THE PACK Message Boards

Well, I mean, what problems, other than lack of acceptance (because that's been done to death), would being a werewolf cause? Because you know, without conflict, any story becomes boring.

Dietry maybe. They could find themselves wanting more meat and not caring whether its cooked or not. Why wait for a well done steak or a cooked turkey when you can eat it now and enjoy it? This is even more of a problem for veggie humans that get bitten.

Another maybe that as they after they've shifted back from Were to human they need to sleep at different times of the day to make up for it causing problems at work or school. They may sleep for longer too.

Also you need to "vanish" for a night and slip out. This is bad for night jobs.

Then you need to replace any clothes that got ripped in a shift and that raises the question of how they got ripped.

Less controlled WW's may be more aggresive or territorial in human form. Luna help the gguy who's having an affair with the bitten guys wife.

A WW'ed person could also trying to twitch and do wolf body language without thinking. That will get a few odd stares.


I'll think of more.

If you want a comedy, don't do it like that Cursed movie. It reminds me of early puberty. Ah yes. The feelings, hormones, cramps, peer pressure....growing hair all over your body and learning how to shave without cutting yourself. Thank God I'm not a girl! I would be scared to heck if I saw blood during that time of the month.
And just think of how much shampoo you would have to go through. I'm high maintainenced enough. I don't need to spend more money on shampoo than I already do. That's stuff can be expensive. That, and there's the issue of having to spend money on cloths all the time. I almost cried when I found out that I was walking around with a hole in an inconvenient place in my jeans. They thought it was sooo funny.

i think the biggest problem would be reacting to things that other ppl cant smell or hear:
WW: can you hear that?
Person:NO, what?
WW: erm nothing, just dont open your locker today.

lol

or wat about the cost of razor blades, those things are way expensive

I think, if the werewolf is coming from a spiritual side, as I'm planning to write in my new little story, a major conflict could come from within the werewolf himself. Imagine, if you will, two voices competing for control of a werewolf body: One voice acts like a wolf, running on instinct, curious, territorial, and often aggressive aggressive. However, the other, the human side, might try for a more reasonable frame of mind, looking at issues from a point of view that takes into account human intelligence. It's an intriguing balance, really.

That's something that hasn't been discussed recently, aside from the physical difficulties. What mental difficulties might a person have?

About as many as you'd let happen. People are usually pretty good at figuring ways out of trouble.

Of course, your Bowling nights would have to be regulated by the moon-phase...and you'd have to be careful not to shift at the Barber's ( extra cost).

If you think about it; unless you're scheduled for every night of the week; you could probably hide things pretty well. You'd learn to control your emotions (not a bad thing anyway) and you'd gain a whole lot of new friends-fleas.

Seriously, though- the first statement stands. As lone as you stayed cool and didn't get freaked into actions that brought you to the attention of the cops-or animal control-you'd probably manage pretty well.

You'd be banned from participating any kind of Mixed Martial Arts event for life, if all of the human fighters didn't withdraw any challenge a werewolf issues because he/she can destroy the fighting ring with a few clumsy punches.

They would have real big problems if they could not change out of werewolf form.

Hmmm: the question is "Problems"

I'll let you know if I can think of any...

1. Say you have a special occasion and the need to change strikes you..then what?
2. Maybe someone else has said this, but maybe they're afraid someone might see them...
3. If you accidently recieved a wound (in human form) in front of someone else and they saw the woung close up...

Well, ya can't go to the zoo anymore....
Or a dog pound...
Or a farm...
Or a rodeo...
Or the circus(not even one of the nicer ones)...

I'd imagine something along these lines...

1: The 'wolf' aspect of the person would battle for utter control of everything (resulting in the change to full wolf) and until the 'human' part of the psyche takes control then personally i dont think Gestalt form could be achieved unless under special circumstances

2: Your normal senses would be jacked up to unbelievable levels (in relation to human levels). E.G, you would gain the olfactory sense of the wolf (Which could be abused in various ways, one of which being detecting sexual attraction) and the auditory sense of the wolf (especially useful for eavesdropping).

3: After further refinement of the relationship between the 'human' and the 'wolf', you would gain other abilities. E.G, Shift at Will, enhanced speed (Not too much of an increase, just enough to be noticed), enhanced stamina (wolves can run and hunt for the better part of the day/night) and others.

