X5 Temple of Death and the origins of Lycanthropy
by Rodger BurnsThe Well of the Moon was originally created by Alphatian wizards around four hundred years ago, as part of their work in blocking the lycanthropy virus that had been inadvertently released two centuries earlier. The chief enchanter on Project Moonwell, Valeren the Younger, was brilliant, driven and capable... and pretty unbalanced even by Alphatian standards. When Project Moonwell created something that could not only cure lycanthropy but also other diseases and injuries and even reverse death, his colleagues were amazed. Then when they realised that repeated exposure could induce the very conditions the project was meant to cure, they were horrified. The notion of a bunch of Thanatos worshippers getting a hold of the Well of the Moon to 'double-dip' hapless victims and turn them into weretigers, werefoxes, werewolves or devil swine was pretty horrifying. Ditto for the possibility of 'disappearing' dead potentates by hauling the body to the Well, immersing it, then cutting the poor returned soul's throat and chucking it back in.
Before any of this could be more than potential, though, the Well vanished... unknown to almost everyone, spirited away by a special miracle of Asterius to a secluded corner of the distant Black Mountains, in cooperation with notable Fey wizards. The Sidhe who helped Asterius provided a way to keep the randomness of the Well under temporary control long enough for the Immortal's magic to take hold - and their price in return was a temporary magical portal to "the Kingdom of the Moon". Asterius's assumption has always been that the Kingdom of the Moon was just some Sidhe pocket world, but lately he's heard rumours of fauns, brownies and wood drakes appearing in strange parts of the Hollow Moon, and he's started to wonder...
One last thing. Before the Well of the Moon vanished from Alphatian territory, the Emperor at the time managed to get close to two hundred gallons of its water sent to Sundsvall, in special kegs magically treated to block out natural or magical taint, evaporation and other dangers. After four centuries of neglect, it's likely that nobody remembers the water is even down there, locked away in some forgotten cellar beneath the Imperial Palace. If the cache were ever rediscovered, though, it could either be an incredible famine-fighting tool or an absolutely terrifying bioweapon, depending on what its keeper had in mind...