Van Richten's Guide to Lycanthropy

van Richten's Guide to Lycanthropy is a book written by Dr. Rudolph van Richten, purchased by our heroes in Vallaki. It details the common characteristics of various forms of lycanthropy, how lycanthropy is transmitted and cured, and best practices for fighting lycanthropes.

Notable Information

Introduction

• Dr Rudolph van Richten—erstwhile healer, herbalist, chronicler, husband, father
• Born in the land of Darkon
• You get the impression from what little he says about Darkon that it’s of similar pleasantness to Barovia, especially after sundown
• But he also seems fond of it, speaking of its rolling hills, deep primeval forests, grassy glades, and meadows ablaze with a profusion of wildflowers
• They have sun, unlike Barovia
• Refer to the feeble light of dusk and dawn as “gravelight”
• Claims he was once driven by vengeance and no longer is — is now hunting monsters for ~~~a higher cause and that he for sure doesn’t enjoy brutalizing monsters anymore
• Some anecdotes about his initial encounters with lycanthropes — claims the sound of a werewolf’s howl can’t be mistaken for that of a normal wolf due to its “inhuman glee”
• Lycanthropes look utterly human until they transform, which almost all can do at will, regardless of what phase the moon is in — but even the unwilling will find themselves undergoing the change on a full moon
• A lycanthrope’s clothing and possessions do not change with them, so they’ll often take to hiding little bundles of clothing and weapons around their territory for after the change
• To witness a lycanthrope’s transformation is as brutal as you might expect — watching their bones grow and shift and rearrange; hearing the wet, gristly squashing and crunching “reminiscent of the noise made by tearing apart a raw chicken.”
• The transformation takes only a few seconds to complete, and a lycanthrope may fully shift from human to animal form, or stop halfway
• Silver, silver, silver.
• Lycanthropes revert to their humanoid form after death
• Werewolves like to eat humanoids
• To be bitten by a lycanthrope is to risk becoming one yourself, but some are strong enough to fight off the disease
• A simple remove curse spell, of course, is enough to cure one of lycanthropy that was given through a bite, though there is no known cure for inherited lycanthropy — though some rumours abound of powerful spells used to do just that, he’s seen no proof of their success in his travels — so long as you have the sense to travel with a cleric, paladin, or wizard, you have little to fear in a lycanthrope’s bite beyond the damage sustained from the wound itself!

Chapter 1: An Overview of Lycanthropy

• Compared to vampires or ghosts, there’s little variability in the basic traits of lycanthropes
• It seems that just about any animal can be a lycanthrope’s true form, though how a given lineage is given a connection to a given animal is a mystery, steeped in legend and secrecy
• Two main types of lycanthrope: true lycanthropes, who are born with their condition, and infected lycanthropes, who acquire the condition through an attack by another lycanthrope
• A third, less common classification: curse-induced, or maledictive, lycanthropy — this one is much less rare, and its characteristics far more diverse

True lycanthropes

• Impossible to alter or cure, “much as it would be impossible to cure an elf of the condition of being an elf”
• Their own society and rules of conduct, and generally mate among their own kind — the offspring of such a union will always prove to be heritable lycanthropes themselves
• If a true lycanthrope mates with a non-lycanthrope, it seems to be even odds whether or not the offspring will be similarly afflicted

