Chains of Retribution Werewolves of Lutetia

[Tiko]

Werewolves in Lutetia​

Lutetia possesses one of the largest concentrations of urban werewolves in all of Issunar. Due to this large mingling and genetic diversity, Lutetian werewolves are characterized by their highly variable nature. There are two primary methods of passing on the genetic anomaly that is lycanthropy.

The predominant one is birth. Typically the pairing of two werewolves will produce a werewolf offspring, while the pairing of a werewolf and a human will leave the offspring with a fifty percent chance of being born a werewolf.

The second method is through the bite of a werewolf.

Whether born, or bitten, each werewolf is characteristically unique with the DNA of the human bonding with the genetic mutation. As human DNA is infinitely variable, so too are werewolves. Werewolves that are born - or who were blood relatives prior to being bitten - are more likely to possess similar trait with one another, much as human siblings might share similar physical characteristics. A werewolf that contracts lycanthropy through a bite is far more subject to variable outcomes, and often there is no way to predict how the process will affect them.

Typically the turning process spans about two weeks, with an early onset of fever, aches and pains that steadily grows more debilitating around the second week. By the third week the fever spikes, and the pain is enough to drive a victim to delirium. When the fever breaks in the final hours, the first transformation isn't far off. A victim will typically describe these hours as feeling like they're being torn apart inside. The transformation itself typically spans only a few minutes, but is a brutal ordeal and many don't survive their first turning.

There is a small percentage of bitten werewolves who present with lunentia, a degenerative ailment that is characterized by insanity. Early onset of lunentia can only be detected during shapeshifting, which will produce a feral beast driven by primal instincts and raw aggression. As time progresses though, the division of man and wolf will begin to blur until all sense of humanity is lost. In one famous documented case, an individual suffering from late stages of lunentia was found to have disemboweled his neighbors before feeding on their flesh. He was later arrested while running naked through the streets coated in the blood of his victims, raving about the moon.

Characteristics of Lutetian werewolves vary from wolf to wolf, and some may possess silver allergies while others don't. Others might have wolf forms, while others have bipedal hybrid forms. Some can change at will, others can only change on the full moon. Lifespan is equally as variable, though typically it appears to be tied to regenerative capabilities. Werewolves with true regeneration and the ability to heal wounds instantly seem to have indefinite lifespans, while those with accelerated healing have lifespans of a few hundred years. Those who heal as humans heal seem to live on par to human lifespans.

Culturally, the urban packs of Lutetia have a long and bloody history of pack feuding and criminal activity within the city. It should also be noted that the urban packs are more prone to developing their human aspects than the more feral werewolves of the wilds.

Public perception of werewolves in Lutetia remains mixed, but there are many who feel that the decision to grant them citizenship was a mistake. Racism runs rampant and there is a strong push within the government to treat lycanthropy as a deadly disease to be segregated out of public schools and hospitals. This general hostility towards the werewolf packs within the city serves to sustain the culture of violence that they have become so well known for. Pushed to the fringes of society, the urban packs are more apt to embracing crime and anarchy over law and order.

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Urban Pack Life​

For a Lutetian werewolf, urban pack life is often a short and bloody affair of cultural violence, blood feuds, and crime. It is a way of life that has perpetuated through the generations as the packs grew to be almost gang like. They can be characterized as unruly, poorly regulated, poorly controlled, and possessing of little regard for local laws that have never done anything to help them.

Anarchists many call themselves. Realists others would say.

Some stake a claim to various organized criminal enterprises ranging from drugs to guns, money laundering and prostitution. Others prefer a life of petty criminal endeavors and flaunting of the law when it suits them. Some sit on high in their casinos sporting suits, while others blaze through the streets sporting their leather and bikes. Each pack maintains its own identity and values, separate from others, and rarely do these packs coexist peacefully.

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Prominent Lutetian Werewolf Packs​

• The Bloodstones - [Details Pending]
• The Scions of Aodhan - [Details Pending]

(more coming soon!)​

 

[Tiko]

History of the Bloodstone Pack​

The Bloodstone pack is a long standing pack of reputable size and noteworthy strength. They maintain a somewhat unique position within their territory of Vargeras as well, having managed to garner the general support and backing of the local residents due to their penchant for keeping less favorable elements off their streets. The locals are often apt to looking the other way on the occasional damages and skirmishes that are prone to following the urban packs as long as their neighborhoods are being kept clean of drugs and guns, and vandalism and robberies remain markedly low. This especially holds true within the poorer regions of Vargeras where police presence is little more than a joke and people need to turn to other means of protection.

This wasn't always so though, and in years past the Bloodstone pack garnered a less favorable reputation under the leadership of Mathis Guiscard as it spent several decades making a name for itself in the illegal gun trade and drug trafficking. A life-style that repeatedly placed them at the center of violent confrontations that spilled across the streets of Vargeras.

It was this violence and bloodshed that eventually led to a rift forming within the pack. Those whom supported Mathis' direction that took them deeper and deeper into organized crime - and profit - and those whom had grown jaded towards such a life. It was Mathis' son, James - later to be known as Baron - who gave voice to those drawn to breaking free of the senseless cycle of blood and loss. Though no stranger to violence, Baron saw a future where the pack could make a living off legitimate business enterprises, and truly carve out a home for itself in Vargeras. He saw a community and prosperity without warfare.

Support grew divided between Mathis and Baron, and the tensions swelled by the day. A challenge for pack leader between father and son seemed imminent. That is until Mathis simply departed the city without a word. Or so it is assumed. Not a word was imparted even to his pack second - Valerie Lachance - nor was any hint left as to his destination or whereabouts. A divided pack was left confused and shaken as the conflict they had all been anticipating ceased to be, and Baron now stood at the head of the pack with his brother, Ragenard, as pack second. Unfortunately, though Baron moved swiftly to bring the pack together, some divides are not easily bridged.

Mathis' supporters where not so eager to leave a life of organized crime behind, nor where they so eager to bury the hatchet when it came to the enemies they had made through their years of criminal enterprises. Valerie was unsurprisingly at the forefront of those that stood against the new direction of the pack, and seizing upon the divide she split the pack in two. Aptly taking on the name of The Nomads, many of the most hardened and old school members of the pack departed the city on her heels leaving Baron the task of building a place of security and stability for those who remained.

Peace was a somewhat novel concept to the Bloodstone pack, but a tentative one was struck even as they dug roots into Vargeras. Guns and drugs became a thing of the past as they turned instead to more legal sources of income. The Den - a rustic pub with Baron as proprietor - was the first of a series of successful pack run business to open up within Vargeras, and later Cascastel. With Baron at point, other businesses where soon to follow. Ranging from gun shops to tattoo parlors and restaurants, the pack explored a wide range of venues.

Though they never truly shed their grittier biker gang like image, for seven years they enjoyed a period of relative peace and stability. Seven years to grow content and soft as Baron was to learn. With eyes set upon Cascastel - a growing business district within Lupaix - an old enemy came knocking. The Scions of Aodhan had determined to spread their own territory while moving to settle an old score from decades of rivalry. In a night not soon to be forgotten, Vargeras and Cascastel erupted into chaos. Gunshots and fires filled the streets as skirmishes broke out far and wide. By morning both sides had withdrawn having equally suffered losses, but with the rise of the sun Cascastel sat firmly in Scion hands, and The Den lay as little more than smoldering rubble. Baron himself scarcely clung to life after a vicious ambush - betrayed by one of his own pack - and it was left to his brother Ragenard to rally the remaining pack in preparation for the war to come.