Any reason why there are so many more werewolves compared to other splats?

[maryshelly]

I was just going over the book Blood of the Wolf and I remembered that there was a large number of werewolves compared to other game lines, about half a million. Even though that was first edition, I would imagine that that would probably carry over to 2nd ED as well. Now, in retrospect, this is a HUGE number compared to the other lines, not just a marginal difference. for comparison

Vampires are about 1 in 50,000 people, and they are considered one of the more numerous types
Mages, no idea but 2nd ed said that there were about 200 in Tokyo which is about 40 million people
Prometheans, about 100 in the world according to 2nd ed
Changelings, one per 500,000 according to the summer book
Geist, no idea, but maybe similar to Changelings, I think a developer suggested this once
Hunters, compacts have about 20 to 200 each, Conspiracies about 2,000 each?
Demons, no idea
Mummies, I am guessing about 1,000, I think this was suggested in the sample players

I am not saying this is a problem, it is just that werewolves seem to massively outnumber the game lines by a huge number. Was this intentional or just something that just sort of happened?

[Tessie]

Different writers have different takes on it. There's a reason putting these kind of statistics into books is something Onyx Path actively avoids for the most part. I think Promethean is the only second edition game that has mentioned the total population rather than just local figures.

[Acrozatarim]

Werewolves naturally emerge out of most human populations; wherever you have humans, there you have werewolves.

The human population has absolutely exploded over the past few centuries.

[maryshelly]

Different writers have different takes on it. There's a reason putting these kind of statistics into books is something Onyx Path actively avoids for the most part. I think Promethean is the only second edition game that has mentioned the total population rather than just local figures.

Good point! Most of the statistics were back when it was White Wolf, I never thought of that.

[Eldagusto]

They naturally emerge now regardless of Wolfblood?

I was going to say Werewolves are the Supernatural species that reproduces by breeding and they are departing from the Apocalypse setting where they are becoming extinct. So they gave them a huge population so there was not as much of an Emphasis on Breeding to not go extinct. In Apocalypse they are Soldier or Antibodies of the Universe, in Foresaken they are the police of Creation. So we have a big number so they can police all of humanity while also having less of an emphasis on each one needing to be a constant hero or Martyr. Now you are free to have many werewolves take a less active approach, more slow and steady rather then oh god I got to sacrifice everything and I know I’m most likely going to die horribly before I’m 50, but if I don’t keep trucking there are immediate consequences to the World.

[Tessie]

Uratha emerge from both Wolf-Blooded and humans, I believe. And Wolf-Blooded emerge from humans in many cases. Being a descendant from a Wolf-Blooded or werewolf increases the chance of becoming Wolf-Blooded or werewolf, but you could become either with no known wolfy ancestry at all.

[Verge]

Other breeding advantages: a Tribe that researches and tracks strong lineages; strong in-group affinity for coordination and mutual protection; broad and diverse and distributed social networks. All of these ensure that werewolves have a high rate of surviving to reproductive maturity, can identify with some success potential inheritors, and can place children with safer family units.

It's reasonable to assume there's a predictable and steady replacement rate in the "native" werewolf population, adjusted upwards for spontaneous Wolf-Bloods. Meanwhile, other splats face practical hurdles to their reproduction. Vampires need suitable candidates, social permission, and precautions against over-predation; meanwhile, they die from sunburns, and lose decades if they don't eat enough. Mages and Demons and Bound need serendipity, while any Promethean or Changeling would be thrilled to be the last of their kind.