Healer

More recently, he has also gained the ability to change into a wolf. Here, he is unusually large for a wolf, being three and a half feet tall at the shoulder, and shaggy with brown and gray fur, thick enough that he would be comfortable at very low temperatures and miserable at higher ones. He is sturdily built, heavy-jawed, and honey-eyed, a warm color that makes him seem less threatening, even as a predator. 

When the moon Shinan-Al is full, if he hasn't managed to resist the change, he is less wolf and more monster, and he avoids this form at all costs, not because of his appearance, but because of his hunter mentality. 

Beyond loyalty and perseverance, Zzandoren has always been mild-mannered and polite, friendly despite his introverted nature. He never put himself forward or made a fuss unless it was absolutely necessary, and even then he has never been one to be unreasonable about his displeasure or forgo non-violent methods of persuasion and conflict resolution. He has always been perfectly capable of resorting to violence if he has to: he is well-trained in combat as a priest and has no problems being assertive when the needs of his patients-- past, present, or as yet unknown-- are at stake. In an emergency, he will quickly and easily give orders if there is no one else to do it. 

However, since being bitten, Zzandoren's assertiveness has taken a slightly more dominant turn, particularly when it comes to his unspoken "packmate" Rythri. His sense of providing guidance and even affection towards the young werewolf don't bother him, but as a man who has always considered himself rational and intelligent, he is disturbed by his increasing and instinctive tendency to growl, glare, snap, or even swat when he is not given proper respect or when he needs Rythri to do or stop doing something. The fact that Rythri seems to take such things in stride and accept them as the natural order doesn't help matters. 

Zzandoren was taken in at the first temple he found, a small but multi-deity establishment, first as a general help around the building and then as a novice when he began manifesting some magical ability a year or two after he arrived, with adolescence. He knew early on which deity he wanted to be his patron: the goddess of healing and music, Glace. He both studied diligently and pursued her faithfully until he was initiated, at thirty, into her priesthood and given the gold scales he wears in his hair. Rather than join an existing temple or even start his own, Zzandoren was restless and wanted to do as much good as possible, so he pledged himself to travel around the smaller villages and farmsteads, offering his services to those without a nearby temple. 

Since being bitten, he has continued on his path much the same as before, only with Rythri for company and assistance, and staying less time in each settlement. He lives in fear of his full-moon change, and what he might do when in that form. 

As a werewolf, Zzandoren has shape-shifting abilities, limited to his normal "wolf" form and his monstrous "hunter" form, the former a willing and willful change and the latter a forced change with the full phase of Shinan-Al that, though resistible, is difficult to avoid. In wolf form he has greatly enhanced senses, though his sight is lacking in a few colors, and a slightly higher level of intelligence than a normal wolf, and in hunter form he is every bit as intelligent and cunning as a human, though without his sense of self and moral code. Even in human form, he has an above-average sense of smell and vision that is slightly improved in the dark and focused on motion. There are suggestions that he might still be able to work magic in both wolf forms, but so far he has not actively attempted to do so. 

Zzandoren's Story

Rated PG for some violence

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