Aquarian Age: Werefolk

[Steve]

During the years of heightened magic before the end if the war and the destruction of the Dark Lord, therianthropes were actually animals that were able to take human form instead of the other way around. When the gates collapsed, both those in animal form and those appearing as ordinary humans were suddenly transformed into human shapes that possessed animal characteristics (ears, animal-like pupils and tails). Like other Fae, they became mortal but became human-like in appearance instead of sentient animals. No one is sure why. Many breeds perished, unable to withstand the loss of magic. Werecats and werewolves are some of the largest populations, but other breeds with characteristics like rabbits, pandas and foxes so exist. There is also racism that occurs between the breeds, but that is fading fast with each generation.

 

Like other Fae, therianthropes live longer than humans but not as long as the Sidhe or vampire folk, topping out at 200 years. Since they originated as sentient forms of animals, they retain many of the instincts of those animals, although those moderated quite a bit over fifty years of civilizing. Among pack animal types there still remains an instinct to establish one's position in the pack, but it rarely goes further than fistfights.

 

There are no half-breeds that occur between the mating of a human and one of the therianthrope breeds. Children will carry the characteristics of their mother, but sometimes an apparently pure-blooded human will result from a successful mating. If two therianthropes of different breeds attempt to mate, or a therianthrope attempts to mate with one of the other Fae species, they are unable to conceive.

 

After two to three generations of intermixing with humans, this still appears to hold true.

[Steve]

Having a tail appears to be an uncommon trait. It is more commonly found in the long-tailed breeds such as wolves or those based on large cats (lions, jaguars, cheetahs, etc).

 

Racism among were types exist, but it tends to happen between predator and prey species (lions vs. rabbits) or those with natural antipathy towards each other (wolves vs. cat types). Stereotypes also exist, like rabbit folk being believed to be highly sexual types (especially the females) or cat types hating water.

[Steve]

Due to the lower levels of magic in the world now, transformation into full-on animal forms is no longer possible. Instead, a therianthrope can only unleash their animal natures to a more limited degree. Eyes and facial features will become more animalistic and claws and fangs will appear on predator types, but the transformation does not alter them much more than that, not even reaching a full Crinos furred form (as White Wolf's werewolves can do)..

 

The damage such claws and fangs can deal out is not much, usually about 1-2 Damage Classes as base. Aspects like strength and speed will also increase, and even a meek rabbit type can unleash powerful kicks if in the mood to fight back.

[Steve]

After two generations of assimilation into Earth culture, werefolk are no longer that remarkable, except in more monoracial places, especially more rural areas. Some countries, like Japan and India, received larger influxes of such Fae than others did, which helped somewhat to break down any racism issues, but that is mainly a feature of the larger cities. Today, it is not uncommon for any Tokyo high school class to have a handful of Fae among the human students, and it is not much remarked on. In villages and smaller towns, the Fae become more noticed and talked about.

 

Pack animal types tend to seek each other out, so it is rare to find a lone werefolk among humans. While humans and werefolk mostly get along all right, different breeds of werefolk sill retain some wariness towards each other. Having a few humans in the social mix seems to smooth out such racial tensions.

 

The younger generations, especially those of human and werefolk mixed marriages, have an easier time adapting to life among humans than their grandparents do. During full moons, Grandpa may decide to go for a naked run in the woods, an embarrassing thing for more status-conscious members of their families to have to deal with.