of monstrous and queer creatures 3: the werewolf

GENERAL

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everyone knows wolves. Everyone knows dogs and canids. Very few know about the truth behind their connection them and the languid full moon that cries mist over the land. All canids are actually a symbiosis between ape-like creatures and a peculiar mold that infected their genome at the dawn of time, a mold that covers (and perhaps IS ) the entirety of the world's satellite, and whose spores occasionally fall to the planet to perpetuate its arcane and esoteric life cycle. Humans have been immune to the moon mists since they too were similar to the apes that now host the mold, but they were never affected by it , and that's maybe why they managed to evolve as far as they did. But that is not true anymore. Now werewolves follow in the wake of moonfalls.

A FRENZIED INFECTION

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humans that breathe the moon mists don't immediately change. There's actually a moderate chance they'll never undergo the full transformation, but most people begin showing symptoms as the next full moon draws closer. Their body temperature rises, and their minds become more and more clouded by a feverish mist. They start becoming hyperactive and they feel a potent urge to go outside in the night, but that doesn't alleviate their symptoms. When they are under the moonlight all their inhibitions disappear completely and every repressed and hidden part of themselves bubbles to the surface, lashing out in unpredictable ways. They pick fights, they have sex, they indulge in whatever thing they have renounced to prior of being touched by the moon. Then the full moon finally comes, and the mold inside of them finally blooms.

TRANSFORMATION

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if untreated, the moon spores bloom the next full moon, transforming the infected person into a werewolf, a frenzied canine beast that is pure id . A transformed werewolf goes into a rampage as soon as he completely transforms, and tries to quench their every desire as quick and as much as he can, disregarding any social norm and usually leaving a wake of destruction and death behind them as most people aren't ready to appease the barely coherent beast. The werewolf continues its chaotic behavior for the rest of the night, until the moon goes beyond the horizon and they fall unconscious and exhausted to the ground.

The process then repeats with each moon cycle , taking more and more of the human's mind each time, until finally there is no going back, and the creature remains in its lupine form for the rest of its days, oblivious to who they previously were.

MOONFALL

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the moonfall is the mist that falls from the moon. It's a mysterious phenomenon that most physicists can't really explain and that contradicts several laws they have studied, but yet it happens fairly regularly. Not every full moon is accompanied by a moonfall ,and the mists only trails for a certain distance in the wake of the moon before they stop. For millennias humans and the other races only saw the mist showers as a quirky and fascinating atmospheric phenomenon, and poets ,artists , writers and cults have been inspired by it. In some parts of the world, people managed to gather the moon mists in  vinegar jars, as it the compound preserves the substance that would normally dissipate immediately after coming in contact with anything.

THE HOWL

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canines are famous for howling at the moon: this is actually a signal to the spore satellite to send another shower of moon mist towards the world. If enough canines howl at the moon for long enough this is assured to happen. Werewolves are somehow more effective at this ; it only takes five of them to howl in unison during a full moon for a moonfall to occur.

BIOLOGY 

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under a full moon the spores that germinate in a werewolf's body induce a series of dramatic changes in it: besides the behavioural alteration the mold fibers connected to each hair strenghten the muscles below them, and they repair any wound their host receives, stitching cuts, reattaching bllod vessels, nerves and even limbs. The spores can't exactly repair a severe head trauma, but that won't stop a werewolf, not until the moon sets and the spores become quiescient again. All that a head trauma accomplishes is removing any trace of humanity from a werewolf, that loses any connection to who the mortal hosting it was and moving only to mindlessly propagate itself. Fire is effective agains werewolves, as is silver , that is extremely poisonous to the spores and kills them wherever it is introduced into the werewolf's system 

PANDEMIC

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werewolves are contagious: any bite, any kiss, any drop of fluid that comes in contact with the insides of another human has enough spores to infect them as much as the moon mists do. So it often happens that entire townships fall prey of the moon contagion in a matter of months, as humans struggle to contain their friends, authority figures and families turned into vicious, amoral ,frenzied beings that speak and growl in their voices as they take whatever they desire.

THE MOON HOTELS

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myconids worship the moon , and they call it "mother". As the moon mists have started being dangerous for humans, their help has been required more and more in towns infested by werewolves. But the mushroom people feel reverence for the ones kissed by the moon. While their control over fungal life  could very easily remove the mold infection from the body of a werewolf they choose not to do so because that would be an incredible insult to their goddes. What they can and almost always do , though, is worship the creatures and placate their instincts with their tough , malleable bodies, keeping them busy long enough so they don't put themselves and others in danger until the moon has set. Myconids were rarely seen before in human settlements, but now their services are needed so often that some cities have what are called "moon hotels" , insulated buildings that mostly host myconids clergymen that are willing to offer thier services to anyone who has contracted the moon sickness (or blessing, as they call it). The werewolves that are too far gone become regular staff in these hotels , and are kept with extreme care and reverence by their fungine hosts.

p.s. as usual, the original file and its high res version are in the attached file!