Recordingof a Werewolf encounter

Phone conversation near Beaverton MAX station in Oregon.

Emergency Operator: 911emergency.

Todd: I saw something weird the other day.

Emergency Operator: (Sigh) Yes sir. Please state the nature of your emergency.

Todd: It was really weird. It was... a boy... he... he fell. Like, two stories. He hit the ground... couldn't have been older than ten. He just landed on his feet and walked away, like twenty feet was only two. He wasn't even limping.

Emergency Operator: Mmmhmm. I'm sorry sir, I have to keep this line open for emergencies. This isn't a gossip column please-

Todd: No, no you-... you don't understand. I haven't stopped seeing them since.

Emergency Operator: Seeing who?

Todd: These men... I look around and there they are. They're always big, around six feet tall, armed, and watching me.

Emergency Operator: You believe they're watching you?

Todd: Not just me... Ya know I wasn't paying so good attention that day, but I've seen a lot of the people that were also there that day and these men, they've been watching them too.

Emergency Operator: Have they approached you with anything? An offer?

Todd: No, no, not yet.

Emergency Operator: When or if they do...

Todd: Yes?

Emergency Operator: Take it.

Rest of recording lost.

General History

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley lied. The story of Frankenstein, represents perhaps the greatest case of misdirection and cover up in the history of humanity. Truth, mixed with lies, Frankenstein did exist. He was a scientist far ahead of his time. He did succeed in creating things that perhaps never should have existed and did end up having to fight them. The premise of the story of Frankenstein got everything "close" to right, in a sense, but way off. The story was set before Shelley penned it but over a hundred years after the real events of Frankenstein's life.

The real Victor Von Frankenstein was born to privilege in 1460 in Yorkshire, England. As he grew, he took interest in science, as it was starting to emerge around him. His entire family had been exploring the natural sciences for a long time, in fact, the scientific method was old news to them long before Newton was even born.

It is not known what kind of technology Victor had at his disposal, or how he acquired it, it was far beyond its time however. Some suspect several deals made with tricksters, but again, nothing is certain.

What is known, is his motives. Frankenstein did want to overcome death, but not through bringing the dead back, but by keeping people from dying altogether. He had a theory on how this could be done, and somehow he had the tools. What he lacked was a test subject. For this, he chose his own dog, Charline, an old Bandog.

Victor loved his old dog. He got her when he was thirty, and now, ten years later, the prospects for his once puppy, weren't looking good. She was lucky to still be alive at all. The poor dog had gone blind in one eye, was completely deaf, and walked to her master with a limp when he called.

Victor did not see himself as treating Charline as a lab rat, but as saving her life. He injected her with a serum meant to restore her youth,strength, and maybe even give her back some of her senses. He also gave her some kind of treatment which gave her uncanny healing abilities.

Charline seemed to take well to the treatments. Victor had his puppy back! He took her on hunting trips again and played games with her.

In October of 1501, Victor was on his horse, chasing deer with his loyal Charline. He was knocked from his steed, having a few ribs broken on impact. Apparently a brown bear had escaped the captivity of a traveling group of entertainers in his area. It was upon him in moments, however Charline, seeing her master in danger, leaped into action. The bear was quickly dispatched... massacred more like it. Charline tore into the bear with such ferocity, by the end of the fight, though she did not sustain any injuries, Victor was terrified to even look at her. He reached out his hand to steady the furious dog, but she bit him. Victor recovered his hand from her jaws as she almost instantly let go.

The damage had been done. Victor told his dog to heel, and he fled from her.

Visions of his dog haunted Victor's dreams for months after this. He felt guilt for abandoning her, but he stayed too terrified to look for her. Two years passed. Victor had hoped with time that he would not hear about his dog, that she would fade into memory. Perhaps she had died, sad but... no... she did not die. Victor did not hear of a large dog's body being found, nor did he hear nothing. Instead he heard increasing rumors of barguests, large black dogs with red eyes. According to legend, they foretold death, and they themselves could not be killed.

Victor might not have believed in these hell hounds until he saw one outside his property. A terrified servant informed him of a large black dog, standing just outside the gate, looking past it, at his room. He came out to see a dog that looked much like Charline, but different. This dog was leaner and stronger looking. Its eyes practically glowed red.

A nearby servant declared the dog to be from hell, sent to judge Victor for abandoning his loyal companion. Victor would have punished the servant for speaking so, however he was too frozen in fear, looking into those eyes.

He ran from the creature and ordered his guards to kill it. As he ran he heard the booming of guns, then the tearing of the gate, and then the screams of his men.