Transfiguration

• Evidence suggests that the process of transfiguration is only painful for those with infected lycanthropy, whereas for true lycanthropes, it’s “transcendent ecstasy”
• Infected lycanthropes less likely to remember themselves while transformed, and less likely to remember what they did while transformed after the fact — true lycanthropes maintain their mental faculties and personality throughout
• While in their true humanoid form, a lycanthrope will always look like their true form — they cannot alter their appearance at will beyond their transformation between their true form, animal form, and hybrid form
• Indeed, one way to detect a lycanthrope is to attempt to cast spells meant to change a humanoid’s shape on them, as certain spells such as polymorph will not affect shapechangers — though of course it might be that the person you cast it on, if unwilling, simply resisted through strength of will, or that they are some other form of shapechanger, such as a doppelganger
• Similarly, a lycanthrope’s animal form will always be the same — to the untrained eye, any wolf may look much like the other, but one better versed in the physiology of a given animal’s species would be able to tell that it was the same animal form adopted over and over again
• Some legends claim that lycanthropes are generally larger than the normal animals of their species — this is sometimes, but not always true
• Some legends say a lycanthrope in animal form can be spotted by its uncommon intelligence — again, this may be true, but a lycanthrope in animal form is capable of playing dumb, and there are plenty of uncommonly intelligent animals in nature, to say nothing of familiars, awakened creatures, and fey creatures
• The response of natural animals to lycanthropes may very widely, but pack- or herd-oriented creatures will usually cede dominance to a lycanthrope in their midst.
• Domesticated and prey animals often show more wariness, sensing the immediacy of the danger. There are many tales of loyal pets sensing a lycanthrope in human form and alerting the owner to the danger through growling, etc — vR has seen no evidence to confirm or deny these theories.
• The hybrid form is often the one most feared, as a lycanthrope in hybrid form often has access to the weapons any human could wield as well as their natural weapons. In general, will look humanoid in form, but with a monstrousness born of their animal form’s influence — say, an elongated face, bristly hair, and sharp claws and teeth for a werewolf.

Pathologic Lycanthropy

• No one is immune to the danger of a lycanthrope’s bite
• A disease, which can be contracted and passed on and cured, though most people do not have access to the magics required
• Simply touching a lycanthrope or its bodily fluids is not enough to transmit the disease — it must be through a wound
• Aside from the full moon, infected lycanthropes may also change into their senseless animal form when in extreme emotion, or in some unfortunate cases may simply transform every sunset or sunrise
• The transformation for infected lycanthropes is agonizing, though the afflicted individual will almost always instinctively suppress all memories of this agony until forced to confront them
• Unlike true lycanthropes, who typically grow up in insular lycanthropic societies which tend to view humans and other civilized people as little more than food and sport, inherited lycanthropes are a product of whatever society they grew up in, and are less inclined to evil initially
• However, like vampire spawn, though the transformation is not so immediate, over time an infected lycanthrope will almost certainly turn to evil, as their hearts are blackened by the evil deeds they’ve done
• The first to suffer an infected lycanthrope’s unwitting attacks when transformed are its dearest loved ones, so it’s not surprising that without early intervention, most infected lycanthropes will either embrace evil or end their own torment permanently
• Usually, it takes the lycanthrope a long time to realize what is happening, as they do not remember the transformation or their actions while transformed — if you ever find a case of mysterious animal attacks in a village, look first to whatever survivor is left in the first house struck, but never act without proper evidence
• Tells a story of some villagers plagued by a wereboar who chose an isolated old man on the edge of town with wild hair and a feral air who they killed in brutal fashion, convinced he was the lycanthrope based on his appearance. He was not, and vR blames himself to this day for not stopping them in time.

Maledictive Lycanthropy

• Powerful spells such as wish may induce lycanthropy, as can curses from gods, demigods, archfey, devils, demons, and creatures of similar power
• This form of lycanthropy is rare, but not so rare that it can be ignored
• Self-Induced Curses: the manifestation of one’s own dark desire; not at all uncommon in the Domains of Dread
• Curses of Vengeance: tales of someone who kills or grievously harms the loved one(s) of another, who cries out for justice; the aggressor is then cursed with lycanthropy, doomed to visit similar harm on his own loved ones — in at least a few documented curses, the person who demanded the curse in the first place also fell victim to the lycanthrope’s attacks; such is the ironic justice of curses
• Magical Curses: with wish being the most notorious due to its tendency to become perverted in some dire manner; a use of wish to create a lycanthrope is almost never the intended use of the spell
• Removing the curse — most curses of vengeance and magical curses have some sort of escape clause built into them, though it’s rarely an obvious one
  • Those infected by a cursed lycanthrope, however, may not have the same out
• In most senses, the transformations and actions of a maledictive lycanthrope will be much the same as a pathological one, though given the varied and specific nature of curses, there may be any number of deviations

