Cougars
Groups
Cougars live in small groups, though the terms for Cougar groups are not universally agreed-upon. Some groups call themselves “Prides”. Others use “Troop”, “Sawt”, “Streak”, or “Leap”. The Stone Mountain military establishment prefers “Troop”.
Troops generally live together or in close proximity and usually consist of an elder mated pair, a Matriarch and Patriarch of one title or another, their children and their children’s mates, their grandchildren, and so on. It is also common for troops to stick together even after the elder pair passes away, with no obvious new elder pair emerging. Instead, the siblings and their mates make decisions for the group together. Groups living near each other frequently exchange members as they intermarry, but they generally do not violate one another’s territory.
The Brother Bond
Cougar males have a natural urge to compete for territory, and this causes conflicts with their human desire to form larger social groups and families. As such, Cougars have learned to manipulate the energy that flows into them during transformation in order to form a bond between fathers and sons and brothers in order to stifle the competitive urge. This bond makes the formation of Troops possible, and it fosters and magnifies familial feelings between Cougars. Although it is called a “brother” bond, female Cougars may also participate if they choose.
The bond grows gradually over time, and the stronger it becomes, the more fiercely loyal the Cougars become to one another and more averse to the prospect of parting ways. The bond creates something akin to an addiction such that bond brothers need and crave physical and social contact with one another. If bond brothers are parted, they will experience a kind of withdrawal that will last until the bond gradually dissipates.
Unintended Side-EffectsThe Cougars who created the brother bond over time were members of a distinct Cougar culture. The military Cougars are somewhat divorced from that culture, and being infected and not born Cougars, the bond has some unexpected additional effects on them. Cougars who grow up together gain the benefit of the Westermarck effect, which quashes feelings of sexual attraction between siblings. Military Cougars are unaffected by Westermarck, and as such, the brother bond may serve to awaken or amplify latent same-sex attractions in both male and female participants in the bond. Individuals with absolutely no latent same-sex attraction do not experience this affect. Native-born Cougars also typically do not include females in their brother bond – hence the name. When females do participate in the bond, it also has the inverse effect. That is, the brother bond reduces or eliminates feelings of opposite-sex attraction between bond brothers and their bond sisters. For this reason, Cougars were the shifter species of choice for the military’s secret shifter units until the overt programs began.
Mating
Cougar groups frequently exchange members to form new mated pairs. Unmated individuals often court one another in neutral territory, and such intermarriages do not tend to cause conflict among groups. Because of the addictive effect of the brother bond, it is more common for females to join new Troops. Females feel much less natural competitive instincts, and therefore can more easily visit their home Troops without worry of violent conflict with former bond brothers.
Cougar relationships can be as varied as human relationships. Females have a regular estrus cycle not unlike the human menstrual period. They only experience an exceptionally strong urge to mate once every three years.
Cubs
Cougar cubs are typically born after about three months’ gestation. Cougar cubs are born blind but can see by about three months. At six months, they can typically walk, and by one year, they are typically as developed as a human two year old. Development continues apace at about twice the rate of human development until cubs are developmentally equivalent to a human four year old. At this time, development slows until it syncs with and matches human development at approximately eight years of age.
By the time they are school aged, Cougar cubs generally have all the control necessary to attend human public school, but many are still home or private schooled with other Cougars.
Infection
Humans who are successfully infected generally experience severe fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and hot flashes, with intense aches and intermittent sharp pains. To become a Cougar feels as though one is being stretched out and pulled apart, drawn in two different directions at once – the aches manifest themselves this way, with periods of varying intensity. The sharp pains are often accompanied soon thereafter by vomiting, diarrhea, or both. Infected humans must consume large quantities of water in order to live through the infection process. All symptoms may be mitigated by the continued presence of other Cougars for the duration, and infected Cougars may begin to form brother bonds as soon as ten days after infection. Physical skin-to-skin and skin-to-fur contact with Cougars as well as the formation of a strong and broad brother bond greatly reduces the urge to vomit and increases the ability to keep food and liquid down.
In the final days before the day of the full moon, the fever breaks, and the vomiting and diarrhea pause. The infected human feels exceptionally restless and may also experience unusually intense desires to fight, wrestle, climb, and run, as well as sweating and chills. As with all shifter infections, the longer the infection period lasts and the younger the infected human is at the time of infection, the more likely the infected human is to live through it.
