A chain of soldier werewolves in a family tree

[WolfSpirit0909]

Hi, I'm working on an urban fantasy with a bit of sci-fi in the mix and I'm having trouble with this family tree and how the lycanthrope gene begins.

I want this to go from a timeline of events, so right now I have that it started in WWII when the Nazis were invading territories and were putting victims in concentration camps, I'm thinking either the first time it starts when the pogrom in 1938 Germany happened where a German Jewish girl turned into a werewolf the night of Kristallnacht and then the Nazis discovered her, then captured her and used her for their own experiments. Or I could say that when they invaded Poland in 1939 this Polish girl happened to of been one of the survivors in the gas chambers so they selected her to test their new werewolf project one which turned her into a lycan. I can't decide which one is better?

Then from their either an American or British soldier during the events of WWII meets her after discovering these death camps in 1944 where they conducted experiments. She then teams up with him and they fight with the resistance teams and win the war. The werewolf girl and soldier then have a son together.

Their son now grows up as a secret operative during the Cold War. I wanted to say he goes on a secret mission to Russia, but he'd be far too young for that, even with his super abilities of half lycan genes. So I'm thinking he could of fought in Vietnam then went on a secret mission in the early-mid 1970's to stop the Soviets from a nuclear attack and he meets a young female double agent and they work together preventing a nuclear war. But I can't decide if she should be Russian? American? Or British? They would have a son as well. If this is too complex, then I can simply say that his mission takes place in the 1980's where he goes to Nicaragua and also deals with some Soviets and Cubans hidden there and meets a female Nicaraguan soldier or spy and they have a son together instead.

Now their son could grow up during the Gulf War, Bosnian War through the 1990's and the Iraq Wars, Afghanistan in the 2000's and then go on a secret mission in 2014 with the Ukraine-Russia conflict and there he meets a Baltic female sniper who also has lycan genes, they would have twins together, male and female but at birth they get separated with the female twin growing up somewhere either in the UK or the US Midwest, eventually becoming a soldier and the male twin would grow up in a secret temple hidden somewhere in Tibet or Nepal. Both twins would carry the lycan genes.

How does this all sound from a family tree point of view? I'm having trouble deciding the part with WWII where should she be that girl from Germany or that girl from Poland?

And I'm having trouble with deciding where the female double agent should be from during his mission in the 1970's? If not the double agent, would it be easier to write about him going to Nicaragua in the 1980's and meeting a woman from Nicaragua?

I appreciate any sort of feedback.

 

[Azoraa]

huahahaha I find this all very amazing. I love it when WWII history and sci-fi/fantasy are mixed together. Great ideas!
I think both first stories sound cool. Why not use both?
You could present it as an either-or, or that both happened and then maybe pick up the thread of one of them later again. It doesn't need to be ONE thread. Mutations in nature also can't be traced back like this, it's more chaotic.

 

[Azoraa]

ah, and: welcome to the chrons

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

Thanks Azoraa! I'm a fan of WWII fantasy and sci-fi mixed in with some romance cause falling in love on the battlefield always makes for some fun story telling right? Do both? You mean like two different families of two different bloodlines?

It's basically going to be like a family tree. So it goes from WWII-Cold War events-modern day conflicts.

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

My concern here is am I making Russians look evil with all these historical conflicts?

 

[.matthew.]

My concern here is am I making Russians look evil with all these historical conflicts?

Most countries look evil if all you show are their wars.

But on the original topic, have you tried drawing up an actual 'tree' with a date bar along the side? That'd let you see the exact ages and stuff comparing them to various conflicts and you can tweak from there.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I appreciate any sort of feedback.

I suspect the more you write this work then the more opportunities for insights into the backstory will come up.

Btw, though - if you really want to explore a cause for the effect, if you haven't already you could always make the original werewolf a victim of Josef Mengele's experiments:

Nazi human experimentation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

I was going to do something like that but I kind of messed it up. I'm not so good at organizing family trees

It's also due in part with figuring out a conflict/war for the 1970's that keeps messing it up. I was going to have it take place in either Bangladesh, Laos or Cambodia and the good guys from the family tree would basically be like mercenaries fighting these rogue agents, soldiers and insurgents who occupied Cuban Missiles plus have vampires to protect them like bodyguards. Maybe I can make up an island that was near Mexico?

