Werekin

Werekin are quasi-mortal beings blessed or cursed with the ability to shift into a half-animal form. While the condition may be spread from existing werekin to a mortal to bolster their ranks, progenitors of the werekin races by most accounts come about through connection to the gods. The animal forms of werekin have in every known circumstance been that of carnivorous mammals or avians such as eagles, badgers, bears, wolves, and assorted felines. It is unknown if werekin status can be applied to all carnivores. A werescorpion for instance has never been recorded as existing. It is commonly assumed that werekin do not adopt the forms of herbivorous creatures as the crossing of mortal and herbivorous creatures is by all evidence unique to faunus. The ability to shift to a werekin form is an inconsistent ability at best. For some, the shift requires rituals. For some, the shift is a voluntary ability developed overtime. For some, the shift occurs at specific times such as a full moon. For others still, the shift is permanent and irreversible. Werekin are not considered an exclusively human species and as such, are not counted among half-human species. Werekin often adopt traits of their animal form into their mortal form. For instance, a werewolf will possess heightened senses of hearing, smell, and empathy, though possibly suffering from a certain colourblindness, werebears will possess heightened strength, and wereavians will possess heightened vision. As werekin are natural predators, they also possess the innate ability to trigger instinctual responses of mortals. The presence of a werekin may heighten a mortal's sense of danger. For some mortals, a werekin's presence can be intoxicating because of this and it may even prove useful as an unspoken warning in certain circumstances, as with practice, a werekin may develop this ability to target specific mortals in their presence while alerting no others. A newly converted werekin will not have the control to accomplish this, however, and thus often experiences social consequences for some time after conversion.