#lostwood lore

[bluefox-den]

Shatter, son of Tenas

Spiritborn Lunar Guide

One of the pack’s newest members, Shatter is very clearly not a typical wolf. If it wasn’t obvious from his odd pattern, the faintly glowing spots along his sides make it clear that he is not entirely of this world. Shatter is a Spiritborn, a wolf that is half mortal and half... not. As a result of their strange heritage, the Spiritborn can access and travel through the Lunar Realm much more easily than a fully mortal wolf. In this case, Shatter gets his unique appearance and abilities from his father Tenas, one of the six Spirits that help to shape the world the Lostwood pack lives in. Tenas is one of the two more powerful Spirits, so Shatter’s appearance is even more unusual than other Spiritborn, as that amount of power doesn’t mix well with a mortal form. Shatter is currently teaching Fisher, the leader of the Lostwood pack, about the Spirits and the Lunar Realm.

While the Spiritborn are far more connected to the Lunar Realm than normal wolves, they do still live as mortals. They spend the majority of their time in the mortal world, known as the Solar Realm, and while they are much harder to kill than a true mortal, they aren’t invincible and have the same lifespan. A Spiritborn’s abilities are tied to which Spirit they are related to, and the strength of these abilities can vary. Some Spiritborn, especially those with less powerful parents, might go through life not knowing they’re any different than their mortal companions, aside from a few small incidents that could be explained away by luck or coincidence. Others, like Shatter, are aware from birth, and must decide what to do with their abilities. Some keep them secret, maybe using them for personal gain or to make their pack stronger than any other. Others might travel the world, on a quest to find their calling, perhaps saving a wolf in need or, like with Shatter, sharing their knowledge with others.

Spiritborn are incredibly rare, as the Spirits don’t interact quite that directly with mortals very often, and Spiritborn fathered by Tenas are some of the least common. While Spiritborn do have a stronger connection to the Spirits than mortal wolves, their Spirit parents don’t understand the complexities of mortal relationships enough to form a bond with them. As mentioned above, Spiritborn do have the same lifespan as mortal wolves, but if one has found a calling that the Spirits deem important enough, they may be reborn each time they die for as long as their presence is considered necessary in the Solar Realm. Other notable Spiritborn include Tala, who wanders the land to find wolves in search of knowledge.

[bluefox-den]

Wolvember Day 2–“We Need To Talk”

“We need to talk.”

Shrike glanced up from the bone he had been gnawing on to see Salmonberry standing at the edge of the clearing, looking uncomfortable. As with every time she spoke to him, he felt a spark of hope, but tried to snuff it out immediately. “What is it?”

Her eyes darted around the clearing, not wanting to look at him. “It’s about the pups. They’re two seasons old now, old enough to be named.”

Ah. He should have expected this. “They can have your last name. I know…” He took a deep breath. “I know you don’t want to be associated with me.”

Salmonberry quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not it at all.” She paused, as though she was trying to figure out what to say. “I was going to tell you to name them. And ask if they could have your last name.”

Shrike wasn’t prepared for that. “Why?”

“You should be part of their family. Not me.”

“Do you not care about them anymore?” he asked, anger seeping into his voice.

“I do care!” Salmonberry snapped. “I care about them, just as I care about every member of this pack. They just…” she trailed off, looking defeated.

“They remind you of me,” Shrike finished for her. “And you want to forget that.”

Salmonberry lowered her gaze to the ground, nodding. She hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to lean into Shrike’s side. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Shrike nuzzled her. “What are you sorry for?”

It took her a moment to answer. “For being like this. For not being able to love you back.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m just broken.”

Hearing her say that, Shrike felt his heart ache. “You’re not broken,” he said, stopping himself before he called her my love. It would only make her feel more guilty.

“But there’s something wrong with me, right? I’m supposed to love you. I’m supposed to love our pups. I mean, I do love them, but seeing Alma with her new litter makes me think that I don’t love ours enough. I’m a bad mother.” She buried her face in his fur.

“There is nothing wrong with you,” Shrike said firmly. “You don’t owe your love to me. And I can see that you do love the pups, the same way you love every pup that you help to care for. But I also know that you hadn’t wanted to be a mother. And I’m sorry that you felt like you owed me a family.”

They stood together in silence for a moment, both looking up to watch as the stars began to appear.

“Thank you,” Salmonberry said, finally stepping away. “I don’t deserve your kindness.”

“I just want you to be happy,” Shrike replied. He hesitated, then asked, “Do you still want me to name the pups?”

Salmonberry nodded. “You’re a good father to them,” she said, “and a good wolf.” Then, with a faint smile returning to her face, she added, “They would be proud to carry your last name.”

[bluefox-den]

does your pack have any holidays and/or ceremonies for life events? i've been trying to add that sort of flavour to my own pack so i'm curious what others are doing! - wolves-of-winter-pines

I haven’t had the time to really work on that part of my lore yet lol. My excuse is that since the Lostwood pack is made up of wolves from all over, many from packs with their own distinct cultures, they’re still figuring out their own traditions. Honey wants to include every single tradition from every single wolf that she’s ever met and Shrike is just like “you need to chill we cannot have a holiday every single day of the goddamn year.”

I plan to work on my lore more when I have the time and motivation, and create gods or spirits or something that the pack believes in, and eventually I want them to have holidays related to that. Also something for the first day of spring since that marks their new year.

