The World of the Book of Wolves

  1. OVERVIEW

Bounders, strikers, spotters, listeners: every werewolf has a gift. And most of them have cool names. Hal is a snout. Not a striker with strength pulsing through his body, not a bounder speeding through the forest like gossamer- a snout. He's good at smellin stuff. Hal's Dad says that snouts are underrated and that when you're hunting vampires every gift has its place. Hal's dad is also a snout.

Hal however, is not at all worried about any of this- because he doesn't know he's a werewolf. For the last few months of his senior year he will live blissfully unaware that he, his dad, his brother, his mom, his cousins, just about his entire extended family are all werewolves who spend nights and weekends protecting the human race from a hidden, bloodsucking menace. But he's about to discover more about werewolves, vampires, and the dire threat looming over all of humanity than anyone has ever known.

In World Dynamics

  • Long ago, in the deep, forgotten past, an ancient sorcerer found a way to break the laws of magic and nature and created the first vampire. As more vampires were made, an equally ancient race of people found that their special, magical abilities gave them a distinct advantage in fighting the growing menace. They were what would eventually be known as werewolves. Overtime they discovered that the vampires they hunted were the unwilling victims of the sorcerers and that they could be cured if they could get close enough to drive a piece of wood into their heart. Fast-forward to the modern day, and most pack families around the world still secretly seek to protect the world from vampires, preferring to cure them, killing them only as last resort.

Hal’s Journey

  • Hal begins his journey not knowing anything about his werewolf heritage or the existence of actual vampires. Once he reaches the proper age, it’s revealed to him, and his supernatural abilities as a snout become available to him, with training. As strange and unprecedented vampire attacks start to surface, Hal end’s up on a trip to Romania with a small team of other werewolves they pick up along the way, and his enthusiastic best friend Mac, who is not a werewolf but somehow weaseled his way in. Eventually the team (referred to as a hunting pack) discovers an existential threat to the werewolves that is being orchestrated by an order of sorcerers and Hal’s ability to have a full transformation puts him in a unique position to save werewolf kind and beyond.

  1. FACTIONS

  • WEREWOLVES

In this world, werewolves don’t transform. Instead, they each inherit one of five distinct abilities. By comparison to non-werewolves, these abilities are always heightened, but during the full moon the abilities are profoundly amplified, sometimes even resulting in “bonus” abilities. The classes for each ability are:

  • BOUNDERS- Superhuman speed. Typically they are about twice as fast as an average human. On the full moon they have profoundly heightened reflexes and could give a cheetah a run for its money.

  • STRIKERS- Superhuman strength. Typically professional strongmen MIGHT stand a chance in an arm wrestling match against them. If they had a cold. During a full moon, their bones become nearly unbreakable and are strong enough to hold their own against a gorilla.

  • LISTENERS- Superhuman hearing. On a typical day they understand what anybody at the party is saying- to anybody. On the full moon, they can hear your heart beating in your chest.

  • SPOTTERS- Superhuman vision. 20-15 vision minimum, and can see in total darkness. During a full moon they can see heat.

  • SNOUTS- Superhuman sense of smell. Typically they can smell your perfume from the next room and pick out every ingredient of your grandmas secret family meatloaf recipe. On the full moon, they can smell fear.

*TRANSFORMATION

According to the common, modern understanding among werewolf communities, full body transformations are a mythological exaggeration, based on the werewolves’ abilities and their connection to wolves, but in the old traditions, it’s believed that full transformation is a special gift that only appears in times of great need. This eventually proves to be true with Hal.

  • VAMPIRES

Vampires in this world are created by sorcerers who draw upon their life force to do magic. Vampire related threats can be broken down into three categories.

  • THRALLS - These are normal people who are simply under the hypnotic influence of vampires. They can be dangerous, as they are often willing to put themselves or others in harms way in order to carry out the vampire’s will, but they can be snapped out of it by splashing them with water.

