Glossary of Terms

Chrechte:  What werewolves call themselves.

Femwolf:  Female shapechanger that takes wolf form.

In Heat:  Refers to a female in ovulation, whether she is wolf or fully human.

Life Mating:  Like marriage.  This is forever.  Some packs consider sex an automatic life mating, others do not.

Mate:  (v.) To have sex with and in some cases form a lifetime bond with someone else.  (n.)  The other half of a mated couple.

Mindspeak:  Talking in another person's mind.  This is not mind reading, but hearing the other person's voice when their thoughts are directed toward the recipient.  It isn't always intentional, but it does have to be directed.  Some shapechanger family members can mindspeak with one another and some sacred/true mates can as well.  Some very powerful shapechangers can mindspeak to anyone.

Out of Kind Mating:  One of the mates is human.  (When it is a sacred/true mating children can result.  Those children have as much chance of being shapechangers as not, but the gene does not show itself until the first change some time during puberty.)

Picts:  What others called the werewolf clans found in Ancient Northern Scotland.

Sacred/True Bond:  The condition by which, once a couple has had sex, the shapechanger(s) in the couple are no longer [physically capable of sex with anyone else.  (For the male this means impotence except with his mate and for the female it means an involuntary contraction of the vaginal muscles that prevents intercourse with anyone but her mate.)  When a sacred/true bond exists between a shapechanger and a human, they can have children.  Otherwise, their coupling will be infertile.  Some sacred/true bonds result in the ability to mindspeak.

Sacred/True Mate:  The person a shapechanger is meant to be mated to.  This bond is more than physical, but not always recognized as such.

The Change:  When a shapechanger takes on its animal form.  This is a complete process with no in-between phase.  Some werewolves control their change from the very first one, others will not until they have sex for the first time.  If the males do not have sex by the time they are 30, they will never control their change.  Females have no such time limit.  The different pack's views on pre-marital sex impacts this heavily. 

The Hunt:  During a full moon, werewolves will get together in their wolf form and hunt.  Sharing in the kill is part of their ancient culture and continues to this day.

Werewolf:  Male shapechanger that takes wolf form.  Can also be used to refer to the species in general.

More terms will be added later.