Tell me about the werewolves of your setting

They were made by the gods by putting wild beasts into the skins of men. They are the Keepers of Curses, who can smell curses place on men and have a compulsion to 'enforce' the curse however they think they can.

They just want to cuddle together.
>You'll never meet your werewolf husbando ;.;

True werewolves are made by nature gods or powerful fey in order to protect the land from a great imbalance, usually the presence of the undead or the destructive progress of mortal civilization. The process is unpredictable and takes months to complete the fusion of man and beast but those that survive the process to the very end are nearly unstoppable in completing their mission, after which they simply wither and die.
Mages of all kind have studied this phenomenon and created their own versions of the ritual, which is much faster and creates a being that isn't nearly as powerful but is longer lived and far easier to control.

>werewolves
I duuno, you had them lat.

...

Almost forgot, we called them Werewuvs

I really like this. I've been trying to figure out a way to link Druids with the fey in my setting. This gives me some great ideas. Thank you for sharing!

OP I know you are a faggot by default, by why don't you at least partially redeem yourself by posdting pics of acceptable resolution?

>ftw no werewolf husbando to cuddle up with and play all your favorite DS games.

humans cursed by vampires and used as attack dogs and hunting "dogs" they also are permamently turned and do not remeber jack all from their past and are now mindless beasts controlled by their vampire lord.

Their looks varie some have fur while some lack it, the curse and transformation is quite brutal and has its toll.

>wereboars
Oinkbane is that you?

Our setting actually uses wererats

i like this, alot 10/10

What's the lifespan of a werewolf? Could the old ones still be alive somewhere?

The children of Ferrine the Wolfmother. The wereblood had become diluted after innumerable generations, werewolves beget wolves beget dogs. This degenerate lycanthropy, rabidness, shows how thinly spread the Wolfmother's legacy is.

The old ones have entirely lost their humanity, and are immortal save death by silver weapons. Second generation werewolves and onward are as mortal as their original forms, though they becomes wizened and appear aged faster than their counterparts (mechanically identical, this is a cosmetic effect).

The story of how they came to be is common folklore, but the identity and location of their homeland is lost. If the PCs want to focus on this, I usually point them in the direction of increased attacks near an unexplored part of the empire's borders, where towns bordering the heavily wooded frontier are dealing with the less powerful threat of second-gen pups who have formed bandit packs. It might be smart to start searching there.

There are two types.
>The first type is the common beastman, typically seen in its raids against the civilized people. Faster, tougher and a better fighter than a typical human and sometimes wearing crude light armor.
>The second time is a blessing from Hades, the god of the dead whose sacred animal is the hound. This version stands as tall as an ogre but even more dangerous being far faster and even having capabilities to regenerate from wounds like a troll. Only skilled servants of Hades are allowed such a blessing and their usual role is to hunt down and destroy those who try to defy the cycle of life and death (mainly undead).
Neither can infect other humans.

The Blood-wolves who haunt the eastern steppes are horrible beasts which arose from a cabal of demented necromancers trying to learn the secrets of fleshcrafting, known in full only to the most twisted of Elder Hags. Their botched experiments upon a pack of wolves gave bloody birth to a pack of unbound spirits who manifest from the viscera of living and dead alike.

Living mortals possessed by these spirits are slowly consumed by bloodlust and their bodies twisted into primal brutes. If slain, the blood and muscle of the slain person burst forth in a lupine form, mauling anything within reach before it flees into the wilderness.

Given our campaign currently takes place in Innistrad, pretty much exactly how they usually work, moonlight causes the transformation, feral minds, no known cure, yadda yadda.
The only deviation we've come across so far is the creation of magical belts I assume have been infused with lycanthropy, as when the night starts, the wearer transforms into a werewolf without causing them to lose their sanity. True werewolves can't tell the difference and will almost readily accept them into the pack so long as they don't actively oppose. The downside is that repeated uses cause the curse's influence to become harder to resist, causes the wearer to see no reason to take the belt off, needing a third party to remove, and slowly becomes addictive, actively seeking out the belt should it be removed, possibly seeking werewolves to become bitten.
Basically, short-term gain of being able to hide from lycans, long-term loss of becoming a werewolf without even being bitten.