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

I suspect the more you write this work then the more opportunities for insights into the backstory will come up.

Btw, though - if you really want to explore a cause for the effect, if you haven't already you could always make the original werewolf a victim of Josef Mengele's experiments:

Nazi human experimentation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yeah I've been trying and I keep messing up this tree badly

I dont know what's cooler? Have it that this Jewish German girl, living in Berlin was first infected with lycanthropy somehow before the war started and when the Nazis started the pogrom Kristallnacht attacks in her hometown on 1938, they discovered her werewolfism and then took her for experimenting or have it that she was a Jewish Polish girl and when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and as the pogrom events in Poland took place and took Polish Jews to the camps and used experiments like gas showers, she was a survivor so they decided to test these werewolf genes on her turning her into a lycan. Idk which idea is better? Or if I can combine both? Should I make her both Polish and German and say both sides of her family were killed by the Nazis?

Thanks for the link btw.

 

[Toby Frost]

Worth pointing out that werewolves are an established part of Germanic folklore, and that "Werwolf", the German word for werewolf, was the Nazi word for stay-behind soldiers intended to raid the allies. In an alternate history, I expect that either werewolves would be knocking around anyway, or loyal soldiers would be given the "honour" of infection with lycanthropy, rather than those considered unworthy. The werwolf movement was somewhat ineffectual in real life, although had it actually consisted of real werewolves... The better-prepared British equivalent, the Auxiliary Units, might be of some interest, as might the novel Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis.

Probably also worth pointing out that, what with a lot of real dead people involved, such things have to be done with a modicum of taste.

 

[.matthew.]

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis.

You had me until then. I loved the premise of the book - especially the nasty British warlocks - but I found it a chore to read.

 

[Toby Frost]

Yes, I agree. It's one of the very few attempts I've seen to do something like that "seriously", but it did become rather hard work. I wasn't sure about the warlocks. The idea was strong, but it didn't make for a very exciting story somehow. I never got to the sequels.

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

Worth pointing out that werewolves are an established part of Germanic folklore, and that "Werwolf", the German word for werewolf, was the Nazi word for stay-behind soldiers intended to raid the allies. In an alternate history, I expect that either werewolves would be knocking around anyway, or loyal soldiers would be given the "honour" of infection with lycanthropy, rather than those considered unworthy. The werwolf movement was somewhat ineffectual in real life, although had it actually consisted of real werewolves... The better-prepared British equivalent, the Auxiliary Units, might be of some interest, as might the novel Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis.

This I like! I heard of their werwolf init that was rumored towards the end of the war to send fear to the Allies as their last resort. I can definitively play with that idea. The thing is, in my story In the family tree, it started with the great grandmother which is the girl during WWII who's infected with lycanthropy and i cant decide if she should of had it before the start of WWII and she was discovered by the Nazis which they used her for experiments and to help create their own werewolf army. Or that she was from Poland and was one of the victims from the camp who survived the gas chamber which fascinated the Nazis, willing them to want to test lycanthropy on her to see what this lycan genes can do?

Maybe she was a werewolf before being experimented on which is why the Nazis kept her alive and I could say she was a lycan first because a warlock put a spell on her before 1938?

Bitter Seeds ...I must read it soon!

 

[.matthew.]

I will say that Bitter Seeds was still a good shout. I've spent the last ten minutes trying to find something that would be more relevant but haven't seen anything.

It's looking like a supernatural spy thriller and that appears difficult to pin down.

 

[.matthew.]

This I like! I heard of their werwolf init that was rumored towards the end of the war to send fear to the Allies as their last resort. I can definitively play with that idea. The thing is, in my story In the family tree, it started with the great grandmother which is the girl during WWII who's infected with lycanthropy and i cant decide if she should of had it before the start of WWII and she was discovered by the Nazis which they used her for experiments and to help create their own werewolf army. Or that she was from Poland and was one of the victims from the camp who survived the gas chamber which fascinated the Nazis, willing them to want to test lycanthropy on her to see what this lycan genes can do?