The dog did not move to attack Victor, however a surviving guard, who knew much about both breeding and Charline herself, told Victor something that haunted him.

"That was not Charline. No... but it was of her blood. That you can be assured of."

Victor was afraid, but stories from his countrymen eventually gave rise to another emotion. Guilt. He had to stop the barguests, or as he called them, the "hounds of rebirth".

From his guards, Victor took volunteers to hunt down and destroy the animals. The only problem was, they were all terrified of the same fate that befell their comrades who tried to fight a barguest before.To this, Victor hesitantly offered them the same serum he had given to his dog, to make her so powerful. He did not tell them that he didn't really remember how the procedure went. The operation he gave them was intended to be... effective.

Effective it was. Victor and his men set out to find a barguest and did in Juneof 1502. According to a journal of one of the guards, one of the men was able to kill the dog with a single punch.

After this, the men who Victor had operated on wrote and talked about having fits of extreme rage in which they could destroy anything in their path. Some were even driven to destroy (kill) family members.

Many of these men left the employment of Victor and since were sighted in bars, reported as causing riots in which no one could match their incredible strength. These men were nicknamed "wildmen".

Victor was frustrated by this. Again his attempts to do good had turned out disastrously. He left his estate to live alone for a time, believing himself to be cursed. In time he found a wife and had a family.

However his creations would not leave him alone. A former guard of his found him and begged Victor to change him back. It had been ten years since the man had been changed, and in that time he had made his own family. His son however had inherited his powers and now was being hunted. Victor did not know what to do. He wanted nothing to do with this man or his problems, but he couldn't turn him away. He had a son of his own now, and he couldn't put another man through the hardship of losing a child.

Victor had no idea what to do. He allowed the man to hide his son in his home, however this would not do for long. He fretted over the danger he was putting his own family in day and night.

In december of 1510, he was visited by a young Egyptian boy.

The boy said he knew of Victor's problems and offered to help. It is believed, with little skepticism, that this boy was a trickster. The fact that Victor spoke to the boy openly, is seen as further evidence that Victor had dealt with tricksters before. The boy offered that Victor give him two things and he would solve Victor and the guard's problems.

Victor said the boy had but to ask and anything would be his. The boy asked for the serum used to make the barguests and a vial of the blood of Charline, Victor's original dog. Victor had both, keeping the blood in the vain hope that one day he would find out how his dog and her offspring had changed so horribly. Victor gave these items without hesitation.

In a few days the boy returned to the home of Victor, saying they could all go to the village of the wild man without fear.

It turned out the boy had found a way to turn the entire town into half human half dog hybrids. They were all extremely powerful in their own right, however, unlike the wildmen, they seemed to have a greater measure of control over their abilities. These new creatures, would come to be adopt the name, werewolves.

Rise of the werewolves:

illustration of werewolf community

As the werewolves realized their powers, they also realized the world outside their village would never come to accept them. Thus they struck upon an idea to hide their existence in myth and legend. They would spread fantastic stories of the barguests, the wildmen, and even themselves.

They exaggerated their own abilities in these stories, even giving themselves fantastic abilities to transform, linked eerily to the full moon. They thus began adding to the number of stories about werewolves, having bards tell of them everywhere. Werewolf legends multiplied and the concept of them went from obscure, to common knowledge. The ploy worked. Soon no thinking man ever gave a second thought to stories of humans who behaved like dogs and who had incredible powers. Werewolves and wildmen charged each other not to reveal their true natures to the world.

To further the myth they had to hide in plain sight. After all, the monsters of myth hid from the light, and so, to not lend credence to the myths, they did the opposite. Learning to temper their abilities in public, werewolves and wildmen learned to walk amongst men like they were the same.

Throughout history, since that time, there have been many instances of werewolf men, women, and children being discovered by the outside world. Most of the time they were met with fear and violence. All of these instances ended in tragedy.

Overtime, the werewolves discovered other mutant societies, some ancient, some new, all of them starting to fear the outside world. In time, the legends of the werewolves, wildmen and monster dogs, would be joined by legends of magical fairies, terrifying gargoyles, haunting spirits of vengeance, and mystical sorcerers.

Werewolf powers:

Werewolves may not actually look how one might expect human dogs to appear, but they are indeed different.

It has been suggested before that werewolves have too many advantages from the merging of the animals for the merge to have been done by a mere medieval scientist, further lending credence to the idea that tricksters interfered in their creation. Though, offical history labels Victor Frankenstein as their "creator".

Their actual powers are as follows:

Super speed, twice that of a normal human.