Cougars live in small groups, though the terms for Cougar groups are not universally agreed-upon. Some groups call themselves “Prides”. Others use “Troop”, “Sawt”, “Streak”, or “Leap”. The Stone Mountain military establishment prefers “Troop”.
Troops generally live together or in close proximity and usually consist of an elder mated pair, a Matriarch and Patriarch of one title or another, their children and their children’s mates, their grandchildren, and so on. It is also common for troops to stick together even after the elder pair passes away, with no obvious new elder pair emerging. Instead, the siblings and their mates make decisions for the group together. Groups living near each other frequently exchange members as they intermarry, but they generally do not violate one another’s territory.
The Brother Bond
Cougar males have a natural urge to compete for territory, and this causes conflicts with their human desire to form larger social groups and families. As such, Cougars have learned to manipulate the energy that flows into them during transformation in order to form a bond between fathers and sons and brothers in order to stifle the competitive urge. This bond makes the formation of Troops possible, and it fosters and magnifies familial feelings between Cougars. Although it is called a “brother” bond, female Cougars may also participate if they choose.
The bond grows gradually over time, and the stronger it becomes, the more fiercely loyal the Cougars become to one another and more averse to the prospect of parting ways. The bond creates something akin to an addiction such that bond brothers need and crave physical and social contact with one another. If bond brothers are parted, they will experience a kind of withdrawal that will last until the bond gradually dissipates.
Unintended Side-EffectsThe Cougars who created the brother bond over time were members of a distinct Cougar culture. The military Cougars are somewhat divorced from that culture, and being infected and not born Cougars, the bond has some unexpected additional effects on them. Cougars who grow up together gain the benefit of the Westermarck effect, which quashes feelings of sexual attraction between siblings. Military Cougars are unaffected by Westermarck, and as such, the brother bond may serve to awaken or amplify latent same-sex attractions in both male and female participants in the bond. Individuals with absolutely no latent same-sex attraction do not experience this affect. Native-born Cougars also typically do not include females in their brother bond – hence the name. When females do participate in the bond, it also has the inverse effect. That is, the brother bond reduces or eliminates feelings of opposite-sex attraction between bond brothers and their bond sisters. For this reason, Cougars were the shifter species of choice for the military’s secret shifter units until the overt programs began.
Mating
Cougar groups frequently exchange members to form new mated pairs. Unmated individuals often court one another in neutral territory, and such intermarriages do not tend to cause conflict among groups. Because of the addictive effect of the brother bond, it is more common for females to join new Troops. Females feel much less natural competitive instincts, and therefore can more easily visit their home Troops without worry of violent conflict with former bond brothers.
Cougar relationships can be as varied as human relationships. Females have a regular estrus cycle not unlike the human menstrual period. They only experience an exceptionally strong urge to mate once every three years.
Cubs
Cougar cubs are typically born after about three months’ gestation. Cougar cubs are born blind but can see by about three months. At six months, they can typically walk, and by one year, they are typically as developed as a human two year old. Development continues apace at about twice the rate of human development until cubs are developmentally equivalent to a human four year old. At this time, development slows until it syncs with and matches human development at approximately eight years of age.
By the time they are school aged, Cougar cubs generally have all the control necessary to attend human public school, but many are still home or private schooled with other Cougars.
Infection
Humans who are successfully infected generally experience severe fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and hot flashes, with intense aches and intermittent sharp pains. To become a Cougar feels as though one is being stretched out and pulled apart, drawn in two different directions at once – the aches manifest themselves this way, with periods of varying intensity. The sharp pains are often accompanied soon thereafter by vomiting, diarrhea, or both. Infected humans must consume large quantities of water in order to live through the infection process. All symptoms may be mitigated by the continued presence of other Cougars for the duration, and infected Cougars may begin to form brother bonds as soon as ten days after infection. Physical skin-to-skin and skin-to-fur contact with Cougars as well as the formation of a strong and broad brother bond greatly reduces the urge to vomit and increases the ability to keep food and liquid down.
In the final days before the day of the full moon, the fever breaks, and the vomiting and diarrhea pause. The infected human feels exceptionally restless and may also experience unusually intense desires to fight, wrestle, climb, and run, as well as sweating and chills. As with all shifter infections, the longer the infection period lasts and the younger the infected human is at the time of infection, the more likely the infected human is to live through it.