What do you think a fantasy world would be like if everything single human is a shape shifting monster? If you know the book, Were World by Curtis Jobling, that is not what I am asking about. Because in that book, not everyone is a were animal. The story is good, but it doesn't stick to the title. I'm talking about a world where everyone is a werewolf. Wererat, or even were sharks. All kinds of shape shifting creatures. Do you think their world would be similar to the typical medieval style fantasy worlds, or more dark, savarge, and brutal that is less civilized.
Everybody is a Were Animal
- Thread starter SampleGuy
- Start date
mirandashell
Banned
It would all depend, usually on who is in charge. If everyone is a were, then being a were is perfectly normal and not something anyone would worry about, no? Therefore society would have developed around the fact everyone is a were, same as ours has developed with everyone being human.
It would be whatever you write it to be -- light, dark, silly. Mediaeval, modern whatever.
I'm a were honey badger btw.
I'm a were honey badger btw.
mirandashell
Banned
Ha, I actually thought about a book where everyone was a were-animal of some kind but the MC only could transform from human to human.
But I'm not sure that I didn't get that idea from somewhere else, so I haven't pursued it.
Ideas are public domain. If someone else had that ide, then you could simply claim that you wrote a fictional biography of me.
But that only would work when I was in my were form, and you wouldn't able to tell which form I was in.
Anyone heard of Kit Whitfield? 'Bareback' (U.K. title) 'Benighted' (U.S. title) is her novel about a world where almost everyone (except those born 'wrong') is a werewolf - although the word is never mentioned. Things are set up for the orderly running of a society where, once a month, everyone is incapacitated. Which is where the non-werewolf, despised minority comes in. Excellent book, not the standard 'werewolf' story at all.
In the Tales of Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl, as much as I've read thusfar, there seem to be a good number of Faerie people who can shift from a human form to an animal form. In book 3, titled "Moonblood" which I'm reading right now, there's a man who can turn into a tabby cat, a woman who can turn into a goat, and a man who can turn into a tiger. Tiger guy can also split himself into more than one tiger for the purpose of hunting more than one person.
The tone of the series thus far has been both light and a little heavy, but never savage or brutal. In fact, the cat-man is actually pretty witty and humorous most of the time, even when he's kicking tiger guy's butt.
ETA: I think it would be fun to be a were-cat...
Extra ETA: Almost forgot...there are also dragons who con shift from human form to dragon. The one original Dragon was always a dragon and could always shift, but the other dragons are all people that he turned into dragons and they, like their "father", can shift form.
The tone of the series thus far has been both light and a little heavy, but never savage or brutal. In fact, the cat-man is actually pretty witty and humorous most of the time, even when he's kicking tiger guy's butt.
ETA: I think it would be fun to be a were-cat...
Extra ETA: Almost forgot...there are also dragons who con shift from human form to dragon. The one original Dragon was always a dragon and could always shift, but the other dragons are all people that he turned into dragons and they, like their "father", can shift form.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
- Messages
- 513
- Reaction score
- 49
They wouldn't be considered monsters, for one thing. It would be a perfectly normal aspect of everyday living. Being were-animals would be treated as the norm, and the world would have developed around it.
And if we're calling dibs now, I'm a were-wolverine.
And if we're calling dibs now, I'm a were-wolverine.
+1
It's your story, so you decide the rules. You might have a stratified or segregated world; either certain animals (likely predators) rule*, or each kind sticks to their own. Or it used to be that way, but these days everyone knows your werebeast isn't much different than, say, the color of your eyes or your height: it's just a genetic quirk. So most people in this enlightened age are okay with it. (If you have humans, you're gonna have backwards bigotry; it just seems to be what we do, and no amount of animal influence will likely change that.)
Decide what kind of story you want to write, then figure out how/why your were-Earth works that way. Think about what kind of connection to/control over one's animal form a were has, or vice versa; this will probably have a big influence over whether organized civilization is even possible, and what form it would take. Also remember to think about what could go horribly wrong in a world like this.
(* - You might also envision a world where predatory weres are considered abominations and outcasts for what amounts to cannibalism - eating prey animals who might also be humans in shifted form. They might exist as "savages" on the fringes of prey-dominated "civilization.")
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2006
- Messages
- 1,197
- Reaction score
- 327
- Location
- North Carolina
- Website
- www.ursulavernon.com
It's the were-whales I always wonder about. Do they keep really big swimming pools? What if one gets stuck in an elevator over the full moon?
Anyway, I imagine the big problems would be predator-prey related. If a were-wolf and a were-chicken love each other very much, what happens at moonrise?
Anyway, I imagine the big problems would be predator-prey related. If a were-wolf and a were-chicken love each other very much, what happens at moonrise?
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2011
- Messages
- 11,766
- Reaction score
- 12,241
- Location
- Atherton Tablelands
- Website
- snailseyeview.medium.com
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2010
- Messages
- 7,063
- Reaction score
- 1,643
Was that YOU I saw rummaging through the garbage bins in Namibia? (You have a lovely golden pelt, may I say. We could have done without the threatening growling, though; we just wanted a picture.)
Y'know... If the character changes from, say, female to male, or changes ethnicity, or changes to a completely different, completely random other person every single time, that could be a really interesting story! You could explore all kinds of social issues, or just have the character struggling to maintain continuity when their personality (but not their memories) changes.
Last edited:
I actually think there could be some great fodder for class conflict. In a world were everyone's a were-something, I'd imagine that some of transformations would be stronger than others, and the structure of your society would develop accordingly.
There would probably be prejudice toward some of the creatures. It could be a very interesting world.
There would probably be prejudice toward some of the creatures. It could be a very interesting world.
I've wondered about this before. Are people roughly evenly distributed amongst were-'species'? Cos if they are, the average man on the street is probably a were-beetle.
or, if you only have were-vertebrates (boooo!) that's a lot of bats and passerine birds.
Actually, a society where the privileged majority can all fly would be really interesting.
Actually, a society where the privileged majority can all fly would be really interesting.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2011
- Messages
- 11,766
- Reaction score
- 12,241
- Location
- Atherton Tablelands
- Website
- snailseyeview.medium.com
There's an awful lot of fish (in the broadest sense) too. And with Gobiidae being the most diverse family among the vertebrates*, were-gobies and were-mudskippers would be all over the place.
* I probably need to double check this.
* I probably need to double check this.
It would be interesting if the predator were-people are barbarians and savages, and the prey were-people are civilized folks who try to remain safe from the predators. There could also be were dinosaurs who used to rule the prehistoric world, until they became extinct although some of them might have survived. The world might be a place where humans and animals are mixed.