How Big Was That Wolf You Saw? Or . . . Where The Heck Does All The Mass Go?
A long-standing puzzlement to science has finally been solved: namely, the differential in mass between a lycanthrope's human form and their animal form.
Through careful measurement with the latest instruments, right down to the subatomic level, the mystery has been solved as far as pure science can take it. The mass reduced or gained from a lycanthropic transformation is released into, or taken from, a metaphysical energy field surrounding the area of the transformation.
The more shifters in an area, the greater this energy field. Once one is established, it becomes self-perpetuating, as more and more preternaturals are instinctively drawn to this power source—though none were consciously aware of it for eons. This is why some areas tend to attract heavy concentrations of preters, psychics, ghosts, artists, sensitives, eccentrics and lunatics while other areas remain completely Mundane.
As for specifics:
Wolves: Wolves tend to be larger than their bestial forms, but not astoundingly so. A bestial wolf's weight can range from 45-175 lbs, so a Wolf's human mass translates quite nicely into a form that may be only slightly larger than his bestial counterpart.
There are no pony-sized Wolves, unless of course a giant human or one enormously obese becomes infected with lycanthropy.
As expected, their effect on the 'mass to energy' pool is almost nil, but usually results in a tiny energy gain to the pool.
Bears: With bears, it's a whole different story. Most bestial black bears fall between 125 and 500 lbs, so a Bear will quite often gain considerable mass in their shift. If there is no available 'mass to energy' pool to draw from, the transformation will tend to suck heat and light energy from the surrounding environment.
A human standing too close could get frostbite, though a human standing too close to a Bear's transformation most likely has more immediate threats to life and limb than frozen patches of skin.
Cougars: As with wolves, a human's mass equates nicely with the mass of a bestial cougar. Their effect on the energy pool is minimal, but as with Wolves, when there are large numbers of Cougars in the area, the cumulative effect can add up to a significant addition to the pool.
Cats: Cats have a huge effect on the energy pool. Even the largest bestial wildcats are only a fraction of an average human woman's mass, so when a Cat shifts from skin into fur, there's a 'dump' of the excess preternatural energy in the form of heat. A human standing within arm's length would feel a fleeting flash of intense heat, but nothing that is hot enough, or lasts long enough, to inflict a burn or ignite even volatile substances such as gasoline. Because Cats are generally the most numerous shifters in most areas, they are responsible for most of the depth of the preternatural energy pool.
Other Preternaturals and Humans:
Vampires: Vampires "leak" energy into the preternatural pool. This is why they have to feed so often, and it is theorized that some connection to this constant energy drain may lie behind their their inability to tolerate sunlight, though science has not made any real headway on this question. Vampires tend to shun the lab-coat and dissection kit set.
Humans: Average humans have no effect on the energy pool, other than the metaphysical release of energy during strong emotions or violent events, which is thought to be the energy source of most 'ghosts' and 'poltergeist' manifestations.
Human Psychics and Sensitives: As usual, humans are an unpredictable lot. Some psychics add to the energy pool—usually those who feel drained by exercising their gifts—and some draw the energy for their talents from it.
Human Lunatics: It's not a politically correct term, but it's effective. When subjected to long-term exposure to a strong metaphysical energy field, some otherwise perfectly sane human beings go a little nuts to completely and utterly psychotic. Once they lose their grip on reality, a human is like a Tesla coil, spewing energy for good or ill to everyone who comes in contact. Perhaps this is why many vampires kept a raving "Renfield" about the place in less enlightened times?
Ghosts: "Ghost" is a catch-all term for any weird occurrence that can actually be attributed to anything from a persistent memory loop to a time-stream convergence to an earth-bound soul right on down to an angelic or demonic visitation. All of these possibilities have different effects on the energy field, though most of the more benign phenomenon draw their energy from the observers than from the free-floating pool.
In Conclusion: If you step into a new place and feel the hair on the back of your neck rise, feel uneasy for no discernable reason, or experience deja-vu, you might carefully watch the people around you. They might not be exactly what they seem!
Through careful measurement with the latest instruments, right down to the subatomic level, the mystery has been solved as far as pure science can take it. The mass reduced or gained from a lycanthropic transformation is released into, or taken from, a metaphysical energy field surrounding the area of the transformation.
The more shifters in an area, the greater this energy field. Once one is established, it becomes self-perpetuating, as more and more preternaturals are instinctively drawn to this power source—though none were consciously aware of it for eons. This is why some areas tend to attract heavy concentrations of preters, psychics, ghosts, artists, sensitives, eccentrics and lunatics while other areas remain completely Mundane.
As for specifics:
Wolves: Wolves tend to be larger than their bestial forms, but not astoundingly so. A bestial wolf's weight can range from 45-175 lbs, so a Wolf's human mass translates quite nicely into a form that may be only slightly larger than his bestial counterpart.
There are no pony-sized Wolves, unless of course a giant human or one enormously obese becomes infected with lycanthropy.
As expected, their effect on the 'mass to energy' pool is almost nil, but usually results in a tiny energy gain to the pool.
Bears: With bears, it's a whole different story. Most bestial black bears fall between 125 and 500 lbs, so a Bear will quite often gain considerable mass in their shift. If there is no available 'mass to energy' pool to draw from, the transformation will tend to suck heat and light energy from the surrounding environment.
A human standing too close could get frostbite, though a human standing too close to a Bear's transformation most likely has more immediate threats to life and limb than frozen patches of skin.
Cougars: As with wolves, a human's mass equates nicely with the mass of a bestial cougar. Their effect on the energy pool is minimal, but as with Wolves, when there are large numbers of Cougars in the area, the cumulative effect can add up to a significant addition to the pool.
