the wolf (+some werewolf lore) (Patreon)

of course there's gotta be art of the werewolf. can't have a vampwolf story without THE WOLF.

vampwolf werewolves are not humans struggling with the beast within, they're their own kind of species of thing. they tend to live off on their own out in the wilderness because on the whole they're a bit too strange to pull off living among regular humans or wolves. there are some who commit to it, like Avery, who happily lives in a city and works a job and pays bills to live in a house, though people definitely know there's something strange about her.

shapeshifting is something totally natural to all werewolves, and they tend to be indifferent to the act. to them, there is no separation between their forms. they're all normal states of their being and they will use all "three" of them at leisure, sometimes even weirder in-between states or partial transformations.

the big thing for them is their reverence to a god that gives them all their less "natural" abilities, a sort of Almighty Mom figure that claims the sun as the font of her power. their society is entirely formed around speaking with this god and reveling in her gifts, so they party under the sun all day and work and sleep all night. it also means they hold motherhood in extremely high regard, and for most werewolves having/taking care of pups is the greatest thing you can aspire to do with your life.

notably, Avery cannot partake in suntime funtime or having children, so she is viewed less-than-favorably within their society. still, she speaks to their goddess through the moon, but this is also viewed as sort of a coward's path. other wolves think she's a heretic for using a pale reflection to speak to their beloved goddess. despite all that, she still gets the same benefits from sunlight as any other werewolf. she just can't spend much time out there.

there's other Weird Shit about them, but that'll come later~