The origins of lycanthropy

• A theory embraced by many true lycanthropes is that lycantropes are the natural evolution of their non-lycanthropic kin, with evolution in this sense viewed as linear improvement rather than environmentally specific mutation
• Meanwhile, many scholars — particularly those of a theological background — argue the opposite, that lycanthropes are a devolution
• vR finds neither theory compelling — he believes in The Parasitic Theory, which posits that a magically active parasite, arising naturally from a site of intense magical activity, is responsible for the origin of most strains of lycanthropy, picking up its animal characteristics based on its environment prior to finding a humanoid host
• Over time, vR believes this parasite fundamentally changed the genetic makeup of its hosts, leading to a breed of humanoid-adjacent shapechangers for whom lycanthropy is as natural as breeding
• This whole section can only loosely be understood by someone untrained in Medicine — dude goes deep into science
• Talking about heredity and phenotypes and interbreeding and what the implications of fertile progeny between lycanthropes and non-lycanthropes has
• Has apparently “commissioned spells” to ask various deities about the origins of lycanthropy, to no avail

Chapter 2: A Biological Survey

• All kinds of lycanthropic phenotypes abound, “from the common werewolf to the enigmatic wereraven”
• Werefrogs, were-elephants, weretigers, werejackals, wererats, werebears, weresnake, werecrocodile, werebat, werebadger, werefox, wereseal, werecat, werecoyote, werelion, werejaguars, werewalruses, werekiller whales, “and the dreaded wereshark.”
• To his knowledge, there has never been a proven case of a lycanthrope whose animal form is purely herbivorous — though admittedly, the presence of such a creature would be far less likely to raise an alarm than that of a lycanthrope who craves meat
• Regardless of the breed, magical and silvered weapons are the only reliable way to do damage to these creatures — a standard, unsilvered weapon may do reduced damage or no damage to a lycanthrope in any of its forms, depending on the breed
• True lycanthropes, in his experience, seem to have greater resistance to nonmagical, nonsilvered attacks than their infected kin
• A cursed lycanthrope may not have the same vulnerability to silver as its trueborn kin — and those infected by a cursed lycanthrope may also resist this weakness
• To the best of his knowledge, there are no lycanthropes immune to magical damage, though he suspects that a cursed lycanthrope would be the most likely candidate for such an eventuality — he prays that day never comes
• There is anecdotal evidence that certain herbal infusions may harm some lycanthropes, but it is unwise to rely on one’s ability to poison a lycanthrope with wolfsbane without the lycanthrope catching on through its keen sense of smell — far better to rely on magical spells and weapons
• Goes into a breakdown of common vulnerabilities he’s seen in different strains but emphasizes: magic and silver are your best bets since you rarely know what manner of lycanthrope you’re dealing with
• Thankfully, despite their resistances to most attacks, lycanthropes do not possess the same innate healing abilities as vampires and their ilk — if you successfully wound a lycanthrope, the wound will hold
• Another story as he discusses the memory loss suffered by infected lycanthropes: a well-loved merchant in Darkon who became infected with wererat lycanthropy
• A mysterious beast started to slay her closest friends and associates, and she began to act to protect those who remained — somehow, the beast penetrated all of these precautions as though it knew everything about them
• Eventually, the merchant began to suspect the truth, and she set snares and traps around her own home, hoping to trap herself in beast form — but the beast also remembered these traps she’d set, though she herself had no memory of the beast
• Finally she confessed her fears to her neighbours and asked them to lock her up at night — that was when vR found her, and was able to arrange for her cure
• Becoming infected with lycanthropy will rarely have any effect on one’s pre-existing skillsets, though those who normally have an affinity for animals may find animals warier of them after infection, and clerics and paladins of benevolent gods may find their magic less accessible as their souls become tainted with the darkness of their acts
• Those infected with lycanthropy may find themselves leaning more towards rare cuts of meat, but are still perfectly able to subsist on normal diets — however, upon transformation into their bestial form, they will immediately be desperate for fresh, raw flesh
• All true lycanthropes must eat meat to survive — they gain little enjoyment or nourishment from vegetables and fruits
• Most will also subsist far better on fresh meat than meat that has been killed hours or days ago — though lycanthropes whose bestial form is normally a scavenger may do quite well on older meat
