Lycanthropy
by
Devian, Scholar at the Library of Aranor
This treatise was guest-written by Devian, a scholar in Aranor who has studied the disease of lycanthropy extensively. He has been infected twice himself (and because of prompt attention by healers, remains healthy today), and has done much research on the early views of lycanthropy as held by the native Old World Northerners, whose Shamans thought of it as a gift instead of a curse. Here he gives us an overview of the disease.
Though I have studied Lycanthropy for over eight years, I oft feel that I have little more information than might any commoner when it comes to knowledge of the subject. The disease is, at best, fickle, mysterious, and unpredictable.
It is, of course, the most feared disease in any of the Known Lands. Like most diseases, Lycanthropy displays a tendency to attempt to spread itself from one creature to another, and the common opinion is that this is accomplished by means of a bite. The truth is, however, that the device of contagion is largely unknown. It is true that the blood and saliva of the Lycanthrope can transmit the disease -- this has been shown by numerous accounts of the disease being contracted by people bitten by a Lycanthrope, or in the fighting of it, having the Lycanthrope's blood contact an open wound. It seems that the victim must have the Lycanthrope's saliva or blood introduced into their bloodstream, but scattered incidents suggest that there might be more of a mystery to transmission. It is not unknown for people who intimately contact others on a regular basis to suddenly contract the disease. Healers, twylahs, and mercenaries seem the most common classes of people to be affected. Likely the disease is oft contracted through intimate contact with a Lycanthrope, or perhaps with a hypothetical "carrier" -- a person who has contracted the disease but never displays symptoms, and retains the ability to pass the disease on to others. In these cases, where there was no apparent contact with the victim's bloodstream, other means of contraction have been suggested -- from sexual contact to simply breathing the air that escapes a Lycanthrope's lips. At any rate, the disease is not as easily spread as some suggest. I have witnessed twelve cases of victims being bitten by verified carriers of the disease, and of these, only three subsequently contracted Lycanthropy.
After contraction, the disease first manifests as a plague-like illness, usually within two to three days after a bite, but sometimes up to a moon later. This phase of the disease lasts for three to four days, during which the disease is thought to establish itself irrevocably in the victim's body. After this, most cures fail, but there seems to be some success using normal healing methods if the disease is caught early on.
Soon after this period of illness, the victim will "get better", but will begin to manifest certain mental behaviors -- usually a fear of tight places or of being bound, which results in the person being uncomfortable in tight clothing, irrational fits of temper and sometimes violence, and sharp mood swings. For a span of six to ten days, the victim will move between periods of normalcy and periods of manic episodes.
The victim can expect the first actual transformation to occur approximately a moon after contraction. As this time approaches, the victim will endure periods of writhing pain in which they seem nothing short of insane. Victims have been seen to tear the clothes from their body, attempt to escape into the out-of-doors, and to scream and rant about events far in their past.
Usually, by this time, the victim has been killed out of mercy or sent to Saravai. Many, of course, escape from their loved ones and flee to the dark parts of the forest, where the disease may run its course undisturbed.
The transformation itself I have observed only once, since the victims, as a rule, seek out private places to shift. I cannot surmise whether my observation represented a standard example, but what I saw was a young girl, caged and naked, who curled in a fetal position as her body twitched. She whimpered softly, the sounds almost like singing, with an occasional shrill bark of pain as her body's bones twisted under her flesh. The speed of the transformation, as well as the fact that a Lycanthrope will inevitably change back into human form, lead me to the conclusion that Lycanthropy is, indeed, a magical disease, likely created long ago during the great mage battles of legend.
The final form of a shifted Lycanthrope is identical to the creature whose essence has now blended with the victim's. Here in the Old World, the change is almost inevitably into a wolf, though there are a few unverified reports of Lycanthropes shifting into bears or large cats. As the legends and stories from other cultures are full of examples of humans shifting into a great variety of forms, including those of foxes, tigers, and even serpents, I can only conclude that the disease is not limited to Faol.
The mind of the average Lycanthrope is hopelessly destroyed after the first transformation, no doubt from the sheer horror of the situation. Thus, most Lycanthropes live deep in the ancient forests, spending half their time as animals, and half as wild, insane humans.
A colleague of mine, however, has hypothesized that the insanity present in the victim before the initial transformation is not meaningless, but instead represents a premonitory attempt by the victim's mind to establish a mind-set capable of dealing with the reality of transformation. And indeed, some have been known to retain their sanity past the first shifting, and these are the feared Lycanthropes of legend, for even in animal form they retain the intelligence and memory of their human selves, combined with the instincts and heightened senses of the beast.
I do not propose that the disease itself is evil, as many sources have, but only that the horror of the situation breaks the human mind, and turns it to acts of violence and rapacity.
Saravai, of course, has delivered unto those brave or foolhardy enough to venture there, a testing ground for all knowledge regarding Lycanthropes. One of the most fascinating aspects of the disease has recently been brought to my attention by a man who spent a moon upon the isle, and, unfortunately, is recently deceased.
His observation was that sane Lycanthropes have been breeding for generations, and that their offspring are of an extraordinary nature. It seems that those born with the disease gain control over it, perhaps because it seems 'natural' to them. The insanities present with first-generation Lycanthropes seem to be lacking, and the ability to shift is obviously completely in the control of these individuals.
The future and past? The past tells us little -- only that the disease is very old. The Northerners, before the arrival of the Masallans, had Shamans who were said to have the ability to shape-shift. Likely this was due to Lycanthropy, which might have been viewed, at that time, as a gift instead of a curse. And the future is just as vague. No cure seems in sight, and there are scattered reports of a strange sort of "reverse Lycanthropy" emerging, especially from Gwynned. This disease seems to affect animals, again mostly wolves, and to allow them to take a half-human form. Some fear that the disease will continue to evolve until affected animals can take on convincing human forms and enter cities. Of course, these may simply be misinformed reports of Dire Wolf sightings, for those huge, half-fae creatures have been known oft enough to change to human form for the purpose of luring people from the safety of home and hearth.
For now, then, Lycanthropy will remain what it always has been -- the most feared and terrible of diseases, capable of causing mass hysteria wherever it is present. It can only be hoped that as we learn more, a cure will emerge, and those afflicted can be re-introduced to proper society.