MAGICAL CREATURES INFORMATION

There are several choices of magical creatures on Insurrection to make a character for and RP! However, since the focus of the Harry Potter series wasn't on these creatures, some information is a bit sparse! Here we will be filling in the blanks, compiling available information on the Harry Potter Wiki about these magical creatures, and generally answering questions that could help you to better RP with these creatures. If you see anything that we've missed, just PM an Admin with your question, we'll get back to you with an answer and add it up here for others as well!

Werewolves
Vampires
Veela
Ghosts

WEREWOLVES

A werewolf is a human that can live almost a normal life, except for that they become a fearsome and deadly werewolf upon the full moon. They cannot choose whether or not to transform, and without Wolfsbane, they could kill their best friend without even caring.

How does Wolfsbane work?
This potion is very complex and helps relieve the symptoms of lycanthropy. It must be taken each day for a week preceding the full moon. The completed potion exudes a faint blue smoke, and tastes absolutely disgusting. However adding anything to the potion, such as sugar, makes it ineffective.

Note that this potion was hard for even the person who invented it to make on their own. Because of this, this is an extremely difficult potion to get your hands on. Not every werewolf, in fact, very few, would have access to this potion, and even fewer would have the skills in potions to make it for themselves.

How do transformations work with Wolfsbane?
With the Wolfsbane Potion, transforms are a lot safer. They regain their minds and allows them to hold onto their mental faculties after transforming so that they can still act human. Normally, they would just choose to stay somewhere safe and sleep through the transformation.

How do transformations work without Wolfsbane?
Without the potion, a werewolf would lose the ability to think in a human way, and would become highly aggressive towards humans. If a werewolf does not have any humans nearby to attack, or other animals to occupy itself with, the werewolf will attack itself. This is mostly due to frustration, and it is because of this that many werewolves have self-inflicted scars.

Can someone remember what happens while they are transformed?
A person will remember everything that has occurred while they are transformed, regardless of whether they consume Wolfsbane or not.

Can lycanthropy be passed onto children?
Werewolves cannot pass lycanthropy to their children. No lupine tendencies will occur to any child of a werewolf.

Are the transformations painful?
These monthly transformations are incredibly painful, regardless of the consumption of Wolfsbane.

Are other animals in danger around werewolves?
Werewolves can only infect and only want to infect humans. It is because of this that companionship with animals while transformed can make the experience more bearable as the werewolf has no one to harm but would also be far less likely to harm themselves.

Are werewolves affected by silver?
Although the Muggle world believes that silver can kill a werewolf, werewolves are not affected at all by silver. The only exception is listed in the last question.

How are werewolves distinguishable from wolves?
Werewolves have a shorter snout than wolves, more human-like eyes, a tufted tail, and their mindless hunting of humans which differs from wolves as well.

How are werewolves treated in society?
Werewolves are not treated well at all in wizarding society, and are regarded with fear and disgust. Most people think that werewolves can pose danger even in human form, and being shunned and discriminated against is not at all uncommon. Because of this, it is very difficult for a werewolf to get a job if their condition is registered with the Ministry, and most werewolves suffer poverty.

How does the Ministry regulate werewolves?
There is a werewolf registration at the Ministry of Magic, where people who have been infected are expected to register themselves. Any unregistered werewolf caught will face trial as posing a willing danger to the wizarding world. There is also a Werewolf Capture Unit, used to capture dangerous beasts.

Is it easy for someone to recognize that a person is a werewolf in human form?
There are small signs that someone might notice of a werewolf in their human forms. They could potentially have quite a few scars and signs of premature aging. If one pays enough attention, they would note their illnesses the week before the full moon, and would more than notice new injuries after the full moon. However, upon first glance, there is no way to just be able to immediately tell if someone is a werewolf.

How does being bitten by a werewolf actually work?
Lycanthropy is spread by contact between saliva and blood, so being bit by a werewolf would pass the illness onto the person. If a werewolf is in human form and bites the victim, they would simply gain lupine tendencies such as a fondness for rare meat (Bill Weasley would be an example of this). Finally, any bite or even scratch obtained from a werewolf will scar permanently.