• However, for all true lycanthropes, meat that has been cooked becomes utterly devoid of nutrition
• Typically, the volume of raw flesh required daily for a true lycanthrope depends on how much meat a typical animal of its kind would require — so a wererat needs about two pounds of raw flesh per day, regardless of how much other food it consumes
• Lists out estimated requirements — werewolves 25 pounds daily, whereas a wereshark needs 75, and a wereraven needs only one — all of these being average estimations
• All lycanthropes appear to prefer humanoid flesh to that of other animals
• Lycanthropes follow a natural cycle from birth to death; they are born, they mature to adulthood, and they eventually die of old age — this is true of both true and infected lycanthropes
• Regardless of age, a lycanthrope’s animal form is always that of a mature specimen of the animal in its prime — even when the lycanthrope’s human form is still a child
• Someone keenly familiar with a specific strain of lycanthropy may be able to guess that a given specimen is especially young or especially old, but even to those familiar with the true animals — for instance non-lycanthropic wolves — will struggle to guess at its humanoid form based off its lycanthropic form’s appearance
• Especially old lycanthropes may begin to show signs of aging even in their lycanthropic form, but in vR’s experience, it’s incredibly rare for a lycanthrope to make it to such an age
• If an infected lycanthrope mates with someone not infected with lycanthropy, inheritance depends largely on the physiological makeup of the humanoid in question: an infected lycanthrope with sperm may or may not pass on the affliction, whereas an infected lycanthrope with eggs will almost certainly pass it on
  • Aside from this notable fact, very little is changed in how an infected lycanthrope mates with other humanoids, or in factors such as fertility, incidence of multiple birth, and gestation period
  • An infected lycanthrope bearing a child will become immune to normal triggers during their final trimester, which seems to be an adaptation designed to protect the unborn child from the rigours of transformation
  • As if to make up for this, the first transformation after birth will be especially violent, and will feature heightened bloodlust
For those with inherited lycanthropy, there are some differences. True lycanthropes reach sexual maturity earlier than most members of the humanoids they resemble — not so much earlier that it draws undue attention, but on average, true lycanthropes tend to hit puberty earlier than their humanoid counterparts. They also tend, on average, to be more fertile than members of their humanoid counterparts, and have a slightly higher incidence of multiple births.
• The offspring of two true lycanthropes will always be another true lycanthrope.
• As hideous as it may sound, true lycanthropes will sometimes pursue uninfected humanoids. Such a union can lead to the birth of a child — the result of these unions is discussed in Chapter 1.
• Those well acquainted with lycanthropic lore have no doubt heard the occasional tale of a union between two different strains of lycanthropy — a wererat and a werewolf, for instance. However, van Richten has seen little evidence of such pairings. It is his belief that, were such a union to occur, offspring would only result if a union between the two animals would normally produce offspring — werejaguars and weretigers, for instance, or werejackals and werewolves. These offspring would themselves, he posits, be infertile.
• A true lycanthrope bearing a child may be able to transform even in the third trimester if the only other alternative is death, though it seems they too largely do whatever they can in their power to avoid it. A true lycanthrope will also require greater quantities of raw meat to sustain itself while bearing a child.
• In general, true lycanthropes seem to give birth in their humanoid form, though there are exceptions. They recover from the rigours of birth much faster than normal humanoids, or infected lycanthropes. They could be up and around, fully function, within mere minutes of giving birth.
• The relationship between true lycanthropes and their children is harsh — they will nurture their offspring until they have reached puberty, at which point most true lycanthropic children are left to fend for themselves. This may be mitigated in cases where the lycanthropes are pack animals, such as werewolves, but the bond between parent and child is much less nurturing even here. Many times, when van Richten has been hunting a lycanthrope living in disguise among humans and humanoids, if suspicion turns to the lycanthrope, that lycanthrope’s children will often enough become the next victims of the “mysterious monster,” diverting attention from them. If a child has become an inconvenience, it is not at all uncommon for the true lycanthrope to abandon or destroy it.
• In seeking the lair of a lycanthrope, what you’re looking for depends on the environment in which you’re hunting. van Richten discusses two main categories of lairs: town lairs and wilderness lairs.

