Wererats can shift form between "human," rat, & mixed forms. Each form has advantages: "human" form blends with society, rat form has all the advantages the rat has (keen smell, bad vision, small size, diseases), & the mixed form combines the two (keen smell, bad vision, small size, diseases, blending into animalman societies).

Every wererat has "outbreaks" of their disease that cause them to lose control and go on sprees of violence and animalistic behavior. This can be curbed by actually infected others while not in an outbreak, however. The more people they infect normally, the less frequent the outbreaks. During their outbreaks, wererats break out in pustules and lose control of their bowels and bladder.

During other periods, they can control the shift, unless bound by maple wood or white gold.

Wererats have heigtened hearing & smell & weak vision. They are very skilled at thievery & tend to be disease carriers, in accordance with their nature.

While only supernaturally empowered weapons, maple wood, or white gold can kill them, wounds made by other weapons do not generally heal quickly--they just don't bother them. Instead, they tend to get infected with something horrible that does not harm the wererat, but serves as a vector of the disease for others. Wererats can sustain massive amounts of poison and do not react to mundane diseases at all.

Wererats also have the ability to control rats through speaking their tongue and having a commanding presence over them.

The first outbreak of arourianthropy was in southeastern Ansulym. Early humans contracted the disease when bitten by huge rats in the region, and instead of being shunned, outcast, or killed, they were revered as shamans. Since then, a society grew around the reverence of these beings, until a small nation of wererats formed. This society reveres the diseased and the foul, and after the rise of the Hollow God, it was assimilated into the nation of Mal'sk, where rats are revered as symbols of the Hollow God.

Outside of Ansulym, most wererats are outcasts. They have reputations as thieves, plaguebearers, and murderers, and they often find homes in sewers, where the filth does not affect them and they can survive. Some few have found their ways into civilization by suppressing their natures, and these often prove to be very cunning, capable members of society. Others have embraced the benefits of their natures and found places in society where these benefits are turned into benefits for others, such as agents of war, espionage, or waste management.