Lycanthropy was a powerful contagion-like Curse that caused smallfolk and Giant-kin to change form, usually into hybrid humanoid-Beast states. These creatures, known as lycanthropes, generally had a baser level of savagery, and would respond physically to different stages of the moon. Lycanthropy brought with it a tremendous resilience to most forms of damage that could be overcome only by silvered weaponry, magic, or specific gemstones.
True lycanthropy, also known as natural lycanthropy, was inherited from birth, while pathologic lycanthropy spread from lycanthropes to those unafflicated by the curse. The offspring of a lycanthrope and non-infected had the potential to inherit the condition. If the condition was not inherited, the offspring and its descendants would instead either gain a resistance to lycanthropy or develop lycanthope-like characteristics; these creatures were called Wereborn.
As a cursed disease, lycanthropy was generally contracted through open wounds being exposed to the blood, saliva, or other secretions of a true lycanthrope or another infected. Once the transformation was complete, an afflicted lycanthrope's personality would be subsumed and overtaken by a ravenous, predatory mindset until they returned to their original form. This altered state of personality slightly varied between strains of lycanthropy, incorporating behavioral aspects of their strain's animal. This personality typically retained all the memories possessed by their humanoid state.
When an afflicted lycanthrope finally did return to their base humanoid form, their memories of the time spent in their animal or hybrid forms was either hazy or outright forgotten, as were any memories of the pain they experienced during the process of transfiguring between states and of the transformation process itself. If an afflicted did manage to retain memories of the time spent in their animal or hybrid form they would be indistinct and surreal, as if one were recalling a nightmare. By contrast, true lycanthropes retained their personality in their animal or hybrid forms and their memories of the time spent in either form remained intact in their humanoid forms.