The Bitten Brothers

Summary

Let me tell you a tale of a time long passed. Of two brothers born of the same womb and the same desire who as fate intended lived forever joined. Yet this is not a tale of their fraternity and joy, this is a tale of their suffering and evolution. 
The brothers were brave souls, souls inclined to see the world and never look back. So they ventured forth into the world without fear or worry searching all the ruins and caverns they could. They found riches and wealth but such souls do not live for these earthly desires. It is they who wish to forever see new and beautiful things.
So the two brothers descended forth into an old and ancient cavern where beasts had taken their home. They yearned for the treasure beneath. Tales of wealth and power, knowledge long long and blessings never considered.
They yearned so for such a blessing yet what they found was something strange.
As they travelled forth they found the beasts strike upon them. The Wolves bit against the flesh of one as bats tore at the other. Yet as both was torn and bruised neither died nor lost sight of what came next. So it happened that the infection then spread of the bat to one and the wolf to the other. Yet the brothers fated forever to be together would now be drawn forever apart. Lycanthropy coursed through the veins of the first werewolf yet the blood curse consumed the first vampire. As the brothers learned of their presence a spirit came before them. 
Slay your kin and offer us the sacrifice of love or both be forever owned by the beasts around you. 
And so it was that the brothers fought. Never slaying the other. Forever at the throat. So to do their descendants for both know that while the other breaths neither are safe.

Spread

The Bitten Brothers began as a Celian tale but slowly spread as the Empire took to its hegemonic position. Many accepted the story as a clear origin of the two forms despite there being no clear truth to it. The story was often told as a means of discouraging the exploration of lost ruins and caverns particularly to young children with dangerous temperements.
In the Colonial Age it was put to print in Master Osmiths Tales of the Land becoming a sensation across the Empire.

In Art

The twins are common sights in Mythic Age art which often depicts illusions to the final transformation if not the moment itself. In Frontier Art the pair became a symbol of the Frontier and the Empire with the Empire being a vampiric sucker that seeks to consume the resources of the rugged lycanthropic colonial nations.