driftfleet | Meet your new resident werewolf

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Meet your new resident werewolf

Who: Randolph Lyall, the crew of the SS Blameless, and YOU if you're either visiting the Blameless on catching the parts that are broadcasted
Broadcast: Fleetwide for the parts that are not action.
Action: SS Blameless
When: Immediately after full moon so starting on May 31st and onwards as Lyall settles down.

[Action - SS Blameless - After the Full Moon]

[There was a really good reason for Lyall to quickly leave the Heron after being shuffled there and that reason was the full moon and the need for Lyall to be confined in the consolidated cargo hall on the Blameless with Biffy. Unfortunately, that left very little time for introductions, so the rest of the crews was mostly treated to howls and growls and weird sounds from said cargo hall as it contained two wolves this time around.

Once full moon is over and they are allowed out, both Biffy and Lyall will crash for a while in Biffy's quarters, but soon enough Lyall will get dressed again and venture out. Time to meet the crew and properly introduce himself.]

[Action + Broadcast]

[Lyall is a small man who looks unassuming and makes every effort to remain seen as such. His first days as a notwolf aboard the Blameless will be devoted to settling in his surroundings. Apparently, that involves a lot of just walking around everywhere he can, opening every door that is not locked and just a whole lot of sniffing around. So he could very well end up in your bedroom or your working space if they're not secure.

He's not hiding, necessarily, but he's so easily overlooked most of the time that he doesn't need to.]

Would anyone happen to know how we get... recorded for this 'show'?

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Excellent. I know my Lord asked for the door to the cargo hall to be lined with silver, and it does seem solid enough to hold us both. However, it never hurts to be cautious, and I would feel more at ease if the crew had at least some kind of silver-tipped weapon to defend themselves should we be set loose inadvertently.

[Because he would be beside himself if he killed someone while moon-mad, and Biffy would too.]

They are lined that I am aware of. We could work on getting weapons with silver just in case. However, that would be as a last resort and not the first option.

[He may not necessarily look it, especially when he was wearing different clothes, but he was a trained fighter with armor and he'd be willing to try first to contain the issue himself before they went to extremes of trying to take lives]

Of course. It's really a case of better safe than sorry. As long as the cargo hold can keep us in, there won't be a problem.

[It's just that fighting against a werewolf is a very uneven playing field. At least a silver-tipped weapon might give someone a change to escape even if they don't kill said werewolves.]

[Ulaz would have to ask more information about the nature and capabilities of the werewolf. He was curious about it, but he was not stupid enough to deliberately put himself or others at risk just to find out]

That’s good.

[Ulaz has finished with the tea and brings it over with all the proper possible accompaniments, lemon, milk, sugar, honey]

If I may ask, what do werewolves look like?

You mean when transformed?

[Lyall adds some milk and sugar to his own taste and takes a sip.]

We just look like wolves. A lot of werewolves look like bigger wolves, but that's also because they are bigger humans. These things tend to be proportional. I am not very big myself, and Biffy is rather slender for an Alpha werewolf too, but we are anomalies rather than the norm.

Our fur tends to be similar in color to our hair, too.

I see. I was not sure how they tended to look, if there was something different to them than the normal animal.

[There were wolf like creatures on many planets, but the "were" part was unfamiliar to him. He knew of certain races that had shapeshifting abilities, but this was different]

And they are stronger than normal wolves then as well?

We are much stronger than the actual animal, yes. We are supernatural, undead creatures, after all. And there needs to be at least some advantage to becoming a slathering beast every 28 days, or else why would anyone choose the bite apart from the possible immortality?

[Of course, for some that's all it takes.]

Where we are from, becoming a werewolf is an entirely voluntary choice, and not everyone can actually become one. Many people die when they get the bite because they lack the excess soul needed to become supernatural. this is considered an accepted risk, and candidates usually will serve as servants to a pack and be observed for their suitability before being granted the honor.

But it appears many people are not familiar with our way of doing things and expect us to become rabid and attack people willy-nilly.

[From Lyall's tone, he fins this extremely distateful, borderline insulting, even.]

I see. Yes, Sandalio was explaining a bit of that to me as well. I suppose if you are going to do something like that, it should be by choice. Subjecting someone to something that could apparently be a rather painful death is cruel.

So the honor behind being a werewolf is the immortality?

[He is genuinely curious, but if Lyall put an end to the conversation, he would end it there]

It's... a bit more complicated than that. But to put it simply, werewolves were revered as gods during ancient times. Then, things changed, and we became seen as beasts and demons to be feared. It took time and careful negotiations before some sort of truce could be reached for the benefits of both humans and supernaturals.

I myself was turned immediately after that same truce was reached, so I am lucky enough never to have known the dark times when we were hunted.

[He takes another sip of his tea.]

Has my Lord said anything about what happened when he himself was turned?

[he's not sure Biffy has trusted anyone deeply enough for that so far, but who knows... since he'd been alone here for a while, a need for companionship might have made him tell the story.]

[Ulaz listened silently to the story, intrigued by the information that he was getting. It was probably the best information that he had gotten so far about werewolves and the reasons why choosing to become one]

It is good that you never knew the times of being hunted. That is not an experience that should happen to anyone. No, he has not told me what happened for him to be turned. Others on the ship may know or within the fleet.