Super strength, twice that of a normal human.

Adrenaline control, essentially an ability to force the body into overdrive at will.

An extremely high pain threshold.

Finally, werewolf emotions are enhanced. Many believe the secret to a perfect soldier is to deplete emotions, however, it is emotions that create passion, and thus give a man his fighting spirit. The philosophy of a werewolf is not to remove emotions but to direct them. Werewolves often pursue their goals with such ferocity and commitment, that mutants far stronger than them, fear a werewolf with a mission.

Even with all of these abilities, werewolves are seen as the weakest of all the mutant races.

Werewolves are not without at least some, albeit minor, weaknesses.

First is an overactive sense of attachment. Like the dogs they partially are, they cannot survive without companionship. If alone for too long, and this being only a few days, a werewolf will start to exhibit signs of insanity. If a werewolf seems to be sane, and alone, then you don't have the whole story, there must be someone they socialize with. If not, if you don't see the insanity... you will.

Second, the enhanced emotions of a werewolf make many of them subject to emotional extremes. They are easily amused, form attachments quickly, and remain in mourning for decades. While many a man has cried over the loss of a friend, many a werewolf has refused to eat after the passing of a friend, until much pleading occurs.

Werewolves in present day:

It is the werewolves who organized the secret societies out of the scattered nations of mutants. It is they who have been given the duty of organizing them and keeping their secrets from the world.

Werewolves are essentially the police of the secret societies. They have authority in most interracial matters and train from childhood in the arts of combat and weaponry. They vow to use their training to protect themselves and others.

Werewolves see themselves as having little jurisdiction over normal humans. Thus they do not police human societies. Rather, where normal humans are concerned, they preoccupy themselves with keeping mankind ignorant by silencing witnesses through bribery, containing violent situations quickly and quietly, and isolating those human witnesses who refuse to keep silent.

There are many werewolves who still write stories. Mary Shelley was one of course.

Culture:

Werewolves pass on their abilities genetically. While their origin is known, the science behind it is not. How they pass on their abilities is a mystery.

Werewolves live alongside normal humans doing their best to blend in entirely. They are always armed if at all practical, and often excessively so.

Werewolves see pop culture as meaningless and rarely know much about it. Even with outsiders they tend to turn conversations to other subjects. They also hate being cooped up inside. Always the kids who never seems to get into video games, they would rather be doing sports, fighting, or even reading; anything but just sitting in front of a box with moving pictures all day.

From early childhood werewolves are taught how to use weapons and how to manipulate everyday items as weapons.

Most werewolves know martial arts of some form. Judo is the preferred art.

Despite all appearances, werewolves are geared towards stopping violence, not starting it. They just have a very hard time believing in talking.

Raising a Werewolf:

There is more to the education of a werewolf than what one might be taught in school or church. One might think they are taught from toddler-hood how to use weapons but this is actually off, by about three years. Most werewolf toddlers have no idea how to fight.

From an early age werewolf children are taught to defend and value life and to never question authority. Each toddler is given a pet, young like himself. The parents will play with that child over and over, games that make the child appear to be defending his pet. Standing firm and strong gains rewards, running gets scoldings and punishments.

From four, werewolf children are taught to keep an eye on everyone. They do this to protect them. Werewolf children are rarely taken to public kindergarten. When they are, usually they start fights repeatedly with bullies twice their size.

When they enter the private schools they normally go to with other mutants, werewolf children are told to see themselves as guardians of order. This roughly translates to... yeah they're generally goody two shoes and tattle tales.

Yes, indeed many werewolf pups are unpopular among people who are not werewolves in school, them seen as goody goodies. However bullying them... it happens but generally stops happening rather quickly. Why? Well from four years old on most werewolf children are trained in how to use everyday objects as weapons and never to take guff from anyone. Pick on a werewolf boy one time, you might beat them. From seven on, they're trained to analyze their opponents for weaknesses, reviewing and studying every opponent they fail to beat like an obsession. You might beat up a werewolf kid once, but next month, you better not try again.

Of course sometimes this fails and one kid or group of trouble makers proves too much for a single werewolf pup. This is when what's known as a "puppy pack" is formed. If one werewolf kid is attacked at school twice, and loses twice, to someone who is not a werewolf, EVERY werewolf child in that school is required to help confront these trouble makers. Yes, there are unpopular werewolf children that other werewolves in school would rather not help but they would never hear the end of it from their parents if they didn't. This is not to say things don't get complicated when one werewolf is having problems with another werewolf. That's usually when things get really, really, ugly.