This is still in development but here goes

- They name themselves the Unsung, based on the term "unsung hero"

- Silver is harmless; in fact, you'd more likely piss them off for trying to kill them using an object some of them hold sacred

- They're technically not bound by the moon, but anyone with a strong enough belief of the moon aspect would likely be vulnerable to the moon's influences

- They're not drawn by the forest, but rather by what they perceive as large open spaces

- Infection is the most likely when it's blood-to-blood contact; every other method is far more unlikely, but it's happened before

- Their first reversion to their human form permanently changes their facial structure until the changes stop

- Their bodies retain the same flexibility of their shifted forms, but it's awkward to do because of the differences in body proportions

- The first transformation involves their human nails, teeth, and every strand of hair to fall off, to make way for fur, claws and fangs that extend or retract; their "hair" in human form would be very different to the touch, their claws are actually their fingertip bones having extended and halving itself into new, permanent digits that they need to use different tools to trim

- Some of them can end up having elf-like ears in human form, which made some humans believe the European Unsung to be elves back then, and basically any Unsung to be elves in modern times, thanks to modern fantasy works

- Some are born or turned with sharper senses than most; i.e. Those with much sharper hearing need to wear specially-made "hearing aids" that help adjust their hearing, sharper sight means they're given special glasses that prevent their eyes from unconsciously zooming in and out, all to help them avoid disorienting themselves

(contd.)

MAN
BEAR
PIG

(contd.)

- They don't particularly crave for more meat, but they do have a much larger appetite in general, with advanced digestive systems that allow them to eat things like raw meat

But there's a catch

- Those not familiar with the taste of raw meat actually need to be taught how to eat raw meat, whether for sustenance or for sheer appreciation for the taste of raw meat (think of it like teaching a baby how to eat)

- There's a running gag popular among the turned where they'll state their age in a much lower number than their actual biological age; this is actually them stating how long they've been a werewolf

- Their advanced regeneration has made them become able to sober up from alcoholic beverages far quicker than humans, but this can be a curse to liquor enthusiasts; it's not unheard of for an Unsung to suffer a physical ailment from excessive liquor consumption in an attempt to make up for that loss, and a subculture/philosophy has emerged from the ancient Unsung, wherein one has to learn to appreciate the taste and inebriation in such a short timespan

- An Ancient Unsung is very likely to be suffering long periods of depression or something similar due to having lived such a long life, and being unable to self-terminate; Some have gotten to the point where they take counseling from the younger Unsung as a mutual learning experience as the elder Unsung's treatment goes on; this has often lead to the ancients giving themselves into the effort to entrust the future of the world to the younger generations for as long as they can live

(contd.)

Generally tales of beast men can be attributed to two of three things: the Cu Sidhe, the Wargr, and/or some liquor

The Cu Sidhe are a type of elf, though few would recognize them as such. They're towering bestial creatures with bodies that combine the most fearsome aspects of elk, wolf, bear and ape, and eyes that burn with equal parts ferocity and cunning. They are generally a peaceful people, but very reclusive and easily spooked. Many a Hunter has crossed into the territory of the beast elves looking to catch some game, but leave not only without their quarry but also without their dignity, often screaming and panicking all the way back to their homesteads. A few unlucky ones get to bring home atlatl darts as embedded souvenirs

The Wargr are a subrace of man, native to a few secluded forest islands. They're known for two things: their fiercely defended paganism, and their ability to bind their souls to animals. This grants various benefits to both man and beast, and a few powerful Wargr can place their entire soul in their familiar animal, turning it into a hideous half beast hybrid, often with great magical powers. This is rare and exceptionally dangerous, as the resulting beast may take on a life of its own and steal the Wargr's soul. They can then take on the form of men, and act out the Wargr's basest desires, often leading to the sorts of massacres that inspire the tales of were beasts

Not exactly were -wolves-.

I am not sorry.

>ousted politician
>willing to do anythinf to be publically relevant again
>"Werewolves are real guys I swear. Here watch my totally factual and unbiased slide show about the menace among us!"

