Life as a Werewolf

In the normal course of events, this is the sort of discussion one has with people. I don’t have people, so you, my vast internet audience, will just have to do.

I’m not sure where I want my werewolf series to go. I know the beginning. I know the thousands-of-years-later state, which is not really an “end”, just where things go after that much time.

I have very little information about the middle. I admit that using passive voice for this is odd sounding. It feels that way, though.

The beginning, at least the first book, is pretty bog-standard LitRPG: The system happens to our intrepid heroes and they speed-run becoming over-powered. (I use hyphens so spell-check doesn’t complain.) I think there are three things that make my story different enough to be worth it (reading or writing, you pick): Gay, werewolves, and doing it cold. This post isn’t about those things, but to quickly recap: “gay” because I am, it’s rare, and I want to read it, so I need to write it. “werewolves” because I’ve always liked them – no doubt due to some suppressed childhood masculine archetype, but who cares? “cold” because real life doesn’t come with tutorials or instruction manuals, which I see as a genre fault – someone/something always explains “the system”.

The end, as much as it exists, is also pretty bog-standard LitRPG: Our intrepid heroes become gods with a multiversal werewolf faction behind them.

There’s a LOT of space between two dudes becoming werewolves when the system hits Earth and them leading a multiversal werewolf faction, whether those two dudes become “gods” or not.

I’ve tentatively decided that werewolves will spread by becoming well-regarded mercenaries. I’ll give a shout-out to the Valhalla faction in Primal Hunter as inspiration, but it’s hardly the only one.

I haven’t yet decided how werewolf reproduction works. Being two men, our intrepid heroes cannot become the base of a dynasty/clan. While I reject out-of-hand the “gay werewolf gets pregnant” trope (yes, it’s a thing), I don’t reject out-of-hand some outside-their-relationship children – especially given how long they will live. It’s not a near-term issue. While our intrepid heroes are gay, the entire pack certainly isn’t going to be. What happens to the kid if the father is a werewolf? The mother? Both? If the kid inherits werewolf-ness, does he also inherit pack-hood? That is, is being a member of the pack something inherited or something chosen? I think the “one drop” rule applies. There are no gradations. One is either a werewolf or not. If one’s mother or father is a werewolf, one is born a werewolf. Solved.

This leads to two interesting questions: What does being a member of the pack entail, exactly? and How does growing up in the system work?

I’ve decided (somewhat arbitrarily) that level 12 (base-12 system, so that’s an even/round number in its counting) is when class selection occurs. I’m deciding right now that that will be the “adulthood” marker: One is an adult when one selects one’s class.

I absolutely despise our (America’s) coming-of-age process. I have three major problems with it: It just happens based on arbitrary ages. Yes, that’s three problems.

• “Ages” is plural. 16 to drive. 18 to contract. 21 to drink. It’s insane. Pick something and apply it universally.
• “Arbitrary” is another. They’re not random, but they are also not coherent. For example, 16 to drive is based on 16 to work. If one can work, one needs to be able to drive to work, even if one cannot sign an employment contract. Not random, but not coherent.
• “Just happens” is the third. I’m a big fan of ritual. There is no coming-of-age ritual (see Confirmation for Catholics, for an example).

Since I’m inventing a world, I can fix all three problems in one fell swoop, so I’m going to. Getting it adopted on Earth (at least in the little slice of it I’m writing about) will provide many plot elements – over time; kids need to be born into the system, first.

So, that’s solved. Worth the blog post, right there. Next up…

Our intrepid Alpha’s power scales (in a mysterious, undocumented manner) with pack size. He’s clearly in charge of the pack, that being the meaning of “alpha”. But what does that imply? At god-level, he can hijack – or at least share – the senses of any pack member. We’re not there, yet, but it gives us a data-point.

I like the default of “pack membership is inherited” because it avoids required bureaucratic overhead of everyone having to sign up and figuring out what to do with zillions of Ronin werewolves who do not. That said, I’m not a huge fan of birthright citizenship. Immigrants need to take a test. Natives, presumably, have learned this information in school and are assumed to already know it. If that’s true, what harm is there in applying the same test to natives? The Amish nailed this one: Rumspringa. I may even steal the name as homage. When its over, joining or renouncing pack membership are the two options. The two corner-cases (something exigent happens where the choice first would have been a really good idea or one wants to join after renunciation) can wait until they happen.

