first full moon

[moonshined]

Just sort of wondering: what kind of creatures have you all got where you come from? For example, in my world, there are things like dragons and unicorns, but also kelpies and hinkypunks and Blast-Ended Skrewts and werewolves, I suppose.

[Let him just casually add that in there at the end.]

It makes me curious as to how much overlap there might be between worlds. Also on the docket: are they rare? Are they accepted by society? Do they have a bad reputation? Do people…keep them as pets or something?

Comments

[braveatheart]

Dragons, unicorns, kelpies, hinkypunks, Blast-Ended Skrewts... and werewolves. Check, check, check, check, check and check.

[moonshined]

Well, that's

[hang on that's definitely a name he knows—]

JAMES?

[braveatheart]

The system works! He can read!

[moonshined]

I was just taken off-guard, that's all!
Where are you? How long have you been here?

[braveatheart]

Newly off the inter-dimensional train. In some kind of village?
I still haven't figured out what the bloody hell is going on.

i cant believe you have my first tag

[manuscripture]

Normal animals?

You know: Lizards, horses, cats, birds, wolves that aren't catered to people prone to drug use?

The Hell is a hinkypunk?

#blessed

[moonshined]

Well, we have those, too. But they're not magical or anything. The creatures I'm talking about are all considered magical creatures in my world.

What do you mean about wolves and drug use?

Also, a hinkypunk is a funny little thing with one leg that tries to lure travelers off their paths.

[manuscripture]

There are a lot of things I've seen and a lot I believe in but werewolves aren't real.

In mythology but otherwise not so much.

[moonshined]

I can tell you with a very high degree of accuracy that they are real.

[manuscripture]

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say in your world maybe. Not mine.

I'm a big fan of all things weird and creepy. Does that make you feel better?

[shieldofrohan]

Dragons we had once, but the last was slain some years before my time. Werewolves, vampires, other creatures of darkness... if they are myth or history, I know not.

Wolves, and wargs, and there are tales too of trees that move and speak. The Orcs are little more than creatures, I wot, enthralled to the Shadow, and to their truth I can attest. And there are tales, too, of the Nazgul, and the beasts they ride - horses that are not horses, men that are not men.

But much has reached me through tales only.

[moonshined]

So in your world, werewolves are creatures of darkness?
Are there not good and bad werewolves and vampires?

We don't have any of those last few, but they sound fascinating. I'd love to see a living tree.

[shieldofrohan]

Not in any of the tales I have heard. Werewolves and vampires were children of Morgoth and Ungoliant, perversions of the true forms.

I think the trees are folktales only. I have never seen one.

[moonshined]

That's

[Ouch. How does he put this?]

sort of harsh don't you think?
There could be some very personable werewolves.

We have something called a bowtruckle. Bit like a small tree man.

[shieldofrohan]

I cannot swear that there even were werewolves in truth. All these are stories of the First and Second Age, long ere my ancestors were born. But in those stories, there were no personable werewolves, no more than personable orcs or Great Spiders or dragons. They were born of Morgoth, and shared his will.

Why does that trouble you so?

[ignisvulpes]

Never heard of half of those.

But maybe that means I'm about to blow YOUR mind! Stop me if you've heard ooof...
The magical, wise, cunning and powerful kitsune of Japan!

(That's just Japanese for fox but it's what they're usually known as.)

[moonshined]

I'm afraid the kitsune has entirely escaped my notice.

Are they like a werewolf?

[ignisvulpes]

Aren't werewolves just regular people who turn into ravenous idiots at night?
We're NOTHING like that.

Oh, whoopsie, look what I did!
Oh well, cat's out of the bag.

[moonshined]

That's incredibly rude and incredibly inaccurate.

You're one of these kitsunes, then? How does it work?

[ignisvulpes]

Now how would you know that? >;]

But yes I am. Not sure what you're trying to ask there, though!
I was born this way.

Well, not THIS way. I was just a stupid little baby when I was born.
And a kitsune grows more powerful with age, you see.
Legend has it that one who's lived for a thousand years is basically a physical god!

[meteorman]

[OH BOY THIS IS HIS AREA OF EXPERTISE IT IS TIME]

You're in luck, my boy! [He calls anyone a good deal younger than him 'my boy', okay, and most people are a good deal younger than him.] I happen to be an expert in xenozoology. Dragons, unicorns and werewolves all exist in my native universe, along with more unusual creatures like gnomes, the plaidypus and barf fairies. The general human population is largely completely unaware of their existence, often attributing sightings to more mundane explanations, but in more rural areas or areas with a high concentration of anomalous wildlife they can become more integrated.

In my experience there is often overlap between worlds at least on the level of terminology, but I might hazard a guess that the werewolves with which you are familiar are in some ways unlike the ones that I know.

[moonshined]

Barf fairies? That sounds...colourful.

What are the werewolves you know like? Just out of curiosity.

[meteorman]

Unfortunately I haven't been able to study any up close and personal and so I haven't yet been able to divide fact from fiction, but the general consensus seems to be fairly unified in terms of the basic mechanics. That is: a werewolf is a human who contracts lycanthropy through the bite of someone already infected and from that point on transforms into a wolf-like form upon the full moon.

After this things become more vague, particularly where the question of self is concerned. Some lycanthropy is portrayed as a physical affliction only with the mind being largely unaffected, while other accounts cite a loss of all connection to their human memories and personality. Still other sources say lycanthropes are able to master their transformations with time, regaining more and more of their control with every full moon.

My current working theory is that either many of these reports are factually incorrect, or there are many strains of lycanthropy just as there are many strains of more common illnesses. To properly treat a werewolf we must first know which strain of lycanthropy he has contracted and then proceed accordingly. A silver bullet is the classic option but wholly unnecessary if we are dealing with a werewolf whose transformation can be reversed merely by a loved one presenting him with his human clothes.



I'm sorry, this got away from me a little.

[He's not sorry.]

[moonshined]

That's quite alright! It's very interesting to hear your thoughts on the matter.

In my world, lycanthropy is indeed distributed via bite wounds, though I don't know about different strains of it. The victim will turn at the full moon, but unless he or she takes a certain potion at the right time of the month, it is very difficult indeed to retain one's presence of mind while transformed.

Or so I've heard, anyway.

[meteorman]

So your universe has already developed what one might consider medication for werewolves. In my world it's considered something incurable, and yet I've never seen anyone speak of it in terms of a disease that could be medicated.

Actually thinking about that now it doesn't make much sense.