Posted 2021-01-14 09:40:28 (edited)
Day 88 2021/01/14
LVLUP Talak +13, Hallow +8 - Bumped the chased NBW trade, immediately sold. See, this is what I mean about the wolf economy being a crapshoot and a game of luck; I think most (if not all?) my unusually fast sales like this have gone to new players, who probably just see a cheap wolf on the first page, go “what a steal!”, and boom. (Except Scruffy, who somehow sold for like 100SC when I was still able to sell random NBWs at those prices. Wack and I ain’t complainin’.)
- Anyway, Talak hit +500 stats (more than Leveret actually) but I don’t really feel the need to breed them 🤔 Kinda got used to “males” not being able to without a pair bond ig, and frankly if Talak was gonna pair-bond with anyone it’d be Diorite (the OG dudes being pals) or Hallow. And yes I am noticing my own double standard here of “when I inevitably want to breed Carcass [an onsite female]” and wanting to get pups out of Leveret, vs “nah Talak can die a virgin actually.” Ah well.
- In other news, hmm, do I want to name Leveret’s pups…? I mean, I know I slapped names on the Y2 casualties, but I ultimately decided it’d be ooc for them to die nameless anyway. Leveret might not be so keen, at least not while they’re so young. (Makes me wonder if Aphid and Cricket named themselves, actually.) Also tbh I don’t want to “waste” names on pups who’ll most likely die—although said names can always come back Jackrabbit-style. Hrmmm. Plenty of people name pups for sale, so presumably that’s not a factor….
- What would Esker call them? Would they bestow upon these rando puppies religiously-significant names? I do kinda like the idea of Esker introducing them to $spirituality, even if it’s just some base form of animism; I kinda keep setting up the north as having some supernatural influence, and it’d only make sense if that went hand-in-hand with wolf belief systems. Also, like, aurora borealis?? FUCK did the Boreas wolves name themselves after that? Divine right of kings via ooh fancy color god???
- I don’t necessaaaarily want Esker to be a Boreas (or, well, ex-Boreas) wolf though. Despite having been found in the Desert I’m imagining they’re from the Tundra. Born to some religious sect, cast out for not being “faithful enough”—for constantly forgetting their duties, even if they showed no other signs of not being devoted? They’re over 4 years old and that’s plenty of time for a sordid history.
- Hmm, maybe Lev ran into them down south anyway? Realistically I don’t think Leveret would’ve traveled even further north, especially as it’s getting cold; could take a page from that “move south in the winter” strategy some players supposedly use. And as for why Esker’s way down there… hmm, something of a self-imposed exodus, like they gotta Prove themselves and test their faith even so far from the borealis? That Adds Something to wanting to help Lev out with the pups, too; if they live, and can be raised with such beliefs, it’s “proof” Esker is in fact Faithful Enough and will be allowed to return.
- IDK how Lev feels about this yet, but she might not be too reluctant, necessarily? I did note she and Drove rejected the surname tradition at first, which is a little more strong than just not being into it, even if Drove was more outspoken about it. (Oh hey, guess these two don’t fall into the outspoken sister/timid brother archetypes. smh can’t believe I only just noticed that) —Point being, they were reluctant to let go of their old ways, at least when it came to a name change. But things have changed quite a bit for Leveret, and something something people in a desperate place can be most open to suggestion. Besides, if it means having a companion, she can put up with some kooky-sounding shiny light rabbling.
- Oh yeah, aren’t the Aurora Borealis always changing? (Damn, I don’t regret selling glass-eyed cheeto, but now I want a glass eye keeper.) Sometimes wolves’ appearances change just like it, bam, Connection.
- TIL “aurora noise” is a thing and that’s cool as shit what the fuck. Possibly too high for wolves to hear but for Cool Lore purposes, like, wolves in the higher arctic (perhaps mountains) hearing that and interpreting it as the calls of their god(s)?
- I fucking love that there’s also an aurora called “STEVE” (a lil further down the page from ^that link). Humans are wonderful creatures.
- While I am not #science-y enough to understand all the electron cause stuff, the fact people had a two-hour telegraph conversation is so !!!!!!!
- I was spitballing the “divine right” thing and then I read the part about China’s legendary ancestor magically Happening when his mother saw the aurora, amazing. Oh yeah, I’m totally using that.
- Oh yeah, did I mention I was also getting vague Brother Bear vibes? Native connections, duh!! Man, now I wonder if there’s flavor text for that; don’t thiiink I’ve explored the glacier enough to see, or if I have then I didn’t take note. In either case, this and the divine right idea: Why Not Both. Not necessarily from the same groups, but if to the Boreas wolves the Big Head Lead (probably not Silverback) is descended from gods/a god, they can totally say the borealis are both gods and the spirits of past kings. And everyone else just becomes a star or raindrop or cloud or something. ~Sky stuff~ now with feudalist hierarchy!