At some point I’d like to figure out some sort of ceremony for when pups reach adolescence and then adulthood, because both of those are very significant events. A pup reaching adolescence means that they will almost certainly survive to adulthood, and at the age of 6 months they receive their names and decide (with the help of their parents and the pack’s leader) what role they will take, and are assigned a mentor. Reaching adulthood is actually kind of a smaller deal, but it is when wolves decide whether to stay with the pack or leave. As of now the pack does not have any official ceremonies for either of these events, but Honey of course is planning some.

They did have a small ceremony when Honey officially became the leader of the pack. It was really just Honey making herself a crown out of twigs and a necklace with flowers and other cool stuff that she found, and the other wolves of the pack (who had only known her for like. Five days at the most) gave short speeches about how they were glad to have her as their leader and stuff. Honey hopes to come up with a more elaborate leadership ceremony by the time she retires.

Please appreciate Honey’s homemade twig crown. There were not enough flowers blooming yet for a flower crown so she improvised.

[bluefox-den]

The Lostwood Pack: Last Names

Every pack has different naming traditions. The Lostwood pack is one of the few that uses last names, and it only became a thing because Shrike gave himself a last name after hearing about the concept from another loner and then explained it to Honey, who is overly enthusiastic about everything and liked the idea.

A wolf typically gets a last name in the first place after an important event in their life. For example, Shrike’s last name is Hailstorm, and he chose it for himself because just after he left his birth pack as an adolescent, it began hailing. It was the first storm he’d ever experienced, since he was raised during a fairly mild spring and summer, and it terrified him. But after surviving the night out in the storm, he felt like it was a symbol of his new beginning, and chose to give himself the name Hailstorm to recognize that.

Some wolves who join the pack have last names they got from their families, like Twig Elkhunt, whose great-grandfather took down a huge elk on his own when he was young. Others may take the last name of the wolf they choose as their mate (which isn’t necessarily the pack’s breeding male, it can be any wolf), or they might think back to their past and remember something important to name themself after.

Pups usually inherit the last name from one of their parents. This can be their birth parents or the ones who raised them. If their parents are mates who share a last name, the pup will take that one. Otherwise the wolves who raise them (and sometimes their birth parents as well) will come to an agreement together about which name the pup gets. While they won’t get first names until they reach adolescence, they can be given their last names at birth if their parents choose. Littermates will always be given the same last name, but if they have siblings from another litter they might have a different one.

Fun fact: Honey’s last name, Lostwood, comes from when she asked Shrike to explain the concept of last names to her and he said “For example, yours could be Lostwood, because you’re so bad at navigating that you got lost in my goddamn part of the woods,” before trying once again to get away from her. He was clearly unsuccessful, and now the entire pack is named after a joke he made. He regrets agreeing to join it.

[bluefox-den]

Wolvember Day 1–Dreams

“I had another dream last night.”

Shrike sighed as Honey sat down next to him. It had been a long day, and he wasn’t in the mood to hear about her dreams again. “Good for you,” he replied, taking another bite of the beaver he was eating.

“I was being chased by a giant rabbit. I dove into a pond to escape it and I found an underwater cave! It was full of shiny rocks and weird, glowing flowers. And there was a tunnel in the back, but I woke up before I could explore it more,” she said, now laying down beside him. Shrike remained silent, and Honey poked him in the shoulder with her nose. “What do you think it means?”

“I think it means you should leave your co-leader to finish his meal in peace,” he grumbled.

“You’re no fun,” Honey huffed, turning away. She was blissfully silent for a moment, before mumbling, “My sister always liked to hear about my dreams.”

Shrike’s annoyance grew for a moment, thinking that Honey was just trying to make him feel guilty by reminding him of her dead sister. But no, she was too sweet for that. And she seemed genuinely sad now, gazing off into the distance as though lost in thought. Rather than taking the opportunity to leave, Shrike curled closer to her, resting his chin on her back.

“Alright,” he said, “what do you think it means?”

[bluefox-den]

hey, sanctuary pack's main here! Can you say more abt Salmonberry? I rlly liked the snippet of her we got in 'we need to talk'!

I got so excited to see this in my notifications lmao

I don’t necessarily have all of the specifics of her backstory figured out, but I do know that she didn’t have a great childhood. She grew up in a mostly male pack where female wolves had very little freedom and were basically only kept around for breeding. As a result, she has a conplicated relationship with the idea of having pups of her own, and didn’t really have time to work through all of that before meeting Shrike.

Because of the situation with her birth pack, she also had pretty much no experience with forming positive relationships with other wolves and she never had a chance to make friends as a pup. When she and Shrike started growing closer, she was still kind of stuck in the mentality that her job was to provide him with pups, and she figured out a little too late that a) she doesn’t really want to be a mother and b) she isn’t even interested in having a romantic relationship with anyone at the moment, and what she felt for Shrike was actually just friendship.

Also, for reference, her relationship with Shrike was before the Lostwood pack was formed, and they had decided to split up after she finally came to the realization that it wasn’t what she wanted. Unfortunately she was already pregnant by that point. When she joined the pack later on, she and Shrike were very surprised to see each other again and it’s been a little tense now that they’re living together, but they’re working on regaining some sort of friendship.

She’s very conflicted because she does love her pups, but she also hadn’t wanted to be a mother. However, she does still like to spend time with them and she enjoys being a pupsitter, in part because her birth pack had a “survival of the fittest” mindset and often just let pups die, so being a pupsitter is something that helps her distance herself from their way of life.

She’s also still figuring out who she’s attracted to, if anyone. Like so many other things, it’s complicated because from the day she was born the expectation was that she’d find (or more likely, be assigned) a male to have pups with, but she is certain now that she’s not into guys. Whether she’s a lesbian or somewhere in the general vicinity of being aro/ace, she’s still not sure. Although she definitely gets quite flustered when Alma flirts with her.