++ Highborn Cove ++
All wolves within this den have descended from one of the pack's heritageless Alphas.House surnames:
🌟 - Vulcan House - original founding Alpha of Dancing Shadows Pack
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House surnames within the Pack indicate royal heritage. A House is created each time a new Alpha takes control of the Pack. They will be assigned both a surname and a special emote to their name, to be passed down to all descendants. This is to display status, Pack blood, and to prevent inbreeding down the lineage, a practice punishable by exile or death.
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Alphas have sole breeding rights inside or outside of the Pack. Alphas may grant this right to another male (stud) if they are female or if they choose to enter a pair bond, relinquishing their right to procreate outside of their pair bond. If not in a pair bond, a female Alpha may choose to procreate with any other heritageless male, while male Alphas/studs have the right to accept foreign studding requests regardless if the outsider female is the same Generation or is inbred (the resulting pups would be barred from entering the Pack).
Males who are not the Alpha or the appointed stud within the pack may not procreate, unless apart of a pair bond, in which both wolves are bound to only procreate with each other. Females within the pack may breed to any male that is clean-lined and of the same Gen. Wolves may form a pair bond if they are of the same Gen and the resulting litter would not be inbred, or they may adopt a NIB pup who is one Gen higher than them and whose lineage is properly aligned (see examples below).
Surnames begin when two heritageless wolves within the Pack create a litter, inherited from the male wolf in the studding or bond. The exception to this rule is if the wolf is a female Alpha, in which her House surname would overtake the male's surname. Studs from outside of the Pack bred to a Pack female will produce a litter with the outside stud's surname (the last name if the wolf has one, otherwise their primary name will become the surname). Heritageless female wolves do not carry surnames. If neither of a wolf's biological parents have a surname, that wolf will not carry a surname directly, even in instances of adoption. Regardless of sex, if one wolf has a surname and another does not, the pairing's offspring will always inherit the surname of the wolf who has one. If two wolves without a surname produce a litter within the Pack, the resulting litter will take the biological male's name as their surname, signifying that these pups were produced within the confines of the Pack.
Lineage charts are important within Dancing Shadows. A Generation 1 wolf is only permitted to procreate with another Generation 1 wolf; a Generation 2 wolf is only permitted to procreate with another Generation 2 wolf; so on and so forth. Any wolves with mismatched generations anywhere in their lineage chart is not eligible to procreate within Dancing Shadows. For example, a "Gen 3" wolf with one Gen 2 parent who has two Gen 1 parents, and one Gen 1 parent, would be considered inferior and not be permitted to procreate, if allowed to stay within the pack at all.