"Vordenburg says werebeasts consider themselves the children of the Moon itself," said Kadie. "Most breeds reject civilization, preferring to live a life deeply connected to nature. They settle at a halfway point between the wilderness and a human settlement, taking advantage of both. Some packs try to maintain a good relationship with the humans, but others are maneaters. Each pack is led by an alpha, with an elaborate network of ranks below them, ending in the dreaded omega position.
"Their powers include enhanced strength, incredible speed, a mild healing factor, and heightened senses. Some therianthropes can also form a psychic bond with animals of a matching species. The main weakness of werebeasts is silver. It burns them as if it were scalding hot, and it overcomes their healing factor. Contrary to popular belief, you can't become a werebeast from being bitten. Vordenburg says its usually hereditary, but there are magical means of inducing the condition. The most common technique's putting on an enchanted belt made from animal skin, but there's dozens of other ways."
"Cool," said Katelynn. "What about the different breeds? Anything interesting about them?"
"Some of them are pretty unique," said Kadie. "As you know, almost all werehyenas are hermaphrodites. A few of them are born with a condition called Subira's Syndrome, though, which causes them to be born fully female. That's pretty much a guarantee of growing up to be the pack omega, so werehyenas with Subira's Syndrome usually try to find a cure.
As for werefoxes, they're real characters according to Vordenburg. They've got really impulsive, thrill-seeking instincts that are hard to shoot down. The vast majority of a werefox's time is spent playing practical jokes or in various amorous activities. They're incredibly beautiful and charismatic, but be careful around one because they make really fickle partners. They have trouble looking at their actions from another's perspective. They're also highly nomadic, a sharp contrast to most werebeasts' territorial nature.
Then there's werecats. They're apparently an exception to the general rule that therianthropes favor the wilderness. These guys seek out cities to make their territory in. They set their prides up in junkyards, sewers, or sometimes an apartment building if they're prosperous. wererats lead a similar lifestyle. Most other werebeasts consider them strange, even mad."
"How about vampires?" asked Katelynn.
"Lots about them," said Kadie. "There's even a pretty detailed origin myth for them. There was an Egyptian princess called Nephthys (Nebet-Het in authentic Archaic Egyptian) who lived in the Predynastic Period. She wanted to escape her cruel husband, the usurper pharaoh Set, so her sister, the witch Isis, fashioned an enchanted coffin for her. Using this coffin, she transformed herself into a being of primordial Night and flew off to freedom in the form of a bat. In twenty years' time, she returned in the dead of night and offered her son Anubis the same freedom. They're supposed to still be out there somewhere in the Sahara Desert.
Vampires are organized into clans led by a patriarch or matriarch with a consort to support them. Under them all other clan members are more or less equal. The most powerful clan is Clan Tepes of Romania (Dracula's clan), but there's all kinds of others like von Wisborg, Ruthven, de Lioncourt, von Karnstein, von Krolock, Varney, Collins, and Bathory. Vampires are known for known for a keen sense of etiquette and, as Vordenburg puts it, 'an insufferable aristocratic snootiness.' Ouch.
"Vampires survive by drinking blood, but some clans have rules against draining a human to the point of death. Hey, this is interesting. Not everyone who gets bitten by a vampire actually turns into another vampire. The vampire has to deliberately inject you with a special venom when he bites you."
"How about powers and weaknesses?" asked Katelynn. "Plenty of both," said Kadie. "For starters, vampires are immortal. They're also fairly strong and impossibly fast, and they can climb sheer surfaces like Spiderman. They also have mesmerizing eyes that can force mortals to do their bidding. A vampire can also command the creatures of the night with an unearthly song, and each vampire has the power to transform into a specific creature of darkness, such as a bat or a raven. As if that weren't all enough, vampires get a stupidly powerful healing factor as well.
"Of course, it isn't all perfect. A vampire's skin burns in direct sunlight, though there are magical workarounds for that. Wooden stakes also do a good job killing vampires, and there's no magical cure for THAT being lethal to you. They also have this weird aversion to garlic. Then there's their need to hibernate for at least an hour every day, but that's actually an improvement over human weaknesses."
"What about crucifixes?" asked Naomi.
"That only hurts a vampire who's killed a human while feeding," said Kadie. She clicked onto the page on faeries. "Faeries are pretty interesting if you like magic. It says here that most of them have as much magic as the average wizard. Their personalities sound a lot like werefoxes, but with more control over it. Faerie society's divided into two courts, the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. The Seelie Court wants to have a positive relationship with humans, while the Unseelie Court's rabidly anti-human. While most magical beings are vulnerable to silver, the faeries are harmed by cold iron."
"It's so damn incredible to think that these things are all real!" Katelynn marveled.
"I know the feeling," said Layla. "I'm still getting used to it myself."
"So, see anything you like?" asked Kadie. "Any creature on this site standing out to you? We've only scratched the surface, of course."