So, at level 12/class assignment, go explore on your own if you want to (perhaps encouraged by some, discouraged by others) then choose. The system can handle the bureaucracy.

For those who choose not to become a pack member, I’m not sure what happens. On the one hand, a proliferation of alpha-wannabes starting their own packs creates an entire series: Pack Wars. On the other, do I really want to deal with that complexity? I don’t really see a choice. If werewolves cannot run off and start their own groups, which will become packs almost by necessity, being a pack member is basically slavery. On the bright side, I now have the third series in this universe: Pack Rising, Pack Wars, and Pack Ascendent. Hopefully, people will like the first ones enough that it makes sense to keep writing them. Obviously, a plot of at least one book is an anti-gay pack. In order to prevent all of werewolf history from being pack wars, the series is going to need to end somewhat brutally so no one will ever dare such a thing, again.

Pack membership is now sorted, but still no “what does it mean?” answer.

I’m thinking Inner Pack, Outer Pack, and just Pack. Leaving the above aside for brevity, all werewolves are Pack. The Inner Pack is where most of the story takes place. The Outer Pack exists mainly for progression. That creates a tidy boundary between “characters who get screen time” (inner pack) and “just a step above NPC” (pack and outer pack), which is very authorially convenient. The inner Inner Pack (disciples? this terminology is getting very cultivation-y) are those who have a close relationship to our intrepid heroes and get lots of screen time. I don’t know if they need an official designation.

One is definitely getting “beat in” to the Inner Pack. Exactly what that will entail, I do not yet know. It will not be the “masturbating in public” definition (although I enjoyed the “beat in peace” example). Rituals do not need to be formal, apollonian, or even dignified.

Why would one do this?

I can leverage the Turn skill. Turn, I hope obviously, is the skill that allows them to turn others into werewolves. The odds of success improve as health declines. In other words, it’s designed for a beat-in. I actually designed it that way for turning one’s defeated opponents; the beat-in application occurred to me, later.

Our intrepid heroes (I’m overusing “intrepid” on purpose, but I will admit it is getting to be a bit much), got it at legendary rarity and were smart enough to read the description carefully and find a very important loophole that lets them use it to heal themselves. There’s no way that can work for every werewolf ever born, so that needs to be an effect of the rarity. I haven’t thought through where it starts. No time like the present.

We can’t have baby werewolves beating up their crib-mates and turning them into werewolves. That means that either the skill is not inherent to being a werewolf or that it needs to level-up in some way.

I’m not sure about involuntarily turning someone. I see no problem with the skill working, but the “how do I deal with this guy who’s pissed at being turned into a werewolf?” problem is tough. Although this is LitRPG: “Kill them” is always an option.

If I layer on mental effects (e.g. cannot disobey a direct command from the Alpha), it becomes morally iffy even for those who want to become werewolves. “Become a werewolf! Oh, but you will be my slave, too” is not a good recruitment pitch. If I leave the mental effects up to the discretion of the turnor, it gets even more morally murky: The “I won’t add anything, honest!” promise becomes, after the fact, “you must obey my every whim.” Lots of plot fodder there, though.

“I want to join the Inner Pack so I can create a coterie of mind-controlled minions” has plot potential, but I don’t like it. Anyone who has that motivation is not someone I want as a major character. Although, he’d make a good villain for a Pack Wars book.

Maybe “bump by a tier”? Inner Pack will only get you the legendary rarity if you’re already at epic.

Digression: Skills are dual-ladder. At any given rarity, there skill level Novice (1-11), Apprentice (12-23), Journeyman (24-47), Master (48-143), and Grandmaster (144+). The functionality of the skill doesn’t change, but one does get better at whatever it is. The rarity ladder is common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and mythical. Increasing the rarity increases the functionality. In general, one levels a skill up by doing it. If I have a Running <common> Novice skill, I can just run more to get it up to Apprentice. What a Grandmaster of Running <common> can do, I have no idea. It seems stupid. To increase the rarity, one has to do something the system likes (killing something generally works). When going up the rarity level, the skill level resets. The point of all this is to allow someone to get system recognition for getting better at something not heroic; it is just bookkeeping. Some dude in the middle of nowhere who has been making farming equipment his entire life may reach Blacksmithing <common> Grandmaster. Utilizing that skill to make a sword for an intrepid hero is the sort of thing the system likes so he may get an upgrade to Blacksmith <uncommon> (or working with a mage to create a magic plow or using some particularly exotic metal, etc…). “Novice” seems a bit low for that case, so let’s say “Journeyman” or he can drop all the way to “Novice” and then level-up really fast. If he starts cranking out high rarity swords, that may upgrade to Forge <rare>. (The skill naming convention is: Common participle, Uncommon noun, Rare imperative; higher rarities don’t have one, yet.) Anywho…

