The Gaming Den

Some propose the idea that lycanthropy was bio-engineered by ancient scientist-mages, citing the effectiveness of the hybrid and animal forms in combat, and the amount of control that can be exerted by one who knows the triggers. Others say it's a perfectly natural, if frightening and extensive, parasitic virus.

Whichever is the case, the way it works is certain. Each form of lycanthropy is a distinct strain with it's own epigenetic traits.

By in large, all forms of lycanthropy hold to the same bio-mechanics. Each virus infects it's host and alters it's DNA with a suite of epigenetic traits, then takes up residence in a cluster of cells somewhere along the spine. Both the virus, and the new traits have predictable triggers depending on strain. For example, the trigger for the virus and it's granted traits in the wolf strain is moonlight, the more direct, the better. When the trigger condition is detected, the virus releases a flood of a chemical, very similar in composition to PCP, into the blood and brain, which in turn flips a switch in the host's mind from their normal behaviour to those specific instincts and predilections which the virus introduced upon infection. At the same time, the introduced genes in the host's DNA drive cells into an increased and specifically structured production, usually increased and sped up hair growth, startlingly fast replacement of the teeth, and an over all increase of speed in the body's healing. Each strain has it's own vulnerability which can counter localized damage repair, or eliminate the virus if the cluster can be found and targeted. Without a widespread repair of the host's DNA, however, the traits remain. All that is solved by destruction of the viral cluster is the compulsion of the host's actions.

At the end of exposure to the triggering condition, the host experiences rapid die off of affected hair, skin, tooth and nail cells, followed by replacement of those cells to typical levels for the host.

The rapid production of new cells in both initial transformation and the reversion to standard form uses a large amount of energy and building material, in turn using up large amounts of the host's stored energy from food, resulting in the typical prodigious hunger often seen in transformed lycanthropes.

Below are specifics on various strains:
Wolf Strain On moonlit nights, your brain is flooded with hunting instinct as hair grows rapidly over your body, your teeth and nails are grown into fangs and claws, and your skeletal structure is altered to cause your feet to lengthen into digitigrade posture while your coccyx lengthens into a wolf like tail (or your existing tail shortens, sprouting fur). Often the host is so completely changed their original race cannot be recognized, save for untouched gross physical traits, such as feathers, distinctive ears, and so on. Silver kills the virus, and counters the increased growth as it binds to the carbon of the cells and flips the epigenetic switch off. A Fort save can fight off the physical and mental effects of the virus on a given episode, but a different save is needed for each. A dusting of 1.5 oz of silver per 20 lbs of host grants a +4 bonus to these saves.
Rat Strain The rat strain of lycanthropy is very similar to the wolf strain, though it's trigger is darkness. Any conditions of dimmer than shadowy illumination force the change. The changes are almost exactly the same as those brought on by the wolf strain, save for the exact appearance. The viral instincts are more towards general theft and consumption of food, leading many afflicted with Rat Strain Lycanthropy to become thieves with enlarged stomachs from their gorging. It also introduces a mild pica condition, driving the host to consume materials they would otherwise not consider food. Citric acid kills the virus and neutralizes it's effects in a location, and eating citrus on a regular basis (assume three pieces or more per day) will grant a +4 bonus on fortitude saves made to resist transformation and mind alteration.
Crocodile Strain When a person infected with Crocodile Strain Lycanthropy is exposed to large amounts of water (1 gallon per 10 lbs body mass or more), or when the surface over the location of the viral cluster is kept wet, their change is triggered. They are driven to kill, and to find the nearest body of water to reside in, unless other wise controlled. The triggering of the virus causes the skin to toughen and thicken, growing scale like as nails become sharp claws and a long, powerful, saurian tale grows from the base of the spine. (XXX) kills the virus, counters localized effects and grants a bonus against transformation and mental affects of the virus.
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Work in progress, but at least the idea was put down.

note: yes, I'm bending certain laws of biology and physics to explain lycanthropy this way, I'm aware of that, and that it wouldn't work in the real world. But we're talking about a world with spiders the size of buses and sauropod sized reptiles that fly and spew fire. Can we get a bit of leeway here? In this model, however, lycanthropes would stay the normal size of the host, I'm not interested in breaking that little law of thermodynamics.