I can dig it.

No need to be, I do feel that Aisha's transformation was terribly underused especially considering that all members of her race can do it.

Imagine an army of Cat/Wolves falling on you, filling the halls of your ship and mauling everything in their way.

(contd.)

- They have a worldwide market on the production of weapons made almost entirely out of their own bodyparts, harvested while they're still alive

- They also invent things like suits with motorized wheels attached to their hands and feet, making them into living ATVs, and they use that as part of their werewolf racing and gladiatorial chariot fighting scenes

- Ancient Unsung are likely to have mastered their lycanthropy and apply it in unique ways; i.e. mastery of their regeneration to generate auxiliary limbs or splitting their finger digits GitS-like, using their blood pressure and circulation to generate gas into their fingertips, turning their claws into bullets they can shoot from their fingers, etc

(contd.)

This is the stupidest thing I've ever read

Sorry bro, I didn't mean to tag you in You're alright

Both forms have their own advantages - weapons and armor versus being (even) more resilent, fast and scary as fuck.

(contd.)

- They have a mutual relationship with the Hunters, initially working together out of necessity after their fighting almost led both of them being wiped out by non-hunter humans fed up with the damage they've been causing; the Unsung assists the Hunters with problems far too large for the Hunters to handle or specifically requesting Unsung assistance, and the Hunters assist the Unsung on issues related to blending in, covering up large-scale operations, and/or as valuable joint operation team members

- Both signed an agreement that restricts Unsung from using firearms, for reasons such as a safety measure to avoid the younger damaging their ears from unsupressed shots, and to avoid giving the Unsung too much of an edge against the Hunters (The prior inventions mentioned such as motorized wheel suits can also be weaponized with back-strapped cannons, but were required to be civilian use only until specifically ordered to be weaponized for an operation)

um

I think that's about it? Like I said, it's still in development

Terror weapons meant to work behind the enemy lines, now decommissioned and covered up by the government.

It wasn't really my idea to post it all here to begin with

Sorry

people who manage to make a contract with a certain circle of gods and spirituals can become werebeasts , and get to keep their human half and mind as long as they do one or another job for them.

most people who make a contract are either those with an impulsive desire for revenge/power
or (in most cases) massive furfags simply because it makes sense

...is he pooping down the chimney? That's just uncalled for!

Thanks

You know, what happens if a werewolf gets bitten by another werewolf? Will they turn into double werewolf?

what if you put a bunch of werewolves in a circle and then all bite the adjacent werewolf next to them.

What happens?

what happens if you have AIDS and you fuck another person that has AIDS?

They get super AIDs.

They complete their mitotic phase and divide into a human and a wolf.

>Africa

they turn a bit darker every time

Are Africans wereAIDs and wereMalaria?

Nah, that would be too subtle.

>wereAIDS
>Africa

It works on a few levels.

Can someone please delete these posts, Veeky Forums clearly doesn't like them, no point in keeping them up

Well

Unless yall want something to poke fun at till this thread dies

Huh...so the cure for lycanthropy is more lycanthropy?

Warriors and secret police for the California, Nevada, Baja California area. But disbanded after the secret order of mages was supplanted by vampires . Now they are hunted on grounds of heresy. San Diego is the last fortress home they'll ever know.

Humanity is the hybrid offspring of Dragons and Catfolk. Primordial man was much more animalistic, with monkey tails and big bushy sideburns and a gait far more reminiscent of Sun Wukong than anything else. Over the course of thousands of years the tails were lost due to Elven intervention, but the process made Humanity genetically unstable, always eager to return to a more stable form.

Werewolves are what happens when a Human druid spends too much time in an animal form; when they shift back to a more humanoid form, some traits of their race come back with them (this is why there are werebears, boars, etc.) Worse, their minds turn gradually more feral in the transformations, and they seek out Humans to infect as they innately feel they're doing those humans a "favor."

A popular conspiracy theory is that the Elves implanted a "kill-switch" in Human DNA that causes the transformations, as Elves live on the moon and the transformations only occur during Full Moons (Wild Hunts, when the Elves gate down to the planet to wreck havok, occur during New Moons) has led many to believe the Elves are up to something.

