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You're referring to the Myelin Sheath correct? I was under the impression that if it was damaged you would just have slower reaction times and the such, and if enough were destroyed you might cease to function.

My hard work in Biology might have paid off...

Akela wrote:You're referring to the Myelin Sheath correct? I was under the impression that if it was damaged you would just have slower reaction times and the such, and if enough were destroyed you might cease to function.

There's a nevous system disease that does that. What I think Scott was talking about though is the fact that the brain is very motion sensitive, and don't really like abrupt changes.

Lupin, the disease you are referring to is Cystic Fibrosis, that's where the Myelin Sheath is damaged and signals take longer to travel along the axon; in plain English: Reaction time is reduced... a lot.

Yeah, I googled it after I posted that. If that's affected, I think the problem in the werewolf's case would be various areas in the brain 'shorting out'. That would end up casing things like seizures, as Scott said.

Hmmm....someone should write a novel in which the werewolves have occasional, sporadic seizures because of their shifting.

Excelsia wrote:Hmmm....someone should write a novel in which the werewolves have occasional, sporadic seizures because of their shifting.

Hmm, that gave me an idea: Due to the complexitites involved with shifting the brain, every so often a werewolf will go berzerk after shifting and attacking people. Ends up explaining a bit about the mythology.

Lupin wrote:

Excelsia wrote:Hmmm....someone should write a novel in which the werewolves have occasional, sporadic seizures because of their shifting.

Hmm, that gave me an idea: Due to the complexitites involved with shifting the brain, every so often a werewolf will go berzerk after shifting and attacking people. Ends up explaining a bit about the mythology.

Even better!!

Now to find someone to write it...

Lupin wrote:Hmm, that gave me an idea: Due to the complexitites involved with shifting the brain, every so often a werewolf will go berzerk after shifting and attacking people. Ends up explaining a bit about the mythology.

I like that. I'm not sure all werewolf aggressions can be explained that way, but it goes a long way towards understanding why an animal based on human and wolf should behave in a manner inconsistent with both.

Lupin wrote:

Excelsia wrote:Hmmm....someone should write a novel in which the werewolves have occasional, sporadic seizures because of their shifting.

Hmm, that gave me an idea: Due to the complexitites involved with shifting the brain, every so often a werewolf will go berzerk after shifting and attacking people. Ends up explaining a bit about the mythology.

That idea needs further investigation.


As time goes by, does the condition worsen? Will the werewolf end up with brain damage from a raised intracranial pressure? Will he lose his memory? Become retarded? Suffer from a stroke?

Figarou wrote:

Lupin wrote:

Excelsia wrote:Hmmm....someone should write a novel in which the werewolves have occasional, sporadic seizures because of their shifting.

Hmm, that gave me an idea: Due to the complexitites involved with shifting the brain, every so often a werewolf will go berzerk after shifting and attacking people. Ends up explaining a bit about the mythology.

That idea needs further investigation.


As time goes by, does the condition worsen? Will the werewolf end up with brain damage from a raised intracranial pressure? Will he lose his memory? Become retarded? Suffer from a stroke?

Or would perhaps the lycanthrope's vaunted recuperative abilities gradually stabilize / adjust the brain to this activity, allowing seasoned werewolves to retain full control of their behavior?

Kavik wrote:

Figarou wrote:

Lupin wrote:

Excelsia wrote:Hmmm....someone should write a novel in which the werewolves have occasional, sporadic seizures because of their shifting.

Hmm, that gave me an idea: Due to the complexitites involved with shifting the brain, every so often a werewolf will go berzerk after shifting and attacking people. Ends up explaining a bit about the mythology.

That idea needs further investigation.


As time goes by, does the condition worsen? Will the werewolf end up with brain damage from a raised intracranial pressure? Will he lose his memory? Become retarded? Suffer from a stroke?

Or would perhaps the lycanthrope's vaunted recuperative abilities gradually stabilize / adjust the brain to this activity, allowing seasoned werewolves to retain full control of their behavior?

In my mind, if this idea were used in a novel or film, the most interesting situation would be if there were a percentage chance for totally crazy behavior right after a shift (which could be at least temporarily dangerous to even other werewolves), but that within 5 minutes, the damage would heal and everything would be okay (except for damage to others already wrought, of course).

I like Kavik's idea. This could perhaps be used as reasoning behind why werewolves don't frequently create other werewolves by biting, but rather favor birthing new werewolves.

