The most varied and therefore, in the eyes of many, most common strain of Other, the therianthropes were the first to come into the open, perhaps making them the bravest, or the most reckless; the opinion varies. Able to shift their humans forms into those of powerful, predatory animals of all shapes and sizes, the therianthropes are perhaps the most mystical, but also those the humans are most wary of; unlike the vampires, the therianthropes may go wherever they please, unhindered by sun and moon. Well, with the odd exception, of course…
________________
Listed below are the known strains of therianthropy, and some details about each one.
BEARS. Usually scattered through an area, bears (whether they be grizzly, brown or black bears) are, like many other strains, a solitary type, highly territorial, and even the females can be very aggressive and defensive of their own space. Contrary to popular belief, the werebears (some prefer to call themselves ursianthropes simply because it doesn’t rhyme with a kids’ cartoon) are not always big and bulky in their human forms; some can be deceptively leaner or shorter. Neither are they lumbering and slow, mentally or physically. The bears are the strongest of the therianthropes, but that doesn’t mean they lack in any other areas. The bears are not to be underestimated, even if a good portion of them are gentle giants who generally can’t be bothered to make a fuss. Unless, of course, you happen to threaten their young, and then? Well, run from mother bear, or you might lose something you’ll really miss.
Syrian Bear, Grizzly Bear, Kodiak Bear, Eurasian Brown Bear, American Black Bear, Asiatic Black Bear
BIRDS OF PREY. The rarest strain, the birds of prey have been unfortunate victims of illegal poaching for years now, and many tend to lose their lives when they aren’t doing anything wrong. The common types of bird that are usually recorded are hawks, falcons, owls and eagles, the others being much more elusive. The smallest as well as the rarest, the birds of prey have exceptional eyesight and are skilled trackers. Solitary animals, they have been known to pair up, but usually they prefer to steer clear of that. Obviously the only strain capable of flight, the birds can sometimes be arrogant or smug about having a gift none of the other therianthropes have.
CHEETAHS. The fastest of all the therianthropes, the cheetahs are the sleekest of the cats. When a mother has young, they tend to focus solely on the child/children, making excellent mothers, but like so many of the other strains, the fathers never stick around. The cheetahs tend to prefer the warmer weather, but have adapted to the American climates. They tend to make excellent athletes, obviously, and always seem to have a lot of energy, even if that energy comes and goes in bursts.
Asiatic Cheetah, African Cheetah, King Cheetah
COUGARS. Cougars, or mountain lions, tend to live towards the edges of any city or town, and generally aren’t found where they can’t at least see mountains, predictably enough. Highly predatory and discreet trackers, the cougars love to walk and hike and generally laze around in nature, which is why they tend to avoid overly cluttered areas of population. They have crept out of the woodwork more over the years since the Others came out to the world, but they tend to be few and far between.
Costa Rican Cougar, North American Cougar
COYOTES. Mischievous and energetic by nature, the coyotes never let anything hold them back. Fun-loving and curious, the coyotes are actually rather disliked by the wolves, instinctively; the wolves tend not to tolerate the coyotes, but a few have been known to contradict this ‘rule’. It doesn’t bother them, generally, and they certainly don’t let it affect them. They’re not the types to be hindered by the opinions of others; the coyotes tend to do what they like, and they love making their own fun.
Mexican Coyote, Belize Coyote, Tiburon Island Coyote, Lower Rio Grande Coyote, North-Eastern Coyote, etc
FOXES. Usually found in red or arctic form, though not exclusively, the former are the more common of the lot if only because of the variety of territories in more comfortable climates. The smallest of the canines, the foxes are generally shy but also rather playful and curious, making them a peculiar therianthrope, a living contradiction, as it were. The foxes, too, can live in pairs, and like their wild counterparts, are usually never found in groups.
Arctic Fox, Fennec Fox, Grey Fox, Red Fox
HYENAS. One of the only strains to live in groups, hyenas are extremely predatory, and it is the females who are the toughest, generally. Living in clans led by a single Matriarch (obviously this leader is always female, as the title suggests), the hyenas are actually more cat-like than dog-like. Unlike the wolves and lions, however, they aren’t the most loyal creatures in the world; they have a tendency to betray their own kind, even their own clans. Born into their rank unlike the other group therianthropes, the females of the clan tend to love telling the males what to do. On the whole, hyenas are actually a lot stronger than many people give them credit for, able to crush bone with shocking ease in their animal forms. Because of their backstabbing, love-to-lie ways, they actually tend to make good lawyers. Who would have guessed?