>full moon
>werewolf howls
>actually mating call
>wolfInHeat.webm
>violent werewolf "attacks" are lycanthropes "cultivating" a suitable mating partner

>The gods created werewolves
>through some accident, one bit another and divided into man and wolf (dog)
>They all started doing this birthing the race of man and their trusty friend, the dog
>The god of werewolves threw his arms up in the air in disgust and left
>The elves meanwhile were completely flabbergasted as to what just happened

Genetically engineered monsters. A attempt at creating Super Soldiers from a past TES-Final Fantasy-Atlantis age that's long over and completely forgotten by all save for the most esoteric historians. Lycanthropes are pseudo-sapient animals that stalk the unexplored wilderness of the world and there are many myths and legends about them. There's the usual old wives tales: a bite will infect you with lycanthropy, they're allergic to silver, they're humans in daytime. All are lies.

Werecreatures are a species unto themselves, they are not a disease or a infection. The myths were someone "contracts" Lycanthropy can mostly be attributed to some unlucky sod getting rabies. They're not weak to silver, you can kill a Werewolf with any type of weapon. But they're like Gorillas, their hide is thick to the point where they can seemingly shrug off shotgun blasts. Werewolves don't shapeshift, but they d often travel with a pack of Wolves and have been known to... Capture women from local villages.

Resulting in some captives developing a form of Stockholm Syndrome that develops into loyalty for their "pack". Often ending in them leading away naive travelers to certain doom. It's unknown if Werewolves can reproduce with one another, if they reproduce with wolves, or if they need a steady supply of human slaves in order to maintain the existence of their species. They have no known language and it's unlikely they ever made that leap from "intelligent animal" to "tool wielding" sapient.

Esoteric historians like many in the upper echelons in the Sepherim Church or in the more archiac of the Illuminatus Orders theorize that they may have once been capable of speech and were less bestial and savage in the distant past. A notion scoffed at by the learned scholars in the Duluth University.

You can if they're yours

I can't though, says "can't delete posts this old", I might be doing something wrong

I was pushed into making my posts, I didn't want to risk offending any of you here with shit none of you are interested in

I'm sorry, I was stupid

The Lunar Throne is the second oldest Throne still on the Sprawl. It consists of basically all forms of lycanthropes, with tigers, wolves, and rabbits being the most common, but nearly every land mammal is represented. Originally, the faction also included the merfolk, but they split off upon the discovery of a Throne in the ocean. The strength of all the Lunars tends to shift with the phases of the moon, with maximum strength on the full moon, and minimum on the new moon, though about 15% of the population are "Opposed Lunars", who experience this in reverse.

Physical ability and some mannerisms are usually tied to whatever a Lunar's animal form is. Werebears are larger, stronger, and tougher than humans, even when untransformed, wolves and cats are faster and more agile. The Rabbits tend to be one of the better arcane magic-using races on the plane (when was the last time you saw a magician pull a dog out of a hat?), actually surpassing the true humans during the fullest quarter of the lunar cycle, particularly when it comes to spacial magic.

The current faction leader has been sleeping for close to fifty years now, after expending an enormous amount of energy to destroy the Immortal Throne, assisted by the Noctural throne. The One-Night's War, as that confrontation was called, is the reason that other factions have almost entirely avoided conflict outside of the Shroud.

They are undead.

There aren't any, because werewolves don't interest me.

user, stop your self-flaggelation. The term for them is dumb, but other than that it's a run-of-the-mill worldbuilding idea. It's terrible, but not DELETE THIS terrible.

Terrible is still terrible, and I wasn't fully intending on dirtying up this thread with it

And the rest of the thread is making it clear that it's not what yall want or like, so I just think there's no point keeping it up any longer

>not having wererats

user, i feel a physical need to slap you.

Stop whining and go improve your shit. You won't get sympathy here no matter how much you fish for it. Only through a righteous deed you can redeem yourself.

This. I've posted some shitty homebrew crap in the past. Often when I was drunk, resulting in the text being all but unreadable. But none of it was deletable. Sure it was god awful shit combining Paradise Lost with a generic LOTR world, but the Anons were honest with me about how shitty it was and told me what I needed to improve on without flipping out or acting like some learned RPG scholar tipping a wizard hat.

