Werewolf

Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are former mortals that can shapeshift into the form of an enormous wolf, purposely or under the three nights of the full moon. All werewolves are created after being placed under a curse once they survive the bite of another werewolf during the full moon transformation. They will not transform until the first full moon after their bite but will begin to exhibit other signs of their curse in their mortal form, such as their enhanced strength and regeneration.
Werewolves are better able to live relatively normal lives outside of their transformation but have to ensure they are not near civilization during their transformation days for fear of transferring their bite to another.  Because of this, many werewolves became nomadic instead, joining up with each other in a pack society and working odd jobs during the rest of the month.

Basic Information

Anatomy

In mortal form, werewolves look very much like the race they were born as, but with a heftier musculature. An elf werewolf, for example, might look unnaturally larger than their slender mortal counterparts. They are otherwise indistinguishable.
In wolf form, werewolves look like massive, shaggy wolves with sharp teeth and long, powerful legs. They have large, padded feet that allow them to spread their weight on difficult terrain and slippery surfaces like ice and snow. Depending on their mortal race, wolves will also take on some aspects of their mortal form in wolf form. For example, a dark elf werewolf will likely have sleek, black fur and slightly more elongated ears in wolf form. Their fur color also tends to match their mortal form's hair color.

Genetics and Reproduction

Werewolves are created when a mortal is bitten by one during the full moon transformation, when the curse is the strongest. Unlike vampires, surviving the bite of a wolf during this time will always lead to the birth of a new werewolf.
Werewolves can also reproduce by having children, though if they reproduce with another mortal, the resulting half-werewolf will only display the supernatural abilities of the werewolf's mortal form without the ability to pass on the curse or shift into a wolf.  The moon does not force a transformation on half-werewolves, but will make them unnaturally aggressive and prone to violence.

Growth Rate & Stages

Werewolves are immortal and once they are bitten their aging stops.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Werewolves share similar dietary needs to wolves and will eat meat, fruits, and vegetables.

Their craving for meat intensifies during transformation days, and during those days, they have an uncontrollable urge for humanoid flesh and larger game.

Biological Cycle

Werewolf biology is greatly influenced by the phases of the moon. Their first transformation is often referred to as their birth

Behaviour

Even in mortal form, werewolves can be a bit more aggressive, especially dependent upon their pack hierarchy. They are very loyal and protective to those they care about, and can be quick to temper when threatened or challenged. They are capable of mortal emotions such as compassion and love, but they are typically more intense.
As mortals, they can control many of their urges, but under the full moon transformation they become instinctive and animalistic. Even so, they are less inclined to have inhibitions and are noticeably less shy and quicker to act upon their feelings.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Werewolves exhibit many traits that standard wolves do, even in their humanoid form, and are therefore very pack-oriented. The pack is a biological or adoptive family of werewolves who live and function together as a unit. The emotional ties are powerful and are the central focus of werewolf existence.
Werewolf packs are led by one strong leader, often male but sometimes female. New pack members must prove themselves to earn a place in the hierarchy. All members of the pack are close, even those who haven't joined the hierarchy, and the pack always looks out for each other no matter what.  
The Alpha is self-elected and must prove himself to the rest of the pack, but once their rule is accepted, there is an obedience that the rest of the pack follows through the magic of the pack bond. Once the pack chooses an Alpha, breaking out of the bond becomes difficult.

Hierarchy

Alpha: Alphas are werewolf pack leaders. They are the fastest, most powerful of the pack. They have strict control over their abilities and wolf tendencies, even in wolf form. Their empathy has progressed.  They are noticeably bigger than the rest of the pack in wolf form.
Beta: Betas are considered the "right-hands" of the Alphas. They are stronger than the other pack members but are not strong enough to be considered an Alpha. During hunts, they are the first to get a share of the spoils after the Alpha. They have great control over their abilities and are considered elite soldiers.
Delta: Deltas are comparatively smaller werewolves, looking more like direwolves.  They make up the bulk of the pack.
Gamma: These wolves are the primary hunters and scouts of the pack. They are usually younger werewolves who are slightly smaller in form, so they can use their agility to hunt and scout.
Omega: Omegas are typically pack less but can grow as strong as Alphas. Werewolves become Omegas either by never joining a pack or being forced out of one.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Powers & Abilities

Superhuman Strength: Werewolves have the abilities to lift and throw a truck a few blocks away in there mortal form.  Their strength also allows them to leap from a crouch roughly 18 feet in the air.
Superhuman Speed: Werewolves can move much faster than any non-supernatural creature, but can only match a vampire's speed in wolf form.
Superhuman Stamina: Werewolves are immune to disease and poison, and their musculature produces fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity, allowing them to exert themselves at peak capacity for hours.
Superhuman Agility: A werewolf's agility, balance, and coordination are enhanced beyond the normal physical limits of even the finest athletes.
Superhuman Durability: Werewolves cannot be harmed by conventional weapons. Only a silver bullet or blade can kill a werewolf. The high temperatures that their run makes them durable to the cold.
Superhuman Senses: Werewolves have extremely acute senses of sight, smell, and hearing, similar to an actual wolf. They can see part of the infrared spectrum and can detect heat signatures in total darkness. They can smell other living creatures upwind for several miles and follow it over any terrain. They can hear the sound of a heartbeat 30 feet away.
Lie Detection: Werewolves can sense if you're lying.
Empathy: Werewolves can sense emotions, getting stronger through touch, which is another way to sense if someone is lying.
Telepathy: When part of a pack, werewolves can speak to each other telepathically when in wolf form. 
Healing Factor: Werewolves have enhanced regenerative properties and can heal at much greater speeds than mortals. They are immune to diseases, illnesses and poisons and it takes a massive amount of drugs or alcohol to get them high or drunk.

