What should be the reason for a TF?

[KyubiVash]

I would prefer it be by will, not magic

[TimidTabby]

Though I agree with free will TF's *forcing hand to become paw..."ughh...ummm..." not working, but still trying* , Would it still be a bit scary just being able to do it? If we could, would that mean every person on the plaent could potentionally be able to change?
....it just got me thinking, ya know, what kind of philosophical or particular questions would come up in such event....hmm, that could work as a story...???
*PATENT PENDING...until I give up*

[ScottyDM]

Traditional Romanian werewolves typically involve magic (a curse from a witch) or some magical object such as a wolf-skin belt. In this second case, it becomes free will whether to not to put on the belt. Traditional Romanian werewolves could be killed by something as simple as a pitchfork--you don't need magical weapons. It also seems to run in families. I am unclear on the transmission through biting--Romanian vampires most definitely transmit via a bite, but I didn't find much about werewolves doing the same. Unfortunately, there is more good information about Romanian vampires on the Net then there is Romanian werewolves.

All that stuff about the full moon, silver bullets, and other junk is Hollywood and has nothing to do with Romania. However, Romanian weres do seem to be compelled to limit their transformation periods to nighttime.

Of course nearly every culture on this planet has some kind of transformation legends. An example are the native American skin-walker stories. So if you're creating a story you can borrow whatever bits of various legends fit your story.


I had outlined, but didn't yet write, a story about Romanian werewolf. I decided to make the condition genetic. That is, my main character's parents were both weres, they recognized each other the moment they met, courted and married. A son was the result of that union. All three can transform at will, but it takes some time and effort. At the time of my story, the boy is 18.

The family lives in a city and have a cabin in the Transylvanian Alps, where they go most weekends. When at the cabin they actively protect the flocks of the villagers--something that pops up in traditional Romanian stories from time to time. A bad thing happens and the family is blamed (the villagers strongly suspect the family are weres). It is dusk when an angry mob shows up and murders the father out in front of the cabin and the mother and son try to barricade themselves inside. The mob breaks in and the mother uses her body as a shield while shouting at the son to jump out the window and run away. His last memory of his mother are the tines of a pitchfork coming out her back as she blocks his bedroom doorway, facing their attackers. Sill in human form he leaps through the glass and runs into the woods.

At night in the Transylvanian woods is kind of a spooky place and the villagers don't follow him far. Scared to death, he transforms into wolf form then runs over the mountains, at night, about 40 miles, to get back to his home in the city. The sun is coming up when he steals some clothes off a wash line at the outskirts of the city and transforms back into human form. He then goes home and uses the key under the mat to get in.

He gets the police involved, but no one at the village knows anything. He talks to the family lawyer, but sick of superstitious countrymen, and sick of hiding his nature in a land where everyone seems to be suspicious, he decides he needs a change of scenery. Using his dead parents cash, he gets a passport and tourist visa to visit the United States. Hoping that some time away from home will help him get his life sorted out while the lawyer works on the estate.

He has been in the US several months, feeling that he has no friends, and decides to stay at Yellowstone Park for a few days. One evening he wants a fancy meal in the main dining room at Old Faithful Inn. The last of the sunlight is fading and the stars are starting to sparkle in the darkening sky when he walks from the little plywood "cabin" he's staying in to the Inn....

And the story starts.

His waitress is a 24-year old full-blooded were and each instantly recognizes what the other is. They talk obliquely, not quite daring to come out and just say what they are, or what they want. She talks about how, when her mother was only a few weeks pregnant, her parents escaped from Communist Romania and asked for political asylum in the US. He talks about his family and the superstitious villagers in Romania. The murders. She talks about the reintroduced wolf packs and the biologists who study them, who she knows by name. And about the trouble of finding a real friend she can trust. He talks about keeping secrets and loosing friends because they don't feel they can know someone who closes off so much of his life.

She asks him how much control he has, without mentioning what it is he is supposed to be controlling, but he knows. She asks if he can do this... then demonstrates. She puts her face close to his and closes her eyes. When she opens them her eyes have shifted from blue to yellow. She closes her eyes again and when she opens them the effect is reversed. He expresses his admiration, says she has beautiful eyes. She says she has to work the next night, but the night after she has free and asks if he'd like to go out to dinner with her. She mentions the biologists again, says they have been watching an elk herd that is on the north side of the lake.

Then she asks, "Have you ever tasted elk calf?" She smiles. "Fresh and warm. Flavored by the night air."


It will be devilishly difficult to write a werewolf story where the characters stay in human form the whole story--yet still give the reader a very distinct feel that these people are not human. But I have an idea how I might do this--use sight to describe only what cannot be described any other way. For example on his walk to the dining room: the scent of the distant pines, the small sounds from the forest, the scent of the geysers and hot pools, the sound of tires on pavement, the scent of someone's dog whining to get out of a locked car, only then the sight of the moonlight in silver puddles on the ground.

My weres look fully human while in human form, but they are very much wolf inside. And they look fully wolf while in wolf form, but are still very much human inside. A blending of the civilized and the wild. Human and animal.

The wild wolves can tell, but they are not sure what it is they are dealing with and it makes them nervous. Humans, with their blunter senses don't seem to have a clue.

Scotty

[Cenobyte]

Because you want to .

[Vanghar]

I like accidental, for two main reasons. 1) it tends to be via some either curiously wierd, or seemingly harmless means. (which leads on to) 2) the feeling or suprise the "victim" then has, as they wonder what's happening. I always find that good.

Whilst similar to being forced (the surprise), I tend to not like them, partially as the outcome is always bad for victim, but also because the whole thing is ruined by the victim screaming/pleading for help/trying to attack thoose who caused it.

That's just my view.