Now I took their words from heart, building a new setting that takes the good elements of my past abomination. Hell, I'm even writing a little short story about it. sure I may not be Publishable yet, but I've seen way worse fanfiction.net shit.

You can easily become a werewolf in my setting by wearing an enchanted wolf's skin, but only after you underwent a ritual that invokes a second life in you. You can put the skin on and off as you like, but the more and longer you do the more your shapeshifting leaves traces iny our appearance. That is to say you're going to be a horribly disfigured man-beast whose human features are grossly distorted to accommodate for the animal features forcing their way into your appearance.

You can also just wear an enchanted wolf's skin, or a totemic piece of gear fashioned from any animal's fur, feathers or bones, but it will only transform you into a weird sabretooth-like ugly person.

You'll be hella strong, quick or agile, though, based on what animal totem you evoke.

They are totally intelligent, rational creatures. They are a separate but similar race to humans. The setting doens't have elves or dwarves, so its races only really consist of a few human races and a few Luper (wolf man) races.

The wolf men have offshoots of Moon Wolf, Sun Wolf, Grass Wolf and Sand Wolf. These last two are misnomers; a Grass Wolf is really a Fox man and a Sand wolf is a Hyena.

They tend to be extremely friendly and welcoming to humans. Their latent family and group structure is much less defined then humans and less rigid; humans tend to be thought of as cruel and paranoid where as the humans think of the Luper as naive and gullible.

The Goblin tribes of my setting live as nomads, and are magically adept but bad with technology. Most sentient species hunt them because they are a nuisance, using a scalp bounty system to try and and keep their numbers down.

In reaction their moon god has given them their warriors the ability to become werewolves, making them immune to none-silver weaponry. The werewolf transformation makes them dangerously unstable, so they tend to live in separate bands which stay a few miles away from the larger tribe and clear out any humanoids or monsters in the region.

A large goblin tribe of 1,000 people might have thirty werewolves in four packs of seven, with one leader. In some of the harsher regions there are bands where every member is a werewolf, such as in the Roil (which I stole from MtG).

Breed true, not infectious. Myths regarding werewolf infection are mostly paranoia. Qasqir themselves, who generally find the word 'werewolf' itself ridiculous, almost universally believe themselves to be an elder race predating mankind (a boast made by many species, from feyfolk to goblinoids to avari), and that humans have lost the ability to change their shape. Human cultures have varying explanations for the werewolf strain.

Silver is not the only material to mitigate the regenerative properties possesed by qasqir. Generally, the purer the metal, the more effective it is in breaking their hide and inflicting lasting damage. Gold and platinum are generally not used in such a way due to their other aesthetic or practical values.

A propaganda myth created by a group of organized churches to generate animosity and distrust towards Druids and other followers of the older faiths. By playing on the superstitions of the masses, they were able to drive out competing religions and establish themselves as the sole arbiters of moral truth and divine guidance. It is also how they maintain their monopoly on magical healing.

So they are colossal mary sues? A species of wolf people with wolverine powers who don't even feel unnatural need for meat?

Tell me, why would humans still be around in this world? Why wouldn't the "Unsung" simply out-compete them?

Dude, read the thread, he's already gotten his talk-to. No need to push his shit in even more, he's learned his lesson.

The Court of the Queen in Red.

Out on the border lands of the kingdoms of the north, in a place of perpetual overcast and miserable rain. None know of its origins. It has always been there for at least as long as there have been written records. The court dwells in an old, half buried, stone and turf roofed long house. Within that house it is dark and gloomy. There is a small fire in the center of the house but it seems to provide enough warmth but little light. At the far end of the hall is a throne. It is hard to tell if it is age darkened wood or stone. There sits the Queen.

The Court, if such they are, are half seen in the gloom. Tall, lean and naked. Their eyes gleam in the dimness reflecting the flicker of the fire like those of a predator. Their teeth are those of a carnivorous beast. They smell of wood smoke and earth on the times they don't smell of fresh blood.