4: Anyone who knew would probably look at you differently, like you weren't entirely human

5: I'd imagine that a scientific werewolf would be comprised of two parts, the two 'psyches' (Human and Wolf), and the actual mixed genetics. I'd think that said genetics would be in a constant state of mutation to be able to physically change the appearance (and indeed the attributes) of the werewolf.

Actually, the only part of the Gene structure that would need to change would be the "Template" structure, which controls the actual shape of the organism and things related to shape (like fins, or wings, or a tail).
Genetically, it really isn't all that difficult...although we're easily a century away from being able to reshape ourselves.

So take your vitamins! Exercise!

1- Money. Meat is expensive when you cant go out and actually hunt it. Even if you have a surplus of meat, you still need to store it, ie: refrigeration. Depending on the amount, running multiple freezers can add up.

2- Housing. You would need a rather isolated place that gives you privacy to do what you need to do, when you need to do it. This situation would be impossible in city/overdeveloped urban areas. You probably would need to rent too, as you would spend a lot of your weekly budget on food and not be able to maintain a mortgage.

3- Social Relations/ Friends. Unless you have a pack, friendships can be very risky, relationships more so. being overly agressive in most situations, people would see you as a "dick" and probably avoid you. Trying to dominate could manifest itself in any way, even as much as controlling thre direction of conversations and interrupting people. While hearing and scent can be nice, they can cause a bigger problem than a advantage, particularly in crowded areas.

-Zombie

Zombie wrote:being overly agressive in most situations, people would see you as a "dick" and probably avoid you. Trying to dominate could manifest itself in any way, even as much as controlling thre direction of conversations and interrupting people.

On the flip side, being too submissive would turn you into a doormat to be stepped on and used.

I do actually believe there are OMEGAS in wolf packs, yanno.

Zombie wrote:1- Money. Meat is expensive when you cant go out and actually hunt it. Even if you have a surplus of meat, you still need to store it, ie: refrigeration. Depending on the amount, running multiple freezers can add up.

2- Housing. You would need a rather isolated place that gives you privacy to do what you need to do, when you need to do it. This situation would be impossible in city/overdeveloped urban areas. You probably would need to rent too, as you would spend a lot of your weekly budget on food and not be able to maintain a mortgage.

3- Social Relations/ Friends. Unless you have a pack, friendships can be very risky, relationships more so. being overly agressive in most situations, people would see you as a "dick" and probably avoid you. Trying to dominate could manifest itself in any way, even as much as controlling thre direction of conversations and interrupting people. While hearing and scent can be nice, they can cause a bigger problem than a advantage, particularly in crowded areas.

-Zombie

Actually: the food thing isn't that much of a problem. Ever hear of "Kibble", or dry dog food? It is edible, and I've eaten it (so bland, though) without any harm. There's no reason that a sapient werewolf couldn't eat kibble and feed him/her-self that way.

As to housing; in most places Agricultural-zoned housing is cheaper than city housing. It has to do with the location-well away from the things that people think they need to be happy. A Werewolf could work (shifted down to human) a lot harder than a normal human; and there are some locales where the bank will practically pay you to live in a "Mortgage-abandoned" house and keep it up, so it could be sold profitably.

I suspect that if Were's existed, they'd form into packs just for company- Remember; Wolves are social beings, as are Humans: the poor Were' would get hit with a double need to socialize and would almost certainly find a pack to belong to. Since they would smell differently than humans, the nose would serve as a sort of "friend-finder" to the Wulf. And yes: the social structure of a Wolf pack is competetive; from the leading Alpha's to the Lore-keeping and hunt-teaching Beta's all the way down to the Omega wolves-who are in all senses losers, but their packs still protect them as strongly as the Alpha's are protected...

The biggest problem, IMHO, would be adapting to the new lifestyle without having a teacher to show one the "ropes". Yet, I believe it still could be done.

IMO, it would be trying to hide it well if you didn't want anyone to find out.

Oh yeah, I've got another one.
A new werewolf says, "What mom? I'm a werewolf? Ah man! A second puberty?! As if it wasn't weird enough...more hair!"

New werewolf2 says, "I thought he smelled before....With this form, I can now smell the other parts of him!!!"

New werewolf3 says, "My wife Helen has two periods a month. Let's just say one's a little scarier than the other....yeah....A lot scarier."

New werewolf4 says, "Every time I sneeze I blow over my friend's house. What do I do, doc?!"

New werewolf5 says, "I got a new silver dining set for when my in-laws come over. They don't dine with use very much and that's good. But, I always have to dine out because of it.