- Motherfucking SPACE AURORA. That is all.
- Anyway, this thread’s just full of surprises, ain’t it. Sometimes you get Cool Aurora Facts. Thus concludes today’s Wikipedia-skim “research” but yeah cool shit.
- Expanding on the “not from the same groups” bit, and since Esker presumably passed but didn’t join the Boreas wolves: Esker’s pack believed the aurora borealis were all wolven spirits (who Believed, at least), and there was no such “only the leads join them” idea. (“Non-believers don’t count” is valid, though, probably. I don’t wanna make Christianity 2 so this doesn’t have to translate to a “therefore we must spread the faith” thing, but it’s still A Thing.)
- It’s at times like these I review the terms of service/code of conduct to make sure my writing isn’t like, verging too close on stuff you shouldn’t bring to Casual Wolf Gaem. I assume for fictional worldbuilding it’s fine as long as I don’t start like, discussing real-world religion in depth >_>" Anyway,,
- Religion in general is tied inextricably to morality, at least based on one (1) anthropology class; it serves both to explain the world and set guidelines for behavior, because it’s easier to get people to act in line if they believe An Almighty Force will strike them down—or, in less punitive terms, if acting $NotLikeThat will win the spirits’ favor. Certainly easier than always having to go around telling (or forcing) them what to do and why; to pull an example out my ass, “don’t steal because the gods will be mad” is shorter than “don’t steal because the one you steal from will be mad, and if you’re found out we’re all gonna have to weigh your value to the group against the fact you steal our shit.” (And hell, “stealing” isn’t even A Concept to cultures without ideas of personal possession, but that’s getting way off-topic. Although it’d probably apply to the Jackdaws, to some extent; they might store excess prey and herbs when they’re settled, but it’s understood those stores “belong to” everyone in the pack, no rationing.)
- Second daily dose of #EducationalContent aside, TL;DR is that Esker got kicked out for not remembering every minute daily ritual their former pack followed in service to the aurora spirit(s), but Esker was like “what if I prove myself even when I can’t see the spirits tho” and here they are. They ran into Leveret and decided that helping her, especially with pups, would serve as a test of their dedication, and she wasn’t gonna say no to a friendly helping
hand paw. - Big fucking F with all this hinging on the pup-raising when 3/4 are likely to die :^D I can already see Esker clinging to the surviving one anyway, especially when he gets #blessed with change on adolescence, like “rip to the others but you’re different.” Maybe they can start traveling north again before then, once the pups are weaned….
- That’s also a hell of a grounding motive for liverducat to whatever he ends up believing in: he was Chosen:TM:, not only the sole survivor (probably) of his litter but also elevated in a way only legendary wolves are, even though he wasn’t born in a pack. Perfect origin story for a truly mythical figure!! We’ll see if that goes to his head for self-aggrandizing purposes or if he just becomes The Most Devoted Follower Ever. Perhaps both.
- All this because I didn’t know what, if anything, to name the pups. But uhhh, you know what, if we’re running with a “sky spirit” idea, maybe Esker’s pack/belief was like, “believers get to join the ancestors in the eternal hunt (represented by the aurorae), and everyone else—including nonbelievers and those who died too young to hunt—becomes a star.” (StarClan 2 sounds great!) And eyyy, it’s recognizing beauty/significance in outsiders too, so no need to convert. Which makes sense, I think; I’m imagining them as perpetual nomads, following the changing skies (and also because practically the glacier/tundra may be unforgiving to anyone who wants to stay in one place), and the less they risk wars of the “follow us or die” kind, the better.
- BUT NAMES: Because the pack recognizes that pup mortality is high, and for every adult there’s countless fallen pups (which checks the fuck out to Leveret, after Y2), they don’t name pups until adolescence. I think I considered this for the Jackdaws but it ended up Not Happening, apparently, which Oriole probably had something to do with (also see: the Aspen pups being named shortly after birth), but this is
yet another goddamn NPC pack so they can have whatever traditions I want to stick on ‘em, no origin rationale necessary. So yeah, no names for pups, but when they reach adolescence (at which point they’re likely to survive into adulthood*), they undergo some coming-of-age ritual, probably a hunt or something, and as a reward they’re given adult names** and henceforth considered full members of the pack.- *This is unrealistic tbh, but so is wolves living to old age so often. Maybe if any non-liverducat pups make it this far I’ll impose another random death roll, if they don’t sell first.
- **Counterpoint: adolescence is A Construct (kind of; obviously it exists as a physical developmental phase, but the idea of a separate age group between child and adult is cultural), and Wolvden adols will probably be able to Do Things sooner or later anyway based on that newspost. So like, ~6 months, successful ceremony, You’re Adult Now.
