These are the were-creatures of the True Blood universe. Most common are the werewolves but there are conceivably weres of every animal type. Lycanthropy is a magical genetic condition often passed along family lines.
Given Maine's impressive expanse of wilderness, especially to the north and west of Bangor, the area supports a few wolf packs. This will give players the opportunity to create their own. Brewer contains one particularly territorial pack that has vowed to eliminate the vampire menace, as they call it. Generally, were-types tend to reside in the area that their animal-forms are found in (were-coyotes in North America, were-tigers in India, were-lions in Africa); this isn't due to any instinctual or magical influence, but just due to the hassles that spring from having a polar bear occasionally run around Alabama. As such, there are a fair amount of were-types in Penobscot County whose animal forms wouldn't cause too much of a fuss in Maine (and obviously, we OOCly suggest one lean more towards those animals for were-types, instead of were-rhinos or were-crocodiles).
See '+help shift' in-game to see what's currently in the shifter-code database. Want us to add a new were-type? Just contact staff and we'll see what we can do.
The SVM book 'Dead and Gone' is set in 2006 (reference: timeline), where weres and shifters reveal themselves to the public, as vampires did earlier in 2002.
For a few reasons, this did not happen in the Northern Vampire Mysteries timeline (yet). Right off the bat, it would lead to some immediate and serious changes to hunting laws (so there aren't waves of manslaughter cases involving were-deer, every full moon) as well as 'concealed weapons' standards (what do you do with a prisoner who can turn into a fanged clawed beast on a whim?)
Shapeshifters
(10 point Quality)
True Shapeshifters are a highly versatile supernatural type. They are able to morph into exact copies of animals they have seen live and in person (animals not so closely studied can often be cosmetically imitated fairly closely, but with no innate familiarity toward things specific to that animal. EG: not used to flying, not used to breathing with gills, not used to running on more than two legs, et cetera. At best, it'll involve such mechanical problems. At worst, the "problems" include massive organ failure. It never works out well). Most shifters have a "go to" animal which is easiest for them to shift into. They also tend to gain some benefit from their go-to animal as well (such as a heightened sense). These can be purchased as Acute Sense, if one wants to retain them in human form.
Shifters can not turn into other humans nor manipulate their shape cosmetically (EG: growing fangs and turning skin pale to pass as a vampire). The basis of this is the initial "ur-shifter", who was zapped by a magical curse/blessing; the details of the contract had the recipient able to turn into an "animal", with the understanding at the time being that humans were not "animals".
The magical nature of a shapeshifter can not be passed on to another individual, save through birth. Generally, only the first child born of a particular couple, where one or both of the couple are shifters, will inherit the trait. Sometimes, it will show up in children past the first. Sometimes, it will not be inherited by the first. Sometimes, both of the previous cases happen.
Use the guidelines below to determine stat adjustments for whatever animal you may transform into:
- Small Animals: In such a form, the Character’s Life Points and Strength (for damage and lifting purposes) are halved (still far better than a normal animal). Rats and other vermin can crawl through holes and small openings, however, and have a natural Stealth skill of 5 (or add 3 to the Character’s Stealth skill, whichever is better). Birds and bats can fly; both small forms are very useful for moving around unobserved.
- Large Animals: A large animal includes wolves, dogs and any other animal with a mass roughly that of a human. In this form, the Character’s Strength and Life Points are unaffected, but she is not able to use most tools or vehicles. On the other hand, her Speed(assuming the animal is a quadruped) is increased by +10, and she can make biting attacks, inflicting 3 x Strength points of slashing damage.
- Very Large Animals: Very large animals include horses, tigers and any animal that masses more than a human. The Character gains +10 extra Life Points, +2 to Strength, +10 to Speed, and bite or clawing attacks inflicting 3 x Strength points of slashing damage, or, in the case of a horse, a kicking or stomping attack of 3 x Strength points of blunt damage.
In theory, a shapeshifter can access the +shift commands in-game, but won't be stuck with one type, like weres.
Weres
(5 point Quality)
More common than True Shifters are weres (sometimes OOCly referred to as 'were-things'), that can only shift into one particular animal form. This can happen through a variety of ways:
- A true shifter can, if they tend to shift to one particular animal breed over the course of years and years, get stuck in a metaphorical rut, and only be able to shift to that one form.
- If two shifter parents conceive a child while in a particular animal form, that child will often not be a true shifter but a were of that particular animal.
- If two were parents conceive a child (in any form), it follows the same 'usually just the first born' rule as with shifters.
- A were can infect a previously normal human with their condition, producing a 'Demi-Were'. Once infected, genetics work as mentioned a few times above.
Statistical changes when a were shifts are covered by first taking the stats for the mundane animal (EG: A standard mundane wolf has Strength:3, Dexterity:4, Constitution:3, Perception:3, Life Points of (Str+Con)x3 +10, and Speed of (Con+Dex)x2 +10). The attributes are possibly tweaked up or down, based on the were's human-form stats (so a burly Strength:5 person would probably have Strength:4 when in wolf-form), and the calculated stats are redone based on the animal's formulas (with damage adjusted to balance out the equation, so a half-dead person becomes a half-dead wolf).
Demi-Weres
(5 point Drawback)
As stated above, a were can infect a previously normal human with their condition, but it is a little hit or miss and can only happen by means of the human surviving mauling, performed by the were while in animal form during the full moon. The infected human (if it works) only shifts during the full moon, whether they want to or not, and only into a 'half-animal/half-human' form (which is a form both true shifters and standard weres can not do). In the Quality/Drawback lists, we consider this a Drawback.
Game-mechanic-wise, it involves getting lowered to negative Life Points by a were-thing's critter-form attacks during the night of the full moon, then somehow surviving until the next full moon. Demi-weres can't infect other folks to make new semi-demi-weres or suchlike. If you want to randomize it, every LP of damage done while the victim is under 0 LP adds 10% to the chance of catching lycanthropy (although the victim will ICly have no clue about it until the next full moon).
Much like when a were-thing shifts, the stats for a demi-were are adjusted when they shift. Instead of having the potential range of weres in animal form, a demi-were's humaniform pertinent stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Perception) are compared to those of the critter-type, with a +1 if the critter would have that higher than the person's attribute, and a -1 if the critter would have it lower (so a were-bear would probably get +1 to Strength, while a were-weasel would probably get -1, unless the person was naturally literally stronger than a bear or weaker than a weasel). Speed and Life Point calculation is the same as when in human form (since a demi-were's were-critter form is still basically human-shaped), but much like a true were-thing, a shifted demi-were potentially gets the added benefits of claws and big teeth.
It's not great, but that's why it's considered an IC curse and OOC drawback.