First update of the last month of both the contest and this campaign. We’ve still got quite a ways to go in order for this campaign to be successful, so hopefully we can pick up steam.

I’ve talked a bit about dwarves and elves with my previous updates, but since we’re now in October and rolling right towards Halloween I figured its time that I switch tracks a bit and start talking about a few of the "monsters" encountered in Exile, Magus. I should only have 4 more main updates(including this one) before the campaign ends, which works out well since there are 4 particularly terrors I wanted to cover: my jungle dragons, werewolves, frost giants, and ice dragons. I’ll be saving the dragons for the last two updates, so today I’ll be kicking things off with werewolves.

In the world of Exile, Magus there are of course the various high gods with their worldwide churches and whatnot, but they play no real part in this discussion. Its the opposite end of the divine spectrum which relates to werewolves, the small gods or nature spirits depending on your preference of terms. Back in the days before the Progenitors’ War and the subsequent first rise of both the Melexi and Thirosia empires, certain animal spirits sometimes decided to take physical form. These spirits would most often appear as the animals which most worshipped them, but due to the malleable nature of spirit-born flesh they could take other shapes as well, including that of humanoids such as elves, dwarves, and humans, or even a mix between the humanoid and beast forms. This led to the first lycanthropes(werewolves), now known more as spirit werewolves or werewolf progenitors.

These nature spirits were limited in their geographic region of influence, but within these regions they would often gain followers beyond their animal types, often being part of pantheons of small gods worshipped by the more nomadic of the humanoids. Some of the most favored of these humanoids were given the gift of lycanthropy or chosen as mates by the nature spirit. Any child born from such a pairing is born as a werewolf.

Any lycanthrope that is either originally a nature spirit itself, or is born as a lycanthrope, has no trouble controlling its actions so long as it is at peace with both its humanoid and beastly natures. Those who are transformed into a werewolf as a result of a nature spirit’s blessing or infected through a bite sometimes have trouble reconciling these two natures and thus struggle with control, the latter moreso than the former. In the Badlands south of Zaltruscas most werewolf packs fall under the control of the vampire lord Vargas, who can join his will with that of any lycanthrope touched so as to help them maintain control. (You can read a bit about the region known as the Badlands starting here, though Pentaz and Buscidia’s encounter with werewolves is detailed in currently unreleased chapters immediately following.)

There are other types as well such as ursanthorpes(werebears), scrofanthropes(wereboars), leothropes(werelions), and many others with much the same origins and history, though not necessarily the same geographical ranges. Most of the nature spirits themselves have ceased wandering in physical forms, returning to exist solely as spirits worshipped by their animals and nomadic humanoids with their shamans. The descendants of these curious spirits still exist today, however, and their populations have for the most part thrived as they form their own nomadic societies, breeding and living with one another. They tend to stay far from civilization lest the two worlds clash though, which has led to many of those living in the larger cities of Hanaen and Zaltruscas to think of these werebeasts as mere myths, if they even think of them at all.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this bit of insight, and of course I’m also hoping many of you who have followed but not ordered yet will decide to pull the trigger before the end of this month. To all of you who have ordered, thank you so much. For any fellow D&D players/DMs I will have a stat block at the end. To everyone else, thanks for your time and support, and as always keep reading and enjoying!

For natural born lycanthropes or afflicted lycanthropes I feel the stats presented in the MM are close enough(though I tend to abhor the alignment choices), however there is nothing akin to my Werewolf Progenitors, so that is the stat block I’m giving everyone today.  Hope you enjoy, and if you decide to try it out in your own game please give me feedback, I’d love to be able to tweak it to make it as good as possible.

Werewolf Progenitor  Medium Fey (shapechanger), Neutral

Armor Class 13 in humanoid form; 14 (natural) in wolf or hybrid form

Hit Points 78 (12d8+24)

Speed 30’ (40’ in wolf or hybrid form)

Str 15(+2), Dex 13(+1), Con 14(+2), Int 10, Wis 14(+2), Cha 14(+2)

Saving Throws Wis+5, Cha+5

Skills  Nature+6, Perception+5, Religion+3, Stealth+7

Damage Immunities Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with silver weapons.

Senses passive Perception 15, Truesight

Languages Common, Sylvan

Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Innate Spellcasting The werewolf progenitor’s spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15). The werewolf progenitor can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

     At Will: Druidcraft, Guidance, Resistance

     3/day each: Conjure Animals (always either 4 dire wolves or 16 normal wolves), Healing Word (always for 5d4 points of healing, average 12), Pass Without Trace

     1/day each: Freedom of Movement, Protection from Energy, Polymorph (if this is used on a willing humanoid target it can permanently change the target into a werewolf; when used in this way the progenitor cannot cast this spell again for 1 month)

     1/week: Awaken (can have more than 1 animal under effects at a time, but can only be used on wolves or other beasts descended from wolves)

Keen Hearing and Smell Advantage on Wisdom(Perception) checks that rely on Hearing or Smell.

Magic Resistance Advantage on Saving Throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons Bite and Claw attacks count as magical weapons.

Nature’s Blessing Gains its Charisma modifier to Armor Class in all forms.

