.:HoA Presents!:.

darmanarya asked: "Are some more susceptible to wereification than others?"

For humans? Not really, no. The whole were-critter deal works in a number of ways in “Biff the Vampire”. It can be a curse, a retrovirus or an inherited trait. The first two lead into the third.

The curse is pretty straightforward – either you or someone else goes about and finds a way to make that change happen. Maybe it’s the pelt of a creature and a salve. Maybe you crossed someone’s path. Either way, it’s ultimately mystic in nature. There’s no real way to avoid it but it’s also the most likely to be fixable. It can also be a family thing and passed down through generations on certain sides of the family. No real rhyme or reason as it is pretty completely dependent on the curse.

The other way is a retrovirus. So you have a critter that carries this thing. The retrovirus has a bit of genetic info from the critter but is generally benign to it. The virus finds a way into the victim from the host (scratch, bite, contact with infected blood, somehow put into the victim through other means) and it starts doing its thing. It drops its payload in the cells, adding certain information (info from the original host and ability to physically change form) while rewriting others.

It’s not understood yet why but the process is imperfect. That’s why you end up with folks having heightened abilities and even retaining some physical attributes after their initial transformation. This is also why it can be reversed if caught soon enough. General timing is sometime before that initial change. After that, all of the victim’s cells are pretty much completely laced with the new genetic info. Though not normally talked about, this does include the gametes (egg and sperm). It’s a dominant trait and – unlike the curse – is not gender specific.

There isn’t really a way to be more or less susceptible to the retrovirus. It works on a genetic level and isn’t something you can build an immunity to. It’s a “You have it or you don’t”-type of thing. With the curse, a similar situation applies. You can avoid it but it’s mystic in nature. The level of susceptibility is pretty much equal all around. And you’re pretty much boned if you’ve inherited it.

This was a Crazy long info drop that never made it into the “So You’ve Become a Werewolf” booklet due to a lack of time. I’ve been saying it for years but I really have to update that thing but yeah! That’s pretty much an overview of how the whole wereification process works in “Biff.” = )