by Daniel Latham

Created on: October 03, 2009   Last Updated: October 04, 2009

Between Vampires and Werewolves, the lycanthropes are easily the stronger of the two creatures. They are hunters and predators without peer, preying on human and animal alike. They are faster, stronger and more resilient than a human, and contrary to modern conception, have none of the intelligence loss that many assume is part of the affliction.

In the mythos of their native Romania, Werewolves and Vampires typically vie for the place of Super Predator. However, when considering the mythic Werewolf rather than the popular culture one, one cannot help but see its superiority. Werewolves are first and foremost at-will shape changers. There is none of this Full Moon nonsense in the earlier stories, and even once it was added it was only a restriction to younger Werewolves who were still in the throws of transformation. In these cases, they would suffer from the instability for only a month, from the time they were bitten to their first full moon. If they managed to survive that long, they would gain complete control over their shape changing, and be able to shift between man and wolf (And in some stories a third hybrid form) whether full moon or no moon, night or day. There is also the issue of intelligence when looking at the Romanian roots and the 'Hollywood Werewolf'. A true Werewolf, bestial as it may be, was not a simple animal. They were cunning and completely aware hunters, said to evade and even knowingly destroy traps and toy with the minds of their pursuers.

The second point to address would be weaknesses. Whereas a Vampire cannot cross running water, cannot be in the presence of sunlight, is rapidly consumed by fire, and is sensitive to strong spices like garlic, the Werewolf fears none of these. Rivers only serve to make it smell like wet dog, fire can only hold back its more timid canine companions, and sunlight is no protection from the raking claws and teeth of a several hundred pound wolf. The skin and fur of a Werewolf was impervious to iron or wood, whereas one could (And should) hack a Vampire apart with a simple hatchet. In fact, Decapitation was a common way of dealing with supposed Vampires. Only silver holds any threat to a Werewolf, the purity of the metal able to pierce it's unnatural hide. This is a vulnerability that it shares with Vampires, who were said to be unable to touch the metal, and Silver charms were understandably common throughout Romania through the dark ages and even into present day.

Another point of note is the Coffin

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