Moon Beasts

This lycanthropy-like affliction only appears to strike non-sentient animals with carnivores being the most affected. It is believed that this affliction is transferred to its victim when they eat diseased blood, but this has not yet been proved.

When an animal has the “Moon Beast” affliction their eyes will turn a bright silver and their skin will glow with a bio-luminescent light. While many report that these creatures are often bigger, that is a mistake. They gain no mass or size, but their increased aggressiveness make then seem larger than others of their kind.

When a creature first contracts the disease there will be little change, even the first few lunar cycles will pass uneventfully. The only visible sign that a creature has the affliction before it fully manifests is that they will be more active at night during the full moon. The first physical change happens months later when, during a full moon, the creatures eyes change to a bright silver and their body glows with a white bio-luminescent light. Once this happens the creature has been fully afflicted.

A creature affected by the “Moon Beast” affliction often lives a much shorter life. The heightened aggression and need for more meat forces an afflicted creature to hunt when and where they normally would not. When the spirit is not upon them those afflicted often look gaunt or skeletal as they rarely get enough meat to satisfy them.

An afflicted animal will behave normally and live within a normal social structure of their type. Thus an afflicted lion will still live within its pride. The only distinction is that as the lunar cycle approaches the full moon they will become more agitated and short-tempered. Over the period of the full moon the animal will become highly aggressive and is either driven out or leaves the group.

In the majority of cases when the full moon passes the animal will be accepted back into the community. This appears to be a lasting effect of the affliction as even an animal that kills another in the community is often affected back with little difficulty once the cycle has passed.

This can affect any animal species. This is not a species on its own as animals afflicted by “Moon Beast” can still mate as successfully as before - the affliction does not appear to pass from parent to child at birth.