if you are born in your human phase, you will hit puberty between ages of 12 and 16 typically. it ranges for the gender as well as the individual. When a human born werewolf hits puberty they are temperamental, and more physical and aggressive. Their hormones are out of whack and they're moody but mostly their body is searching for it's natural release from the full moon. a transformation will kick in after the first full moon, a month after their birthday month. for example if the werewolf's birthday is in early january, they will transform during the full moon in february, regardless of any upcoming january full moon. initially you will only be changing to phase 2 but it is still a very painful process. The body slowly works it's way up to the higher phases. It usually takes 3-4 years for an unguided human born werewolf to reach to phase 5 on his own.

With guidance, especially by the Simon Magus school in Wulfschild, it can take about a year. It usually takes another year or two to be able to maintain each phases for a good amount of time (more than a couple hours depending on the stage). For instance, maintaining the phase 3 is easier than maintaining phase 2 and 4, simply because those are the transitional phases. It takes a lot more energy to maintain those phases than it does to maintain 1, 3 or 5. The more practice you have however, the longer you will be able to stay in these phases, it's as simple as that. Usually by age 18 you can spend a week in your wolf form, a few days in your phase 3 form, and a day or two in form 2 or 4. When an untrained werewolf phases into 4 and 5, they usually have no memory of it.

It's a strange occurrence that happens more so with non-wulfschild werewolves because any werewolf raised outside of the pack will not be as fully educated and prepared about their kind as those who were raised in Wulfschild and attended Magus or were surrounded by their kind. After a long period of transformation a werewolf typically eats a great deal of food and sleeps for a very long period of time in order to recuperate, no matter how much practice or skill they have.

If you are born in your wolf phase, you will mature between the age 1-3 years... Once they start to mature, they become more aggressive but also exhibit human feelings and thoughts. Usually a wolf born werewolf will find the need to interact with humans more. The process of transformation is swift for a werewolf however. Once they reach maturity as a wolf their human form is also mature and so a 2 year old wolf born werewolf will transform into a werewolf that looks about 12-14. They begin to age the same way a human does. Mentally and emotionally a mature wolf equates to a mature human.

You can equate that 1 year in dog = 7 years in human bit to understand that they develop faster mentally. In a way this is what makes communication difficult within the Wulfschild pack. Despite this barrier this has occurred for centuries and is more difficult for non-Wulfschildin Pack werewolves. The pack integrates both types of werewolves and they coexist. Many werewolves born in this phase attend the Magus school once they mature so that they can learn how to function as a human. They have to introduce themselves into the human world to some extent even if they wish to remain out in nature with the wolves. Essentially the Magus school introduces a werewolf to the other side.

Werewolves who have been around other werewolves and humans can simply tell who is a werewolf and who is not. They smell it. It is a very easy process for them but if you have been isolated and perhaps just raised by your family, you'll have a draw to another werewolf but have no idea why. The pack explains it as the natural spirit inside you seeking guidance and kinship. It is the premise for the Magus school after all. For a werewolf who has attended the Magus school, it takes about a year to be able to go into all of your phases and an extra 2 years to shift into them with ease. It then takes several years of practice to be able to skip phases.

For a werewolf who has not attended the school, it will take about 3-4 years to go into all of their phases and an extra 2-5 years to go into each phase with complete ease. Most of them don't know you can skip phases so they have to be taught this and once taught it takes a couple years more. Naturally it would take about five more years of self discovery. Some people are different, some are faster and some are slower and some have managed to reach all the way but still have problems with a couple of their phases. So in simple age terms for human borns, if you attend the school at age 12-14, you can master everything by age 18-22.

If you don't, you can master everything by age 24-28. Wolf born werewolves will typically master everything by age 3-5 whether they attend the school or not. Ways to accelerate or decellerate the process are to expose or isolate the werewolf from other werewolves, to expose the werewolf to the opposite of it's natural born phase (ie, a werewolf born in human phase will gain more experience being around wolves, as dangerous as it is). There are some werewolves who matured late in their teens or early in their twenties. It can differ from individual to individual but the information listed above is what usually occurs.

so... much... pain. if a werewolf resists the urge enough, when they finally transform they can sometimes push their way to three without trying to maintain the phase 2. Phase 2 is extremely painful and takes up a lot of energy so most werewolves don't stop there. The body stretches out, they grow hair all over and their voice deepens. They become taller, bigger, and a lot more irritable. Some werewolves have less hair than others. Some don't change as drastically as others and so they can go into phase 2 and a human won't notice from a distance. For experienced werewolves, they can pause here for the advantages of added strength and being able to pass as human. There were some instances of phase 2 werewolves competing in human sports - though it is looked down upon by the Wulfschild Pack.

It's a very painful process but it gets more painful trying to go from phase 2 to 3. An experienced werewolf can transition to this phase at the snap of the finger. Less experienced werewolves may take up 15-30 minutes starting out and then just a couple of minutes as they practice. It varies because some people find this phase absolutely useless and avoid focusing on it. The Magus school tries to spend an adequate amount of time on each phase because if you master phase 2, it makes going to phase 3 much easier even if you don't try to maintain phase 2 in order to get there. At phase 2 you will be highly agitated and have a nasty temper.

