Vulfen

The Vulfen, or more colloquially, Lycans, are separated socially into two types, the Varg and the Vulfen, as well as countless clans, both warring and peaceful, and though technically they are the same species, they are about a 50/50 split between those who can change through willpower, retaining their humanity and cognitive thoughts, and those who change though emotion, losing themselves in the beast within.

Physically, those born into their species often appear human until the eve of their 18th birthday, on which they suffer their first change.
This was traditionally an extremely stressful ordeal for the younger generations, and was seen as a way of showing how strong their children were, but in more modern times, children are often taught from a young age, who and what they are, and so they are better equipped to cope with their post-puberty instability for the few years in which their form and mind are unstable, this has led to an increase in successful Vulfen in the past few decades.

Unfortunately, the Vulfen are often social outcasts for a number of reasons:
• Their transient nature is somewhat disturbing to many who prefer a strong sense of normality
• Their culture is based around possession and family, and so their insular nature often leads to their family being estranged from any normal society
• They often resort to their own clan's language, though this barrier is becoming less common
• They are infectious.

That's right, a single bite from a Vulfen in any shape between human and wolf can cause anybody to be cursed with lycanthropy, and all their children and all their childrens' children. This means that the Vulfen have slowly but surely been spreading throughout the whole world, and though nobody will admit to having done anything, entire clans have been butchered, found dead, or simply disappeared into thin air with no trace.

Vulfen are about as strong as an angry orc while they are in their Gouru (Hybrid - seen above) form, but contrary to popular belief, while they are in their human form, they are no stronger than an identical human, their muscles are no more dense than they appear to be on a human, though they are often slightly more toned, as if the person had been working out, as their change is rigorous excercise, often painful and sometimes even tears apart and reassembles the muscles themselves.