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Scorc Lycanthropy

The Story of the Dark Horse

Tsala stumbles through the Argos forest clutching at her mangled arm, two pieces of flesh attached by strings. In a panic, she looks over her shoulder, but all she sees under the moonlight are tree trunks. She hears something in the canopy above, and Tsala fears her pursuer might be ready to pounce down on her. The injured woman squints her eyes, half-blinded by the full moon. As she opens them wider, she notices a different shape in the sky.

Flying between her and the moon, there is an ebon black mare. Wings made of pure flame sprout out of its back, and as Tsala gasps, its glowing red eyes stare through the brush and into her soul. From within her chest, fear comes clawing up to Tsala's throat. She is unable to scream, and instead looks down towards her bloody body which won't be able to protect her.

The fear transforms into a fiery pain which fully engulfs Tsala. Her skin feels like its singing itself to her flesh, and the exposed sinew binding her arm together begins to smoke. The pain is too much; her arm feels like its going to explode, and with a hysterical screech and a sickly tearing, Tsala flings the arm through the wood. She expects to feel nothing, perhaps a phantom pain. Instead she feels the cool breeze of the midnight wind. She sees a new feathered arm where once there was sinew, and the fear and pain is replaced with the relief one feels when they wake from a bad dream. She tears the rest of her skin off, revealing more and more feather-bound flesh which promise to protect her from the creature above. Going to scream at the nightmare above that dared to light her skin aflame, Tsala instead shrieks at the full moon.

Ancient Mystics and Berserkers

Before the modern day, lycanthropes tended to have positions assigned to them in different Scorc cultures. Many tribes of ancient Scorc'Heim saw lycanthropes as deeply connected to the animal spirits of the region and sought their guidance on spiritual matters. In these times, lycanthropes became shamans: healers and oracles who would take care of their clan.

Before the varangians migrated to Scorc'Heim, lycanthropes served as berserkers. These berserkers were feared and often ostracized even amongst their fellow Varangians and their warrior culture, but they were recognized as strong and useful soldiers. The last Lord of the Flies ensured that his Varangians always maintained at least one berserker in a unit, and he helped ensure the werebear General Smied Tordbjørn was seen favorably.

Manifestation

Like lycanthropy in other places in the world, Scorc lycanthropy gives a humanoid the ability to transform into an animal-like creature under the full moon. Unlike lycanthropy in other places on Divim, Scorc lycanthropy is not identifiable as a curse. Those who have a form of Scorc lycanthropy may be trained to transform into a hybrid form or an animal form at will by The Penestae.

Those untrained by The Penestae feel a strong desire to transform under the full moon. This desire is described as a fiery pain which may be relieved or actually preferred when one transforms into their hybrid or animal form. The cycles of the moon in Ist'Fek result in two nights of full moons in a row. Some of those with Scorc lycanthropy may find that they black out for both the first night as well as the whole 24 hours of the next day before regaining their humanoid rationality.

Scorc lycanthropy can be passed on hereditarily, but only by members of the same sex. Those of the male sex may pass on their form of lycanthropy to their male progeny and those of the female sex may pass on their form of lycanthropy to their female progeny. Those blessed with neither sex may pass on their lycanthropy to any child or receive lycanthropy from either parent.

Type
Metaphysical, Supernatural

A Parodoxical Status

Those in North Scorc'Heim tend to see lycanthropy as a curse. However, in the central city of Istos Scorc lycanthropy is a status of nobility and strength, but it is also seen as something which saps away one's ability to reason. The values of Istos come into conflict as rationality, which tends to be the most important trait for those in the city, is compromised by the lycanthrope elite of the city. For this reason, The Penestae are a necessary group to ensure that lycanthropes do not harm the citizens of Istos or their minds.

The Ni Moors and the Smiedsons

The Ni Moors, translated to Sigilic as the Daughters of Moor, are a family who are born with a very rare form of lycanthropy: A wereraven form. Many ascribe their shrewdness to the mystical power of foresight granted to wereravens and believe that they do not pass the gift on due to fear of others gaining their powers. The Ni Moors instead remain secretive and claim that they want little to do with the bastardization of their forebearer's work by making something natural into a status symbol.

The Smiedsons are a family of shifters descended from werebear lycanthropes. The Smiedsons and Ni Moors both claim they are descended from an ancient union between the Varangian Smied Tordbjørn and the Scorc Moor Kyone. The truth of this cousin claim is questioned as the strength of the lycanthropies in both bloodlines seem inconsistent.


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