Spotted Hyena, Striped Hyena, Brown Hyena
JACKALS. One of the only types to live in pairs, generally mates, the jackals tend to maintain small territories and aren’t all that dissimilar, temperament and behaviour wise, to the coyotes, which sometimes leads to them being mistaken for one another. They aren’t the most territorial of the canines, sometimes allowing other mature jackals to live within these boundaries until they find their own space, but these exceptions are usually related to the pair in some way.
Golden Jackal, Black-Backed Jackal, Side-Striped Jackal
LEOPARDS. The leopards are, peculiarly enough, the most territorial of the lone cats, even though they aren’t all that energetic, even with their remarkable physical abilities. Highly secretive and extremely skillful when it comes to going about unseen, the leopards are powerful and mysterious. Not unlike the cheetahs, they do make excellent mothers, but this is the only time they really live together in any way. Drawn to sunnier areas, the ‘regular’ leopards love to laze around, and are usually found in occupations where they don’t need to exert too much of their precious energy, while the snow leopards, for example, tend to roam around more, whether to explore or maintain their territory.
African Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Snow Leopard, Indian Leopard, North Chinese Leopard, Sri Lankan Leopard, Amur Leopard, Persian Leopard, Arabian Leopard
LIONS. The only cats who live in groups, the lions are a tough strain, and yet not the largest of the felines, physically. The lions live in prides, led by one male and one female, generally, either one being dominant, but it is often the male who takes the lead; these dominant individuals are called the First and Second, respectively. The males are in smaller numbers than the females in these prides, if only because the males find it tough to tolerate one another, preferring to have the females’ attention all to themselves; related males have an easier time getting along, and when lions have been found in pairs, it is generally a pair of brothers looking to make a pride of their own. As their group title suggests, lions are extremely proud, even somewhat arrogant, occasionally overestimating their own abilities.
Asiatic Lion, Barbary Lion, West African Lion, North East Congo Lion, Massai Lion, Katanga Lion, Transvaal Lion, Cape Lion
PANTHERS. Panthers, or jaguars, are usually assumed to be the most mysterious or even ‘sexy’ of the cats, and the panthers themselves tend to enjoy this assumption. Who wouldn’t? The panthers who aren’t black are often mistaken for leopards in their animal forms, and unlike the jackals and coyotes, they do tend to mind being mixed up. Like many of the other cats, they don’t like to be embarrassed or underestimated, and the panthers tend to think they’re that little bit better than the leopards, if only because of those naïve, aforementioned assumptions.
Peruvian Jaguar, Mexican Jaguar, Goldman's Jaguar, Black Panther, White Panther
TIGERS. The biggest of the cats, the tigers are highly territorial, but have been found tolerating one another. The strongest as well as the largest, many people often incorrectly assume that redheaded therianthropes are all tigers, which, of course, isn’t the case. Much like their wild counterparts, the tigers also love water, and as such, usually aren’t found in areas that have very little rainfall, if only because the dry heat bothers them. Graceful and powerful, the tigers aren’t the most aggressive of the cats, and it shows; get on one’s good side, and it might pay off, but rub them the wrong way? It won’t be long before you regret it.
Bengal Tiger, Indochinese Tiger, Malayan Tiger, Sumatran Tiger, Siberian Tiger, South China Tiger
WOLVES. The most famous strain of the therianthropes, the wolves have had to put up with all manner of fiction and other ‘publicity’ for decades. They were actually the first of the therianthropes to come into the open, and are thought to be the most common, something some of the cats tend to use as ammunition for mockery. Usually found in packs, they can be loners, but they are the most territorial of the canines, and obviously so; packs tend to bicker over these territories, but these little fights can escalate, and have in the past. Packs are led by a mating pair called Alphas, who share all leadership responsibilities and dominancy. The Beta, or Betas, depending on the pack, is essentially the second in command, and a position many wolves covet if only for the power it grants them; the Beta is male or female, it varies. Omegas have actually been weaned out of the structure over time, the werewolves rising above the behaviour of their wild counterparts, and seeing the Omegas as unnecessary nowadays. Unlike the hyenas, the wolves are not born into their place in the hierarchy, and the child or children of the Alphas or Betas do not immediately win the right to take over from their parents if and when they die or move off. Also unlike the hyenas, wolves are extremely loyal, and would rather die for their pack mates than make waves within their own group.