Is there a problem, Catharz?

It's a pretty exemplary showing of classic pseudo scifi. Throwing around words like "epigenetic" and "digitigrade" doesn't suddenly turn things like rapid reversible changes to bones/teeth or growing then un-growing a lizard tail into a natural process. Especially when the transformation's triggered by things like exposure to a full moon or water.

Epigenetic is a perfectly good word. It involves genetic traits triggered by environmental conditions. Which is what I'd call turning into a hairy guy with claws and teeth. Digitigrade is the term for a quadruped's leg structure that makes them walk on the balls of their feet. Yes, this isn't exactly the way something would work in the real world, but spiders the size of buses wouldn't either, so... come on. The only real break from actual reality here is the speed at which the cells grow (and possibly the nature of the triggers, I'm only very vaguely aware of epigenetics). I mean, genetic traits that trigger under certain environmental conditions exist. Parasites that rewire the host's brain exist. Conditions which cause prodigious growth of hair, or teeth, or nails, or abnormal skin growth exist. All I'm doing here is bringing these ideas together and using it as an in-world explanation for lycanthropy. And if you want a fantasy world that works with science, rather than handwaving it, as some people certainly seem to, then you have to work out some acceptable breaks, and figure out what's scientifically explicable, and when magic needs to step in to let the science work to create the fantasy icon.

...also it wouldn't be rapid reverse growth, it'd be rapid cell death and replacement.

The problem is that it's just a pseudoexplanation, it's handwaving with science instead of with magic. Your explanation doesn't get you anywhere different from the "it's magic" one. In either case you defeat the lycanthrope by finding its weakness and stabbing, or taking it to a specialist and having them cast cure disease/use a course of antiretroviral drugs.

The rule of thumb for scie-fi explanations for fantastical effects is that the more you push it, the less specific you should be. Since you're trying to describe something that's not real, being more specific just means being more wrong.

What do you actually want? Lycanthropy caused by magical fairies that splash you with tea?

Again, I challenge you to show where I'm wrong beyond the rate at which cells reproduce. I'm handwaving one specific thing so that the rest works with science. If you refuse to work with what I'm doing here, which is, specifically, building a fantasy world that works with science and magic, rather than just magic and some vague handwavey nod to science, then I invite you to suck a barrel of cocks, because your criticism amounts to "no, your idea is wrong and you should feel bad"

Retroviruses cannot change the gross morphology of an organism. That stuff is set prior to birth, as the embryo is developing into a viable organism. Without some additional explaination of why the body is retroactively transformed, there is no reason for any epigenetic changes to extend beyond the protein and cell levels. Transformations of the bone structure, the development of new joints, teeth, musculature, blood vessel and nerve connections to control it all wouldn't form just because the genetics was changed.

Grek wrote:Retroviruses cannot change the gross morphology of an organism. That stuff is set prior to birth, as the embryo is developing into a viable organism. Without some additional explaination of why the body is retroactively transformed, there is no reason for any epigenetic changes to extend beyond the protein and cell levels. Transformations of the bone structure, the development of new joints, teeth, musculature, blood vessel and nerve connections to control it all wouldn't form just because the genetics was changed.

Alright, so there's that too. Would you like to make a suggestion for how to make that make sense?

That's a really tall order. If I had to do it, I'd write something along the lines of "The "virus" is, in fact, a parasite with a metamorphic cycle that goes: Egg infects human -> blood fluke hatches -> blood fluke forms "pupa" inside the body cavity of the human -> pupa expands, consuming internal organs and taking over their functionality -> pupa bursts from inside the human like a wolfman wearing some sort of fucked up human suit -> lycanthrope spends 3 days running around devouring stupidly huge amounts of food and spreading eggs in it's saliva via bites -> lycanthrope turns into a pupa again -> fully formed human bursts out of the pupa and then cries because WTF.

How about this: Lycanthropy is a curse that causes a person to, on occasion, magically turn into a wolf.

CatharzGodfoot wrote:How about this: Lycanthropy is a curse that causes a person to, on occasion, magically turn into a wolf.

sounds like a winner to me