"75% recap, 25% original content. My life has become an episode of Street Fighter II V."

[poiuppx]

Okay, time for another recap fest. But never fear, kind readers; I actually have a little meat to go with the same old bones this time around. So stick with me here, I may actually keep your interest a little

Comments

Re: Question

[poiuppx]

Lycanthropy, and your second question in regards to celestials and demons, are actually directly connected. It works like this; in the beginning, the space the world of Ramana now fills was a swirling nexus of raw mindless Chaos, devoid of purpose or desire, but instinctively destructive. They filled the planar space because the region was riff with potential fertile energy, the kind of energy that could support a massive populated plane. As such, the self-sustaining energies fed the Chaos, keeping them instinctively close to it. Over time, the numerous gods became aware of the region, and desired to populate it, form and mold it into their own image. Each by themselves sent forth their champions, raw elemental beings based around their respective domain. Each one met decent results at first, but eventually the powerful Chaos would crush their army once it went too deep into their territory. Again and again, they massed an army, attacked, and failed. However, they gradually became aware that one another were all attempting the same thing. They came to a mutual decision to try to band their forces together, easily done because in those days there was no hatred between them, no ill events to spark distrust. It took a thousand years of conflict, but eventually the combined forces of the gods demolished the majority of the Chaos. However, they could not destroy it all; even the 'clean' space still held traces of the Chaos swirling and churning, and the Chaos could still reform. So, unable to destroy it perfectly, they chose instead to seal it away in a nameless prison between worlds just beyond their new land-to-be. However, some of the Chaos was infected with the army's sentience, or in other cases infected the army with their chaotic nature. These new sentient beings of Chaos sought refuge of their own, and endowed with new power they forged their own sub-plane, with inate hatred for the gods in their hearts. After all, that which they once had been and they had once possessed had been taken or destroyed by them. This was the birth of the demons, and the Hundred and Thirteen Abyssal Planes. The Gods saw this as their first challenge, and responded by creating a race of beings much like their elementals, but forged of their unified powers for the purpose of both counteracting the demons and also acting as go-between for themselves and their new world. On the new world, forged between them to be made of their differing elements, and populated by races they together conceived of, there also existed aberrants forged of the interaction between their new world and the remnants of Chaos energy. Mutations were the most common among these, and of these mutations the most common was the splicing of differing sentient races, or on rare occasion, a sentient race melded with plantlife. Thus came the first naturally occuring lycanthropes, beings that could shift between their respective forms. They were rare, and in those days too close to Chaos to do anything save lash out at the races the gods forged. It has since shifted, as have the other abberant races formed of the merger of Chaos and the new world. If they have survived at all, they have survived often by merging with the world in one way or another. For example, many lycanthropes have found refuge, if not with a closly related natural 'experiment' race (Vorn, Kujaf, Ferro), then in the Empire of Zin, where they are reveared for their raw power, a commodity the Empire of Zin prizes highly. In MOST cases, transformations are voluntary and genetically resultant. However, there do exist ways to gift or curse a person through elaborate ritual with lycanthropy. However, this is less predictable and less controlable... it can lead to involuntary changes, loss of normal mental facilities from form to form, becoming frozen in a mid-way state (imagine being stuck flexing a single muscle for all time. Now imagine your ENTIRE BODY like that). In some religions in The Midlands, becoming a lycan is actually an honor, afforded ONLY to Elders so they can commune closer to the nature of the world and better lead them.

Re: Question

[poiuppx]

ahz... okalydoke... that pretty much answers my question in an elongated convoluted sort of way...
can one turn into any type of lycanthrope, or is there a set of animals that are available... also, you left out forms, and foot-styles...
i have friends that have done reserch in these kinds of areas... in a campaign that one of them ran he developed a whole system of lycanthropy... the forms that we had in that campaign included human, hybrid, animal, and then if we achieved it a form called Pure form, in which our abilities in hybrid were pretty much doubled... I have also experienced the white-wolf system to some degree in which they have 5 forms, human, a half way form, hybrid, another half way form, and animal... also, it would be good to know if one can transform immediatly from one form to another, say human directly to animal, or would one have to transform through the spectrum before getting to animal form...
as for digitigrade vs plantigrade, im not sure if you know what that is, so here-goes... digitigrade is when the lycan stands on hind leggs like a dog or wolf's, the legs bend differently than human, as such im pretty sure they would also put an extra spring in your step. plantigrade however is how humans stand, putting most of the weight on the heal and using the rest of the foot for ballance...

Re: Question

[poiuppx]

Any kind, any variation, etc. were all possible at the start. The start only, mind you. Through time, warfare, and assimilation into the new world around them, many species and variations died out. Some changed further to fit special niche roles, gradually adapting until they became something closer to what we typically know of through classic myths. For example, take a human and a bull, give them harsh conditions that force them, say, into the hot arid deserts of Nhali and the harsh wastes and plains of The Midlands. They adapt to become harder, more rugged, more naturally muscular so they may fight to survive. Thus, what was once a werebull adapts to the point where the human aspect becomes redundant, and in fact, a liability. The resulting race is now what we would call minotaurs.

Some races that found refuge in the wilder zones of the 'experiment' races adapted towards digitigrade so they can keep up with their brethren. In most other cases, as humanoid races began to shape the world more and more to best fit them, plantigrade would become more advantageous, and by the start of Dragonfly would be most logical.

It is worth noting that Dragons are NOT a race born of lycan-Chaos beings. Dragons are a naturally occuring race connected to several minor inhabited planes, and were brought in to aid the gods in their war. As a result, they were given a part of the world all their own, the Valley of the Dragons, which is in the heart of the region known now as the Empire of Zin. They are NOT a part of the Empire, however, and any inference they are by the Empire to boost their appearance would likely be met with SEVERE punishment.

In terms of a person who is aflicted with lycanthropy through a 'gift' or 'curse' by outside means, they can become more or less any kind of lycan. However, what the final version comes out to, if it is on par with natural lycans, and if it even survives the 'gifting'/'cursing', is left up to the fates. Plus, outside of Zin, they don't generally hold positions of power, nor do they have an empire to themselves. This may come down to the simple root fact that while the other races were made for the world, the lycans simply adapted into it if they survived in it at all.