Cats: Cats have a huge effect on the energy pool. Even the largest bestial wildcats are only a fraction of an average human woman's mass, so when a Cat shifts from skin into fur, there's a 'dump' of the excess preternatural energy in the form of heat. A human standing within arm's length would feel a fleeting flash of intense heat, but nothing that is hot enough, or lasts long enough, to inflict a burn or ignite even volatile substances such as gasoline. Because Cats are generally the most numerous shifters in most areas, they are responsible for most of the depth of the preternatural energy pool.
Other Preternaturals and Humans:
Vampires: Vampires "leak" energy into the preternatural pool. This is why they have to feed so often, and it is theorized that some connection to this constant energy drain may lie behind their their inability to tolerate sunlight, though science has not made any real headway on this question. Vampires tend to shun the lab-coat and dissection kit set.
Humans: Average humans have no effect on the energy pool, other than the metaphysical release of energy during strong emotions or violent events, which is thought to be the energy source of most 'ghosts' and 'poltergeist' manifestations.
Human Psychics and Sensitives: As usual, humans are an unpredictable lot. Some psychics add to the energy pool—usually those who feel drained by exercising their gifts—and some draw the energy for their talents from it.
Human Lunatics: It's not a politically correct term, but it's effective. When subjected to long-term exposure to a strong metaphysical energy field, some otherwise perfectly sane human beings go a little nuts to completely and utterly psychotic. Once they lose their grip on reality, a human is like a Tesla coil, spewing energy for good or ill to everyone who comes in contact. Perhaps this is why many vampires kept a raving "Renfield" about the place in less enlightened times?
Ghosts: "Ghost" is a catch-all term for any weird occurrence that can actually be attributed to anything from a persistent memory loop to a time-stream convergence to an earth-bound soul right on down to an angelic or demonic visitation. All of these possibilities have different effects on the energy field, though most of the more benign phenomenon draw their energy from the observers than from the free-floating pool.
In Conclusion: If you step into a new place and feel the hair on the back of your neck rise, feel uneasy for no discernable reason, or experience deja-vu, you might carefully watch the people around you. They might not be exactly what they seem!
The Effects of Geno-type and Pheno-type In Lycanthrope Variation
Genotype: all or part of the genetic constitution of an individual or group.
Phenotype: the observable properties of an organism that are produced by the interaction of the genotype and the environment.
Concerning infections by lycanthropes with a potential for interbreeding including Cats and Bears: when a shifter is born to parents of differing but compatible phenotypes - phenotype in this case referring to the specific form the shifter takes in fur - the virus the offspring carries actually contains a merged copy of the genetic code contained in the viruses of his parents. As in all forms of reproduction, the crossing is random and does not necessarily contain a 50:50 ratio of mother to father. When passed down for generations, any given shifter capable of interbreeding may carry the necessary genetic code for a large cross-section of genotypes - that is, the genes responsible for determining the forms a shifter could have taken.
During development in the womb - or infection - one and only one of these genotypes is activated by some number of chemical and environmental factors in the host and becomes the new shifter's phenotype. The farther back in a shifter's lineage any particular phenotype may have been, the less of that genetic code they carry, and the less likely it is that their offspring - or those they infect - will exhibit that phenotype. Isolated shifter populations, such as those in New Zealand, may exhibit only one phenotype, but highly integrated shifter populations, such as those in the United States, could exhibit a very broad range of phenotypes.
The largest intact sections of genetic material in each virus - which may or may not actually be the shifter's phenotype - are the most likely to be passed on to offspring or an infected human. In cats, in particular, due to the high rate of immunity in older humans, when older humans are infected, the smaller sections of genetic material - that is, shifter forms from farther back in the infecting shifter's lineage - become the most likely to be passed on. This is because the human's immunity suppresses the strongest code but having been thereby depleted, succumbs to the weaker code.
Phenotype: the observable properties of an organism that are produced by the interaction of the genotype and the environment.
- (Both definitions from: Merriam-Webster Dictionary, online edition, 2011)
Concerning infections by lycanthropes with a potential for interbreeding including Cats and Bears: when a shifter is born to parents of differing but compatible phenotypes - phenotype in this case referring to the specific form the shifter takes in fur - the virus the offspring carries actually contains a merged copy of the genetic code contained in the viruses of his parents. As in all forms of reproduction, the crossing is random and does not necessarily contain a 50:50 ratio of mother to father. When passed down for generations, any given shifter capable of interbreeding may carry the necessary genetic code for a large cross-section of genotypes - that is, the genes responsible for determining the forms a shifter could have taken.
During development in the womb - or infection - one and only one of these genotypes is activated by some number of chemical and environmental factors in the host and becomes the new shifter's phenotype. The farther back in a shifter's lineage any particular phenotype may have been, the less of that genetic code they carry, and the less likely it is that their offspring - or those they infect - will exhibit that phenotype. Isolated shifter populations, such as those in New Zealand, may exhibit only one phenotype, but highly integrated shifter populations, such as those in the United States, could exhibit a very broad range of phenotypes.
The largest intact sections of genetic material in each virus - which may or may not actually be the shifter's phenotype - are the most likely to be passed on to offspring or an infected human. In cats, in particular, due to the high rate of immunity in older humans, when older humans are infected, the smaller sections of genetic material - that is, shifter forms from farther back in the infecting shifter's lineage - become the most likely to be passed on. This is because the human's immunity suppresses the strongest code but having been thereby depleted, succumbs to the weaker code.