Quick Look- Werehogs Ulfhednar
As I said in my previous post, I'm not allowing myself to post full works until I have more to show for this 'verse; however, I was jonesing to share so here we go: little lore drop and WIP dump for the big bad (and fast) wolves of the STH Arkenvale AU! Featuring screenshots of the character pages and sketches I'm compiling of Sonic's variant in this universe.
Firstly, their name. "Werehog" is a colloquial term used mainly by the non-occult (hereafter, the mundane). The name these shifters go by in their own society is "ulfhednar". They are a northern warrior/sea-faring society, something akin to the real world ancient Norse people.
Occult society (the arcana) and mundane scholars of the arcana, if they don't use "ulfhednar", may instead refer this race as "iglewolf", "iglewight", or "iglaglæca".
The ulfhednar have a secondary descriptor they use for themselves in certain, darker context. Outcasts and oath-breakers, those whose reckless actions or inaction have lead to the death of others or caused irredeemable harm to their clans and people, are instead known as the "vargulfr".
Their culture revolves around the sea, the moon, and natural cycles. Ulfhednar are sea-farers and raiders, who place a heavy emphasis on clan and kin above all else. They are voyagers and adept at ship building, especially vessels meant for short-passages over coastal waters.
Though they live in permanent settlements on a collection of northern islands and in hidden pockets along the northern-most coasts of the continent, all spend a significant portion of their time at sea on longships, especially the warriors and raiders. Many clans consider their ships their homes, with large drakkar-style ships serving as main quarters between ports and small snekke-class used for exploring and scouting up rivers. Communication between ships during voyages is accomplished through howling, chanting, and singing, making the ulfhednar a surprisingly rhythmic and musical class of arcana.
In addition to using songs as a way to communicate between ships, their songs and chants also serve as passkeys to secure safe passage to their islands. Their islands are obscured by heavy fog and defended by rocks and rough waters. Only a few clans are trusted with the routes through these zones and will only lead those ships whose crews can sing them the songs of passage. The waters beneath the mist are full of bones and wreckage of those who entered without the songs and found themselves either harried against ship-break stones or trapped in the uncaring ice.
Their abilities are broad but mostly unknown to the wider world, even other arcana. The ulfhednar are secretive and isolated in their far northern isles, with outsiders' only regular interaction coming from those coastal settlements unlucky enough to be chosen for a raid or the odd vargulfr who's seen fit to inflict themselves on rural populations of mundane.
The one ability they are known to possess without a doubt is shifting. The ulfhednar are race-locked in their mundane forms to that of a Mobian hedgehog, thus the world's use of igle- as a prefix for variants of their name. Their shifted forms are larger than their mundane ones and mostly quadruped, though they can rear on two legs and take a few steps if motivated. Their canine teeth grow to sabers, their coats become longer and heavier, and their bodies overall increase in size. They retain all the intelligence and character in this form as they possessed in their mundane, save for those brought on by the blood-rage. Mature, skilled ulfhednar are able to perform transformations outside the influence of the full moon with practice and great focus.
The major exception to the full moon shifting rule are the vargulfr. These outcasts, cut off from their clans and burdened with the shame of their actions, will often find themselves unable to transform under the full light of the moon. Instead, their shifted forms seem almost to hide from the Gaia, and come out instead in a fury of rage and beastly instinct under only the darkness of the new moon. Under these conditions, and cut off from the source of their power, the vargulfr when shifted are dangerous, little more than beasts, and utterly devoid of reason or mercy.
They are children of the Gaia and the Moon and fiercely spiritual. Many ulfhednar (even the forsaken vargulfr) have personal prayers they recite before certain events. These might be mantras or short poems/verses they crafted themselves, ones passed down through clanlines, or more broadly known prayers. They may have ones they recite daily, nightly, before battles, before meals, before hunts, before shifts, or in times of great emotional upheaval- good or bad.