The queen is as imposing as the rest of her court. Tall, athletic and predatory with yellow Lupine eyes, carnivore teeth and a stare that tells you that she can already see you dead.

For a price her people will help you. They are not mercenaries. Their price exists simply to ensure that you do not mistake them for servants. They do have a code of behavior. If you transgress what they deem proper behavior it will end badly for you.

Their means of war is more like hunting. When you have their services you will never see them fight. If you patrol near an enemy camp you might hear screams as their patrols see them. You may find the corpses. They leave a lot of corpses when they are employed. Some of them have the meat gnawed off of the bones. Favorite seems to be the heart.

The price for their service is often odd. A piece of ice from a distant glacier, an acorn from another continent, glass beads of many colours, meat, a copy of all of your memories between the ages of 4 and 12. If you refuse to pay them they hunt you down

They're mostly just normal humans in their late teens that gather into groups at the full moon, eat raw meat, and cause general pranks and stupid shit once a month.

They don't really live all that long, either because food poisoning/salmonella, they actually try to attack a police officer screaming something about "Hunters thinning their packs", or actually trying to mate with wild animals.

PCs encounter them not too often, but generally keep their distance if they do. Not out of fear, mind you, but out of a general understanding that it's not ok to mess with the mentally impaired.

I quite enjoyed Bloodborne's "werevolves", personally

That's pretty good

I'm tempted to steal it

I hate good looking werewolves. Mine are hairless and wrinkled in their lupine form, with long thin limbs. They are still physically very powerful, but they look like cursed humans and not like sweet anthro wolf boiz.

Lycanthropy comes from a forbidden spell (meaning a witch hunt will be called on you if you're caught casting it), and werewolves cannot transmit it to others by bite. It's weak at first, only really making the victim wolf out if they let it happen during a full moon. Over time, the disease grows stronger (it gets difficult to not shapeshift even if just a part of the moon is showing) until it's permanent and they cannot transform back to normal.

Eventually, the victim loses their humanity and is reduced to a beast. Not necessarily mindless or incapable of thinking, but a beast nonetheless. Lycanthropy can be cured, but the cure will not have an effect if the lycanthropy has grown too strong by that. Only humans and elves can be affected by lycanthropy, but there's no known differences between a human's lycanthropy and an elf's lycanthropy.

Other than that, they're not too different from the typical werewolf.

People cursed by the Moon Goddess (who is also the Goddess of Madness).

When her power over the mortal realm is at its fullest, she invades their minds and corrupts their bodies turning them into monstrous, violent balls of visceral hate and death.

The only beings they won't immediately try and kill in this form are other afflicted. Though left without any else to prey upon, they will fall to (rarely fatal) infighting.

It cannot be cured, it cannot be controlled, and you would murder your newborn child.

In ancient times, they were a part of a divine and demonic eugenics program. In modern times, the rare descendants of these programs are picked up at birth and taken to the capital and trained in how to control themselves and how to best fight in either form while being indoctrinated heavily to serve their master, the Emperor. At the end of their training, they are fanatically loyal to the Empire and nearly unstoppable killing machines when need be. They are the Royal guard.

In were form, they are double the size of a human, many times as strong and immune to all but sanctified silver (regular silver does fuck all) and holy weapons.

There are those that flunk out of training because they can't control themselves, or those that are missed and left on their own and are considered little more than beasts to be hunted.

They are generally well liked by the community and feared but respected by the nobles.

Go ahead, I ain't callin the cops. This also ties in with the creation of "Vampires" . If the ritual is left incomplete for some means the poisoned spirit will generally roam about and just pile on evil and negative emotions until it becomes just a pure mass of hate and bloodlust.

One such spirit existed for such a long time it managed to manifest as a physical embodiment of bloodlust and would possess the bodies of whomever or whatever killed it and continue it's rampage.

It wasn't until a particularly knight of the church fought the creature and too was possessed but managed to overcome it's will with her own due to her faith.

But there is nothing beautiful about these vampires. They too often start assuming numerous animal like aspects (teeth and claws of predetory cats, snouts, tufts of fur, wings in some cases) the process is more gradual and less gruesome then the were-monsters but the longer a "Vampire" lives the more monsterous it becomes.

