Bitten Shifters

As the name clearly indicates, bitten shifters have gained their ability through a bite by a shifter in their animal form. There is no proven explanation as to how this happens but it is speculated that there is a virus-like anomaly within the spit of shifters while in animal form that contaminates all those bitten through the blood stream.

Transformation
After a bite from a shifter the human will experience flu-like symptoms from one to two weeks. The bitten area will swell and bruise but heal as if bitten by a normal animal. When the flu-like symptoms go away the human shall notice a very slight enhancement of the senses and strength which will further increase over time and while in animal form.

Once bitten, the new shifter will undergo transformation during the next full moon and have no control over it. In animal form, their beast is wild and most likely will attack humans nearby as they are not experienced and in all likely hood not have a mentor at hand to help them learn how to reign in their inner animal.

The shift itself will be very painful and not all that smooth. Once a shift has started it cannot be stopped unless an ample amount of silver is present in the body but it is not a recommended way to prevent a shift as silver can be lethal in large doses.

The person will become an actual animal not an anthropomorphic version of their animal, only inherit shifters of the oldest bloodlines can achieve such a form.

Full Moon
Bitten shifters have more likely than not been bitten by accident; therefore this new life change is thrust upon them with no warning or knowledge beforehand. The full moon will have control over their shifts until they can learn to resist and shift at will. That however, takes years to accomplish and there have been no exceptions to this. Once transformed, they are initially uncontrollable although conscious of what is going on. As stated before it takes years for a shifter to learn control so it is usual practice for shifters that fear what they become during the full moon to lock themselves away right before nightfall in order not to roam around as their inner beast is in power and will act on their animistic urges however crude and violent. There are others, of course, that embrace their beast and let it roam as it pleases without any concern of attacking other humans. Then there are shifters that become herbivores and are no harm to humans but choose to lock themselves away due to fear of being caught and maimed by humans.

Enhanced Abilities
While in beast form a shifter will have all the acute senses of the animal he or she transforms into, obviously this varies from animal to animal. In general though, all shifters’ senses increase and are above that of normal human senses.

Even while in human form a shifter will have enhanced senses though nowhere near as keen as in animal form, initially. They will have an edge over regular humans and with time can learn to hone their skills enough to further develop their senses while in human form though this too takes years of practice and patience and not all shifters will be able to accomplish this.

A shifter’s ability to regenerate significantly increases, making them that much harder to kill. Small cuts and bruises heal almost instantly while larger wounds take hours to completely heal but it is still much faster in comparison to the time it takes a human to heal from the same kind of wound.

Silver
 Silver has no affect on a shifter in their human form but does in their animal form. Silver weapons significantly weaken a shifter and in large quantities can indeed be fatal.

To kill a shifter for good immediately, one has to do damage to the brain and heart that is beyond repair with a silver weapon. One can stop a shifter in its tracks by hitting any other organ or the bloodstream with silver, which would leave it weak enough for one to really kill it off.

Dietary Habits
Shifters can eat and digest regular human food though their bodies will have a faster metabolism rate. Many shifters maintain a normal human diet while some do acquire a taste for rare cooked meat if their animal is a carnivore whilst others go vegetarian if their animal is an herbivore. There are also those that embrace their beast and prefer to hunt their food rather than buy pre-packaged meat.

Reproduction
Shifters can mate and reproduce as they did when they were once fully human; however there is the chance his or her child will be born with the ability to shift a chance that almost becomes a certainty if both parents are shifters. A parent will not know if his or her child is a shifter until said child reaches adolescence as that will be the time the first shift takes place.