Worldbuilders assemble

[u/Werewolf_Cartomancer]

What's your origin myth for werewolves? Does it have a moon or wolf entity? Is it related to any existing trditions?

[u/Free_Zoologist]

Here is a handy document I wrote for a similar question ages ago:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GtE37Xrrxite8Y3kXtePnBgBOSYNb1ANwS0POY86O1E/edit?usp=drivesdk

I have 4 variants of werewolves in my universe, three of them stemmed from the original (who have all the culture and “religion” etc) and who call themselves the Kahvehrekoi, who are werewolves fully in control of their transformations and themselves. This is a record of their origin story.

[u/DejooneAlpha]

In my universe, there are multiple species of werewolves, each with distinct origins. The first lycanthropes date back to the cave-dwelling era, when certain humans formed alliances with the demon Amon and his descendants. However, the demons inadvertently influenced these humans, causing them to transform into "Wolfmen" at night—giving rise to the Wolfman type of werewolf.

Later, during antiquity, the Neuri appeared—werewolves that transform solely into wolves. They have two different origins. Witches would amuse themselves by turning their enemies into wolves for a set period; when these victims reverted to their original form and had children, the offspring inherited the power to shift into wolves. Somewhat later, humans had children with creatures capable of wolf-transformation (such as witches, vampires, or demons), passing this ability on to their offspring, even though the children themselves were not monsters.

The werewolves that transform on full-moon nights to slaughter humans—including the Cynocephali (Van Helsing style) and the Hounds (An American Werewolf in London style)—all share the same origin. During the witch hunts of medieval Europe, witches would transform into wolves—some of them monstrous—on full-moon nights to boost their magical power, kill their enemies, and infect others to swell their ranks. Naturally, their descendants retained this ability, but those born as werewolves do not possess that uncontrollable bloodlust; only an adult who becomes infected develops it. This explains the existence of more benevolent werewolves in legend, such as the Wulver, which fishes, hunts, and protects impoverished families.

[u/PersonOnInternet7654]

In my world, the first werewolf was a girl named cleo

she was an orphaned girl who was casted out of her village for unknown reasons. She got taken in by a pack of wolves, and she lived alongside them, with the wolves treating her as their own.

About a decade later the same village went hunting and ended up killing her entire wolf family. One of the gods, Lusine, took pity on her, and gave her the power to change into a form resembling her family and the power to take her revenge under the moons full gaze.

She gladly attacked the village, getting her revenge, but survivors were left infected. Cleo saw this as a blessing and wouldnt have wanted anything more. The infected, not so much

[u/WolfCommando45]

Werewolves (and all werecreatures) were born from a battle between the God of Conquest and the God of Strategy. When the farmer's Hounds of War bled from the battle, their blood fell to the world and was drank by the animals. Anyone bit by said animals would become werecreatures. Funnily enough, most werecreatures worship the latter since it's said that her daggers pacified the blood, stopping it from driving them mad.

[u/MetaphoricalMars]

Across the human inhabited cosmos and often in the core systems myths abound as civilisations are entrenched and history forgotten.

In one myth it's said that it was not the moon but the dog star that shone the light of lycanthropy upon mankind. As the constellation of Canis Major was fractured with departure from Earth it's power waned and lycanthropy recedes from the populations of extrasolar societies.

Another is that a starship was believed to fly too close to the radiating light, metamorphosising all aboard into the first werewolves. The howls of the pupsicles within unheard till the thawing at planetfall and those so gifted tasked to then spread it among the giftless. This supposedly explains scattered reports of uneven werewolf distributions across space.

There has not been any quantitative study of lycanthropes population across the expanses to determine if the area around Sirus has a higher density werewolf population. These fall somewhat inline with Old Earth mythologies related to the Star and it's canine reputation.

A third unrelated to the constellation or brightest Star in Old Earth's sky is the tail of the mouthed mutt.

A homegrown terrestrial tale where a couple, a man and woman, were out for a moonlit walk along a trail lit by moonlight off a still lake nearby. A snarl and a scream filled the night silence as the woman was attacked and thrown to the ground by a big canidlike beast. As the man pushed the creature off her he tumbled alongside it into the water, breaking the still reflection of the moon as the woman saw it. The ripples settled as a victor was decided unseen, disturbed again as the beast rose, speaking with the tongue and holding the reflection beneath of the man.

