Umm...could u help me...

[Speaker-with-Spirits]

What the feth is a therian? I know what the Garou are...the Bastet...the Mokole...but what the feth are therians?

[lordragoon]

Therians are 'normal' humans who consider themselves to have an animal aspect, either mentally or spiritually. No turning into a wolf, at least not physically. And unlike the Garou, therians aren't the end result of Whitewolf - we're technically real.
Mostly we're just bored freaks who have nothing better to do than search for spiritual enlightenment by trying to figure out how dogs look at the work.
Therianthrope :
a person who, either spiritually, mentally, or otherwise, considers themselves to have an animal aspect. This may be expressed as a result of dreams, personality traits, meditation, etc.
Derived from theriomorph, a being which is capable of controlling its form.

So the truth is not everyone here is a roleplayer.

And along comes Xzengrim to explain it better...

[Xzengrim]

Whoa whoa whoa! You're thinking of werewolves in the roleplaying capacity. That is not true, at least by my understanding.

Therians are people who believe that they have a spiritual connection to a particular animal. The most common are wolf therians, or lycanthropes, who believe that they have a wolfen soul, a wolfen Id, or some part of their mind is lupine (in some aspect). They keep in touch with this side through Shifts (mental shift, dream shift, etc), which are altered states through which it is believed that the wolfen side is given dominance.

Of course, there persists the belief that some therians may be able to shift physically, which would make them werewolves in the classical sense. But it's never been proven and the debate goes on.

Anyway, it's not a roleplaying thing. Nice avatar, though.

[ThrasherCub]

Speaker-with-Spirits, you're obviously a W:tA fan (so am I, so you're in good company).... Think a Kinfolk with a personal Totem. We're pretty much born like this and there is an inborn spiritualness to this (kinfolk) and we do tend to have a special connection with the said animal, some go so far as to share instincts or to even have heightened sences or fears that are inexplicable until they study indepth on their spirit animal and find a connection (totem).

Es gibt nix
was es nicht gibt

[DarkMercury]

This is a post to LordDragoon I thought the term Garou came the from Loup Garou, which is actually been in usage for a long time. It's common in New Orleans, where I'm from, to know of the Loup Garou. It's a common story among the cajuns and creoles.

[Nivek]

This is a post to LordDragoon I thought the term Garou came the from Loup Garou, which is actually been in usage for a long time. It's common in New Orleans, where I'm from, to know of the Loup Garou. It's a common story among the cajuns and creoles.

I too have had a problem with others thinking that I am a gamer because of this word. The term comes from France Loup=Wolf Garou=Man It has been in use long before the game was created. The same goes for Bastat, meaning one whom worships the Goddess Bast. Though, I am not familiar with Mokole.

*searches for it*

Turns out that it's the name of an actual tribe in Africa.Here. (http://www.2001pray.org/PeopleGroups/Mokole.htm)