Lycanthropy

[Application Only]

Lycanthropy is otherwise known as the curse of the beast, a parasite on one’s soul where a wolfish or otherwise canine spirit festers on a person in a constant back and forth battle. This takes over their mind and even eventually their body when in the presence of the moon, causing the transformation that so many refer to as lycanthropy, or in the more common man’s tongue: A werewolf.

Origin of Trait

The origins of Lycanthropy have traveled from ear to ear, each time changing in some drastic manner, though in all of the stories one note remains the same. Lycanthropy descends as a curse from Ombra directly onto her own followers in order for them to repent for their sins, a punishment that the goddess herself thought was necessary. Those who were first cursed with lycanthropy were extremely devout of faith, a tribe of moon worshippers who scoured the forests and other wilds around them, only interacting with others at night. They claimed to be preaching the word of their mother moon, acting underneath the guidance of Wulrin himself. Though they were wild at heart, for each and every time they met with another civilization who rejected their words, they slaughtered those who dejected their words.

It was only when they had struck outwards at other Ombrites and then their own tribe that the Goddess of the night stepped in, forcing the perpetrators into a volatile transformation, based off of Wulrin’s own form. They would become the first lycan, forced to turn into the form of the wolf underneath every full moon and at any sign of emotion that wasn’t serene during the night. These people would eventually find out that the beast on their soul would even talk to them, whispering sweet nothings into their mind that provoked them into attacking others. This was a curse that backfired, as it only brought more destruction and needless violence instead of serving as something to repent for their sins. By the time that Ombra tried to take control of this curse it was much too late, for it had been warped in strange ways. Ombra to this day doesn’t accept those cursed with lycanthropy, though Ombrites today are known to take the curse as a way of deep repentance towards the actions of their ancestors, as every Lycan known today has been inadvertently infected by the original lycanthropes.

Acquisition

Lycanthropy is transmitted in a similar way as vallah, through blood contact. This blood contact can be in the beastal or humanoid form, however most commonly it’s done by accident whilst in the beastal form. Even the smallest amount of lycan blood is capable of turning another into a lycanthrope, making it easily spreadable. It’s common that where one would find one lycanthrope, there would tend to be other people also affiliated with the curse who had been victims of the first lycanthropes unstable and feral transformations. The process of a lycanthropes first transformation is well-known, and listed below.

Seven Day Transformation

• Day One: The first day is the most subtle day, as the person only feels agitation along the wound site as well as a headache.
• Day Two: On the second day, the cursed person finds themself with an aching body, specifically around the wound site or wherever the blood was transferred with the lycanthrope and themselves. The wound-site at this stage begins to throb with pain, albeit not unbearably so.
• Day Three: At this point the person finds themselves hungering for meats and often turns away fruits and vegetables. Upon eating anything other than meat, it upsets their stomach to the point that they throw up. The symptoms of Day Two persist as well.
• Day Four: The cursed person will become pale in the face with clammy skin and a weakened body, having a -1 to strength and speed tiers until the transformation period is over. Their voice will become hoarse and boast a bit of a canine-like growl to their breaths. Day Two and Three symptoms persist.
• Day Five: The cursed person now finds that their hair is becoming thicker, hair starting to grow on their knuckles as well as over parts of their arms and legs. Hair makes itself prevalent inside their wound at this point. Day Two, Three, and Four symptoms persist.
• Day Six: The wound site in particular will have quite a bit of fur or thick hair growing around it. Their ears become slightly pointed and their eyes become more canine-like, often reflecting back light. Their teeth become sharper along with their nails. At this stage they also find themselves to feel healthier in the presence of the night sky and especially the moon itself. Whilst not in the presence of the night sky, the cursed person experiences strong stomach pains and strong pains along the wound-site where they got cursed. They also experience Day Two, Three, Four and Five symptoms.
• Day Seven: The cursed person has symptoms of Day Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. In addition to this, they will undergo a painful transformation as soon as night hits. This is their first lycanthrope transformation and as such is violent and tends to rapidly spiral into a hungry rampage. After this transformation is complete, all symptoms of the transformation period leave the lycanthrope.