Starting baby werewolves at Turning <common> Novice seems logical. Who knows what it does or how one levels it; problems for future-me. There is a lot of space between that and Turn <legendary> Novice, which is where our heroes (I skipped the “intrepid”!) start. Working backwards, if a (not “the”) Pack Alpha gets legendary, Inner Pack getting epic seems reasonable. Transitioning from Outer Pack to Inner Pack seems system-relevant so changing rarity at that point seems reasonable. If we only want to go up one, that means an Outer Pack member must be at rare to be considered. That also seems to be a reasonable requirement – although not so much in the first book. Perhaps exceptions will be made before pack doctrine is codified. There’s always the fallback: System fuckery.

I think even “Outer Pack” needs qualifications. This is getting SO cultivation-y. I do not like cultivation novels. But, it’s logical. If Inner Pack consideration requires Turn <rare>, then Outer Pack requiring Turnor <uncommon> is a reasonable.

Another digression. I think I’m going to force all of the nouns into “or” form. English is so irregular. Instructing, Instructor, Instruct vs Running, Runner, Run. “er” is more common. Maybe Running, Runner, Run, Instructing, Instructer, Instruct. I refuse proper English both because it annoys me and because I’m going to need to invent some words, anyway. The issue can be finessed: Teaching, Teacher, Teach. Blacksmithing, Blacksmith, and what? “Smith” is technically a verb, although we don’t often use it that way. “Forge” is a drastic change for just an imperative verb. Forging, Forger, Forge works. The point is the same as inflected languages: Redundancy. After the reader gets used it, the skills will read much faster. Using that criteria, I guess “er” and finessing until forced otherwise will be the most readable. Anywho…

So, kids start with Turning <common>. They become adult at level 12 when they choose their class, regardless of the state of the skill. They become Outer Pack when Turning <common> becomes Turner <uncommon>, regardless of level or previous skill level. This creates the corner-case where a Level 11 werewolf manages to get the Turn skill up to Uncommon, in which case they become Outer Pack before becoming Adult; I don’t think I care; may even use it as a plot device at some point. The transition from Pack to Outer Pack can either be an explicit choice, in which case Turning is ranked up as part of it, or implicit simply because Turn ranks up.

They don’t become Inner Pack when Turn <rare> becomes Turn <epic>. It’s the other way around: Becoming Inner Pack changes the skill. That’s also problematic. It must work both ways. No automatic promotion to Inner Pack, but also no skill level-up limitation. That leaves one required skill tier-up for Outer Pack: Turner <uncommon> to Turn <rare>, but exceeding expectations and being epic as Outer Pack can happen.

It also implies that one must be Inner Pack in order to split off as a new Pack Alpha, who has Turn <legendary>. That’s got to be wrong or dissatisfied youth cannot create their own packs. The title “Pack Alpha”, however it is earned, must grant Turn <legendary> regardless of previous tier. And now we have incentive number two to start one’s own pack. I think that’s OK. It can revert to its prior level (or maybe slightly better or worse) if the Alpha is defeated.

Last question: When turned, as opposed to born as werewolf, what happens with Turn? For the Alpha, I think straight to Outer Pack, so Turner <uncommon> Novice. We don’t need a plethora of “just pack” members badly enough to go around turning people just to create them. If an Outer Pack member turns someone, it needs to drop, so Turning <common> Novice is the logical choice, which means Outer Pack can only create Pack werewolves. I think that’s also a logical choice.