Town lairs

• One can find clues to the lycanthrope’s nature in its home, as one’s home is often an extension of one’s personality. One may find clues to the strain of lycanthropy in how the lycanthrope arranges its home. For instance, a werebadger will seek to echo a badger’s den while maintaining the facade of a humanoid home: dim lights, carpets with grassy or mossy textures, lots of pillows and blankets so the lycanthrope can “nest” comfortably. When dealing with avian lycanthropes, expect to find many windows for easy escapes, as well as several potential “perches” within the home itself. When dealing with a wererat, look for secret escape routes, as these lycanthropes enjoy being able to scurry off into the darkness much as their rodent counterparts do.
• Despite these nuances, there are certain common characteristics to most urban lycanthropic lairs. At least one concealed entrance is to be expected, as they must frequently leave to hunt. Storage is another concern: those who must conceal their craving for fresh meat will often have a well-hidden larder, for when a hunt is inadvisable. Thirdly, a lair will be laid out so the lycanthrope can navigate it regardless of their form — this is more a concern for larger lycanthropes, such as werebears, but can be a valuable clue.
• Anecdote about a wererat he encountered in Port-a-Lucine, a town in Dementlieu. This individual had resided in town for almost half a decade with no one the wiser, even holding a position on town council. He had commissioned a small house to be built, and though his human form was on the larger size, the doors and corridors of the home were surprisingly narrow, its ceilings unusually low. vR believes this to be psychological: the lycanthrope’s rat side had an inherent desire for a cramped, labyrinthine warren. Unbeknownst to the builders, the individual had ensured his house was built directly over an abandoned branch of the storm drain system that ran beneath much of the town. He installed a concealed trap door in his private chapel, which gave him direct access to this underground network. He had convinced the townsfolk that he was a fervent follower of an especially introspective religious tradition, which required him to spend long hours secluded in prayer — this being, of course, a lie covering for the time he’d disappear on the hunt every evening. He even went so far as to construct a mannequin bearing his likeness, kneeling in prayer, which he would place before the altar every night before ducking into the storm drain. vR admits that though he was the one who flushed out this wretched creature, it ended in a face-to-face confrontation which he survived only through good fortune; the beast escaped with its life, and may well have set up elsewhere since.

Wilderness lairs

• Though most lycanthropes with wilderness lairs are those who fully live in the wild, “socialized” lycanthropes who normally live among humanoids may maintain a wilderness lair where they can feel more at home
• As with town lairs, wilderness lairs reflect the nature and psychology of the lycanthrope’s animal form — and the resemblance is far easier here, where they can literally build a den, rather than finding the correct configuration of throw pillows to evoke one
• Finding the right place for a wilderness lair is a feat of compromise, however, as one requires a location suitably wild to evoke the proper feeling, while also needing to be close enough to humanoid habitation to provide a fertile hunting ground
• Security is another concern — most lycanthropes have little to fear from a hunter or woodsman, but if one survives and returns to inform their kin of the lair, trouble may soon come knocking. For this reason, most lycanthropes will conceal the entrance to their lairs.
• Most wilderness lairs will have a large main entrance, and at least one concealed entrance. For those with animal aspects that are smaller than the size of a man, this is especially useful, as a wererat can make use of escape routes wholly unavailable to a grown man.
• The interior of a wilderness lair can vary dramatically. Some may be fully bare of any adornment or human comfort, while others look almost like human homes once inside, though finding one with any elaborate furnishings is exceedingly rare, as lycanthropes accustomed to such luxuries usually prefer a town lair to one in the wilderness.
• The existence of a larder is far less common in wilderness lairs, due to the relative lack of options for preserving meat, and for the greater ability to hunt when not presenting the facade of humanity

Chapter 3: A Psychological Survey

• Lycanthropic personality often influenced by the animal they are kin to — the more social the animal, the more social the monster
• Infected lycanthropes, on the other hand, generally retain their original moral and ethical outlook when in human form, though when in their animal form, they lose touch with that morality, and it’s only a matter of time before the acts they perform in that form corrupt their human self, too. Some will resist longer, some hardly at all, but sooner or later all of them will give in to the inherent evil or their animal form.
• Lycanthropes have a reputation as mindless killing machines, barely more intelligent than the animals they transform into. This is, of course, false. They present all the dangers of their animal form with all the cunning of their humanoid form, and should be feared appropriately.
• A newly infected lycanthrope is prone to a stronger bloodlust and messier kills, which can contribute to this myth, but true lycanthropes can demonstrate remarkable control and cunning even when in animal form, and an infected lycanthrope who is not caught in that initial time of bloodlust can learn greater control in pursuit of his unholy meal.
• The central concern of any lycanthrope is survival. This requires the consumption of raw meat, with a marked preference for humanoid flesh, so hunting intelligent prey is at the heart of every lycanthrope’s behaviours. For those lycanthropes living in secret among humanoids, their other primary concern must be the maintenance of the facade that allows them to pass unnoticed among their victims.

