"Let her go," they said to him.
"She bewitched you."
"She was a spirit."
"She was Nahipan."
He grew silent and withdrawn and whenever the valley dwellers saw him, he was always headed towards Nasagsagi-an. "I must find her", became his constant litany.
He didn't notice when the change came upon him. He didn't see the lengthening of his nails, the broadening of his hands, the way his fingers were turning into talons.
"She bewitched you."
"She was a spirit."
"She was Nahipan."
He grew silent and withdrawn and whenever the valley dwellers saw him, he was always headed towards Nasagsagi-an. "I must find her", became his constant litany.
He didn't notice when the change came upon him. He didn't see the lengthening of his nails, the broadening of his hands, the way his fingers were turning into talons.
— Dagiti Timayap Garda (Of The Flying Guardians), by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
When a Ratkin wounds an innocent human, he may choose to infect him with illness. There's a chance the illness may eventually transform into the Birthing Plague, a virulent pathogen that has been evolving for thousands of years. The infection can be transmitted in other ways as well: wounds, poison and plague are the three most common. Performing the proper rites ensures this infections. Most humans who are consumed by the Birthing Plague suffer horrible deaths, but the few who possess a thin taint of wererat blood inherit the legacies of the Ratkin race.
For these unfortunate few, the limits of reality they once knew are shredded by a thousand eager claws. Until the infected Kinfolk undergoes his final metamorphosis, he is overwhelmed by changes to his body and mind, tormented by Rat-spirits lurking in the Spirit World and plagued by revelations from the Rat Incarna. It's a gradual process, one that slowly adapts its victim to the horrors of an altered existence.
For these unfortunate few, the limits of reality they once knew are shredded by a thousand eager claws. Until the infected Kinfolk undergoes his final metamorphosis, he is overwhelmed by changes to his body and mind, tormented by Rat-spirits lurking in the Spirit World and plagued by revelations from the Rat Incarna. It's a gradual process, one that slowly adapts its victim to the horrors of an altered existence.
— Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Breedbook: Ratkin
"The bad news is, the third [vampire] got away ... But it only takes one of them surviving for more to pop up. They're like the trendy juice bar of monsters."
— Thirden, The Order of the Stick, "Indefinite Accommodations"
