Father Otus

From Bestiary of the Hypogriph

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Father Otus was a powerful lycanthrope patriarch that invented the Way of the Free.

Under his philosophy, lycanthropes were to embrace their wolf side and reject their humanity. That was the way to live free from the "Human's slavery" while at the same time having freedom according to the laws of Mother Nature (sic).

Biography[edit | edit source]

Infancy[edit | edit source]

Father Otus was a lycanthrope from birth, therefore the thought of normal humanity being something he could ever fit to never ocurred to him. As the seventh male son of his family, he manifested lycanthropy even as a baby.

Instead of seeking help for his condition, his family opted to hide it as they were afraid that the strict laws governing black magic in Postsylvania would mean an early death for the child, or worse yet, torture and experimentation on him.

Little Otus's development seemed unremarkable at first. He wasn't particularly fast and strong unlike other lycanthopes. He liked to spend lots of time alone, retreating into the nearby woods and meditating across a stream.

His family was somewhat concerned that he might generate a contagion of forest fleas and bugs around the house, due to his hirsute complexion, so he was made to sleep in the nearby hay deposit with farm animals. That is, until he started eating chickens raw and saying they were "his prey".

Most disconcertingly for a peasant family in rural Postsylvania, Otus liked to read a lot and neglected his farm duties. With his parents somewhat eager to get rid of him as he was a poor farmhand and the cities would not take him due to his condition, Otus began an apprenticeship under the local bog witch, Tenhiolda.

Adolescence and youth[edit | edit source]

Though he learned much from the witch, he was unwilling to manifest dark magics through spells, since they felt they were contrived and unnatural. He met a number of people from the dark underworlds during this period. Rather late, the witch grew frustrated and eventually they parted on bad terms. By then, Otus was a young adult, and he had several lycanthrope friends to which he promulgated his philosophy.

Though he lost and gained friends several times, he founded his own perrorist cell in the woods of Tolesia, the easternmost Postsylvanian province. From there they conducted raids and military expeditions against nearby militarized outposts and even (two times) against villages.

Adulthood and late years[edit | edit source]

Father Otus had a continuity and persistence most could not bear to understand. He was sure about the eventual downfall of mankind and wanted to restore the world to a wild state. He became a sort of shamanistic figure that initiated his followers into his path of natural freedom. In his thought, lycanthropy didn't have to be cured; rather, it was nature's "immune response" against the depredations and excesses of mankind.

His outlook only grew more radical with the years until his cell even planned an assassination attempt on the Postsylvanian King. By then, Father Otus's mane was whitening.

Practices[edit | edit source]

Every initiate to the Way of the Free cells, except for Father Otus himself, was known simply as "Wolf" (and his individual name was only uttered in third person). This made them harder to individually identify for the authorities. It also made it next to impossible to find their original families, which was probably the main motivation behind this move. Members of the cells destroyed any identification or records about themselves so far as they could. Lycanthropes don't need to rely as much in documents or names, since they learned to identify eachother by smell and sound, leaning more on those enhanced canine senses.

See also[edit | edit source]

โšœ๏ธ[edit | edit source]

   Original article by NimoStar
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