A fresh wound can be sealed by a mixture of powdered silver and dittany, and this allows the victim to live on as a werewolf. Otherwise, someone would normally die from their injuries.

What is their status with the Ministry?
They are considered a Beast on the full moon. This means that they don't have "sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community nor bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws."

For any more information, you can visit here or PM an admin with more questions.

When creating a Werewolf, please keep the following in mind for your application:

• Were they bitten by a well-known werewolf, if so, who?
  
• How old were they when they were bitten? What were the circumstances?
• Between 1998 and 2016, children bitten by a werewolf were not allowed to attend school at Hogwarts.
• Are they registered with the Ministry?
• Do they take Wolfsbane, if so how how do they get it?

VAMPIRES

These nocturnal beings are immortal, and live off of human blood. They are pale, and have an obvious aversion to the sunlight. They also have recognizable fangs, though the longer a vampire has been alive, the better they probably are at blending in and making it less obvious of their condition.

How often do vampires need to feed?
When a vampire is first turned, they would feel the need to feed every day, more than likely multiple times a day. This would also be due to the lack of control they would have over their bloodlust as new vampires. As time continues, probably after about a decade, though it would depend on the specific vampire, they could feel the need to feed less often, though as with a human eating food, they cannot go too long without a meal. An older vampire could probably manage feeding only a couple of days a week.

Can they eat real food and drink real drinks?
This is dependent on the amount of blood they have consumed. The more blood in their system, the more normal their digestive system could attempt to be. They could consume some amount of human food, but not large amounts. It would not be pleasant, necessarily, as their body would digest it incorrectly; but it is certainly something they could do in extremely small amounts in order to blend in. Likewise, if they did not have any blood or were starving to death in that respect, real food and drinks would not be able to help them, as they would not be able to digest it at all.

Can vampires get drunk?
Vampires can get drunk, yes. Due to the fact that their stomach is always empty of actual food, unless they had forced themselves to eat, there is always a chance of alcohol affecting them. If they have just fed, then this risk is lower, though if they also have not had any blood in a while, they could find themselves getting drunker even quicker. On the same spectrum, if they were to drink the blood of someone drunk--since alcohol is absorbed through the bloodstream, they would slightly feel the affects of the alcohol, though way less so, since it would be secondhand.

Can they heal quickly?
This information has not been provided by the Harry Potter Wiki. However, due to extensive research, we have concluded that European folklore, including Dracula, believe in the idea of vampires being able to heal quickly. Of course this is dependent on the size of the injury, but their injuries do heal at an accelerated rate. However, they do not have the ability to regenerate limbs.

How can garlic be used against them?
Vampires have an aversion to garlic and can be kept at bay by its presence. This is most due to the smell, which they consider to be suffocating.

How much of their human memories can they retain? How is their memory after the transformation?
When it comes to human memories, vampires would retain what they remembered already from their human life, i.e. they wouldn't suddenly remember memories of being five years old if it was something they didn't remember as a human.

But as years go on, their memories as a vampire would change. Their human memories would be slightly hazy, though they would still have all of their memories from their life since the transformation.

Do they retain any magical abilities as a vampire? Do they gain any type of magical ability?
They do not retain any of the magical abilities that they had as a human when they become a vampire. However, when they are a vampire, they do (according to all relevant folklore) gain inhuman strength. Also, they have the ability to seduce and draw in their prey easier, something that has come about due to it being the best way for them to survive. Vampires are considered beautiful to the point of hypnotic, which would help them reel in prey as well.

If a witch/wizard was wandless before becoming a vampire, would they still have that ability?
No, vampires lose the ability to do magic that they had as a human when they die, as they essentially lose that part of themselves.

Can accidental magical still occur after the human becomes a vampire?
See above.