Shapechanger The werewolf progenitor can use its action to polymorph into a humanoid or wolf-humanoid hybrid, or back into its natural form, which is a wolf. Its statistics, other than its AC, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Speak with Beasts The werewolf progenitor can speak with wolves and any beast related to wolves as if they shared a language.

Multiattack  2 bites(wolf form only); 2 spear attacks(humanoid form only); or 1 bite and 2 melee attacks with Claw or Spear(hybrid form only).

Bite(Wolf or Hybrid form only) Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5’, one target. Hit: 6(1d8+2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, then it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become a werewolf.

Claw(Hybrid form only) Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5’, one target. Hit: 7(2d4+2) slashing damage.

Spear(Humanoid or Hybrid form only) Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5’ or range 20’/60’, one target. Hit: 5(1d6+2) piercing damage, or 6(1d8+2) piercing damage if used with 2 hands to make a melee attack.

Tactics: They are a mostly peaceful sort, resorting to combat only when forced to do so to defend themselves or their allies/followers. They are usually accompanied by a pack of wolves, a band of humanoids, or some combination of the two. If combat ensues when they have no allies/followers present, they will take their first action to cast Conjure Animals, conjuring dire wolves if faced with 1-3 enemies, or normal wolves if faced with more than 3 enemies. Only once they have conjured these allies will a progenitor werewolf dive into melee combat, conjuring more wolves only if the fight is going very poorly for it(such as all the wolves first conjured being defeated). They have no fear of death since they know that their spirit form will eventually coalesce once more after death, allowing them resume their previous existence outside of life as a nature spirit.

The Animal in Man is done. I can hardly believe it. No one doubted that this day would ever actually arrive more than me, I assure you. After months of what I called Radio Silence, I’m back - fingers trembling - to send out this reader update.

So what happens now? Well, I’ve sent all 350+ pages to Inkshares just an hour ago, and from there they’ll put together my production timeline and all the other wonderful things they provide. I’ll collaborate with them to nail down some ideas for the final cover design. In the months that follow there will be edits… load upon load of edits. The more meticulous work, you see, is really just starting.

I’ve never finished a project this massive in all my life, and yet, it’s not entirely finished. Still, I can’t contain my excitement. This is a turning point for me, and I couldn’t have done it without all the follows, all the interest (all the pre-orders!) for The Animal in Man. I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support. You’ll be hearing from me on the reg from now on!

(“Natural Collapse” - Design by Diogo Hornburg via threadless.com)  

Woo! 103 backers and 126 pre-orders!

A Beast Requires is the Write Out Loud Syndicate’s selection for October, which also happens to be LGBTQIA+ History Month! You have no idea how much this means to me. When I was a tiny little queerling, my life was an absolute mess. The late 80’s and early 90’s weren’t particularly kind, especially to a kid growing up in the suburban sprawl of Cincinnati. There weren’t a whole lot of LGBTQIA+ people in media, especially positive ones. Most of the time they were either stock villains, AIDS patients, or some sinister force serving as an antagonist. Of course, there was Divine, but at 8, I had no clue who Divine was, let alone had even seen a John Waters movie.

As I got older, and was able to find queer cinema, it improved, but there was still a lack of a LGBTQIA+ presence in fantasy and scifi, which were my go to genres of escapism. It wasn’t until the revival of a popular British tv show that I saw an actual representation of me in the media, someone who wasn’t 100% straight or 100% gay, and I fell in love with Captain Jack the moment my baby blue eyes first saw him.

Diversity does not exist in a vacuum, and any character’s defining characteristics should never be their race, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. When I started A Beast Requires, it was without question that the city of Aurum would be a diverse place, and part of that diversity was having LGBTQIA+ characters. Deputy Rilley, resident alchemist and mail order academic, is a trans man, and in a world where dragons are bankers and wizards use magic to grow pineapples in winter, no one bats an eye. Diversity in Aurum is a part of life, and when the nice troll drag queen asks you if she looks pretty in her dress, you say yes.

Then there’s Priz, who openly states with pride that he, in fact, loves everybody. Having a pansexual character, who loves without limitations, wasn’t difficult for me to write. Hells, Priz himself wasn’t difficult for me to write, since I was Priz for most of my life pre-2010. Out of all the things Priz is, and trust me in that there are a lot of them, his sexual orientation is the least interesting thing about him. I could have gone the entire book without mentioning it, but I had to. Agency is important, and by having that one line, he becomes a visible member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Being selected by the Write Out Loud Syndicate means the world to me. It’s an absolute honor, and I am damn proud to be part of the community.

- Jay

Just a short update today to share two things with you all: first off, Witherfist now has a brilliant 88 preorders. If I could reach through the internet and high five you all, I would. 

Second, I have some more character art to share with you. This time, it’s the fugitive princess, Arren: 

You can read about Arren in one of Witherfist’s excerpt chapters.

~ Jenny

PS. Don’t forget, I’m running a contest throughout October that  I mentioned in a previous update - the TL;DR version is if you preorder Witherfist or get others to preorder the book, you can win Amazon vouchers. 

We are now into the last month of the contest and the funding campaign. Thank you so much for being along with me on this. I’ve got another sample up. Chapter 2-6, which is about the 2/3 mark of the book, has our characters ending their time in Sophia. In this excerpt, the characters are facing the consequences of their scheming, and starting to take the measure of what kind of threat their enemies in the platoon might pose. I hope you all enjoy the read!