Essentially... this hurts like a mother effer on a plane with snakes, bro. The body continues to stretch and contort and convulse. So much happens during this transition and the werewolf has to be awake. IF you're experienced however there will be very little pain and you'll transition into it in just a couple minutes. For those who are still getting a hang of their 'werewolf ways', it can take up to 3 hours. At phase 3, most werewolves struggle with their will power. It's possible to maintain your thoughts throughout your phases the more you put intention behind your transformations but again, exposure to other wolves and werewolves helps this. A werewolf with no exposure to other wolves or werewolves will run rampant. A wolf born werewolf is introduced to humanity and doesn't have this problem because there's a lessening of it's violent, more aggressive nature. For a human born werewolf it's the reverse. It is more difficult to have willpower but it's a way of life to struggle through it in Wulfschild. If you fail and rage out, it's up to the Pack to train you properly or get rid of you.

Phase 4 is pretty awesome and hard to master. Most people overshoot and go to phase 5. It takes a lot of practice and it helps to see another werewolf reach phase 4 and maintain it. By Phase 4, that high violent, raging feeling dissipate and you have more control despite having a new type of strength. there's a lot of contorting from phase 3 to 4 because the large werewolf has to become a somewhat smaller creature with a completely different structure. There's a good deal of pain and frustration getting to this point but once you do it a dozen times it becomes a nifty trick you have in your back pocket.

Phase 4 looks like a dire wolf and phase 5 typically looks like a gray wolf and so they are incredibly similar. It is the least painful transition of all the transitions. The body is simply shrinking and changing into a wolf. The only difference between the creatures besides the Dire wolf's larger size is; that the legs of the Dire Wolf were proportionally shorter and sturdier than those of the Gray Wolf, and its brain case was smaller than that of a similarly-sized gray wolf. Most werewolves will go from 1 to 3 to 5 and disregard 2 and 4.

5 to 4 is a somewhat painful, uncomfortable process. Most wolf born werewolves have difficulty getting into this phase because they're so used to their wolf form. The legs are a different proportion and their body just feels out of whack... which it is. It isn't the most painful transition but it's incredibly uncomfortable so it's best for them to bypass it unless they need the added, stocky strength.

Phase 4 to 3 is a painful process to get into because the body stretches out so much. It can take hours to reach Phase 3.

phase 3 to phase 2 is actually not very difficult. It goes by pretty quickly despite the huge change from 3 to 2. The transition takes less than a minute but it's a lot going on at once. It's amazing to watch the change because it looks like it's far more difficult than it really is.

Phase 2 to phase 1 is not painful at all and only takes half a minute. The road from wolf to human is much shorter and easier than vice versa.

Going from phase 1 to 5 or vice versa is something a skilled werewolf can do - someone who has mastered the transitions from each phase can go from 1-5 or 5-1. During the Werewolf Congregation most of the matured werewolves go from man to wolf and go hunting. those who can't will shift into form 3 or 4. It takes some time to master these steps and most of the effort is focusing the energy needed to get into the form. Once you transform it's instantaneous and a subtle, luminous radiation surrounds the body. The same goes when you transform back to a human form directly.

Most werewolves will go from their born base form into phase 3.A lot of these are werewolves who only transform during a full moon or only to release some tension and aggression. This method is incredibly painful and from first learning how to do this it can take up to 3 hrs, but after practice it can go down to 1-3 minutes.

Several werewolves will go into the transitional phrase furthest from them in order to gain a specific advantage. It is an incredibly painful process but with practice it will only take about 3-5 minutes.

A werewolf has the urge to transform into phase 3 on every full moon. The Werewolf Congregation occurs on the full moon. The phase 3 werewolves come to the congregation and can transform into any other form in order to have the monthly ceremony/ritual. After this they transform into wolf form in order to hunt.

HERE - a young werewolf goes through his transformation from 1-3. there's also a cool description & werewolf fight towards the end
HERE - same werewolf, another transformation 1-3
HERE - this man transforms from phase 1 to phase 2 and then to phase 3
HERE - an experienced young werewolf transforms from phase 1 - 4
HERE - an older werewolf goes straight into phase 3 from phase 1.
HERE - a group of human werewolves transform to phase 5
HERE - a werewolf transforms from phase 1 to 5, but is then wounded severely and later transforms back to 1 because of the damage
HERE - a werewolf trying to control himself... fails

A werebear transformation is downright beautiful. An illuminous light surrounds their body and within that instance they become the size of a bear. Most of the transformation is harnessing the power to make the transformation and sustain the form. At the very beginning a werebear can transform for a minute or two and with practice it extends for hours, days or even weeks. It all depends on the practice as well as the health of the werebear while in this form. It is a simple transformation that occurs with ease after the first transformation. The awkwardness of focusing for hours at a time can add stress. Stress can hinder how long it takes a werebear to transform. Their emotions can get the best of them and it is known for werebears to hit a rut where they can not transform for long periods of time. They're connected to their feelings and their mood and when taught by their parent relaxation and states of calm and quiet are encouraged.

in order to transform a shifter has to know the animal type very well. most shifters are so observant that when they turn into the animal they instantly know how to do the things the animal knows to do; ie, flying or hunting. They remain full consciousness but shifters also have a deep connection to nature so inside of them lies the relationship between them and their surroundings. A shifter's transformation is mostly made up of concentration and once they concentrate it takes a less than a minute to transform. When a shapeshifter changes form, their clothes for some reason does not rip. It disappears and when they go back into their human form it appears. In order to change into another animal, the shifter typically has to change back into their human form unless they've gone through enough practices with each of the animal forms. For example there was once a shifter who mastered the ability to instantly go from one form to another, first dog then cat then lion, but it took him several years of practice.

HERE - into a jaguar
HERE - into a hawk
HERE - into a dog
HERE - from a lion
HERE - panther and back