The Shifting
The shifting ability wolves have in their blood and enjoy from their puberty to their elderly age.
Transmission & Vectors
The shifting is inherited from wolf parents to wolf children. In the counted cases of half-blood children, some of them were able to shift into full wolves if a bit small, some managed to turn into a hybrid creature for a short period of painful time and some couldn't change at all.
Causes
A werewolf is born with a special gland at some point behind his stomach. This organ, called the shifter by healers, is underdeveloped until the child gets into his puberty, when he grows and changes and the shifter firstly activates and frees its hormone into his veins.
This substance, which is felt as an incredibly powerful energy current through one's body, almost like a lightning zap, carries the orders for the bones and muscles to break and relocate and shift the teenager into a young wolf. However, the first, uncontrolled time the shifter activates, it almost never manages a full transformation, and the kid is tortured by its own changing-but-no body by several minutes. This process repeats every few hours for the first days, after which the young werewolf's body will manage to fulfil the shifting. It will still happen randomly and painfully for a variable number of days.
After that, the newly complete werewolf will have problems controlling his shifting for weeks or months, depending on his self-control, and after that he will be able to shift at will and use the full strength of both his forms.
This substance, which is felt as an incredibly powerful energy current through one's body, almost like a lightning zap, carries the orders for the bones and muscles to break and relocate and shift the teenager into a young wolf. However, the first, uncontrolled time the shifter activates, it almost never manages a full transformation, and the kid is tortured by its own changing-but-no body by several minutes. This process repeats every few hours for the first days, after which the young werewolf's body will manage to fulfil the shifting. It will still happen randomly and painfully for a variable number of days.
After that, the newly complete werewolf will have problems controlling his shifting for weeks or months, depending on his self-control, and after that he will be able to shift at will and use the full strength of both his forms.
Symptoms
Werewolves, even in their human-like form, aren't like humans.
Their body hairs grow too fast and also fall too fast, they have a wild aura, an animal-like presence. Some say their eyes shine too much to be normal, of that they feel like prey in front of a predator.
In their animal form, weird patterns and impossible color palettes are the only way to identify them as not really wolves. This animal form is independent from the werewolf's physical looks and even eye color does not need to coincide.
Their body hairs grow too fast and also fall too fast, they have a wild aura, an animal-like presence. Some say their eyes shine too much to be normal, of that they feel like prey in front of a predator.
In their animal form, weird patterns and impossible color palettes are the only way to identify them as not really wolves. This animal form is independent from the werewolf's physical looks and even eye color does not need to coincide.
Treatment
The only way to remove the shifting ability from a wolf is disabling his shifter. This is considered a cruelty, and only healers keep the secret recipe that allows them to do so. It's only done as a last resort, if someone's shifter is damaged and doesn't work properly, forcing the wolf into chaotic and painful transformations.
Prognosis
A full-grown wolf should be able to manually activate his shifter and change by himself. The only exceptions have been mutations, hybrids and wounds that damaged the gland. A wolf never loses the ability to shift, but as he ages it may become an effort he might not be able to handle. When the wolf dies, all the remaining hormone is freed and the corpse shifts by itself.
Affected Groups
All wolf men and women from puberty on.
Prevention
A healthy wolf child will eventually shift. There's no way to prevent it.
History
Most wolf packs agree time is infinite and they have always existed, therefore there's no point on looking for the origin of something like their ability. Some say, however, that their ancestors used to be humans long, long ago...
Cultural Reception
It's the natural thing among werewolves. Not being able to shift is considered the cruelest of conditions.
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