Grey (Timber) Wolf, Arabian Wolf, Arctic Wolf, Eastern Wolf, Ethiopian Wolf, Eurasian Wolf, Iberian Wolf, Indian Wolf, Iranian Wolf, Italian Wolf, Mackenzie Valley Wolf, Maned Wolf, Mexican Wolf, Red Wolf, Russian Wolf, Tundra Wolf
________________
Therianthropes can always smell one another, just as they can smell vampires and vice versa, and this ability leads them to sense one another’s territories, especially when the individual or a member of a designated group has passed by the boundaries recently. Therianthropes, like their territorial, wild counterparts, scent-mark their territories, but thankfully, not in the same ways as the animals themselves. The scent marking is accomplished simply by being present; nothing to it.
Even if two strains of feline therianthrope were to mate, there would be no pregnancy. Without exception, the strains cannot interbreed, creating any kind of mix-breeds. In the past, they have mated successfully with humans, with the child usually being born as a therianthrope like their animalistic parent, and there are very, very rare, usually unsuccessful cases of therianthropes in their animal forms mating with wild counterparts. It’s generally frowned upon, and the offspring usually don’t come out quite… right.
Packs are always wolves, prides are always lions and clans are always hyenas. Never, ever, do the groups allow other strains inside their groups, regardless of whether or not they are canine/feline as well. It just isn’t done.
Packs, prides and clans automatically name themselves after their leader(s), taking the surname for its title. Whenever leadership changes, so too does the group’s title, and as such, the history of many groups can become highly confusing if only because the leadership has changed several times over the course of its existence.
Therianthropes have always been predator animals, and never has there been a recorded case of one being a prey animal. Survival of the fittest. After all, in the past, what would have been more likely to triumph? A wereleopard or a wererabbit?
People can dream about dragons and unicorns all they want, but therianthropes are not magical, and have never been able to adopt fantasy forms. They are only ever able to shift to the forms of real animals that exist today, in the wild, zoos or in nature preserves around the world.
Many therianthropes are not monogamous, and will in fact, to put it bluntly, ‘sleep around’. Cats are especially fickle about their partners, but other strains can be just as bad. Wolves, while not being the only exception, are the most obvious one, and though some do experiment for a while first, once they find their partner, they mate for life.
Only three strains of therianthrope are not generally solitary, and these are the wolves, the lions and the hyenas. All the other strains like their privacy and aren’t overly social, though there have been several cases of individuals breaking this unspoken ‘rule’.
Dominant therianthropes, those with the right characteristics and strength to be leaders, have an Aura, much like a vampire’s Charm, which other therianthropes can sense easily; the closer to the individual’s strain they are (for example, if you had a coyote near a dominant wolf), the more responsive they are to it, and in packs, prides and clans, this Aura helps the leaders maintain control over their groups, without having to resort to violence. It is something that seems to activate, almost magically, as soon as the individual(s) obtain their leadership position(s), and it never really fades, even if they lose their place. Wolves, lions and hyenas below these individuals with Auras respond strongly to the energy, even if they don’t realise it; in most cases, they simply cannot disobey, and it is instinct to do what they’ve been told. Other therianthropes have it, however, if they fit the bill; they don’t have to live in groups to be leadership figures, after all.
When dominant pack/pride/clan members challenge one another, for example a regular pack member challenging a current Beta, the group leader(s) will oversee that challenge and be present during the fight, but they will never intervene. Whoever loses, loses, regardless of their tie to the leader(s). If that Beta is unseated and the fight wasn’t to the death (as some fights are; it always depends on the triumphant individual), it is their choice as to whether they fall back in the pack or leave. With Alphas, the same choice is there, but these fights are usually much more brutal; if an Alpha loses their place, they can be told to leave by the victor, which could cost them not only their family, but everything they have worked for. The same can be said for the lion Firsts and the hyena Matriarchs.
Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these therianthropes do not have hybrid forms, amalgamations of man and animal. They always, without exception, become a fully-fledged animal, whether it be a bear, a cougar or a jackal. They cannot stop partway, they cannot speak in animal form, and this will never change. They can, however, show their canines if they want to appear menacing, or flash their animal eyes in a tease or a challenge. Many also show their animal sides when their hair starts to change colour and texture, starting at the roots. With therianthropes, there are always little signs to catch.