Can blood pops starve off the hunger?
They do to an extent, but not for long. It would not be helpful at all for new vampires.

Do vampires get sick? Can they get blood born diseases?
No, and no. As they are the living dead, and immortal, they are not affected by these human illnesses.

Vampires/bats: what's the deal?
This is entirely a myth due to the animals 'vampire bats,' though the creatures are often attracted to being in the presence of vampires, for some unknown reason. This is probably where the myth came from, as some vampires consider the bats 'pets' of sorts.

Do vampires "sleep," if so, in coffins?
Yes, vampire sleep. Vampires can sleep in coffins; after all, it would be a very safe place away from the sunlight. But, clearly not every one of them would just have a coffin laying about to sleep in.

What do vampires do in the daytime? Where can they live? Is there a way to earn money?
Vampires can do whatever they want during the daytime, as long as it's out of sunlight, clearly. Most would take that time to sleep. Vampires can live in abandoned warehouses, or anywhere that they find that they want to make their own. If they wanted to work, they could.. simply in night jobs. These jobs would probably be more sketchy positions, probably in Knockturn Alley.

If sunlight kills them, what about non-direct sunlight? Cloud days and such? Artificial UV lights? UV lamps?
On days of extreme thunderstorms, where there is complete cloud cover, a vampire could go outside. However, due to how quickly weather can change, most do not deem this worth it. UV lamps and lights do not affect vampires, as it's not really the sun, obviously.

Will vampires be able to recognize other vampires? Can they hear heart beats?
The best way to compare this would be how dogs can recognize scents. It is in this way that vampires can also recognize each other. They cannot hear heart beats.

Are there any magical creatures that a vampire would get along with?
Most vampires are rather solitary in nature, and distrusting. It is because of this that they don't really trust other creatures. In fact, most vampires don't even trust other vampires.

Do vampires blink? Or is that a human thing that they need to do?
Every human tic, such as blinking, scratching an arm, shifting in a seat, crossing their legs, are ones that vampires no longer have to do. However in attempts to blend in, they probably would. For some, this is second nature at this point, where others might have to actually remind themselves to blink or adjust.

Do they have visible fangs when they smile?
Yes.

What is the transformation like? How long does it take? Is it painful?
The transformation is painful, and takes about a week. There is a burning sensation and an itching sensation throughout the transformation as the body changes.

How does age affect a vampire? I.E. is an older vampire stronger than a younger vampire? If so, in which way?
An older vampire would have more control than a younger one, but they would not be stronger than them in any physical way. They would simply know more about what to do and how to live as a vampire successfully.

Does the magical community know who vampires are? Is there a registry?
Throughout the years, many different ministers have attempted to make a Vampire Registry. However, the sole fact that these creatures have been around for so many years have made them hard to track. They also are normally quite nomadic and wouldn't settle anywhere 'long enough' (in their minds) to deem that something important to do. At the current time, there is no registry. But Minister Durant has plans to make one as one of his next moves.

Is there a way that the magical community would be able to identify them easily? Red eyes? Abnormally pale or cold skin?
Vampires do not have red eyes. Their fangs are their most recognizable feature, though they are pale as well. However, being pale does not necessarily make someone a vampire, hence why this isn't exactly an easy way to identify a vampire.

What is their status with the Ministry?
Their current status with the Ministry is of Being status, meaning that they are considered one of "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws."

For any more information, you can visit here or PM an admin with more questions.

When creating a Vampire, please keep the following in mind for your application:

• The year they were turned--the older the vampire, the longer their history.
• But don't forget about their human life.
• When they were bit, and the transformation are important factors in the application as well.
• The mental aspects of being a vampire and having been alone for years and having potentially watched loved ones age and die around them... these are important things that have probably affected your vampire.

VEELA

These incredibly beautiful semi-human, semi-magical humanoids have looks and a dance that is magically seductive to almost all male beings, causing them to perform strange actions to get near them. But when they are angry, they transform... their faces turn into cruel-beaked bird heads and long scaly wings come from their shoulders. They can also launch balls of fire from their hands. This is because Veela are thought to have their own kind of magic that does not require a wand.

