Filias Lunae: A Werewolf Story

Story Events

• Adrastus leads a hunt against a werewolf pack and falls unconcious, alone, in the forest. He wakes up with torn clothes and in a strange place. He begins to realize what he is.
• Adrastus has an encounter with Brownfur where they are both fighting with swords/claws and with words, with Brownfur antagonizing Adrastus about being a werewolf.
• Brownfur grows to care for Adrastus and encourages Adrastus to embrace his beastly side, which falls on deaf ears at first.
• Adrastus is praying in front of a shrine to the Sun King, begging to be normal while in the process of transforming into a werewolf.
• Aelianus finds out that Adrastus is a werewolf, has him arrested and plans to have him paraded through the streets before publically executing him.
• Adrastus is being paraded through the streets like a freakshow, being mocked and reviled by the masses. Brownfur’s pack of werwolves attacks in attempt to rescue.
• Adrastus falls to his knees, being cradled by Brownfur, who is begging him to accept himself. Eventually, Adrastus does and they fight through a squadron of Sun lords to escape.
• Adrastus runs away with Brownfur to the woods. He sheds his human name and adopts a new name: Grayfur.

Weakness & Need

Weakness

Adrastus’ weakness is that he is loyal to the Church of the Sun, to the point where he is willing to kill/harm anyone who goes against the Church and/or its teachings, even if it’s their mere existence that does so (lycanthropes, vampires, undead, etc.). At the same time, he’s also so devoted to his duties as a Sun lord that he’s willing to put his personal needs and desires on the back-burner, especially when it comes to being a werewolf.

Need

What Adrastus needs is to accept himself as a werewolf and embrace his beastly side. The degree of control a werewolf has over their beastly form is directly correlated to how much they embrace their true natures. The more they embrace it, the more control they have over their beastly forms and whether or not they can transform of their own free will.

Desire

What Adrastus ultimately desires is to save himself; initially, though, his desire differs greatly from what his needs are: he wants to deny his beastly form, continue to perform his duties as a Sun lord, and to defend the Church and its doctrine from all who threaten it…the very creatures that he is a part of. Near the end, though, he eventually starts to desire freedom from the Church and its doctrine.

Opponent

Adrastus has two opponents: Brownfur, leader of the werewolves, and Linus Aelianus, the Voice of the Sun King. Aelianus starts out as Adrastus’s ally and superior, giving him instructions and counsel, as well as sending him on hunts. However, when Adrastus finds out he’s a werewolf, Aelianus becomes the most dangerous presence in his life, as Aelianus wants to kill all lycanthropes, especially werewolves. Once Aelianus finds out Adrastus is a werewolf, he becomes hostile and fully intends on killing Adrastus in the public eye to set an example. Brownfur, on the other hand, starts out as an adversary and slowly becomes an ally and friend. He begins their relationship by antagonizing Adrastus about being a werewolf and the irony of it all. As he sees Adrastus’s anguish and self-hatred, as well as talks with him on a more personal level, though, he begins to feel some level of sympathy for him…to a point where he starts to grow fond of him.

Plan

Adrastus’ initial plan is to continue what he was doing before he found out he was a werewolf, but with the extra addition of trying to find out where the werewolves are hiding and kill them all as a way of proving his devotion to the Church, as well as keeping his identity a secret from the rest of the clergy, especially Aelianus. This will mean he’ll have to be very selective of when he will allow himself to transform and where he’ll do it, so that he won’t derive suspicion from the town and the clergy.

Battle

The battle is largely between him and the werewolves, particularly Brownfur, initially. The battle between him and Brownfur will occur with swords, but also with words, as they argue over ideals, life perspectives and who has more of a right to live (or whether one even has more of a right to live over another). In addition, there is a great inner conflict within Adrastus himself, as he wrestles with his self-hatred and his desire to serve. His eventual conflict with Aelianus comes down to having his self-hatred validated by Aelianus and Adrastus starting to openly question some of Aelianus’s motivations and goals. This inner conflict often externalizes itself when his body starts to transform without his consent and when he is transformed, he can see everything that he is doing and tries to fight it, but he has no control over his actions in the slightest.

Self-Revelation

Adrastus’s self-revelation will come near the end of the story, when he finally realizes that he can’t both be a werewolf and serve the Church. His mere existence is considered sacrilegious and that they will want him dead, no matter how obedient and devoted he is. He will either have to accept himself as what he truly is or die…and his decision comes when he’s about to die by the hands of Aelianus and the clergy.

New Equilibrium

Adrastus knows now that no amount of praying to the Sun King, devotion to the Church, or killing all the lycanthropes will change what he is. There’s no changing the fact that he is a werewolf and he has no other choice but to accept what he is. This acceptance has brought with it a strange sense of peace…and this peace is what allows him to finally be able to control his beastly form. With it, he’s able to fight through the squadron of Sun lords that have come between him and Brownfur. He is away from everything he’s ever known and loved, but he isn’t afraid anymore. To further distance himself from his human life, he chooses a new name: Grayfur, in honor of the werewolf that got him to see the truth about himself.