Lycanthropes

Lycanthropes, or werewolves, can either be born into their caste or bitten and turned. However, the bite of a Lycanthrope can be lethal - the transformation may be rejected by the victim, and they will perish instead of surviving. As a general rule, these creatures are known to be immortal; they heal very quickly from just about any injury they take. They are also companionship-seekers, the kind of Supernaturals that tend to group together and stick that way. The Lycanthropes in a pack have a deep, undying loyalty to each other; betrayal of a pack is a crime punishable by painful death.

While incredibly strong and immune to any sort of petty human disease, Lycanthropes have three huge weaknesses - wolfsbane, mountain ash, and silver. Wolfsbane is deadly in nearly any form it's administered, though it can be expelled from the blood, and mountain ash is something that can be used to capture them since they can't move across it. A slower-acting method to killing a wolf would be the use of silver. In the same style as applying acid to a tender subject, silver will eat away at their bodies until there is nothing left.

These dangerous creatures are ten times more lethal in a pack. The Alpha will quite literally gain power by being surrounded by a pack. All Lycanthropes are broken down into three groups - the Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Alphas lead the pack, are consequently the strongest, and hold a steady grasp over all of their Betas (or their warriors, and stronger than Omegas). Alphas are immediately identifiable by red irises that are adapted when they take on the leader position. Omegas are any Lycans without a pack; easy to pick off, and the weakest of all the Lycan classifications.

Quick facts

● Lycanthropes choose their mates for life, and are terrifyingly protective of those mates.

● Those born into Lycanthropy make their first transformation at the age of sixteen, and all consider it a very big deal.

● The true form of any Lycan is a wolf - not anything in between.

● The senses of a Lycan are extremely heightened; their sense of smell and sight are amplified, particularly when they're in beast form, and their perception rises rapidly when they've changed.

● As shifting is changing the physical structure of your bones, the transformation is very painful. Those that are born into Lycanthropy have it a bit easier, as they know precisely what to expect - but those who are turned by another Lycan are in for a tough ride.

Faeries

Faeries are those who are very highly esteemed among the supernatural world; affinity for magic even from a young age and their knowledge on most topics gains them the title of "guardian" in the community. Two pairs of lovely wings are attached to their backs, though they can be hidden and brought out again at will. Faeries cannot turn other humans into faeries - though there have been cases where faeries have kidnapped young children from human families, such in the tales of changelings - but most be born into the race.

In the same way as Lycans, faeries grow stronger the larger their court is. While strong not only in wisdom and the ways of magic, the majority of their strength is in the elements; depending on the court they belong to, they can command one of the elements. Born unto one of four deities, the faerie will be granted the ability to will an element. The Red Fruit bears the element of fire, the Blue Fruit bears the element of water, the Silver Fruit bears the element of wind, and finally, the Green Fruit bears the element of earth. There’s been some speculation that there are more deities that can bear other fruits, but no faeries have been proven this oddity. It is, however, very much possible, although rare, for a fae to bear no fruit; this is, the creature was not born with an affinity to an element. Now, as faeries tend to be open-minded, even amongst the stranger occurrences, a fae without a fruit is looked upon as an oddity and even an omen of bad luck.

The weaknesses of a faerie include iron and salt. Iron is the most potent of weapons in which to capture a faerie; it viciously weakens them, draining them of energy and ability to fight back. Salt, however, works much in the same way mountain ash works for Lycanthropes. Additionally, each faerie is given a true name, which is placed as their middle name. This true name is a rare gift that can be given to a lover or stolen by an enemy. When someone comes into the possession of a faerie's true name, they can order the faerie to do absolutely anything (within reason) - and they have to obey.

Quick facts

● The magic that Faeries posses keeps them immune from the poison of Lycans and Shifters; while they cannot be changed, their affinity for magic allows them to identify Lycanthropes and Shifters in a crowd.

● Faeries can live well past 300 years. The leaders of Fey courts are often much over - some even as old as 1,000 years.

● Kings and Queens of the fey court are not only the oldest, but often the most powerful of their court. The four courts are dictated by their element and the fruit they bear.