Are Veela human?
Veela are semi-human, and semi-magical humanoids. It is because of this that a full Veela does not have magical powers like a normal witch or wizard would, and can not obtain a wand or go to Hogwarts or any magical. This is, of course, not the case if someone is only part Veela, such as Fleur Delacour, who was a quarter-Veela, and thus could attend Beauxbatons Academy.

Can they have wands?
A full Veela can not have a wand or obtain a Wizarding school. However, a half veela more than likely would inherit magical abilities from their father, if their mother was the Veela. In this case, they would be able to attend a Wizarding School, though they would potentially experience some prejudices that befall other half-breeds.

How does cross-breeding with wizards work?
If a Veela were to mate with a wizard, children of these unions are half-Veela, and they will inherit magical abilities from their fathers, and beauty and charm from their mothers.

What is their status with the Ministry?
They are considered a Being by the Ministry, which is "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws."

Is there any specific way that a Veela has to look, appearance-wise, to be accurate?
Veela are incredibly beautiful. Their eye colors can vary, though normally they are blue. When it comes to hair, most commonly Veela have white-blond hair, like the Delacours, though this is not always the case. For the most part, appearance of a Veela is up to the creator of the character, and this information is just something to keep in mind!

For any more information, you can visit here or PM an admin with more questions.

When creating a Veela, please keep the following in mind for your application:

• Character history is important, particularly if you are creating a half Veela, as you have to ensure that you provide enough detail about the Veela mother and wizard father.
  
• Full Veela do not age.
• Don't forget about the harpy side. Veela aren't just beautiful women that seduce men, and they too have their bad sides!

GHOSTS

A ghost is a spirit of a once-living witch or wizard, an imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth. These spirits either were afraid of death, or they had an extraordinarily strong connection to the locations that they haunt.

What can they do as far as physical influence?
Ghosts have very little physical influence. They will pass through solid objects without damaging themselves. However, they do create disturbances in water, fire, or air. Temperature drops around their immediate vicinity, and their appearance turns flames blue. If they walk through someone, they would leave a sensation of icy coldness.

Why does one become a ghost?
There are really only two reasons that someone would become a ghost, as told by Nearly Headless Nick. Either someone is incredibly afraid of death, or they have an extraordinary connection to where they haunt. They are unable to move beyond the veil and are forever trapped as ghosts, which is why few choose this path.

But aside from that, is there any reason that say, Voldemort, couldn't come back as a ghost?
No, Tom Riddle specifically could not come back as a ghost. But this brings up a good point in the fact that a person's soul is dependent on if they could become a ghost. If it was in poor condition, they would not be able to return. However, true remorse can mend the soul and allow someone to return as a ghost. For instance, even though The Bloody Baron had killed Helena Ravenclaw, he felt remorse from her death and returned as a ghost.

Does the Ministry have any power over ghosts?
To an extent, they do. Ghosts are considered the status of Beings, and an example of the Ministry's jurisdiction over ghosts would be Moaning Myrtle being forced to stop haunting Olive Hornby's family and return to her place of death.

What's the deal with poltergeists?
Poltergeists are an "indestructible spirit of chaos." They haunt one location, and are classified as non-beings. Most don't have a physical form, which is why the only accepted poltergeist to RP on this site is Peeves.

What are their powers?
They can fly, and they enjoy all manners of vandalism, mischief, embarrassment, and aggravation. They can unscrew chandeliers, write rude words on chalkboards, etc. This is how they differ from ghosts, as they are solid enough to move objects with physical force.

How are they different from ghosts?
Other than their physical forms being slightly different, poltergeists differ from ghosts because they have never been a living human.

For any more information, you can visit here or PM an admin with more questions.

When creating a ghost, please keep the following in mind for your application:

• Character history is incredibly important!
• How did they die, and why did they stay?