Lycantrophy

Innocent, sure... but listen, however much they may not mean you any harm... least not twenty-seven days out of thirty, don't ever forget: the enemy isn't them, it's what's inside them. Lycantrophy isn't a matter of being a bad person, it's a goddamn pandemic with teeth. Fenris was a 'modern society' too, and now it's rubble. Exponential growth, lad. Lose track of that fire for one moment, and it'll burn you to ash... -Agent Alistair McNab, USPEOIU-EXCOM, to a junior agent.

  Lycantrophy is a magical disease as much as it is a 'race', a supernatural affliction that causes victims to periodically transform into bestial, predatory forms.  While it arguably provides considerable advantages for its 'victims', it also causes a significant loss of inhibition and is dangerous on a planetary scale.  Simple mathematics indicate saturation times on the scale of 3 years.  

Effect

Lycantrophy is, afflictions go, quite spectacular, and a full examination of the lycantrophic state is accounted elsewhere. Its two principle effects are that it causes supernatural regenerative ability, suppressed only by silver, and dramatic, abrupt transformation in an 'animalistic' form under specific geomantic/astrological conditions generally associated with phases of the moon. Beyond these two primary effects, its manifestations are more subtle but also potentially profound. The regeneration effect manifests continuously, down to a cellular level. This makes lycantrophes functionally immune to radiation (except, incredibly, from the decay of unstable silver isotopes), or cancer, or any number of degenerative diseases, though they still have an immune system and are capable of getting sick. They still age, but much slower.   Interestingly, if injury or severe sickness does occur (due to silver, primarily), treatment is extremely difficult. The lycantrophic physiology aggressively attacks any foreign bodies, and resists even magical healing. Paradoxically further suppression of regeneration on a system-level is often necessary for healing of permanent injury.  

Progression

Transmitted lycantrophy begins at the point at which the subject comes into contact with an already infected lycantrophe. While infection is not certain, if it occurs, within 8-24 hours, the affliction will have begun to take hold. In many cases, the first sign of infection is an abnormally quick recovery from any injuries inflicted in transmission, along with reports of abnormally excellent health and mood. Following initial development, the infection takes at least 6-10 days to progress to full strength, and cannot truly root itself until the subject's first periodic transformation, which ordinarily happens at the next cycle. Following this, the affliction has fully manifested and is permanent - not that chances of cure are significant prior to this point. This first transformation is most often reported as a sense of agitation that suddenly gives way to profound lethargy, resulting in the subject 'passing out' and losing time. Any memories from the transformation are likely to be unclear. The chance of maintaining any particular control at this point is extremely low. Over time, the agitation/lethargy cycle will become 'smoother', with the victim possibly reporting a dissociative state, hallucinations, or the sensation of dreaming, though memories will still be sporadic and irregular. Eventually, the subject will adapt somewhat, and with training can remember specific events during their transformation, and may even be able to exert a certain 'lucidity'. This also means they are also likely to recognize what is happening, which is fortunate as they will typically withdraw from society, but unfortunate as they tend to become much harder to track.   The early months of infection are typically where the most fatalities/transmissions occur, as the subject does not know to self-isolate, and indeed may draw sympathetic friends or family to them.

Transmission

Lycantrophy is transmitted, traditionally, via bite, and this is indeed the most common and reliable method of transmission, though not the only one. Any fluid-to-fluid contact seems to have a smaller chance of transmission, as well as, on occasion, other types of injury inflicted by a lycantrophe. More extensive injuries increase the chance of infection, though this may be as much due to weakness derived from injury. Transfusion of blood (or, on occasion, other fluids) is also a possible and quite reliable vector, but only if it occurs quickly following extraction. Transmission can occur regardless of whether or not the subject is currently transformed, though being transformed seems to make it more likely. Immune health has no particular correlation with likelihood of infection, nor does the state of the Chakra network. Overall health has a limited effect, but the greatest effect seems to arise from mental state. Knowledge of and 'opposition' to the condition seems to be the single most influential factor, but simply not wanting to succumb is by no means a reliable defense - though one who wishes to be infected is far more likely to be.   Youth seems to offer some resilience to transmission, though it is also suggested that it merely offers resistance to transformation.  There are no recorded cases of an infected child born to a non-infected individual, or vice versa. The other major factor is species - only [Cytan] species can be infected, and even then, [Humans] are by far the most likely to be infected, by a factor of roughly five.   Tracking precise transmission factors is generally an exercise in futility, as they cannot be ethically or safely experimented on, and many cases are not reported or reported incorrectly.  