Races that can contract Lycanthropy:

• Humans
• Elves
• Half-Breeds (Not Half Mer)
• Orcs (Not Goblins)
• Danakov
• Dwarves
• Dryads

Physical Changes

Those with the curse of Lycanthropy are generally the same person as they were prior to receiving their curse. Depending on the nature of their curse, they might have different features within the day. While it’s possible for controls to have these characteristics, it’s much more apparent in those who are feral or who have achieved symbiotic. The lycan may have extra hair growth, pointier teeth or sharp eyes like a canine. These features can be inconsistent between each lycanthrope, though overall these physical changes offer no mechanical boon to the untransformed lycan in the light of the day. A controlled Lycanthrope normally has their lycanthrope features in their human form more oppressed than their other lycanthrope kin. In addition upon getting any form of wound whilst in their humanoid forms, small bits of fur will tend to grow inside of it matching the color of their beastal form, with more fur being apparent for those who are feral.

During the night these features also remain the same whilst in the humanoid form, however the lycanthrope’s inner pull to transform calls to them from their beastal parasite located within their soul. Upon undergoing a transformation their bones will crack and distort, causing their forms to grow larger in an excruciating painful manner. Their clothes they once wore shed off and tear if not carefully fashioned in order to withstand the transformation and shape with the lycanthrope. They possess large canine snouts and hunched over backs, their arms becoming lanky and almost disproportionate for their bodies. The lycanthrope will grow fur similar to the type of beast that their soul holds, which is most commonly a wolf. When transforming back into the form of a man, the process is just as equally painful, though should the lycanthropy have been passed out they will simply remember it as a vivid nightmare instead of being awoken from the process of transforming.

Lycanthropes in their beastal form tend to be seen as wolves, bears, or other canine like creatures or large predator animals. A lycanthrope however has never been seen to take on feline like traits, preventing them from being tigers or other creatures of that nature. They tend to have fur colors similar to their animal, with their eyes following suit, usually in colors of red, amber or gold. Their pupils are slit unlike a canine, though clearly distinct and different from a vallah, with their form being unsightly and in no way shape or form recognizable to their human nature, a true manifestation of a monster.

Those in control will tend to have more tame appearing features, while those who are feral will have a slightly more unsettling appearance. The biggest difference in lycanthropes are those who have reached symbiotic control, as they tend to look like a man who was once a beast. Their ears will become pointed and are able to be moved in precise mannerisms like a canine, with their eyes taking on a reflective property as well as the slitted pupil from the lycanthrope form. A symbiotic lycanthrope has sharper features than they did before, with their hair growing thicker and almost similar to fur in some places such as over the arms. The symbiotic lycanthrope also gains much sharper teeth, losing their more omnivorous seeming traits.

Mental Changes

There are many changes to the mind that come with Lycanthropy, as the beast attached to the soul tends to drive itself into the cursed person's very mind. The lycanthrope whilst in the form of a man will have desires to eat more meat when hungry, often forgoing vegetation. They are even capable of eating raw meats without harm, including the raw flesh of other people. Those who have eaten people in their lycanthrope form are more often to desire to eat the flesh of others, making it common for the inexperienced lycanthrope to partake in cannibalism. The young feral lycanthrope might even develop a slight growl to their voice, giving their speech an animalistic characteristic. Though this will quickly fade away unless they are working towards a symbiotic control with their beastal parasite. The spirit of the beast is often prevalent in the feral and symbiotic stages of lycanthropy, being a sort of second voice in the head of the lycan. When under control, this voice is essentially locked away in their mind, only accessed when the lycan decides to take advantage of the power that the beast offers them in order to transform.

In the form of the beast, a lot of mental changes arise. The feral lycan will lose sense of self and of control, yet they will still remember everything they did, even if it may be in a haze. The form of the feral beast has only two desires: The Hunt and to survive. They won’t do anything to endanger themselves without reason, taking the most logical way to achieve their desire for flesh. The lycanthrope will always prioritize human flesh over animal flesh, and it’s only when they’ve tasted the flesh of a person that they will be sated to some degree. They can switch between being bipedal and quadrupedal, often going on all fours whilst running and standing on their hind legs in order to kill their targets. The lycanthrope seeks no pleasure in anything but the hunt, though whilst in control the lycan is capable of not brutally murdering their allies.

Effects

Lycanthropes find themselves to have many different effects, the most prevalent of which that new lycanthropes notice is their aversion to silver and gold as it takes effect in both forms. Silver and gold will burn them and while silver is more effective at cutting through their flesh as gold is much weaker, both are the most common ways of cutting through a transformed lycanthropes pelt. A lycanthrope in their transformed state will seek to consume flesh above everything else, though their fight or flight instincts are still prevalent. With special care and training regarding their beastal parasite on their soul, a lycanthrope is capable of going from Feral to in Control, by beating down their beastal curse. Or in other cases, the feral lycan can learn to cooperate with their beastal soul, merging them into one fluid entity rather than something forced into submission.