The original one is now a giant bloated amalgamation of a Falcon and a Lion with several mouths across it's distended -taur like torso where it moves on twisted but muscluar legs.

As she retains her sanity (or whats left of it) it still tries to wear regal like clothing owing to her self proclaimed title of Queen.

Or you can just accuse anyone of being a werewolf if they don't drink in the first place, and then force them to drink to prove that they're not

Just one of the many and really that interesting to be honest.

No one is sure how the curse was first made but it spreads like a disease. It can be rather troublesome given most the time the affliction is hidden and few even learn to control it. Its said if one is able to stay conscious and remember it all during the transformation you have the potential to control it. Given how painful it is and how many infected forget most of it its know surprise why those who can control it are rare.

The cure for it is easy when it hasn't sunken in too deep(as in the early stages) otherwise you'll need very powerful cure to root it out or death. Its said that their ilk and the beastmen are somehow connected given their similarities but no one knows if this is actually true or not.

Extinct.

I liked that monsters associated with the various Old Ones took different forms.

Low-mid level fodder for PCs.Can slap together some sort of werewolf "mystery" quest to fill time easily. Also great as an excuse to slaughter some furfag scum.

There's no single thing called a "werewolf", that's peasant rumor mixing together two different things.

One is something like shapeshifters/druids, who can wholly or partly take on animal forms and aspects, including that of wolves. These people are voluntary, controlled, and at least _possibly_ friendly even if they're mostly really weird furfags. This skill is mostly born, but theoretically possible to acquire, it's under control, and once you have it, it has to be trained and practiced to do anything more impressive than "sprout fur".

The other is people who have for whatever reason been possessed by a bad juju spirit: death curse, ritual gone horribly wrong, ritual gone horribly right, evil artifact, etc. People possessed by Hunger Spirits transform into quasi-'werewolves' which are very little to do with actual wolves, they just look wolvish. Natural animals fear and shun anyone possessed like this. Rage Spirits make you a 'werebear', Plague Spirits a 'wererat', etc. This is always acquired, never innate, and mostly not trainable except to try to prevent yourself transforming involuntarily when the spirit acts up.

Lycanthropes in my setting are pretty much extinct, but the races descended from them still thrive. On my setting's main world, almost all forms of mammalian life are literally alien to the mostly reptile dominated mostly desert world. At some point in the past the disease of lycantropy gained a foothold in the world and reacted most readily in humans, perhaps due to a lack of resistance to unprecedented infectious disease by virtue of being a designed race rather than a natural one. Most lycanthropes quickly died of exposure due to normal fur coats being bad news for the hot sands of the main land, but the werewolves that survived eventually adapted to a single form rather than three and became my setting's gnolls, whereas the weretigers moved to the polar jungles and evolved into what are now catfolk. Both races still carry the ability to spread lycanthropy through bite, but catfolk have become too civilized to bite in combat normally, and gnolls don't let their prey live long enough to suffer the effects of the bite. A recurring theme for many of the races in the setting are that, if they're humanoid and not of reptilian nature, they're probably descended from something that shouldn't be mixing with humans mixing with humans.

A myth from the untamed northlands. Dwarves in the region insist that they're real and that their wrath is terrifying.

It's not a transmittable curse, but a learned ability from the shapeshifting elven druids of the Wolf Tribe. Few outsiders have gained the dubious honor of being bonded to the wolf spirit in such a way, though it is their wandering into southern lands that propagate the legends and tall tales regarding them.

Those who lack the power of will to control the form are liable to lose themselves to it, making it a risky endeavor for even for the druids who have trained for decades- it is called upon when the need is dire.

yeah boi

There are no true werewolves in my setting. The closest equivalent are imitations designed to evoke the image of them, back when human civilization still existed.

werewolves were originally the descendants of a royal family who slaughtered a forest deity with a silvered weapon and summarily cursed. they of course spread this curse to much of the remaining people in the kingdom, resulting in a ruined, werewolf-infested domain, whose inhabitants are in a constant succession war based on bloodline purity and supposed right to rule.