New werewolf6 says, "My dental bill just got a little steeper. They say it's because I don't flawse. It's not my fault."

New werewolf7 says, "I got caught by the dog catcher. Unfortunately, my family had to adopt me as a stray and go through ALL of the procedures to get me out of the joint. Good new is I don't need contraceptives..."

New werewolf8 says, "My date complained because I druel all over her and that I'm an egotist. I can't help it. I'm hot!"

New werewolf9 says, "The kid next door just got a dog and keeps blowing that damn whistle all day. I don't know what his problem is with not being able to teach it anything, but every time I hear it my bum hits the floor for no apparent reason!"

It looks like in PitW, one of the problems/conflicts stems from the werewolves, and what they're willing to do to keep themselves secret from the larger world. (I'd guess with the rough numbers, of 1 in every 1000 being a lycanthrope, you have mid sized towns with small to large packs, major cities would have packs according to boroughs, and small towns (less than 2000 would have either no lycanthropes, a solitary style lycanthrope, or a disproportionately high number of lycanthropes.)

Another primal conflict can come from the werewolf pack- hierarchy. Just about everyone wants to be top dog, it seems.

Let's not forget that there are both "Civilized" and "Ru-u-ude" Werewolf packs in PItW, and the story takes place with a pack that was of the "Ru-u-de" persuasion until recently, when it got a lesson in being more civilized from its now retired Alpha.*

I suspect that this model would hold pretty well almost anywhere- There are towns around the L.A. area that still need some "Civilizing"; so why not Werewolf packs in the same situation?


*Http://Peteristhewolf.com is the site. Read it! It's well written and well drawn-and NOT what you'd expect from a Wulf Pack...

My points are actually variants of points already brought up, so I won't claim them as my own. But, these are some new ramifications...

Dietary: I understand there's a noticable difference between regular and organic, free-range meat. I only eat the latter myself, and it is only the availability of such that keeps me from being vegitarian, which I was for about five years. No, not a political post--just admitting that it's been more than ten years since I've eaten regular meat, so I'm going to have to go on other peoples' word for it that there's a difference. But, if humans can tell a difference, it's a sure bet that werewolves can tell an even bigger difference. Someone who eats wild meat and who has an enhanced sense of smell (and therefore taste, since the two senses overlap neural pathways) would notice all the growth stimulants, hormones, antibiotics, and so forth in regular meat. They'd also smell the overall sickly health of the former livestock animal. That might make them very picky eaters. At the very least, I could see a werewolf insistant on eating healthier foods and avoiding those particular fast food chains that put so much grease and soy additive in their burgers that the meat is hardly recognizable.

Social: On a similar vein, for the same reason that normal wolves don't attack people for food, the smell of humans might be overwhelmingly unpallatable, such that it makes being in normal social situations difficult. Imagine if you could amplify a thousand fold the odor of beer breath, greasy foods, feet, armpits, and the worst offender yet, cigarette smoke. Werewolves might have a hard time going out in public in certain places--it would be like to us walking into a poorly managed gas station bathroom. At best, the werewolf would seem rude, or a bit snobbish about his company. At worst, he or she would be a hermit.

Yeah, you got to think about that sort of stuff, scott. I can't imagine having to marrying into my own "kind." I'm partly asian and I rather not marry into an asian family. Don't get me wrong. I do have pride in my bloodline, but I would like other nationalities in my bloodline, like italian...mmmh brunettes.
Imagine if you're a werewolf and your marriage has been organized before you were even born. Some cultures still do it, but having no control over who you want to be with because of the risk of thinning or mixing blood. And who would marry a monster anyway? How many people out there are understanding enough. Surely not americans..I know, because I live in America and I've met plenty of girls that say they don't like asian men, because they aren't attracted to them. Yeah me.....Good old fashioned racism.

Scott Gardener wrote:I understand there's a noticable difference between regular and organic, free-range meat.

Can't vouch for meat, but there certainly is a difference in milk - only it's the organic stuff that doesn't agree with my nose. I honestly couldn't tell you whether it's spoiled without drinking it. It tastes about the same but the smell is quite different.

RedEye wrote:Hmmm: the question is "Problems"

I'll let you know if I can think of any...

I'm still working on it, honest! Trouble is, even Humans get fleas...

What was said about smells is a good point, i mean im human and the smell of any sort of perfume makes me gag. honestly my girlfriend is pissed cuz i wont get close if shes wearing it. amplify other smells, and there could be serious issues. imagine trying to walk int McD's and then *BARF!!!!!*