There are three cases for the turned, married werewolf. If he (assuming the husband is the werewolf, but it works the other way ’round, too) is Outer Pack, he can turn his own wife (to just Pack) or ask the Alpha to do it, if Outer Pack is good choice. Since the odds of success improve with low health and it’s generally considered bad form to beat up one’s wife, having the Alpha do it is probably the right choice, anyway – although she can fight back; the “low health” bonus applies to both, not just the turnee. (The logic behind that is that someone who you barely defeat will be the most desirable to turn.) If he is Inner Pack, the same two choices apply, but not beating up the wife is the only reason to ask the Alpha to do it. The result will be an Outer Pack werewolf in either case.

Side-note, which is subtly distinct from a “digression”: My original plan was to turn a lot of the typical LitRPG pain (everything is painful, in general) into pleasure. Leveling up is orgasmic. Ranking up is passing-out-from-pleasure-overload intense. It’s amazing how most LitRPG protagonists are masochists, even if the word is never used, and I wanted to break that pattern. However, it turns out there is still much pain involved in fighting enough to speed-run to over-powered. I think the Mated Werewolf title, which gives one a strength bonus when the other is injured, is going to turn our heroes’ relationship in a decidedly BDSM direction. It also makes sparring with one’s mate very defensive because one injury can start a positive feedback loop in the other’s favor. It’s dandy for the two heroes, but it will do odd things to the culture. The wife sends the husband off to spar up-level on moving day, waits an hour for him to be well-bloodied, then picks up the entire house and carries it to the new location. I may need a solution to this issue. Or not. It might be fun to leverage. “What do you do?” “I get beat up a lot so my mate can move heavy freight.”

The syntactic/process side of this is looking good, but the semantics are still lacking.

Yet another digression: Orson Scott Card’s Hierarchy of Foreignness is a useful benchmark.

• Not-Pack is somewhere between Framlings and Raman. There is no prejudice, per se, against not-pack, but trust and friendship come easier within the pack. This is not an issue in early books because the pack is too small. Definitely see plot uses for a pro-pack positive feedback loop, though. Has no Turn skill.
• Other-Pack. Don’t want to think about it, right now. It’s probably a more distrustful relationship than not-pack. Has Turn skill, but different Alpha.
• Pack. Roughly corresponds with “serf” – in the good ways. Maybe “child” in a family unit is a better comparison. One doesn’t have much say in things, but rights and responsibilities are a two-way street. Pack members that have not met each other are closer than Utlanning, definitely “us” not “them”, but not friends. “Cautious trust” is the default attitude. Has Turning <common> skill. Almost unmeasurable sliver of XP goes to Alpha. Myriad-level alpha can use their senses.
• Outer Pack. Roughly corresponds with “citizen”. One has a say, however diluted, in pack governance. Not “clan” because familial tie is not required. Has a “tribe” vibe, but a bit tighter and yet more abstract than “tribe”. The default attitude is “you’re a friend I haven’t met yet”. Has Turner <uncommon> skill or better. Sliver of XP goes to Alpha. Chiliad-level Alpha can use their senses.
• Inner Pack. Telepathic with each other. Details to-be-determined. Brothers-in-arms close. Generally, warrior ethos (although eventually there will be non-fighters included) At least in the beginning, they all know each other. Has Turn <epic> skill or better. Measurable sliver of XP goes to Alpha. Gross-level Alpha can use their senses. Avoid a Praetorian Guard vibe. Maybe give them some pack XP.
• Alpha. There shall be only one (per pack). Has Turn <legendary> skill or better. Received, as opposed to earned, XP can be passed back downstream; details tbd.
• Alpha’s Bitch. The Alpha’s mate. Might get all sorts of fun things in here. Harem is a (sub) genre. Has Turn <legendary> skill or better; is this a requirement or just these two? Alpha can always use its senses (tough pronoun).

Good enough for now!

Administrative Note: I’ve added the “LitRPG Werewolves” category for posts such as this that are about those particular issues. I’m trying to reserve “Learning 2 Write” posts for more generic writing issues. I back-categorized some of the older posts, but not all of them.

P.S. I hope info dumps like this make it obvious why info dumping in-book is a bad idea. I just started Ready. Aim. Fire. I almost put it down after the Author’s Note in the front. Its mere existence was an info dump warning flag. I persevered – for another chapter. Yep, he’s an info dumper. I don’t plan on continuing.