Weres

The most important thing to remember with weres, at least the major ones, is that their children have no idea of their heritage until they reach sixteen years of age. It is possible this is a way to give their offspring an idea of what normal people have to deal with, but it could also be biological.

Weres can only be born, not made---at least now. The practice of turning humans into Weres by biting them was outlawed years ago because the result leads to violent, uncontrollable monsters.

Pureblood Weres can live for at least 200 years and age slower than Norms.

Two Types of Weres

 * Alpha Weres: These are the ones that most people would commonly think of or would be more scared of. They’re at the top of the pecking order as far as Weres go. In Ravencrest, there are five major Alpha Were groups: Wolves, Mountain Lions, Bears, Coyotes, and Foxes.
 * Lesser Weres: The kinds of animals that people might not necessarily want to be a were from like mice, rabbits and pigs. Strangely they’re a lot more common than the Alphas but they’re not very assertive as far as dominance goes. The Alphas pretty much snub their noses at these kind of Weres. In Ravencrest, a lot of the Lesser Weres are from out of town and most are college students. The males have organized a fraternity as well, in hopes of keeping themselves safe from the other supernatural entities.

Characteristics
Weres have heightened senses and tend to live in large family groups, their society is patriarchal and usually at top is the strongest family. In Ravencrest, it’s the Locke family, a clan of Wolves. They have two forms: an animal form and a Hybrid anthro form. The animal form is more common but the Hybrid form is used in combat. The Hybrid form makes them much stronger and faster than most things, including vampires. Weres are not bound by the moon either, they can change at will and the Lesser Weres often do so when they’re extremely frightened.

Its also not uncommon for Weres to take on some traits of their parent species, like Wolves craving raw meat or rabbits having big libidos. Weres have a strange connection to their parent animal as well. They can sometimes form a bond with a normal animal, even going so far as telepathic communication.

Being in animal form is dangerous to a Were. They can’t stay in it for more than a few hours or else lose themselves to it. Tobias lost a brother that way. There are lesser families inside of the Clans as well, so lots of different Wolf families exist. Each of them are below the Lockes in the pecking order of things. Though they try desperately to please him. There have been a few Clan uprisings as well, lesser families trying to overthrow those above them. Specie Wars have happened too, mainly between the Wolves and the Mountain Lions. There is a lot of bad blood between the two groups.

Lifestyle
Like the vampires and the other creatures of Ravencrest, the Weres hide themselves from the humans. Unlike most of the other creatures, they’re mortal, meaning that they can age and die like the rest. Most Weres have a normal human lifespan, except for Pureblood Werewolves (i.e. both parents were werewolves) who have extended lifespans, usually of about 150 years or so.

Weres appear human most of the time, it helps them blend in with Norms.

The Weres of Ravencrest are ruled by an Elder Were Council made up of the Head of Each Alpha Family. Tobias Locke is the Head of the current Were Council. The youngest member is Dana Stiles who took over for her recently deceased father, Vernon.

Page based on information contained within Maggie Finson and EnemyOfFun's Guidelines document.