past. I am constantly amazed at accidentally running into folks I know in odd and remote places.
(( my sister was vacationing in Tahiti. She went for a walk on the beach. On that beach she ran into someone whom we both grew up with as a neighborhood friend. He is someone well known. ))
Edit: Continuation; Anyhow my point is that scent would I believe relatively quickly connect WWs to other WWs. A scent network in a sense. And once one WW tracks down another via scent trail, meetings would occur. The upshot of such meetings would likely be some form of fellowship. Two with a serious problem, being more powerful than one alone. Imagine, in these well connected ages, folks finding one another by the most certified 'safe' process. Their noses tracking a most unique odor. Later they can bring mail, phone, and other technology into aiding and abetting each other's lives.
Sharing tips and techniques and tricks for getting along in the world with minimum fuss and problems. And among those tips, information on how to manage pregnancy safely and where and who to contact when a midwife will be needed.
Will there be random factors ? Of course. The world delivers such by the boatlaod. But are those going to be the only thing ? Not likely.
The change, does it wrack the bones and rend the flesh ? Yes, indeed it does. But is this pain and agony alone ? No, in fact hardly at all. It is the Sacrament of the Moon. The flesh flows and so do the endorphins. It is, in truth, the agony ecstatic; The Pain That Is Pleasure