Quotes

Introduction

Tales of the lycanthrope—of the shapeshifter, the beast in man’s form—are common to every society, human and demihuman alike. There is a certain universality to the concept, which is understandable. The symbolism is so potent, so immediate: a man becomes the beast, and the beast masquerades as a man. Does this not perfectly encapsulate the duality of human nature? In many accounts, the metamorphosis is beyond the shapeshifter’s control, signifying the bestial rage that can well up within the mildest of souls. And the fear engendered by the presence of the shapeshifter—the suspicion that any stranger or even a friend may turn out to be the beast—is a reflection of the grim truth that no man may truly know what is in his fellow man’s heart.

*

In what now seems a previous lifetime, I had a family I loved, a profession I cherished. I was a simple healer, leading a simple existence. Then a wretched, blood-sucking horror took my wife and child. My simple existence died with them, and I came to follow a path very different from the one I had chosen for myself.

Today I am driven not by my own needs and whims, but by a central cause: to rid the world of the Accursed, those unnatural and supernatural predators who threaten the lives and happiness of all.

Chapter 1: An Overview of Lycanthropy

The blood of my parents runs through my veins, with all that this kinship implies. Is this blood that we share cursed, tainted? Or is it blessed, somehow sanctified by a power greater than that of humanity? My father would have me believe the latter—that our kinship marks us as far advanced above the bustling hordes of humanity as they are above the cattle they slaughter for food.

Yet in these latter days, I have trouble believing that. I hear their screams as we fall upon them and I have to believe they are not so unlike us. We, too, are kin in some sense—humanity, and that which my blood tells me I am. They consider my kind monsters, and sometimes I wonder whether they are right.

But when I feel the fierce elation of the metamorphosis come upon me, then how can I not consider myself blessed, as one small step below the gods?

—Excerpt from a Werebeast’s Journal

Chapter 2: A Biological Survey

This willingness to contemplate and perform infanticide is perhaps the most horrifying facet of the lycanthropic personality, and the fact that most distinctly sets these beasts apart from humans and humanoids.

*

Certain self-styled lycanthrope hunters claim that all wilderness lairs are protected by traps of unsurpassed cunning and lethality. Judging from my experience, such claims are nothing but self-aggrandizement, designed to make the hunters’ own actions seem more dangerous and hence more valuable. This is not to say that traps are never found, however. I have personally visited lairs that were protected by deadfalls, concealed pits, and other rudimentary traps. Only one was protected by anything more sophisticated—in this case, mechanical and magical traps of disturbing efficacy. However, the werebeast in question was atypical, having learned the rudiments of the mage’s art. Just as few humans have the skill to set up complex tricks and traps, so too do few lycanthopes.

Chapter 3: A Psychological Survey

In some distant lands, I am told, certain types of lycanthropes exhibit moral and ethical outlooks that are more or less benign. For example, travellers have claimed that werebears have exhibited concern for the general weal. Further, though these creatures champion individualism above all else, they oppose those who spread pain and suffering. Judging from still other tales, there are werebeasts in some climes that run the gamut of behaviour, from beneficent to indifferent to malevolent.

Such is not the case within the realm of my experience. It is my considered opinion that virtually all lycanthropes are highly malign (although I must admit the actual nature of their malignity can vary somewhat). To be ever truthful, of course, the nature of my business is such that I am unlikely to encounter any werecreature of a less than cruel nature. As such, I must allow that “good” werebeasts can exist, though I have yet to meet them.

Why are lycanthropes such creatures of evil? My own guess is that they are subject to the same strange agencies that pervert magical wishes and twist the spirits of those who transgress the unwritten laws of moral behaviour. Lycanthropy is a dark, malign disease—a perversion of the way life should be—and hence it is somehow akin to evil itself. When someone willingly kills a sentient creature, this is, in my view, an act of evil. Because such acts will ultimately corrupt the mind of those who perform them, so will a lycanthrope’s killing slowly warp him into a malign form, whatever his original inclinations.