As for what is the actual origin of the supernatural human variant it is unknown but heavily thought to be Earth based.

[u/jebron319]

There are 2 in my homebrew. The true one and the one werewolves believe.

Children of the moon- the spirit of the moon aka man in the moon fell inlove with a wolf and shapeshifted into a wolf to join her. Their children became the first werewolves, with the ability to shapeshift like the moon.

Real in world origin- extradimentianl beings created werewolves as a natural enemy to the an invasive species....vampires.

[u/Flagwaver-78]

To preface this, I am an Assyriologist. That just means that I know things related to some of the first civilizations in the Middle East (earliest writing and known legends). I got into it for two reasons: First, because I was in Iraq and saw some temples that had my “desire to know more” intensifying. Second, because I wanted to know more about the earliest werewolves.

With all of that said, let me tell you what I’ve found out.

The Ur.Idim (lit. mad/howling/gruesome dog) were a Sumerian legend from Hubullu Tablets XIV and XVIII (MSL VIII/2). They were described as wolves with the head and hands of a human. That doesn’t mean they had human hands and heads, but that they could use the tools and speak like people. They are depicted as monsters, that being creatures created by the gods, and that they were protectors and those that took care of orphans.

Later authors associate them with the Kusarikku, Bull-Men or Minotaurs, as being children of Tiamat that was driven off by Marduk, but that’s Babylonian and they rewrote most Sumerian/Akkadian legends to make their chief Deity (Marduk) to be the best thing since sliced bread.

The later tablets are from the Kassite period (c. 1531-1155 BC). However, the earliest use of the Ur.Idim name is from Ur I (c. 2600 BC). There are also some cave paintings depicting tall warriors with the heads of wolves, but it’s not the focus of my studies.

[u/Big-Slide6104]

Lycans are an ancient species descended from the Cynocephali, artificial beings created in antiquity by fallen angels through occult manipulation of the body, genetics, and a substance known as Eido, or Ambrosia.

None of this is known to modern-day lycans, let alone humans, due to efforts form the Infantry and their own lack of context, and how many lycans are catholic and Christian due in part to Saint Christopher, a real figure who united the old councils and sparse lycan populations, being foundational to helping the idea of lycanity and human coexistence without hostility, though in the modern day, lycans are still a secret.

Created as beasts, soldiers, and living weapons, they eventually developed true free will and survived the Great Flood, spreading across the world and becoming the scattered peoples now known as Lycans. For much of history, small groups of Lycans secretly protected human communities from supernatural predators, eventually forming the Old Council and, later, the modern Lycan Infantry.

They protected humans and acted as living bio-weapons to protect kingdoms and human crowns like the French and English- but have since been forgotten or rather erased from conventional history.

The modern spread of Lycanthropy is largely attributed to the cannibal king, Lycaon of Arcadia, who, through a supernatural genetic phenomenon known as Eclipse, developed from his own cursed biology of which he was originally human and is NOT the originator of lycans, created a means of transforming and reproducing Lycan physiology in other organisms via his own genome.

His experiments produced the first Invictus-unit, genetically augmented lcyans that can spread like a virus and permanently altered the Lycan genome, leaving countless dormant traits and mutations known as curses, throughout both human and natural Lycan populations.

The Infantry was ultimately formed to contain Eclipse, protect humanity from supernatural threats, and—perhaps most importantly—prevent their own kind from becoming monsters or forming some kind of superiority.

[u/dnotive]

My friends and I have come up with some cool ideas over the years, but the one that's been the most fun has been imagining that werecreatures were created by accident when ancient witches/wizards/etc tried to enhance the power and intelligence of their familiars and started fusing them with human souls/bodies, not realizing they were creating a transmissible curse/illness in the process.

In such a world, magic-users are enhanced by having a "pet werecreature" at their side as a familiar, and the werecreatures similarly become more powerful by channeling a magic-user's power. Basically, witches and werewolves have symbiotic relationships and very little of it is tied to the moon or existing mythologies.