Mythic Origins

No one is quite sure where this branch of lycanthropy began, or where it will end. While stories conflict, it’s clear that badgers, martens, ferrets, and wolverine all are encompassed by the mustelid lycanthropy.

In one story the breed began with a Native American man who refused to leave his home when another tribe went on the war path. As a result of the man’s stubbornness, the Great Spirit turned him into a badger and then watched bemused as the enraged man-badger killed the invaders before settling back down to work hard, live close to the land, and raise a strong family. Another story from the Orient details how a particularly conniving man was cursed to become a badger by angry gods and destined to spend the rest of his days as a trickster and a thief.

Rumors even tell of a branch of the family from India and Africa where the honey badger roams as a tenacious predator and nearly impossible to kill enemy.

Leadership & Social Structure

A group of werebadgers is known as a Cete (pronounced as “set”) and they tend to be a tightly-knit group, closer than most of the other lycanthropes. The Cete generally accepts any member of the mustelid breed into the group, though some prefer living with their own species and are still considered part of the Cete and beholden to its ways.

The leader of a Cete is known as the Mujina and can be male or female. There is only a single leader for any given Cete and there is no equivalent role or rank for the mate of a Mujina although such a mated partner can wield social power instead of formal power. Leadership is determined by a ritual contest, though unlike some lycanthropic predators does not necessarily need to be to the death.

The Mujina is aided in its duties by:

• Setta - Deemed as the heir-apparent, and the second in command in a mustelid Cete. While this status as heir-apparent is binding, it is also open to challenge from other members of the group. The Setta governs when the Mujina is unavailable or absent.

• Wolvar - The Cete’s primary warrior and is almost always from the wolverine branch of the lycanthrope family. The Wolvar is charged with the protection of the Cete, as well as the physical location where the Cete lives. Sometimes referred to as a Warder, the Wolvar protects the Cete’s lands and its members.
• Honorius - The talekeeper and mystic of the Cete, usually responsible for magical support and protection, as well as ensuring the spirituality of the Cete.

General Traits & Abilities

Mustelids tend to have an appearance that others find cute, however, beneath the adorable facade lives a nonchalant, murderous glutton that won't hesitate to pull a tasty snack out of the lion's jaws. Tenacious, vicious, and determined, werebadgers and their kin are unfased by most attacks and respond to any threat with a frenzy that can only be described as savagely effective.

""The good doctor put a spoon of tea into my honey." "You're drinking tea a honey badger made," Jim said. "What did you expect?" ~Ilona Andrews (Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, #4))