How about she was always a lycanthrope? The nazis discover her after surviving the gas chamber, experiment on her and maybe even use her to turn some of their loyal men into werwolf units?

She'd be too young to remember her own family lineage but it could add some further backstory. The use of nazi werewolves could also build the world a bit more deeply, perhaps they were hunted down after the war and their existence nearly wiped out all the other wolves who were just minding their own business. Maybe some slipped the border or were captured by the Soviets during the final push who continued the program that then led to your other lycan love interest years down the line. You could follow both threads and have them meet in the middle.

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

How about she was always a lycanthrope? The nazis discover her after surviving the gas chamber, experiment on her and maybe even use her to turn some of their loyal men into werwolf units?

She'd be too young to remember her own family lineage but it could add some further backstory. The use of nazi werewolves could also build the world a bit more deeply, perhaps they were hunted down after the war and their existence nearly wiped out all the other wolves who were just minding their own business. Maybe some slipped the border or were captured by the Soviets during the final push who continued the program that then led to your other lycan love interest years down the line. You could follow both threads and have them meet in the middle.

I really like this idea. So would it make more sense if she was a Jewish German girl which took place the night of Kristallnacht in Germany 1938? Or the invasion of Poland 1939, making her Polish Jewish? Or she was from the Free City of Danzig? Have her half Polish/German? I'm assuming I got my history right? Or leave her heritage a mystery? Like you said, she'd be too young to remember when it happened.

And I was going to say that a Western Ally during WWII met up with her and they teamed up against the Nazis with other Allies, then they fell in love having a son who would grow up to fight in the Cold War against a Soviet threat in the early 1960's.

 

[WolfSpirit0909]

And a supernatural spy thriller is pretty much close to my style if writing! I think I'll order that book on Amazon soon.

 

[Venusian Broon]

My concern here is am I making Russians look evil with all these historical conflicts?

Well a lot of the wars after WW2 didn't portray the US in a good light either; plenty of room for moral dubiousness on every side.

(And if they are mercenaries, don't they just go on the side with the most money anyway?)

Anyway that aside, I think your ultimate antagonists should be the shadowy organisation that really runs the world - the British Royal family. As we all know they are shape-shifting 7 foot tall lizard people who regularly consume babies.

 

[hitmouse]

Re the science around heritability of mutations. You can gloss over this, but if you are not careful someone might call you out.
Acquired mutations (nazi experiment/bitten by radioactive wolf etc) might affect the individual, but they do not generally affect the germ cells. In other words they are not passed on to offspring.
An inherited mutation (parents/relatives had the problem over several generations) is known as a germ-line mutation and affects all cells in the body, including the gametes, so it can be passed down the generations.

 

[.matthew.]

I really like this idea. So would it make more sense if she was a Jewish German girl which took place the night of Kristallnacht in Germany 1938? Or the invasion of Poland 1939, making her Polish Jewish? Or she was from the Free City of Danzig? Have her half Polish/German? I'm assuming I got my history right? Or leave her heritage a mystery? Like you said, she'd be too young to remember when it happened.

And I was going to say that a Western Ally during WWII met up with her and they teamed up against the Nazis with other Allies, then they fell in love having a son who would grow up to fight in the Cold War against a Soviet threat in the early 1960's.

I'd go with Polish, spreads it out a bit and she would be more oblivious to the Nazis; I imagine Jewish werewolves would flee pretty quick, but Polish ones might just try to hold their territory (Poland had little warning or time to run). I think there was more experimentation outside of Germany as well if I recall correctly (but might be wrong).

The problem with the second point is age though, how old is she when she gets taken? I was thinking like 10ish when you say girl, which would invalidate her to have a real love interest anytime during the war, but could be a really fun guerilla fighter ending with her being like 15-16 (or maybe a few years older) but having her as a young fragile looking girl who can tear the heads off nazis