Cruentus Luna: Werewolf Page

The Birth
When Greece ruled most of the known world, and gods and goddesses still walked among men, there was a great, and wealthy king named Lycaeon. His palace was built by the sea, and every full moon, he would walk along the beach and gaze at the heavens in awe. The Moon Goddess watched him, and decided that she would meet this man, who stared at her so lovingly. But the king was proud and cynical. He had a special meal prepared for this woman who called herself a goddess, placing bits of human flesh into a stew to test her omniscience. Naturally, the Moon Goddess realized his treachery and was outraged. She turned the King into a wolf, saying that it was a more appropriate form. He could howl at the moon in anguish and eat human flesh all his days. She returned to her place in the heavens, but kept watch over Lycaeon. She saw his suffering, and took pity on him. She chose to give him the ability to change from his wolf to human form at will. Lycaeon devoted his life to worshiping the Moon Goddess, calling her The Great Mother. Because of this, his descendants were known as Children of the Moon.

The Strengths
The Children of the Moon, more commonly known as ‘werewolves,’ have many advantages over their fellow man. They have an inhuman sense of smell and hearing. They are impossibly strong and fast. However, their greatest strength is, of course, their ability to change at will into a wolf of supernatural size and intelligence. Some werewolves have been said to develop visions of the past, present, and future, but this is largely accepted as myth.

The Weaknesses
The Children of the Moon have one great weakness. At the dinner party thrown by King Lycaeon, he had used pure silver plates and cutlery to serve the Moon Goddess. Although she had taken pity on Lycaeon, she left him with one fatal weakness. He, nor any of his descendants, could ever bare the touch of silver. The plant Wolfsbane can make werewolves severely ill, but does not usually cause death. Legend also says that if a werewolf’s body is thrown into a running river, that the soul will never find its way to The Great Mother. Unlike vampires, werewolves are not immortal. They do live much longer lives than your average human, some reaching well into their 800's or 900's, but they do die. A wolf’s outer appearance never changes much once they mature, but eventually by instinct, they know their death has come, and they go out into the wilderness to face it alone.

The Modern Werewolf
Werewolves are not solitary beings. It is extremely rare to find one without a family, or ‘pack,’ as they choose to call it. They are organized much like the wolf pack known to humans. There is an Alpha Male, and no other wolf in the pack may question him. Then there is a Beta, a second in command, and so on and so forth. Wolf packs are bonded at a level that most humans could never understand. While they are not known for reading thoughts, every member of the pack has a special connection with every other member. They sense emotion, and tend to know what the others are thinking, though not in specific words. Most packs still choose to follow the old ways. They do not love, but instead, fight for mates. The males fight for the strongest female, and the females fight for the strongest male. Fatalities are rare, even when the Alpha Male is challenged for his right to lead the pack. There are few forbidden taboos that would drive an Alpha Male to banish a wolf from his pack. These include: betrayal and murder. Once banished, a wolf is never to be accepted by any other pack. As for food, wolves may choose to eat human flesh, but can survive on the raw flesh of any animal.

Werewolf Etiquette
There are a few courtesy rules that every werewolf should know, unless that particular werewolf doesn’t mind their throat being ripped out for disregarding them. First and foremost is respect. If a wolf is in a pack, he will treat the other wolves higher than he or she in the pack hierarchy with the utmost respect. The Alpha, which is always a male, is treated with the highest respect. His orders are never to be questioned under any circumstances. It is rare for one pack to approach another, but if it does occur, the two Alphas are expected to meet, accessing the other’s pack strength, and make out a treaty of some sort for however long the residing pack will allow the visiting pack to stay. One of the most common forms, and most expected, whether in human or wolf form, is to incline the underside of the neck to a wolf of superior rank. The only wolves exempt of this show of respect is the Alpha. Any wolf who chooses to willingly disobey these rules is victim to whatever punishment is seen fit by the one he disrespected. As a last rule for all immortals, one is to stay hidden and to limit their contact with the human race.

Turning
By an ancient law, werewolves are forbidden to turn a human into one of their own. It is a very rare occurrence, and most humans do not survive the transformation or simply go mad because of it. There have been exceptions, when a human has no hope of survival, of wolves turning humans into werewolves successfully, but other than that it is a taboo that is punishable by death. Because this turning is so rare, there have been several different variations to how this is actually performed. Most believe that a human must be at the point of death, and then bitten while the werewolf is in wolf form.

The War (Told from the Werewolves’ Legend)
When Lycaeon had been given the ability to change at will, he often met with the Moon Goddess during the time of the full moon to sing to her. But one night, he was followed. One of his servants had grown bitterly jealous of his new found power. When the Moon Goddess showed herself to Lycaeon, the servant leapt from the shadows and bit her neck, drinking her blood. Lycaeon was able to save his Great Mother, but his servant had become infinitely powerful. The Goddess, in her fury, punished the servant. She cursed him from ever seeing anything but her own light again, and that from that moment on, he would be a murderer, living only on the blood of others. Lycaeon was infuriated at his servant, and swore to kill him. The two dueled, but the servant retreated. Their battle, once begun so long ago, rages today. For no wolf ever spares a vampire. Likewise, no vampire ever spares a wolf.