Having a new werewolf be a potentially dangerous thing could add a lot of good drama to a story. I don't think all bitten werewolves would have this problem, but I think a number high enough to cause caution from other werewolves in making new ones would be good.

Since the effect of shifting on the brain has been brought up, one could augment that theory with the rush of adrenaline that could be needed to "power" the drastic physical change. I think that it's well-known how irrational and dangerous even normal humans can get with enough adrenaline in their system.

Kavik wrote:Or would perhaps the lycanthrope's vaunted recuperative abilities gradually stabilize / adjust the brain to this activity, allowing seasoned werewolves to retain full control of their behavior?

Jamie wrote:In my mind, if this idea were used in a novel or film, the most interesting situation would be if there were a percentage chance for totally crazy behavior right after a shift (which could be at least temporarily dangerous to even other werewolves), but that within 5 minutes, the damage would heal and everything would be okay (except for damage to others already wrought, of course).

The problem with that is that there isn't any healing going on in the brain. It doesn't matter how much faster a werewolf could heal than a human. n*0 = 0

Lupin wrote: The problem with that is that there isn't any healing going on in the brain. It doesn't matter how much faster a werewolf could heal than a human. n*0 = 0

I agree.

The brain and nerves don't heal.

If you break your neck in an accident and cut the nerve, you can be paralyzed from the neck down for life.


I'll be suprised if werewolves can regenerate nerve endings.

well, as we've gone over before it can be done; the only question left is, do we want them to be able to? I'd say yes, as it allows for this sort of thing, which, as already discussed, gives interesting oppertunities for story writing.

Ralith Lupus wrote:well, as we've gone over before it can be done; the only question left is, do we want them to be able to? I'd say yes, as it allows for this sort of thing, which, as already discussed, gives interesting oppertunities for story writing.

I can imagine a case being made that most people do not possess even the potential for such a healing process to commence, and should they be bitten, they do not last long before the damage kills them.
Though there may be medication developed to make the transistion possible.

The werewolf community, then, would mostly consist of those with a genetic propensity for lycanthropy. Story wise, it could add a bit of suspence to the newly bitten and the reader / viewer, since we no longer have a guarentee that they'll get oveer the initial system shock and 'stabilize'.

Ralith Lupus wrote:well, as we've gone over before it can be done; the only question left is, do we want them to be able to? I'd say yes, as it allows for this sort of thing, which, as already discussed, gives interesting oppertunities for story writing.

I though we decided against it since even if they could, there isn't any way that it would come back the same way it was before.

Ralith Lupus wrote:well, as we've gone over before it can be done; the only question left is, do we want them to be able to? I'd say yes, as it allows for this sort of thing, which, as already discussed, gives interesting oppertunities for story writing.

Its going to be difficult for the character to explain to other humans how he managed to recover from a broken neck.

I don't really like the regeneration thing at all, it's unrealistic but that's not really the reason I dislike it. As Fig said, it'd be pretty hard to describe to someone how you recovered from a horrible injury so fast.

@Akela: Well, if an injury is THAT horrible, it wouldn't be fast at all.
@Figarou: Just be careful and it's not a problem.
@Lupin: Good point. For the record, though, nerves can be regenerated by certain methods; the brain, however, must remain intact.

I never said it had to be horrible, if you break a bone and then 2-3 weaks later it looks like nothing even happened, we have a problem.

Cystic fibrosis: Actually, that's a cellular chloride channel problem, that causes excessively thick mucus production, manifesting most prominently as chronic lung problems. It sounds like you're thinking of multiple sclerosis. That's a demyelinating disease of nerve fibers--it's the most well-known one that causes the problems you're describing.

A book about epileptic werewolves: I'll let someone else write that one. My werewolves do have a risk for it early on, but after they have passed "acute lycanthropic metamorphic syndrome" of the first few weeks, they can have their drivers' licenses back.

Nerves don't regenerate: Actually, they can a tiny bit. In simpler organisms, but ones that are still complicated enough to have a nervous system, they regenerate better. In designing a werewolf to regenerate better in general, one could--and probably should--include better neural regeneration.

A werewolf brain would have to be more resilient than a general human brain, as it would have to undergo regularly a drastic change in volume, squeezing itself down. But, while it's still being configured to do so, it could have problems, especially if things didn't happen in exactly the right order.

Scott Gardener wrote:. It sounds like you're thinking of multiple sclerosis.

Yes, that was it. Sorry about the mess up.

*nods in reply to Scott*