A lycanthrope is required to change into their beastal form once an OOC week, unless they have control. If they don’t do so, they will be forced to change into their beastal form once night strikes the next that they roleplay. This transformation will be much more volatile than it might’ve otherwise been. If the lycanthrope choses to transform on their own free will, they will tend to be less careless and have more self-preservation. A lycanthrope is capable of transforming more than once per week if they wish, however the transformation can only be done at night time.

Mechanics

• Lore approval is required to transmit the curse between players, and while it doesn’t require IC consent it requires OOC consent. Lycanthropy is acquired by blood contact.
  • Lycanthropy does not manifest before the age of sixteen if they were infected at a young age, upon the sixteenth birthday the lycanthropy trait will be active. However before said age is reached, the mental changes present in lycanthropy are also present in the child, being more active than they would otherwise.
• Lycanthropes are able to transform into their beast form only at night time, the process of which takes two turns to complete. During these two turns, the lycanthrope very visibly transforms and cannot take any actions or move as they experience extreme pain from their body morphing. This transformation cannot be done secretly or stealthily.
  • This change can be done through the lycanthropes choice, or it may be done when the lycanthrope experiences extreme emotions, sharp physical pain or otherwise distress.
  • This transformation lasts for thirty turns or until they are stopped earlier by being knocked out, killed, or otherwise forced out of their lycanthrope form. The transformation can also end if the lycanthrope wrestles for control and can manage to untransform themselves. When killed they transform back to human form.
    • Upon being killed or knocked out, the lycanthrope will revert from their beastal form to their humanoid form, making it impossible to harvest their pelts.
• Whilst in the beastal form, Lycanthropes have enhanced sight, smell, strength and other predatory senses.
  • The lycanthrope has tier six strength and tier five speed, though when out of this beastal form their strength and speed tiers are normal.
  • Lycanthropes are not capable of tracking scents unless they are fresh and the lycanthrope is not able to distinguish between scents. Feral lycanthropes will be drawn to scents that have fresh wounds, though this does not let the lycanthrope track people when in control.
• Lycanthrope hide is special and cannot be pierced by conventional weaponry. They are still susceptible to blunt damage, but normal weaponry cannot pierce their hide. They can only be pierced by their resistances listed below. Mana based abilities that are 3 mana or lower will bounce off of the pelt of the lycanthrope while Shakti and Aura based attacks still work on the transformed lycanthrope. In other words, 3 mana abilities cannot affect the lycan.
  • Lycanthropes are weak to silver, gold and holy relics, these objects applying light burns to them when not in their lycanthrope form. While a lycanthrope, these are the only items that may pierce their hide.
• The claws a lycanthrope possesses are similar in strength and durability to sharpened steel.
• Wolves, Bears, and other canine animals tend to ignore lycanthropes in both their humanoid and beastal forms. They will not seek to harm the lycan unless they’re firstly harmed or threatened, seemingly pretending that the lycan doesn’t exist or is otherwise part of nature.
• Lycanthropes are unable to use abilities or cast spells in any system (Aura, Mana, Shakti etc.) whilst in Beastal form, with or without control. Their urge to hunt is too strong and they are not able to properly hold onto instruments, disallowing them to concentrate or cast through an instrument.
  • Passives from aurums are not present whilst in the lycanthrope form in any way shape or form.
• Lycanthropes can form packs with each other, meaning that they will follow the most powerful lycanthrope whilst shifted and follow their directive. Packs cannot be made with animals or things that are not lycans. New members to the pack often tend to challenge the leader of the pack and try to gain control.

Feral

• This is the stage that all lycanthropes begin with, where there is very little control whilst in the lycanthrope’s beastal form.
• Normally the lycanthrope will turn at very inopportune or stressful moments, or celestial moments such as a full moon or lunar eclipse. There is not much difference between the universal mechanics and the feral mechanics, only simply being the nature in how the lycanthrope acts.

Unstable

• The lycanthrope at this stage has all the mechanics of feral except for one distinctive one.
• They are capable of, after one month having lycanthropy OOCly, they are able to have partial control of themselves mentally and physically for the first five turns that they transform. For every month after this until six months they get an additional turn of control before they snap back to fully feral.