All strains of therianthrope can be either born or bitten (or scratched). While they do not carry contagions that can be transmitted, exactly, something in their saliva, blood and presumably claws/talons carries the therianthropy. Humans who are bitten, clawed or infected by this blood then become a therianthrope themselves, taking after the one who turned them, whether it be accidentally or intentionally. Vampires, as a note, cannot be turned, just as vampires cannot sire therianthropes and change their DNA at the core. Being born a therianthrope is no different from being born human, until you reach puberty at least; on the full moon closest to your birthday (with the rare exception), this is when the first change comes about, and following this, the middle night of the full moon cycle of every month sees the young therianthrope succumbing to feral, 100% animalistic instincts. For all intents and purposes, they stop being in any way human, and are essentially a wolf, a lion or hawk, and behave as such. It takes between five and ten years for control to be achieved, depending on guidance, practise and discipline; it varies for each individual.
The different strains of therianthrope are not automatically distrustful or hateful towards one another. Mostly, it depends on the group’s/individual’s experience, and if it is a group, the pack/pride/clan usually all follow one another’s example, which is how group rivalries are born. There’s no unspoken rule that says tigers have to hate jackals and leopards must hate wolves. It all depends. The only noted exception are the wolves, and how they feel about the coyotes.
A therianthrope’s hair does not have to reflect their animal form while they are human. If your werewolf has blonde hair, they don’t necessarily turn into a blonde or white wolf. A panther’s hair in human form does not necessarily have to be dark brown or black. There’s a lot of mystery to it; you can’t just assume what their animal form is based on how they look in human form.
After therianthropes achieve their first change (for those who are born, at puberty, and for those who are bitten or otherwise ‘infected’, the next lunar cycle), they can shift forms at will; all it takes is a little concentration on their part, and then voila, the animal form comes to the surface. The more experience they have, the easier it is for them to transform, obviously, and with every change, it becomes that little bit smoother/easier.
When a therianthrope changes form, their clothes change with them, and when they return to human form, the clothes are still intact. If they get slashed by claws or a blade in animal form, their clothes tend to end up ripped around the wound, or just torn where the claws/blade caught them. If they get really dirty in animal form, or soaked, their clothes reflect this as well. Essentially, the clothes and fur/feathers replace one another.
When a therianthrope dies, if they are in animal form, they return to human form. They need to be thinking about the animal form and maintaining it (even though they can sleep in their animal forms, if they really want to) for it to stick, but when they’re badly wounded or hurt, the shock or blood loss tends to make them revert to human form. If they’re really experienced or old, they can hold the form longer during a fight, even if they are hurt, but none of them can stay in animal form when they die. Not that they would really want to…
STRENGTHS: The textbook strengths apply here too, just as they do for the vampires: strength, speed, endurance, pain threshold, healing factor, balance, agility, and grace are all heightened far beyond the normal levels, strength being the most obvious as well as pain threshold; the other aspects are dependant on the strain of therianthropy. For example, the cats have much better balance than the dogs, and the birds? Well, they can fly. And the bears? Are always going to be the strongest of them all. The senses for all therianthropes, in addition, are superior, and just like the other benefits, are dependant on the strain: a wolf’s best sense is its nose followed by its ears, and a cat’s and bird’s is its eyes. They are also all immortal; they do not age conventionally thanks to their remarkable healing factors, and will potentially live forever if they are lucky.
WEAKNESSES: Every single therianthrope in the world is weak to silver, which has infiltrated many aspects of life today, including medicine, fashion and even food (the colour additive E174 needs to be avoided by all of them; for all intents and purposes, this is silver, in the food). Therianthropes have to be careful, which is why registration is so wise for a lot of them, given the applications of silver in medical care. On contact, silver burns, and if it invades the body, this leads to silver poisoning. If not combated quickly (a blood transfusion from another therianthrope of the same strain, with the same blood type; some doctors are looking for a cure not unlike an antivirus), then the therianthrope will usually die a slow, agonising death as the silver eats away at them from within, destroying their internal organs one by one. The full moon, for the younger among them, is also something of a weakness that sees them losing their human coherence once a month. Like vampires, therianthropes can also not regenerate a lost limb or digit; if it gets chopped off, it’s gone for good.
To kill a therianthrope, decapitation or obliteration of the brain and heart are always successful, or a good, deep wound infected with silver usually gets the job done, albeit slower and messier.
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
breedmod) wrote,
