Schwarzwald - The Black Forest (Sh-vartz-valt)

Unlike in modern times, Schwarzwald, or The Black Forest, extended from the Rhein River valley in the west to the Swabian Alps in the east. Instead of covering a rectangular and deforested stretch of 2,320 sq mi, it is believed that the vast area was once very sparsely populated and stretched to well over 5000 square miles. It is in this unpopulated region covered in thick forests of beech, oak, elm, and scots pine that the myth of transformative creatures first arose. The mountainous region was an almost mythological place, hunted and traveled by neighbors who never dared to settle or traverse the dense valleys after the sun left the sky. Many feared the ancient untamable creatures and demons that haunted the depths of this ancient place and rightly so.
It is here, in the 11th century, that Syres and his delegation from Denmark are lost, having run into an unseasonal blizzard that drove them to seek shelter in a small forest village on the edge of The Black Forest. It is here that Syres learns of the local's belief in wolf men, or werewolves, that transform during full moons. Syres, unafraid of anything at this stage, volunteers on behalf of his about-to-be-sacrificed delegation to kill the creature that has so far killed/infected 4 men, abducted two children, and has ravaged the local game, forcing the once plentiful hunting grounds of the forest to become barren.

The myth is that these creatures were infected by other creatures like themselves, released upon the world by the demons of the forest, and go mad with bloodlust on every full moon. They are wild men of the forest, avoiding humanity and their lust for killing by only inhabiting the uninhabitable Black Forest. Their lives, once infected, are forfeited as the creatures are driven from towns or exercised by the zealous priests of the Emperor. The changes of someone surviving such intervention from a man of the cloth was slim, at best. Therefore, most infected choose to join their own kind in exile away from humanity, lest they harm another.
This particular creature that is hunting down the villagers is a different sort of werewolf - Syres learns this when he finally does encounter the creature. It is massive, the size of a bear with its own pack of ravenous brown wolves. The children, and the men who were "turned", had already been used as ritual sacrifices by this enormous creature to appease the demon who created it. This demon has finally taken physical form, possessing the werewolf and challenging Syres, who is the only one able to really put up a fight against him. This demon has haunted and led travelers astray for unnumbered years and The Black Forest has been associated with the untamable and unconquerable spirit of such a creature for centuries. It has survived into the modern age where the depths of such an ancient place still echoes with majesty.