Post by Victoria on Oct 7, 2009 7:54:58 GMT
The Gewin are a mix of modern conceptions of werewolves, vampires and incubi/succubi.
Plural is Gewin, singular is Gewyn.
As far as memory extends, the Gewin have always been born and raised exclusively in the woods surrounding Benevolence. If any have left, no one knows what happened to them.
They are wolves in the daylight and behave as normal wolves do. When the sun sets, they have the ability to change between a humanoid and wolf form at will, and can choose an in-between form as well. As wolves they only hazily remember anything of their night-time hours or human-like thoughts, and vice versa.
Shifting is quite painful for them, but it is not unbearable.
The Gewin have superhuman strength, agility and senses. Their eyesight is equal to that of the Guardians, but they have a superior sense of smell and inferior hearing. Their strength is slightly superior to their enemies'.
They are drawn to feed on humans. They hunger for their flesh, blood and energy, which can often inspire a sense of guilt in them, but if a human has been sampled before the longing is hardly ever resistible. They can feed on humans in three ways: by drinking their blood; by eating their flesh; and by draining their energy (which requires physical contact of the mouths). A single, near-fatal meal from a human can satisfy a Gewyn for about a month before the craving returns.
The Gewin become obsessed with humans that they have tasted, longing to take more and more until either the Gewyn or the human is dead. They only enjoy the smell and taste of living humans, and dislike human corpses. They have no power to drain Guardians, and are deeply repelled by their smell and taste.
Even though they hunger for human blood, they do not necessarily think of humans as worthless; in fact, many are fascinated with humans and believe them to be beautiful creatures. It is not uncommon for them to feel jealous of the Guardians, for they are loved, pampered and live among the humans.
The Gewin live in the deepest part of the woods, often in caves or dark, secluded areas. Bright lights bother them, as do loud noises. They live off of the forest animals, trying to keep far enough away from the village that the smell does not drive them to attack. They know the old legend of their origin, but only some believe it. Either way, they all despise the Guardians and everything about them.
In their humanoid form, Gewin are exceptionally beautiful to humans. They are generally taller than a normal human; the average height of a Gewyn would be about six feet. Their eyes are always light: some variation of blue, green, hazel, violet or gray. As their skin is never directly exposed to sunlight, they are exceptionally pale. They generally fashion sparse clothing out of leather made within their packs or steal clothing off of travellers or victims.
Over the centuries, the Gewin have been for the most part kept at bay by the Guardians. There have been some instances, however, in which one of the Gewin have managed to either take a human victim or access a human despite the Guardians. One way is by defeating the Guardians in a home (very difficult, as they are often detected before entry and swarmed) and killing before the others can respond. The other is by luring a human deeper and deeper into the forest where they are unprotected. In one case, a Gewyn male sated his appetite for years on the sexual energy of a married woman at night, allowing her to believe it was a dream, and the Guardians still don't know how that one slipped past them for so long.
Like wolves, the Gewin are predominantly monogamous, and often mate for life. Females go into heat over the course of a few weeks from Duober to Triaber, and this is the only time that they can conceive. A single baby is commonly had of one pregnancy. Guardians and Gewin cannot beget children together (not like they would ever want to). They cannot breed with regular dogs or wolves, though there are none such creatures naturally living in the village or forest.
Gewin do not have last names.
They don't often like or live with many others of their kind, remaining protective of and living with close family exclusively. A single pack will usually include an alpha male, his mate, and their unmated female children. Male Gewin leave their families at a young age and wander alone for several years until finding a mate. Females leave their families only when they have mated. Even if they are related, each pack fights with other packs; for territory, food, tools, leather, acclaim, etc.
Communication between Gewin is usually either through body language and gesture or howling.
They have the ability to let their consciousness wander from their body over large distances, and by not sending out their sense of smell they can observe the humans at night without too much trouble. Some can even enter a human's dreams.
Their average life expectancy is 110 years.
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