Control

• It takes at least six months OOCly in order to achieve control, in which the lycanthrope needs to prove that they have progressed in order to be in control of their beast. This is normally done through a non standard character application describing what has been done to achieve this, OR by speaking directly to the lore master. Regardless of which way is done, sufficient RP backing needs to be provided.
• These lycanthropes are not forced to turn on a cycle and maintain in full control of when they do or do not turn, no longer forced to turn on a week by week basis. They also maintain complete control in their beastal form.
  • The lycanthrope is capable of basic speech whilst in their lycanthrope form, capable of making basic sentences. These sentences are capable of being up to four words at a time, and their voice sounds very animalistic, often being accompanied with a growl.
• Lycanthropes who have control have a heightened strength and speed in their wolf form, making it increase to tier seven and tier six.
• Controlled Lycanthropes are capable of climbing unnaturally with their large clawed hands on flat surfaces that otherwise would not be able to be climbed in their feral state or as a normal person.
• The controlled Lycanthropes hide now affects mana abilities that are 4 mana or lower instead of 3 or lower.
• Controlled Lycanthropes are able to howl once per transformation, consuming an action, which is capable of summoning two spectral wolves to their side, filling up their combat pet slots. These spectral wolves will last for the entirety of the transformation.
  • These wolves are the size of normal wolves, however their fur has the same mechanic as a feral lycanthropes, though is able to be pierced by things that can hurt the incorporeal in addition to the normal weaknesses. They have tier six strength and tier five speed, their teeth and claws are also the same strength as a feral lycanthrope. They must be given commands by the lycanthrope, and cannot be given commands if they cannot be seen or heard by the lycan.
  • Due to being spectral, these wolves are capable of phasing through three meters of solid surfaces per turn, consuming their action. Whilst phasing through solid surfaces they cannot be attacked except by things that harm the incorporeal.
• Controlled Lycanthropes otherwise have the same mechanics as usual, unless stated above that it’s different, for example the increase in strength whilst in lycan form.

Symbiotic

• It takes at least six months OOCly in order to achieve a symbiotic relationship with their lycanthropy, in which the lycanthrope needs to prove their progression in order to have this relationship. This is done through a nonstandard character application which describes what has been done to achieve this or by speaking directly to the lore master. Regardless of which way is done, sufficient RP backing needs to be provided.
• Symbiotic Lycanthropes cannot turn into their beastal form.
• Symbiotic Lycanthropes tend to have an increase in height up to a foot and a half, and their features start to become more canine-like in nature. Their jaw grows sharper, their hair becomes thicker and demonstrates growth similar to canines. Their muscles will grow to be larger as their bodies turn to be more animalistic. The symbiotic Lycanthropes ears will grow to be more pointed, similar to that of a canines which are capable of twitching and moving in a pronounced manner.
• Symbiotic Lycanthropes can have large clawed fingers on their hands, which are capable of being temporarily elongated to their full potential, disallowing them from properly holding onto weapons or other objects. When elongated, their claws are roughly the same size as a dagger. Even when suppressed, their fingers are very much clawed and appear canine-like. These claws are just as sharp as the lycanthrope’s beastal ones elongated or suppressed.
  • Symbiotic Lycanthrope have larger pointed teeth than naturally that are sharp, their incisor teeth becoming much sharper and similar to their canines, while their molars also grow sharper in unison.
• Symbiotic Lycanthropes are capable of climbing similar to their beastal forms, able to unnaturally climb with their clawed hands on flat surfaces that would otherwise not be able to be climbed by a normal person.
• Symbiotic Lycanthropes will retain their heightened animalistic sense of smell, sight, hearing and taste whilst in their humanoid forms.
  • Symbiotic Lycanthropes are not capable of tracking scents unless they are fresh and the lycanthrope is not able to distinguish between scents. This does not allow the Symbiotic Lycanthrope to track specific people.
• Wolves, Bears, and other canine animals tend to ignore Symbiotic Lycanthropes. They will not seek to harm the Lycan unless they’re firstly harmed or threatened, seemingly pretending that the Lycan doesn’t exist or is otherwise part of nature.
• Symbiotic Lycanthropes have plus one strength tier to a max of six. In addition, whilst on all fours, their speed will increase by one tier.

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