The earliest wolves were called the originals. The originals started out as four-legged creatures who lived by honor, had patience, valued virtue, and believed in devotion. They had a code of conduct, a set of rules they lived by, and morals they upheld. Their lives, they considered divine gifts. They'd been mere defenceless creatures of the wild, harassed and chased, fighting for survival, to make it through another day. But despite hardships, their devotion and respect for nature were something they prided themselves on. This conduct of theirs was rewarded with a boon-a boon for a better life and a prospect for much more.
" Your spirit shall guide you, follow where your instincts lead, and there you shall find a better life, a purpose."
The heavens had spoken after the pain had passed. They called these words the divine prophecy, the first of many that they were to witness. The wolves had lain on the ground, writhing, for hours before it all had subsided. Gone was the fur that kept them warm. Instead of their four limbs, the wolves found themselves capable of standing on two, they learned to use their forelimbs and learned to hunt anew.
Settling into the new life was different, but it was what they'd been given. It took them time to understand what their capabilities were and how much they could do. It was due to this that the first time one of the wolves had been able to turn back to their old form at will and return to their gifted form, the creatures had rejoiced. Another night of the holy full moon, they'd paid their respects and expressed their gratitude. They called this 'the shifting', and thus emerged the tradition of shifting on full moons and howling to express their eternal gratitude.
It is said that there were four elders. These were those who had been chosen, for they felt the strongest pull and had to take on the mighty responsibility of shouldering the actions as instructed by the prophecy. They'd taken their respective paths, followed their instincts, and dispersed in different directions, allowing themselves to be guided by their spirits. Each of the elders had found an energy spot, where, following their instincts, they'd first interacted with the energy and gained wisdom. No one knew what they'd learned, but their actions gained them respect and followers. They each laid the foundations of their respective kingdoms.
Them, interacting with 'the energy' bestowed them with more powers. With time, it was seen that each kingdom and its people presented an affinity for a form of power, and the descendants of the elders always had more power than the others.
The Northern kingdom- Ilanya (eel-anh-hya) specialised in controlling water and all things fluid.
The Southern kingdom - Tehmun (tae-mun) prided itself on elements of the land.
The Eastern kingdom- Neve(ni-vi) favored nature.
The Western kingdom- Nuria (noo-ria), presented an affinity for fire and light.
As time passed, much knowledge was lost and much changed. Life in the four kingdoms went on, and the devotion and virtue that once had the wolves earn a boon from the divine, saw a decline. The kingdoms that had once lived in peace and harmony, sharing resources and aiding each other in difficult times, withdrew from each other and grew feelings of enmity as greed, possessiveness, and other vices reared their ugly heads.
The society the elders had established was one that appreciated effort, knowledge, and skills. In it, no one held power over the other, it valued equality and partnership, but times that came later saw the society grow harsher. Power was exploited, and it was most prominently evident in the hierarchical system.
Families formed the basic unit of society. In the earliest of times, anyone older who guided and nurtured the family and could take on the responsibility, could be the head of the family. The initial hierarchy consisted of three strata based on the role one played in their family: the leader, the socials and the nurturers.
The leaders were those responsible for the decision-making of the family, its guidance, and its representation in society as a whole, they were the ones responsible for presenting their family in gatherings as heads, speaking up to present the collective decision, voicing concerns, and more.
The socials were ones that mingled with members of society and upheld the respect and social status of the family. They actively organized events and managed recreation and the maintenance of familial customs.
The nurturers focused on the internal well-being of the family, from feeding the members well to taking care of their emotional well-being. They cared for it all.
These strata were based on a wolf's instincts.
Based on their scents, the wolves were divided into three classes. Namely:
The Alphas, the ones with stronger scents.
The Betas had a milder scent, and
The Omegas had sweet scents.
The scent's origin varied from wolf to wolf and depended on various factors. But initially, it did not impact much of the dynamic of a family or the population as a whole.
However, based on the preferences of the population, it was later noticed that the alphas had a propensity for leadership, the betas were skilled socials, and the omegas became the best of nurturers. What initially began as a practise based on choice went on to become a strict role for those belonging to the respective strata. The initial strata system was abolished as alphas became synonymous with leaders, beta with socials and omegas as nurturers.
This period witnessed much distress, chaos, and unsettlement. Not only did interfamilial discontent see a rise, but disputes between kingdoms rose, and abysmal displays of power over the common mass terrorised the wolves. It was during this time that a lot of wolves decided to leave their families and flee from their kingdoms to live in adjacent regions, looking for peace and a quiet life. The wolves came to be known as rogues, and this period came to be known as the period of upheaval.
The frequent wars led to a decline in the number of wolves. The leaders sought war to quench their thirst for power. As a result of this, the number of alphas saw a rapid decline. Many omegas were lost to the atrocities and harsh conditions they were subjected to for being at the bottom of the power hierarchy. The beta population remained stable for they mostly tried to avoid conflict and lay in mid of the power hierarchy.
It was at this time that the wolves witnessed the second prophecy.
" A boon bestowed can be a boon lost . The gift must be cherished and virtues reinstated."
This came as an eye-opener to the remaining wolf population, and thus, the period of upheaval came to an end. The period that came next was called the 'period of peace'. While it was relatively peaceful, as its name suggests, some practices had grown their roots too deep into society for them to be completely unrooted without largely impacting the lives of the masses. Hence, the modified hierarchical system remained, while it was not something forced upon everyone but, seemingly stayed as an unstated rule, deviating from which was hugely frowned upon. While the blatant display of prejudice was frowned upon, prejudice against omegas still largely lingered behind the closed door.
Since the alpha and omega numbers declined after the period of upheaval, in order to find a sense of security, families merged to form packs. Packs from the same region formed a clan, and multiple clans formed a kingdom. It was not unheard of for several clans to share territory, but many preferred to defend their territories as well, thus, territory boundaries were highly respected and travelling through them required permission. Many families held their own during this time as well and coexisted with regional packs, being a part of them, but holding their own exclusive boundaries.
Keeping all of this at the forefront, packs and families with alphas were unspokenly considered powerful. While those with omegas, often worked to train them well and prepare them for their position as nurturers, be it for their pack or others.
When it came to rouges, they had their own customs and principles, were largely regarded as barbaric, and lived isolated lives.
Our tale is set a few hundred years into the period of peace.
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Dear Readers,
I hope that you enjoy seeing the mood boards as much as I enjoy putting them together, I'm considering making one for each chapter, I do not own the rights to any of the used images, but I do hope that it conveys to you some part of the visual that I have in my mind. Moodboarding is something pretty new to me so feel free to drop your two cents on how you feel or on ways it can be improved. If you look at it closely some have hints to upcoming chapters while some merely provide you a rich visual of something or some event related to the story.
The story will be updated either once or twice (most probably in the second and fourth week of) a month.
Much love,
Readinghuman :D