From about nine years old boy and girl werewolves learn judo together in large dojos. If you've ever been to a dojo that, for some reason, won't take your money, chances are, it's a werewolf dojo. They're very private. Werewolves learn judo because it's an art that centers on exploiting weakness that make size irrelevant. Werewolf children also constantly work out or play sports. This is not to say there are no nerdy werewolves; there are plenty of them. Course nothing stops you from lifting a weight with one hand and typing on a computer with the other, or at least while wearing a fifty pound backpack. They also drink plenty of milk.

Needless to say, werewolf kids generally get very big, very fast. More than that however. Generally the first few years of a new school can be rough for a werewolf kid. No one likes the goody two shoes kid always sticking so close to the rules. The kid who always tries to stop you from making trouble. Well... that is, unless the trouble is planned against you. For most people, of whatever race or creeds, being stood up for in a time of trouble, is the surest way to become a friend. Werewolf children are trained to protect everyone in school, even the bullies. The first time a bully falls off the swing and breaks an ankle and it's his werewolf victim that gets him help, shall we say, the dynamic between them tends to change. By middle school, most werewolf children have large groups of friends of people whose only thing in common is them. It's actually quite easy for a hero to make friends. The trouble comes later.

At thirteen werewolf children only visit their former schools on Wednesdays (no one knows why this day in particular, it's just expected tradition by now). This is also normal for banshees and magics. Both have their own institutions but prefer not to lose contact between their children entirely.

Thirteen year old werewolf kids are separated into different training camps, one for girls, one for boys. Both receive generally the same training. They are trained by what are known as "alphas", basically a werewolf version of a drill sergeant. The days of learning judo are over. From here on they either become a black belt in the art of their choice or they learn a mixed martial art known as "breaker", named such as it breaks the man learning it and then the opponent dumb enough to fight him.

In training camps werewolves learn about weapons not as options but as requirements. If you are not armed at the moment, at a moments notice, you will be. In the hands of a werewolf, anything can be dangerous.

Alphas train werewolf pups to have no fear. They run straight into fire to simulate rescues. They fight as a group and are expected to eventually beat alphas. It is drilled into their heads never to question orders. Burns, bruises, broken bones, and a heart that knows no fear are the rewards they get for their hard work.

Alphas do more than yell at the children however. Alphas are seen as trainers and enemies. Alphas often attack unpopular werewolf children to test the others. Until the child stands up to them and someone stands with him with a come hell or high water attitude, training will continue to get less... comfortable. In this way, the unpopular werewolf learns to turn to his companions, and the weakest link often becomes the strongest.

At fifteen, werewolf children begin patrolling for trouble makers in the real world.

Adulthood:

Werewolf adults are the logical end of all this training. Puppy packs become wolf packs. Martial arts are refined. Big kids become bigger men and women. Fear is something they barely know exists.

When patrolling, werewolves are looking for many things.

Obviously with all their training, any mutant causing problems and becoming violent is their first priority to stop. What they do to deal with this depends on the situation. Sometimes they have to resort to imprisoning or even potentially lethal force. Most of the time, however, werewolves are encouraged to diffuse situations. After all, they live in societies where conflict erupts every other day. They can't imprison everyone who steps out of line.

Werewolves are also emergency professionals, trained to help other mutants, or even normal humans, when disaster strikes. Most mutants don't call the police or fire department, they have the werewolves for that.

The second thing they look for is leaks. Leaks are events that normal humans witness that would clue them into the fact that their world is inhabited by mutants. Anything from a child surviving a long fall without a scratch, to a gargoyle revealing his full wings in public. Werewolves have contacts in the media and police to handle the public angle. Often they have what are known as "regents", werewolves that have cover work as police officers or reporters. However most werewolves have cover jobs as gas station employees and the like. Most werewolves are known as "packers". Packers generally watch witnesses to leaks to see if they have any intention of trying to figure out what really happened. If a witness is deemed a risk, they are generally approached and paid off- by a full pack of several armed gentlemen.

One might think that werewolves employ stealth when trying to "plug up leaks". Truth is, every operation has a weakness, for the werewolves, that's subtlety. Werewolves hide in the open and their version of covert operations is telling everyone they're fairy tale creatures. There are two ways to get close to people who you want to keep quiet. First is to make them think you're their friend or that you don't matter, spy stuff, yadda yadda. Werewolves go for option B. Surround a person with six foot well built men and women, all carrying large and obvious weapons for a while, and you don't generally even need to speak to them. They'll keep quiet about whatever on their own. If someone doesn't get the hint, there's always money or favors. After all, if you're not afraid of the big guy with a large metal pipe and a check book, maybe you still want him on your side for something. Actual violence against witnesses is risky, as it generally creates more leaks, especially in modern times, so werewolves tend to avoid it.

