tomenthoid

This page is about the morphology and culture of lycan. If you're looking for information about the virus itself, see Taongaso. If you're looking for information about the illness, see Taongaso-Associated Illness.
Tomenthoids, also called lycan or teds, are infected who have the T-Virus. This is an inclusive term that includes Cainnites, Volkodlak, and trifected.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Tomenthoids are well known for their ability to take on animalistic traits if they so choose -- or in some cases, even if they would prefer not to. But when not actively undergoing Xenoexpression they are usually indistinguishable from non-infected humans, or rather, can pass as human in spite of having slightly different traits on average as a population.
The most common of such traits are large ears and greater amounts of body hair. About half of lycan woman develop masculine body hair such as thicker arm hair or additional pubic hair, with a smaller percentage developing facial hair (usually mutton chops). The type of facial hair is usually close to what is typical for that woman's ethnicity; Native American infected will have softer facial hair, while those with European ancestry will be more likely to have coarse hair. The same can be said for new growth of body hair, but for all ethnicities an overall increase is observed. Laser hair removal is helpful to those who would rather not be hairy, but it does not last forever in Cainnites or trifected.
Over time, subtle skeletal changes arise in most (not all) tomenthoids. Their arms tend to grow a little bit longer, so that when a tomenthoid has their arms relaxed, their hands reach about three-quarters of the way to their knee rather than just halfway. About 3% of lycan eventually develop arms so long the tips of their fingers reach the ends of their knees. Such "longcan" are usually capable of moving around on all fours with relative ease.

Genetics and Reproduction

Tomenthoid-Tomenthoid reproduction is dicey. Sometimes, during development, the fetus will express DNA from plasmids inherit from either parent. This can result in a child being born with birth defects, although given that xenoexpressed DNA is usually well controlled by hox genes, the child is unlikely to develop three eyes or an odd number of limbs. Indeed, these defects are along the lines of the tail never disintegrating during development, defects in the development of hands or feet, or, rarely, abnormal skull structure. In addition to the potential issues of brain development, the latter can result in anencephaly, although that particular birth defect is still less than a 1:2000 chance in tomenthoid-tomenthoid pairings.
Children who do survive often have health problems as they grow, sometimes severe. Skeletal abnormalities are far more common in these young, and although the children are usually not in pain (some cannot walk without pain though), they face social isolation due to crooked spines or malformed fingers. As such, the popular view among tomenthoids is to avoid having kids with each other, as that was the official medical recommendation for the past few years. However, those that do make it about three years old have been found to be to improve with the help of guided xenoexpression and surgery.
Reproduction between a tomenthoid and a non-infected is usually without problem, although tends to take more attempts if the tomenthoid is the one making sperm as some of them will inevitably have plasmid leading to early miscarriage should conception with one of these sperms occur. The same goes for cachaemites and zeitgabberim (with the usual zeitgabberim issues of fertility aside), provided they do not also have the T-virus.

Growth Rate & Stages

Contrary to certain sensationalist headlines, most tomenthoids are not capable of hulking out into massive beasts. Even the very few that can do so over the course of several months.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Lycan enjoy chewing on bones. Even when marrow is not present, they seem to find the task soothing. However, unlike cachaemites and zeitgabberim they do not have the "background noise" of cannibalistic hunger. That being said, an angered tomenthroid will often seek something to chew on to calm themselves down, and might pick the object of their anger.

Biological Cycle

Xenoexpression in tomenthoids is known to be tied to light, especially light that occurs during nighttime.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Like Zeds, tomenthoids are naturally inclined towards forming tight-knit social groups. They will often form packs with other tomenthoids, living together in small groups of 4 - 10. However, some anthropologists say that this is simply another example of the well-established social phenomenon of "having roommates," a necessity in this economy.
Packs generally have a leader figure of sorts but are not strictly hierarchical. Serious challenges to the leader's suggested course of action tend to spiral into long-winded but oddly calm debates. As such, the leader, formally or informally, tends to be whoever is the most eloquent or best able to argue their points.
The difference between a pack and a horde of zeds is that members of a pack are more inclined to argue if there is a disagreement in opinion and that hordes do not really have an upper limit on size. A horde, particularly a large one, tends to be more "collective" rather than a being a group of individual relationships.

