Taxonomy: Varinid

Kingdom: Animalia
Phyllum: Chordata
Class: Paradoxa
Order: Vaninid

The varinid order are known as the varients.

The varinids are creatures able to blend in with normal creatures yet they are something different. In many cases they would be considered shapeshifters or changelings. There are two primary families of Varinids.

Personidae: Creatures such as lycanthropes and leechmen whom look human yet are not. Personidae are either humanoids that can turn into other creatures or creatures which can resemble humans.

Proteanidae: Creatures which are not human but can assume other forms. Proteanidae can be differed from Personidae in that they may not assume human forms at all or if they can assume human form they can assume other forms as well.

Taxonomical definition of Varinids can be extremely tricky. There are many different types of shapeshifters in the world. Some such as the Rakshasha are creatures with the inate power to turn into other creatures. Yet others such as certain strains of lycanthropy are passed through infection rather than genetics. Finally there are those that use magic or other methods to change their form such as elves.

The Varinid is a much newer taxonomical order that was brought about by the difficulty of placing other creatures. Werewolves are an excellent example of this dilemma. The canine lycanthropes could claim biological relation to either homo or lupus genus’s. Is it a wolf that turns into a man or a man that turns into a wolf? By organizing them and other creatures like them into their own category it makes for easier classification.

The distinction from putting a shape shifting faerie in the Varinid order as opposed to the Nhang comes from the primary regards of their purpose and abilities. A good way to think of it is that all Varinids are shape shifters, but not all shape shifters are Varinids.

These abilities can be in greater or lesser degrees. The leechmen are amongst the least malleable of the shapeshifter type. While they can hide their monstrous traits, what separates them from humans still lurk beneath the surface and many of them are capable of transforming even further.

Proteanidae such as the Armenian Nhang or the Scottish Kelpies can assume several different forms. The Nhang normally exists as a serpent; however it can also change into the form of a woman or seal. In these forms it lures men near to it where the creature will then drag them into the water and drink their blood.

Electricity and the Hunter

Amongst the greatest achievements man has ever done is controlling directed electrons. It has provided us a limitless source of light to keep the night at bay through the use of light bulbs. However beyond powering flashlights, radios, and night vision devices electricity can be used as a weapon in the fight against monsters.

Undead:

While Vampires (Genus Nosferatu) are little more than corpses animated with a dark energy and lust for blood, they still retain a biology very similar to that of a human being. This holds true for zombies, ghouls, and many other “undead” creatures.

As a result these perversions of natural law still have nervous systems capable of transmitting electric signals through the body.

The way a normal human body works is that the our living essence, beating heart, and functioning brain run off of very small amounts of electricity generated by all the cells within our body. To twitch your finger the brain fires off a series of electrical charges to the exact nerve cells which in turn release another electrical neurotransmitter that moves the muscle and sends feedback to the brain.

Depending on the variety of the undead these same nerve cells are either still functioning through the transmission of small amounts of electricity; this is most true for those undead which still mostly resemble humanity, or dark magic is forcing these same actions without the chemical and electric stimuli.

What matters to the hunter however is that the nerve cells that send and receive the neurotransmitters still function. Using the same devices that work on humans, stun guns & tasers, a hunter is capable of triggering the remaining nerves within a corpse and prevents the natural electricity/magic from functioning.

This is a great equalizer, it doesn’t matter if the creature is ten times stronger and twice the speed of a hunter, if a monster can’t even control a finger then they lose many of their unnatural advantages. With this in mind tazers and stun guns make up an essential part of a monster hunter’s arsenal. While these tools won’t usually destroy a beast it will provide the hunter with time and opportunity.

In some cases electricity can be a weapon itself. While not undead, Leechmen (********), have a flammable venom that runs through their body. The spark caused by a stun will set this fluid alight and consume it; against electricity the Leechman’s crystallized skin is no defense.

Non-Corporeal Creatures:

There are many ethereal and non-corporeal creatures in existence within the Order Necromunidae, they are almost exclusively within the family (*********). These creatures do not have a normal substance and can be made out of ectoplasm, aether, or many other magical elements.

One thing that most of these being have in common is that their presence disturbs the fabric of reality and generates an electromagnetic field. Electricity can disrupt the makeup of these creatures and unravel the very fabric which allows them to form. In this regards stun guns can be an extremely potent weapon against attacks from ethereal attackers.

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately efforts to create electrified armor have been suspended after the tragic and spectacular accident that consumed our last volunteer. However the State of Texas Penal system has shown great interest in these vests.

