Werewolf

Werewolves are people who resemble humans and have the ability to shift into two different forms - the wolf and the dire form, which have their own unique abilities. The species is characterized by nearly unstoppable healing magic which grants them extremely long lifespans, but they are not truly immortal as some species, as they do go through physical change as opposed to being frozen in a moment of time. Werewolves tend to live communally in large packs, generally stemming from one core family to less closely related individuals in what are known as Hereditary Packs . As adults, excess young males in the pack can cause tension and are sometimes banished from their packs to go and make a life for themselves elsewhere. These, as well as werewolves who are born out in the human world as the result of werewolf/human couples can band together to create Bachelor Packs .

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Werewolf breeding season does tend to take after their wolf side very heavily. Females do experience monthly menstrual cycles like humans, but testing has found that the majority of these cycles are not fertile. Females go into heat in the winter, typically sometime between mid-January to late March and the cycle can last anywhere from 5-17 days. The heat cycles do vary in intensity, with the shorter and milder years following the birth of a child (sometimes not resulting in ovulation at all) and gradually becoming more intense with a greater urgency to find a mate and longer length of time to provide adequate time for conception. Similarly, male werewolves follow the pattern of their four-legged counterparts. They generally go through a hormonal burst toward the end of fall, which causes sperm production and sexual drive to increase until breeding season is over, at which time it drops dramatically. Sperm counts for male werewolves during the spring and summer trend well below the threshold of human diagnosis parameters of low fertility during the rest of the year, which is another hurdle to their reproductive rate. Werewolf heredity is a complex issue that many werewolves are working to solve. When the understanding of genetics hit the general population, werewolves were able to confirm that their race is genetically inherited, but further experimentation has shown that this is not the only factor at play. Certainly, a werewolf male and female who can both shift almost always result in offspring who can also shift, but due to the dimorphism of the species (self-inflicted or not is yet to be determined) a pairing of a were-blooded female with a shifting werewolf male is much more common. After much trial and error, the more scientific minded of the werewolf packs have come to the conclusion that there is a certain amount of magical drain that occurs in order to birth a child who would shift and this drain is very taxing, even on females who can shift. Thus, the werewolf reproductive cycle does not generally allow for back to back pregnancies and, in many cases, a female will not have the necessary magical energy to conceive again for up to a decade after the birth of their first child. This frustratingly low birth rate has had the species worried about their extinction for centuries Due to the alarming amount of pure life essence that is used to gestate werewolf infants, the maternal mortality rate is very high, especially in human-werewolf pairings, but it is not much better in were-blooded - shifting wolf couples, either. This lack of improvement for were-blooded women is perhaps not due to an inherent magical weakness on their part, but excessive over-breeding that is demanded of them in most marriages. While the body may not be ready to conceive again, werewolves are still part human and may be able to conceive at other times of the year. The chances are very low, but it is possible and constant attempts to conceive eventually become successful. It is all too common to have werewolf fathers with two children under the age of eight or nine who has been widowed as a result.

Growth Rate & Stages

During the beginning of their life cycle, werewolf children may have excessively keen senses of smell, taste, and hearing and often heal more quickly than the human average, but do not have the ability to shift. This is considered an excellent form of camouflage to keep them save living among humans, if necessary. At puberty, the signs of being able to shift will begin. Increased sensory perception, the urge to shift, feeling tightness in the jaw and face, and even excessive rapid hair growth. At this time, it is the cultural norm for the pack to come together to teach the child to shift and there are several rites of passage associated with these events.
However, not all werewolf children do shift. Those who do not are called the Were-blooded and often grow up to be able to produce children who are able to shift and, thus, are kept as part of werewolf society - in some cases, it is only as a second class citizen. A significant proportion of female children are were-blooded and never shift. Due to numerous cultural and historical factors, it is impossible to tell what the true rate of female offspring being able to shift truly is, but those who do are branded She-Wolf and are not tolerated in most packs throughout Western Europe, Northern Africa, North America, and most of South America. It is only throughout the more southern regions of Africa, many of the Eastern European countries, and throughout all of Asia that the practice of she-wolf hunting is not tolerated and the number of packs who value the equality of shifting females grows smaller by the decade due to pressures from the more wealthy packs in other parts of the world in order to do business.

For various reasons, many werewolves do not live to see much past a century of age, mainly due to fighting that occurs between pack members or when pack politics change rapidly. Other than violence and some rare forms of poison, werewolves live exceptionally long lives and do not tend to age past middle age. Their lifespan is considered indefinite due to lack of evidence of elderly werewolves.

Genetic Ancestor(s)