Legends
Silver
The legend that Werewolves are susceptible or vulnerable to silver is false. In fact, we rather like silver. Admired and revered for its colour and strength, the element is held sacred to us, as it is in many other cultures across Earth and throughout time.
As best as Council Historians can figure, the legend of Werewolf aversions to silver originated in 1889, by the storyteller Abbot Pourcher, who, while recalling the historical account of Jean Chastel, better known in the human world as La Bête du Gévaudan, embellished the tale by adding a line about Chastel’s ammunition. The claim was that Jean Chastel committed a sacrilege by robbing three local churches of their silver crucifixes and had them melted down into silver bullets, which he then had blessed by the high priests of the aforementioned churches three times each.
At the conclusion of La Bête du Gévaudan, Pourcher claimed that it was with these blessed silver bullets that Jean Chastel slew the beast terrorising Gévaudan and its residents.
This rumour was seized upon and further amplified by the Hammer film, The Curse of the Werewolf in 1961 in which the remedying ammunition is, again, a “silver bullet fashioned from a silver crucifix.”
The truth is that Werewolves love silver. We use it in our rituals and we wear it as jewellery. It is particularly fetching, and does a remarkable job at reflecting moonlight without adulteration.
The Full Moon
Legends of Werewolves being bound to the full moon, forced to transform from a mild, unassuming human form to their natural lupine state are largely the result of Western, 1960s popular culture amplifying 17th century superstitions.
Throughout the history of Werewolf culture and society, we have been able to “shift” through various stages of hominid and lupine anatomy, combined or independent, without the aid or coercion of any celestial bodies, elixirs, or artefacts. The ability comes naturally to all Werewolves, though it must be practiced, as with any skill or talent, to achieve high levels of efficiency and proficiency.
As with the myth that our lupus cousins—the grey, red, and Mexican wolves—being prone to “howl at the moon,” the rumour stems from a time before artificial light sources allowed humanity to keep a later evening, and even still, to visually identify the creatures in the night making the sounds and calls which humans found haunting and frightening.
On the night of a full moon, it’s far easier to see and identify a wolf on a ridge many miles away howling to its pack—if you happen to be awake and outside—in the 1800s than it would be on a night with a new moon.
It’s as simple as that.
Again, we can thank the Hammer film studio from Great Britain for conflating the two for the sake of entertainment in their 1961 film, The Curse of the Werewolf.
The Devil
The notion that Werewolves are, somehow, in league with the Devil—the Abrahamic deity of evil—is as old as Abraham himself and even less credible.
As any cursory historical review will reveal, Werewolves existed long before the advent of Judaism, Christendom, or Islam and feature in the histories of many ancient cultures across the globe, including Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Rome, and pre-imperial China.
To suggest that Werewolves are, by their very nature, somehow evil or in league with a malevolent deity is nonsense. Werewolves are, in fact, guardians of nature and the Earth, about which there is nothing inherently evil or malevolent.
Transformation via Magical Objects
There are many farcical myths and legends which suppose the ability of ordinary humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) to transform themselves, temporarily, into Werewolves through the use or application of magically imbued objects, cloaks, or other articles of clothing, particularly belts.
While such a convenient and conspicuous method of lycanthropy would be highly advantageous for humans, to be able to draw upon the power, ability, and speed of Werewolves, no such method exists. These myths and legends are often the result of interpersonal conflict, which escalates to the level of life-threatening accusation.
Humans, especially those in the Judeo-Christian cultural sphere, are especially jealous creatures and often covetous of their neighbours, family members, or business partners fortune(s). Due to this predisposition towards enviousness, and an overwhelming lack of ethical centrism amongst the species, humans have, in ages past, levied false accusations upon one another, such as accusations of lycanthropy—long thought to be the realm of the devil or another evil—in order to avail themselves of what they most desire belonging to the other party.
While not always the modus operandi of choice, a “magical” belt, cloak, or other item was a popular choice for such an accusation throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.
Do Werewolves Have Tails?
Werewolves, Canis lupinotuum (also Homo lycanthroporum), do have tails. While this can be an area of confusion in popular media portrayals of our kind, all true Werewolves possess a tail.
In fact, this is a quick and easy way to distinguish other shapeshifters who take on wolf or wolf-like forms from Werewolves. Other shifters—such as some witches, cynocephali, and verispellis—do not possess tails in their animal forms.