  • VAMPIRES - These are mostly what you’d expect, except that they can be cured. They are humans who have been magically rendered undead and they must drink blood to live. They can be killed by something like a gun or decapitation or things like that, but it is very difficult as they are sustained to a degree by the magic of the curse. They can be cured by driving a wooden stake into their heart.

  • WRAITHS - These could be described as super vampires. Unable to be killed by normal means so long as they continue to feed on blood, and with an appetite for blood far beyond that of vampires. They are faster, stronger, and hardly human beyond their form. They cannot be cured, and can only be killed by the bite of a werewolf.

  • SORCERERS

Sorcerers have a dark and mysterious background. Magic exists quietly in the world and can be done by a variety of individuals, but sorcerers delve deep into the dark arts and are feared and despised by the few who are aware of their existence.

  • The vampire curse - Vampires were created by sorcerers to serve as a loophole in the natural laws of magic. Sacrificial magic is powerful and has existed since the dawn of time, and has specific rules; in order to use a being’s life force to do magic, the being must be killed, and the life force obtained through the sacrifice only enables a finite amount of magic to be done. Vampires however, give sorcerers a way around this. By rendering a person undead, the sorcerer has effectively killed them, thereby allowing them to draw the life force out of the person and use it for magic. However, the vampire itself is able to draw life force out of living beings to replenish it’s own energy. Through this process, the sorcerer is able to continually draw life force out of the vampire and effectively use them as a renewable well of life force energy.

  1. KEY CHARACTERS

  • Hal Mutu - 18. The protagonist. See introduction.

  • Mutu Family - The Mutu family is a Romanian pack family with a long and storied history as vampire hunters. The name Mutu is well known among the other pack families, especially in Romania, and they have a good reputation as a family that does their duty as werewolves and does it well. They are of Romani descent, and cherish their heritage.

  • Harry and Lily Mutu - 50’s. Hal’s parents. Both from pack families, born in the United States. Harry is a snout, Lily is a listener. Harry owns a food truck called “Mutu Skewers” which sells traditional Romanian food on skewers. The food truck is also secretly a mobile vampire hunting unit.

  • Hunter - 24. Hal’s brother. Hunter is a striker. Hunters’ wife Emily was not born to a pack family, but gaining a gift when she married into the family, she is a listener. They have two year old twin boys, Ziz and Pip, who are already showing clear signs of both being bounders.

  • Mema - 73. Hal’s grandmother. Mema was born in Romania, and immigrated to the United States with her late husband, Nicolae (or Nick) when she was 16. She came from a very old pack family herself, and she believes in the old stories and traditions. Later in the story, after Hal has undergone the pack rite and knows about his werewolf heritage and identity, Mema expresses her belief that a werewolf who can fully transform is more than a legend and that they appear as chosen ones in times of great need.

  • Mac - 18. Full name, James McGee. Hal’s clownish and enthusiastic best friend. Not a werewolf. Known to put his foot in his mouth. Goofy, lovable, loyal, and braver than anyone expects. Eventually discovers that he is a descendant of the same ancient magical bloodline as the sorcerers, and that he has the ability to do magic.

  • Mr. Luca - 43. Hal’s English teacher. A seer. Wise, cool in his way, but doesn’t take himself too seriously. He gathers and leads the hunting pack on the trip to Romania.

  • Valur Randolfson - 18. An Icelandic exchange student. A listener. Mr. Luca is a friend of the Randolfson family, having hunted vampires in Norway with Valur’s parents. Valur is brought along as part of the hunting pack.

  • Mary Stoker - 20. Descendant of Brahm Stoker. A bounder. In order to fill out their hunting pack, Mr. Luca takes the boys to Ireland to try to recruit an old striker friend of his who is a part of the Stoker family. The Stoker family is probably the most famous pack family. Genuine celebrities within the werewolf world. They are also infamous for many of them seeming to have adopted the attitude that Brahm Stoker’s contribution to vampire awareness was of incalculable value, thus putting them in a position where they often only go on very high profile hunts. Mr. Luca’s friend is thus unavailable (as none of them know the weight of their mission at the start), but his niece, Mary, instead joins the pack. She is eventually a love interest for Hal. Reluctantly.