~pretends to be on anon~ so, ive noticed that you have some werewolves/ animal shapshifters on your roster. Are they all part of a bigger story/do any of their stories cross paths etc? Are there any that shouldn't cross paths ( a la enemy packs, omegas, etc) any support groups for my werefolk and the like?
curious (not-so)-anons / accepting / @eye-demon
thanks for your question!!! and what a great question this is, in fact :// i do have a bulk of werefolk and animal shapeshifters and all around people with some kind of connection to animals or an animal, and it’s not a coincidence at all. i’ve been thinking about why this is a lot, lately, and it might be because it’s something i definitely enjoy exploring, not just for the straightfoward aspects of it (the cool powers, the nifty animal forms) but for the symbolism as well. i see these kinds of characters as an interesting way to explore duality and inner conflict and intense emotions. in the event that i happened to write a book featuring any of these characters, you could probably, just as easily, read this ability of theirs as an analogy (or maybe an extension) for much more “real” issues (such as anger, grief and abandonment problems) that they have going on in their lives. and it would be a perfectly valid interpretation. i’ll probably talk about this more coherently at some later point, but i just wanted to share this since it’s an interesting – and very recent – realization i’ve had. at this point, im sure it makes zero sense tbh.
to actually answer your question, a lot of these characters know each other one way or another, while some others are connected only incidentally. the reyes family is the one i talk about most frequently on this blog. they’re werepumas, a species whose lore is unique to me and to this blog, and that i made with the desire to make something that could be like the werewolf, but (in my eyes) better, since it’s more personal to the american (particularly, the south american) experience, the way the werewolf stems from european folklore. the puma is an animal unique to the americas, and so the werepuma is a species unique to this continent. the reyes in particular have a very interesting story that im still polishing the details on, but it has a lot to do with their special position in the supernatural landscape as one of the bloodlines for this very rare species that are still prominent and very much alive. the reyes are a big family, and so it includes characters that aren’t werepumas, such as saul, the adopted child of one of marcelo’s aunts and so a cousin. saul was raised amongst people that aren’t from his species and that shows in his mannerisms and the way he carries himself, and while his upbringing was great it also pushed him into trying to become part of a pack later down the line, just because, just to try to see what it’d be like. enter the predators pack, a group ive had for a long time too. saul belongs in the new york chapter, led by domingo. there’s a conflict there, for sure, even if the reyes and the predators keep a cordial relationship. pumas are very territorial and wolves don’t stay behind (the species don’t normally like each other) and so there’s bound to be some tensions over the perceived “theft”. nevertheless, the tensions will eventually resolve once the predators’ intentions are made clear. at the end of the day, the reyes are just protective of saul.
that’s just one of the most prominent examples that connects a lot of my characters in some level. there’s other connections, like the fact logan is dating one of jerome’s cousins, and so is in turn connected to marcelo in some level, but their relationship is vague if not non-existant. charles, being a mutant, tends to exist on a different verse than the rest of the supernatural characters, and has in fact a werewolf verse where he is part of the predators pack, as a beta (he is also related to jackson, and the beckett siblings, who lead the mother chapter of the predators, in kentucky). and then there’s the nueva religión verse, which is a gang verse involving primarily werefelines, and it includes joaquin, who is not so much a werejaguar as he is a god first conceived to have a jaguar shape, and who only later on developed a human form. he’s kind of similar to fenrir in that way, but i made joaquin before i considered writing fenrir. in the NR verse they could feasibly interact tho, since it’s kind of american gods-esque in the sense that all gods exist at once.
i don’t know if ludo would count as a shapeshifter. he is a minotaur which is a problem on its own right, but it does have an animal somethin’ so it should be also worth mentioning that he not only connects to red but to marcelo, except it’s only through marcelo’s maternal family (who are criminals ludo does regular business with) and his paternal family too (since ludo buys chichí from them to use in various weapons for supernatural creatures).
as for people that shouldn’t cross paths… they kind of have neutral to positive relationships when they’re connected, so it’s hard to say. i do have garrett, who is part of logan’s background and just an evil werewolf all around. needless to say if he tried to fuck with either the reyes or the predators’ business he and his mess of a pack would be Obliterated.