Shifters

Shifters and Lycanthropes are very much the same in many aspects. Either born or bitten, as the story goes. However, the only thing that has a call over a shifter is the animal within; no outside force besides the beastly DNA inside of them can affect their shifting moods. However, they're much less likely than a Lycanthrope to bite somebody; they tend to breed more often than they would turn a human. There is always the chance that the shifting gene will skip a generation or two, however, and so it's a bit of a guessing game until the truth becomes apparent.

Overall, Shifters can only turn into one kind of animal. They can't switch from a leopard to a wolf to a whatever-they-want, whenever they want. Either they get the gene their parents passed down or they turn into the same animal that the Shifter who bit them was. Mammals are the most common to see among shifters; anything else is a bit exotic, especially in these parts. Once having shifted, the human side of the Shifter will begin to take on resemblances to their animal, characteristically-speaking.

Again, like Lycanthropes, silver is a very apt weapon when it comes destroying these creatures. The best time to catch a Shifter is in the middle of their changing process; wounding them causes their body to flicker and morph between statuses until the wound is healed enough. The experience, needless to say, is horrifying.

As a general rule, they thrive in family groups - as long as their animal half dictates a pack mentality - while those with most solitary creatures as their other half will do best alone.

Quick facts

● They have about the same lifespan as a human does, just about, and their bodies age the same.

● Their shifting does not destroy their clothes; when they shift back into their human form, they'll be in the same clothes they we were wearing when they shifted the first time.

● Unlike their aggressive cousins, Shifters tend to be less bellicose and more interested in their own well being over picking a fight about territory boundaries.

● Also similar to Lycanthropes, they'll start to shift when they're sixteen if they're born into the shifting gene.

● For a Shifter, not ever shifting just isn't an option. Not only is it entirely uncomfortable for them to go a while without changing, but it's also demanded by their animal side. Eventually, they will become so irritated and weakened by battling with their animal half that they'll give in.

The Absit Metum

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The Absit Metum—informally known as the AM—is an organization dedicated solely to one charge; maintain control and order over the supernatural. The Northern Sector now resides in Dresden, ever since the multiracial academy of Unova was approved and a large influx of the supernatural was gauged as “unsafe and potentially harmful to the human population”. The Absit Metum dates back long before rumors of the supernatural had begun to spread like wildfire. They’ve always been around, protecting and defending Humans through the shadows, of things that go bump in the night. The AM follow a very strict code. The ancient code reads “bono malum superate”; “Overcome evil with good”, in Latin. A warrior may only kill a creature who has spilled innocent (“human”) blood, or to seek revenge in honor of their family. But, lately, in Dresden, there have been a growing number of warriors that have thrown the code to the wind. They’re killing creatures left and right, completely disregarding the code.

The Absit Metum consists of Warriors, and Apprentices. Warriors have undergone relentless training and have now graduated to full-fledged hunters. Apprentices are those who have yet to or are currently within their sect of training; Unova is the training grounds for the Northern Sector’s apprentices. Despite being lower on the chain, they are just as important, if not more, than warriors. They are well taken care of and protected, and more often than not, are taken on as protégés by warriors themselves.

The age group of Warriors will vary, as does the talent and experience of every one person, however very seldom will a Warrior be less than TWENTY-ONE years of age. Apprentices commonly begin their initiation at age FOURTEEN and continue until twenty-one years of age. Apprentices younger than fourteen, or Warriors younger than twenty-one, are rare but not unheard of.

Quick facts

● The final step needed to graduate from an Apprentice to a Warrior is to kill a supernatural. A warrior will chaperone, so to say.

● In extremely unusual cases, there will be rogue Warriors, whom consciously decide to abandon the Absit Metum and their creed; these are looked upon as scum by the Absit Metum and are often sought out to be brought to justice and tried for treason. Betrayal within the AM is the highest offense possible and often, the verdict is death.

Humans

As a general rule, the humans don't necessarily know what all is going on in town between the Supernaturals and the Absit Metum. Humans - and their sweet mortality - are extremely attractive for Lycans and Shifters; they have a certain allure that naturally gravitates the Supernaturals toward them.

Quick facts

● It's a very real possibility that humans will be turned by a Lycan or Shifter.