Interactions with other societies:

Despite knowing why what the werewolves do is technically necessary, there is still a general feeling that something about them and their system is very wrong. Most mutants still look to the werewolves in times of trouble, but at times, an entire civilization brought up to be soldiers with a strict military hierarchy and conspiracy... just doesn't seem like it could possibly be straight laced.

Werewolves view other mutants, humans, and familiars (normal humans intentionally brought into the fold) through the lens of their usefulness or burden to the cause of keeping order and secrets.

Banshees:

Banshees admire werewolves, which makes them easy enough to get along with most of the time. However, banshees are rarely obedient and their actions cause leaks on a nigh unto daily basis. The banshees will fight with the werewolves against any enemy at a moments notice, and they bring their own firepower and intense training and resources to the table. However most werewolves still wonder if they're more trouble than they're worth.

In middle school and high school, many werewolves and banshees fall in love. Werewolf parents HATE these relationships. They are generally allowed to marry but when this does happen, considering the very different cultures of the two societies, the results are a complicated mess indeed, especially if they adopt children from either race.

Wildmen:

Muscle. Wildmen are often trained right alongside werewolves and their children. They are often sent out and used as intimidation forces. A man with anger management issues who can bend steel with his bare hands is generally not someone you talk back to. Even though wildmen are not known for their intelligence, werewolves still see them as valuable allies. Also, of all mutants, wildmen are the most obedient in the case of keeping the society secrets. They are the least likely to intentionally cause leaks.

Gargoyles:

Werewolves and gargoyles are mortal enemies. It was the werewolves who lead the resistance on earth to stop the gargoyles when the gargoyle king first tried to take over the world and wipe out the other mutant races. While there are many werewolves who believe it is possible for good gargoyles to exist, the two factions have still been at war since the early seventeen hundreds. If you saw a thousand werewolves meet with a thousand gargoyles a thousand times, you're still more likely to have a shark attack on land, than to see them talk instead of coming to blows.

Pharaohs:

The de facto most powerful and valuable ally the werewolves have. As learned during the purge, the Pharaoh armies can decimate a human foe in weeks with little trouble at all. If and when the werewolves can convince the pharaohs that they have a mutual enemy, the problem is usually dealt with in under a week. The only confirmed threat that, to this day, has managed to evade pharaoh forces on earth, is the gargoyle king himself. It's true that many individual pharaohs are trouble makers, but on the whole, werewolves view pharaohs as individuals they would like on their side.

Mystics:

Considering their power, and often their willingness to join forces with whoever pays the most, Mystics are seen as both an asset and an obscene risk. Werewolves generally see mystics on an ally or foe basis, almost never as friends or just acquaintances. Werewolves will often do anything to secure the loyalty of a mystic or to discover one working for an enemy.

Normal humans:

Werewolves mostly hide from normal humans. There are however confidants within human society. These people are called familiars. Familiars are people who know select things about mutant kind or everything, depending on what they either found out on their own or what they're needed to know. They're either just paid to keep their mouths shut or they're paid to help the werewolves out from inside normal human organizations.

It is true that many children have been approached by or seen mutants. Rarely do they continue to believe what they saw into their adult years, so this is rarely seen as a serious problem.

How to spot a werewolf:

"Wolves" love physical activity, sports of any kind, and would much rather participate than watch. In fact, they generally show no interest in watching sports at all. As adults, werewolves rarely have high paying jobs, and yet, they seem to be able to afford many possessions, almost as if they have another income.

Finally, werewolves will always seem be carrying something which could be used as a weapon. A pocket knife, a baton, a sturdy stick, they are never without something. Watch for them at airport security.

Werewolves tend to keep their children in private or home school to keep incidents from occurring. Young werewolves will often excel in sports, not in that they are a guarantee to win if they're on your team. Rather, they learn sports quickly and seem able to out run and out maneuver other children with ease and with little training.

Werewolf children are taught to defend the weak, thus they often befriend the unpopular. Werewolf children are rarely popular, however, they also rarely seem to leave old friends, hanging out with the same small group every day.

Werewolf children are often seen as "goody goodies". They rarely feel any compulsion to rebel and are the first to speak up about the rules, even if that doesn't seem necessary.

If you find a werewolf, do not reveal him to the world, this will only invite trouble. Befriend him. Boy or girl, a werewolf will be the most loyal friend you have ever had.