"You know everyone in a pack. Even though you might think some of them are assholes, it's ride or die unless they really fuck you over. But you don't know everyone in your horde, and you're okay with that. The horde won't fuck you over, because you are the horde, and the horde is you."

-- Cipher

It is not uncommon for packs to form alliances with each other, in fact, they prefer to do so rather than struggle for power. These alliances, sometimes called superpacks, can sometimes span entire cities. When superpacks do clash, it isn't unlike a gang war -- never good for anybody involved.

Domestication

A landmark ruling in Taqfleck has lead to the decision that putting a collar on an unwilling tomenthoid is a hate crime.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Tomenthoids, by merit of their bigger ears, have better hearing on average than most humans.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Lycan who do form a pack often give themselves names around a common theme, or share a family name. Unfortunately, lycan who do this tend to have similar ideas.
There are over three thousand people in Licentia named some variation of Bone.

Gender Ideals

In a purely lycan society, body hair is acceptable on lycan women, although the line is drawn on facial hair beyond mutton chops. A fully shaved (except hair on the head) lycan woman is usually considered to be "trying too hard" or, worse still, trying to trick her fellow tomenthoids into thinking that she is not a tomenthoid. The fact pheromones mean that essentially any tomenthoid who has had the virus for more than about a year and a half can be smelt by other tomenthoids is apparently besides the point.
Things differ greatly in societies were lycan are not the norm. In these places, lycan woman frequently face harsh judgement for body hair. Paradoxically, lycan woman in such situations who cannot easily control their body hair will grow it out to the point of being covered in it. Being a human with fur is more acceptable to non-lycans than women with full beards. Queer spaces are usually less judgemental, leading to many straight lycan woman finding friendships in there. Such women are called "furfag hags," usually affectionately.

Courtship Ideals

The taboo against tomenthoid-tomenthoid relationships still exist due to its higher probability of resulting in children with birth defects, and it's so strong that tomenthoid-tomenthoid couples are frowned upon even if they don't intend on having children. Nevertheless, pack bonds means such relationships are often inevitable.
One of the first things a tomenthoid will do when dating is introduce them to their pack, or if they don't have one, their close friends. A date who doesn't get along with the tomenthoid's chosen family will rarely be a date for long.

Common Etiquette Rules

Howling past 3 AM is considered a faux pas.

Common Dress Code

Lycan who are proud of their condition often go shirtless, both for comfort with their hirsute bodies and to show off. This includes Lycan women, which has lead to many discussions in Licentia as to what is and isn't appropriate outside of adult settings. The general consensus, widely recognized to be completely arbitrary, tends to be that it's fine if the woman in question is hirsute enough for her nipples to be covered.
Lycan who Xenoexpress, whether intentionally or not, often modify their clothes to better fit their bodies. Licentia has a complex internal economy centered around footwear for this reason.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

There is some cultural friction between tomenthoid and cachaemites. Some of this stems from the fact that cachaemites are less inclined to join a group with the dynamics of a pack, and some of it is from general mistrust of their previous history -- before the Z-virus pushed the other two viruses under the rug by the sheer amount of societal upheaval it caused, tomenthoids and cachaemites, not wanting to be associated with each other's bad press, sometimes targeted each other. In San Diego in particular, this spiraled into a gang war bordering on civil unrest, which ended only when most cachaemites in the area were driven out, many taking refuge in LA. This was one of the earliest destabilizes of Proto-Licentia and still creates tensions in Taqfleck today, although most cachaemites and Lycan in tomenthoid are now "over it." Outside of Southern California, things are less tense.

Genetic Descendants

• Cainnites
• Desnudos
• Mercers
• trifected
• Volkodlak

Average Height

It is not uncommon for a tomenthoid to grow about 1-3 inches within about a year of being infected. This is due to how the disease affects bone tissue.

Average Physique

A bit more muscular than they were prior to infection.