Treatment

A handful of 'cures' or treatments for Lycantrophy are attested, the vast majority of which are useless, and a narrow band of which are fatal. Conventional magical treatment, such as Remove Curse or [Break Enchantment], is also useless. Large doses of poison (particularly opiates, asphyxiants, and neurotoxins) can kill a lycantrophe and most traditional remedies amount to variations on this. Administration of silver in various forms is also a commonplace 'treatment', and similarly nonfunctional. Adornment with silver in particular is useless, either as a curative or preventative, though Truesilver at least has some potential preventative effects.   The most successful traditional treatment takes the form of a post-infection prophylactic, involving the administration of lethal doses of wolfsbane (no doubt chosen for sympathetic reasons) which has an 60% of killing the subject, 25% chance of survival (and continued infection), and 15% chance of actually curing or abating the disease.   Improvements on this treatment, including purification, addition of anti-convulsants to mitigate toxic effects, and admixture of colloidal silver to weaken the affliction, administrated intravenously, has demonstrated some success, with a mere 10% chance of death and up to a 40% chance of delaying or even curing the disease.   Mitigating treatments have been developed by the USPEIOU, the most direct of which prevents transformation via the administration of extreme levels of a sedative, sufficient to cause death in an uninfected human, or potentially if taken at the wrong time. A combination of sedatives, anti-convulsants, and silver nitrate can suspend progression if begun before the first transformation, however this is extremely hazardous to health in essentially every other way.   More aggressive magical treatment has demonstrated greater success, directly attacking the affliction's manifestation in the spirit, a kind of 'spiritual surgery' halfway between an exorcism and amputation - though [Black Magic] and thus suspect, this treatment is most common in Dawnrealm.  Extremely powerful and advanced magic can also treat the condition reliably, but is generally out of access. Though not necessarily recommended for obvious reasons, prior to the first transformation, the spiritual infection is predominantly exterior and can be 'treated' by killing and magically [resurrecting] the subject.   The [Mage-Empire of Eran Trakkat] is believed to have had additional methods of treatment, but the truth of this is unknown.   Much like efforts a cure, attempts at immunization have proven largely ineffectual. Large quantities of colloidal silver taken by mouth or injected have a significant fortifying effect, but also significant side effects. Presence of silver or other trinkets is ineffectual. For the most part the best defense at infection is to avoid the circumstances of infection, which is much easier said that done. However, magically activated silver (e.g., Truesilver), properly enchanted, can prove quite effective at preventing infection if worn.  The unfortunate consequence of this, is, given the typical method of transmission, it is equally likely the wearer will simply be killed instead.  

Pathology

Lycantrophy has no pathogenic manifestation. The blood of a lycantrophe is indistinguishable from that of a normal human to mundane testing. Even the DNA of a transformed lycantrophe is human in nature. (Since there is a possibility of transmission via blood transfusion, this is potentially disastrous). This, obviously, leads to a search for an alternate manifestation, and in some ways lycantrophy can be thought of as a transmissible curse, as much as that seems like a contradiction in terms. Like a curse, lycantrophy leaves a mark on the victim's spirit, manifesting as a significant increase in responsiveness to certain stimuli, most prominent an... aggressive... response to trauma. Certain geomantic conditions (corresponding with the phases of the moon) will also elicit a response, causing the spirit to 'expand' and become tumultuous, this is believed to be linked to the means of transformation. However, the manifestation of the phenomenon cannot be wholly explained this, nor can its easy transmissibility.   Some nevertheless believe Lycantrophy to be a kind of self-replicating curse, created by some ancient progenitor for unknown purposes, most likely through advanced blood magic. This curse implants itself in the spirit of its victims, and confers uncontrollable magical abilities, most prominently transformation and casting the curse itself on any that are bitten or otherwise potentially infected. This was the accepted theory prior to detailed analysis of [Fenris] and correlation with [Ean] archives in the 1960s, but fails to fully account for the fact that the affliction fundamentally does not behave as a spell, including being able to operate when magic is surpressed. The more modern 'Abomination theory' or more politely, 'Miracle theory', instead posits that lycantrophy takes the form of a vector for a spontaneous [miracle], altering the spirit to create a 'keyhole' linking to an outer dimension, through which a portion of that dimension's physics leak through - and are then exploited to create the transformation and regenerative abilities. Direct or indirect contact with another creature's chakra network causes a brief link, forcing the victim's network to spontaneously mirror the affliction. Humans are primarily affected because, obviously, the chakra of other species, even other [Cytan] species, is different. While this is somewhat unsatisfactory, as it basically amounts to 'a god did it', it is consistent with observations. It is commonly called 'abomination theory' as it is believed that the dimension(s) linked to are, in fact, the Primordials , though curiously most lycantrophes show relatively few primordial tendencies. Others have suggested that the Lycantrophes could be linked to a different god, or even none at all, spontanteously evolving the ability to manifest planar phemonena. No one has been able to correlate the necessary data, however.