I won't go into details if he hasn't shared, but... he was turned against his will. There were circumstances beyond control at the time, and he would have died if he hadn't been turned... but it wasn't his choice. It was the first time in a long while that someone was turned involuntarily.

[Lyall will not speak of his own implication in this for now. He and Biffy have never really mentioned it again in the last twenty-five years. Maybe it would be worth revisiting it if Lyall ever feels brave enough for it.]

I see. Well, that is more than sufficient information. If he wishes to tell me more than he will.

It's interesting though. Seeing what I've seen, I've often wondered about the humanity and concern that other races put towards their own kind and even those not of their kind. The fact that he's first in a long time to have been involuntarily turned is impressive.

I suppose for us, it might be a little different. We are not a completely different race. All werewolves were born as humans first and then turned. You cannot be born one. It's a simple biological matter, really. Dead bodies cannot reproduce.

Of course, becoming a werewolf also means losing a large part of your soul. And living for a very long time can make some become funny in the head after a while. I am lucky enough to have been spared myself, but I am not an Alpha and have always been in a strong pack.

[The comment about dead bodies not reproducing does cause Ulaz to raise an eyebrow. Yes, he had said earlier about being undead, but that still did raise some other interesting questions in his mind about werewolves and how all of this worked]

I suppose that does make different, at least somewhat.

So one of the side effects of this is losing part of your mental capacity?

[Lyall actually looks a little offended at those words.]

Losing mental capacity? Absolutely not. Losing your soul and losing mental capacity are very different things. In fact, only people with excess soul can successfully be turned, whether into vampires or werewolves. Or if not turned, they will become ghosts after they die. On eof the great scientific challenges of our time is finding a way to measure this so we can make every single turning successful rather than leaving it to chance.

What I mentioned is something that primarily affects Alpha werewolves, and very old ones at that. And most werewolves rarely live beyond two or three hundred years, because of the fighting that is inherent between wolf packs and within a pack for establishing dominance.

[Should Lyall mention he is over 400 years old himself?]

Are they now? Forgive me. I've not met anyone who has lost part of their soul. [~~That he is aware of~~] That would make an interesting discovery if you were able to accurately tell who was going to be successfully turned and who wasn't. It would save well-meaning, but ineligible people from having to perish, even if it means disappointment.

Any particular reason why Alphas are prone to having this issue happen to them? I would assume after living so long, there would be any idea why.

[He seems... unimpressed about the idea of someone or something living for hundreds of years]

Actually, you have, since you met my Lord before I came here. But yes, we do unfortunately still have a high casualties rate from people who just cannot be turned but still attempt it.

We... can't really identify why Alphas tend to be affected more than others, but it might have to do with the fact that an Alpha is the tether of their pack. The glue holding it together, so to speak. When an Alpha starts losing their sanity to the Curse, the whole pack is affected. Some of them can be completely destroyed by it, unless the pack structure is strong enough to withstand it and welcome a new Alpha.

Unfortunately - or fortunately, as it goes - most Alphas don't live long enough to be affected. Alphas have to fight off challengers for their position, both from within and outside the pack. Most of them die fighting. It's rare that they last more than two or three hundred years.

[It's happened twice to his own pack, and the first time was a complete disaster and the second one was... barely averted thanks to Biffy.]

Hmm... a possibility. There is a lot more stress put on them because they are the ones in control. Even just the fact that they are constantly in the position of potentially having to fight is enough stress to start wearing on anyone's nerves.

[He's seen this more times than he would care to remember]

Though to go down fighting could be better than the other option to lose themselves to the very thing they are.

So in terms of fighting, the werewolves are self-limiting? While immortal, most don't live to an old age?

[And several hundred years is not old to him?]

It very well could be.

I suppose that, whether for werewolves or vampires, we are all self-limiting because of the fighting, and because of the fact that it is so very rare to have a new vampire or werewolf successfully turned.

The supernatural population of England is relatively small. We have maybe five packs and a handful of loners, and three big hives of vampires.

Then vampires have the same problem as werewolves? They require that excess soul in order to turn them?

[He's guessing Lyall has been around awhile so even though he's not a vampire, he may know the answer]

Yes. The way it is theorized, the turning process removes parts of your soul so if you don't have enough, you just die. Humans with excess soul who die normally and are not turn will become ghosts after death.

It is more likely to find those with excess soul among artists and great scientific minds, which is why they are often to be found around hives and packs. In my pack, one of our stronger members was an opera singer and another a sculptor of renown. My Lord himself had quite the musical talent.

Unfortunately, the turning process tends to take away those very parts of the soul that are linked to such talents. So we lose them as we become immortals.

I see. That is shame that people have to lose something that is so beneficial to the world as a whole just to become either a vampire or a werewolf, something that was important to them.

[He's not creativity and he doesn't know if he would count for anyone with something of scientific merit to leave, but Ulaz appreciated that were those that had those talents. They were taken advantage of by the Galra Empire, but then again there were a lot of other people as well who didn't have those talents]

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Meet your new resident werewolf

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