Weaknesses

Silver: Silver will burn a werewolf if contact is made on the skin. Injected liquid silver and silver bullets and blade are fatal to a werewolf.
Heart Extraction: The removal of a werewolf's heart will kill it.
Decapitation: The removal of a werewolf's head will kill it.
Lunar Cycle: Werewolves are unable to prevent their shift during a full moon.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Werewolves tend to keep the names of their mortal forms.

Major Organizations

• Jaxon's Pack

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Werewolves can learn languages through the telepathic link of their pack, but only the languages the pack speaks.

History

The first werewolf was the son of a lesser god of battle, a half-mortal named Faolan. He grew up listening to his father's beliefs that the god of death and battle was not guiding his followers to do more, and eventually came to believe them himself. His best friend Donatien was the death god's son, whom he and his father had converted. One day, Donatien came to him with a plan to force a bond with some of the dragon god Orm's children. They then used that bond to control the great dragons against their will to challenge the gods directly.
This challenge angered Orm and The Three, believing their transgressions against the gods and the blessed dragons they had allowed to bond with the Erulaeren were too severe to be ignored.
The god of death, Jul Cassan, cursed Faolan to take his monstrous form, never to die but never again to remain amongst mortals.
The god of time, Norne, cursed Faolan to lose semblance of time and humanity as he traversed the world on instinct.
The goddess of life and the sun, Anka, cursed Faolan to poison others with his bite to spread his cursed life.
And spread it, he did. Unlike Donatien, his father was dismayed by what had happened to his son, and he tried to help Faolan. But Faolan had gone feral, cursed as an enormous wolf, and tried to attack his father, Gabriel, in his madness. S consciously aware of what he was trying to do, he fled into the woodlands. He became a legend over the years, a cautionary tale when entering the deep forests. Those who survived his hunts became part of his pack, and together, they wandered, telepathically linked with their pack bond.
During all the centuries he and his pack wandered, his father never gave up trying to save him. Eventually, he turned to Iona, goddess of the moon and sky, who was his best friend and occasional lover. He asked her to help Faolan with his curse, and though Iona would never consider going against The Three, she felt sorry for Faolan and thought maybe he had been punished for long enough.
So Iona found Faolan and his pack, and in the darkness of the new moon, she sent the power of his curse to the moon. Faolan and his pack were restored to their mortal forms once more, but since Iona couldn't simply remove his curse, they still had some of their supernatural biology. Still, Faolan was able to return home after centuries. 
His mother had changed, for in this time, the Erulaeren had fallen in power, his father had attempted to send them against the gods, and those that did were punished greatly. Dragons were no longer bound, and those in the settlements outside of Eternia had become different. The gods in those regions had helped them grow beyond their failed past, and his home had been renamed Serenaya, home of the Silver Elves, as they now called them. They barely even remember the Erulaeren he still resembled after all these years.
That was the only constant that Faolan had in his life, though. The years had changed him, and he no longer felt comfortable behind the stone walls of his childhood estate. He and his pack met up and went on excursions constantly, and it was difficult for him to live a normal life. For his parent's sake, he tried. But then, weeks after Iona's help, the moon grew full. As it rose in the sky for the first time, he felt immense pain as his bones began to crack and shift until he was again transformed into the monstrous wolf that Jul Cassan had bestowed upon him.
He was too close to the city. He was too close to home. He and his pack, on instinct, decimated the community, hunting down anything they could sniff out. Some survived and became wolves, but many perished, including his mother. When the moon set and he transformed back, he was devastated. He realized it was not over, and he and his pack decided to remain as far away as possible, so they ran deep into the woods. The very next day, they became wolves again.
Gabriel blamed Iona for this, and a war ensued for her perceived betrayal. But Faolan and his pack were long gone by then, and their curse would be forever tied to the moon and any other werewolf that existed then or beyond. Some werewolves could live their dual lives in peace, but many more would find their packs and carve out their territories over the years. 
Today, these packs have traveled and turned others all across Erde. There is not a corner of the world where these wolves don't exist, but their numbers are unknown. Since their mortal forms can integrate with society, anyone you see could be a werewolf.

Historical Figures

• Faolan - Father of Werewolves

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Werewolves are familial creatures but aren't always able to find relationships due to their instincts during the full moon.  Therefore, many of them find packs and will have relationships with other werewolves, no matter their original race.

Genetic Descendants

• Half-Werewolf

Origin/Ancestry

Cursed by the Gods

Lifespan

Immortal

Related Organizations

• Jaxon's Pack
• Sielen
• Zinfandel