The Living:

It goes without saying that thanks to the quirks of biology what is effective against humans is also effective against many species of monsters. While not all creatures share the common biology of humans, enough do that stun guns and tazers should be part of every monster hunter’s kit. The use of electricity on different species will be explored in later posts and used to update outdated taxonomy reports in the hunter’s guide.

Good luck and safe hunting.

Silver Concentration on Werewolves

Silver is the bane of evil, the most pure and holy of substances. Its very touch will burn evil and prevent corruption, but how pure must an object be to truly allow it to effectively ward off a werewolf?

The three primary types of silver available on the market are Elemental Silver, Sterling Silver, and 900 Silver.

Elemental Silver: Also known as pure silver, this is 99.9% pure silver, (it is considered impossible/not cost effective) to separate out the last .1% of other elements. This is the most pure form of silver available, due to how soft it is this silver is not commonly used in anything but jewelry (and even then Sterling Silver is more common).

Sterling Silver: A silver alloy, it is 92.5% silver and also contains some other elements, commonly copper. This is the most commonly found silver around the house and what will be available in an emergency. It is much stronger than pure silver.

900 Silver: Within the US only items which contain at least 90.0% silver can be marked as silver, usually with a stamp that says 900.

All three of the above have been proven with great success to burn and harm werewolves and other monsters. A hunter should feel no fear when using any of the above substances. In laboratory conditions the three substances when applied to bare skin produced interesting results. The pain inflicted on these monsters was notably higher with Elemental silver than with Sterling and higher with Sterling than with 900. The wounds themselves showed no additional burns or damage, however an interesting result was observed amongst lycanthropes with regards to healing.

A slight increase in the silver content slowed the werewolf’s ability to heal. A small 1cm incision into Werewolf A’s abdomen with a 900 silver scalpel took about 24 hours to heal (as opposed to the ten minutes when a non-blessed, steel scalpel is used). The 92.5% took 28 hours and the 99.9% took nearly two days for the wound to close. With subjects B and C the times varied based on the creature’s healing ability, however there was a definite correlation between healing and silver content.

This leads us to draw the conclusion that while a higher silver content will not cause more damage it will slow the creature’s healing speed and cause them considerably more pain.

Field trials produce mixed results with the above items, the additional pain inflicted can lead to heightened aggression in the target or submission. The actual results vary entirely on who and what the beasts once were.
 

A warning: Often times you will encounter silver that seems to tarnish a little too quickly and then doesn’t clean up well. This can be gotten primarily from Mexico especially in small disreputable markets. This “silver” is actually an alloy called Alpaca silver, also known as Mexican silver, German silver, new silver, Paktong, and Nickel Silver. These can actually contain no silver at all, being an alloy of nickel, copper, cadmium, zinc, or tin. This “silver” has no effect on lycanthropes and has lead to the death of more than one hunter who has been carrying these inferior knockoffs.

Gold Alloys: Silver is often used in gold to produce different colours. Most notable amongst these are white and green gold. An easy way to understand is the meaning of Karats for gold. The highest number is 24K, which means that it is 99% pure gold (like silver it is not possible to get pure gold with all other elements removed). 10K means that there are 10 parts gold to 14 parts other alloy. The two numbers will always add up to 24, so 12K means 12 parts gold, 12 parts other. For a hunter’s purpose this means that the lower the Karats the more effective it will be as there will be a higher possible concentration of silver.

White Gold: A gold alloy made with varying amounts of other silver coloured metals. Before trying to use anything white gold to protect yourself you will need to determine just how much if any silver is in it. While much White gold jewelry is a mixture of gold, palladium, and silver others are mixtures of gold, nickel, and copper. As such a 9K white gold ring may contain up to 60% silver, or it could contain none at all.

Green Gold: This gold is primarily made with Silver as the alloy making it work well for a hunter. For these items low Karats will work best as that means a higher concentration of Silver.

Tests with gold alloys produced mixed results, as best as we can tell the lycanthropes respond to silver in many ways as an allergic reaction. While no lycanthrope is immune to silver some are more resilient to it than others. Werewolf C responded to a 22k green gold chain (8% silver) with a rash while Werewolf A was not even discomforted. The abdominal slice test was conducted and found that while Werewolf C’s healing time was slowed by the 22k green gold, Werewolf B required at least a 25% silver content for any noticeable retardation of healing and Werewolf A required at least a 50% silver content to impede its own healing ability.

In conclusion we have discovered that while lower silver concentrations will work to cause actual damage to a lycanthrope it is highly dependent on both the silver concentration and the ability of the beast. What this means is that we encourage everyone to acquire an item with higher silver content, but it should also be based off the task at hand. While a knife made from elemental silver will cause the most damage it is too soft to be truly effective