Beastlords: Beast Lords and WereCreatures: More

Beast Lords and WereCreatures: More

That's a pretty cool theory - the part about the communications being directed inward.

As I envision them, the Beast Lords are Cosmic forces - so far beyond our limited perception of reality that out minds give them the shapes of animals, and 'dumb down' what they say.

As regards the original question, the Beast within every man had to get there somehow - either it was part of the All-Father's design (possible, but unlikely, given how Pandarrion has NEVER gotten along with the Beast Lords), or it crept in somehow.

The snake venom would certainly be a vector. Of course, if the All-Father is kin to the Beast Lords, maybe the kinship is showing. Western philosophy and myth tries very hard to make Human beings somehow fundamentally different from animals - I've always been intrigued by the notion that we're not, not matter how hard we try.

Too many Planet of the Apes movies as a kid, I guess...