- This might feel weird to Leveret, if her family followed the pup-name-at-birth idea. Maybe to them, names weren’t these Special Individual Things anyway? I imagined them as a small independent family moreso than an Established Pack, but matrilineally the tradition was just naming pups after an animal, and repeats between generations were almost inevitable and subsequently nbd. In any case, I’m not sure if naming one’s pups is considered heresay, but the facf Esker got kicked out for not following ritual suggests they have a bunch of highly-specific rules, some practical and some that just Happened after generations of facing whatever the glacier/tundra had to throw at them. All of which amounts to: no, don’t name your pups, for the practical reason of “that means Attachment which means extra heartbreak when they die, getting too invested in who you wanted them to be instead of finding solace in their place in the stars” and for the given reason “because it’s unlucky and the spirits will punish your individualism.”
- Whoops, there’s that cogs-in-the-machine mentality again. I’m not gonna say no though; it’s not like there are striking individual shapes within an aurora, at least not consistently so, and the stars are ultimately A Mass and only keen observers would notice patterns/constellations. Also, it helps that ever-important contrast with the Jackdaws. I mean, the Jackdaws (and their stragglers) could run into other individually-minded packs, but probably not for long durations because that would probably mean/result in having to Develop Other Individuals. Which is a liiiittle more creative effort than I’m willing to invest here.
- I mean, hell, maybe the feline pack was one such group, but they’re in the past and will almost definitely stay that way. Unless we move back to the Coniferous Forest but I’ll cross that dang bridge if I get to it.
- So yeah, basically, even if Leveret did reach for the cookie jar of pup names, Esker would slap her metaphorical hand away like “if you do that they’re gonna die.” Which is an early instance of her finding their beliefs not only odd but maybe a bit Much—but unfortunately, since the pups aren’t even weaned yet, there’s not a whole lot she can do about it. I sense brewing conflict. >:3c
- In unrelated news, I am finding so goddamn motherfucking many glaucous wolves in the desert that I might as well make an NPC glaucous cult in the desert. This is a joke idea but also not really, maybe tied to Glaucous’ (the wolf) origins idefk. Also I like how I keep saying I wanna develop her and Andesite/that whole side of the pack but hehe aurora wolves go brr—but hey, I got that supernatural/spiritual pelt-changing tidbit out of it, so).
- Hmmm. Esker might want to move the crew north when the pups wean, Leveret resists, idk if they split but Esker at least has liverducat on their side… Meanwhile, something something Things Happening with the Jackdaws, Andesite… actually, hm, it’d be kinda cool if the same Big Event went down and changed both on the same day, whether they’re together at that point in-lore or not? That might streamline it best; the Jackdaws alone wouldn’t know what the fuck to make of Andesite’s sudden transformation, but in comes that kid it also happened to and his mentor/guardian, and they have allllll the explanations and then some.
- Oh yeah, speaking of the Jackdaws, it’s autumn now. How’s that search for a home goin’?
- ”Big Event” <— psst, casual reminder taiga fires are a thing. Could even overlap with a forced move back to the coniferous forest if irl demands it. Food for thought ;Vc
- I maaay be back on my prose BS and here’s a tidbit: Puppies’ eyes and ears open around the same time (2 weeks), and before then, “Loud sound can damage a developing dogs' hearing for life at this young age.” I gotta recheck how young the Aspen pups were when the pack moved; might they have hearing problems?
- Meanwhile, feline-slaying quest and frustration over finding the dang hummingbird at full HP have driven me to explore the rainforest for the first time >:o glaucous is usually rescouting it to get even buffer but still.
- Welp, that was fast. Found nothing of note but maybe I’ll give this biome a try as my go-to non-desert explorations for a while, at least when glaucous isn’t scouting; it has those rare herbs, so 👀
- Trophy get: coyote skull! Very cool!!
- Open wound on Carcass from a successful porcupine hunt, smh. Insta-cured. Also, I like how you can barely see it.
- YO GOT A SULPHUR?? That base is way too pretty considering my main association with sulphur is that it smells like rotten eggs. Only a year old and with ~200 stats too, dang; I got half a mind to keep her as a future mate for liverducat. HMMMM.
- On the other hand, space…. Maybe I’ll put her up on the TC/a sales thread and see what (if any) offers come in. Might fuck around might test for mutations. Pessimistic could be a fun new personality, and I love the blue eyes/gold fur contrast even if she’s mostly markingless.
- Dangit, no mutations. But like. That bright, blinding gold. aaaaa
- I just barely have enough space for the three pups to grow up (2 adult spaces left now, 3 left if sulphur stays and Talak dies)—although hm, double-checking the ages, it looks like the Aspens will grow up before Talak kicks the bucket, if the Grouse House is right about the minimum death age being 7y6m. Talak will still be out before liverducat grows up, but we’re still cuttin’ it kiiinda close for comfort. And that’s not even mentioning the inevitable Andesite and/or glaucous pups :^D Might be forced to kick Leveret out/retire her early, boy.
- By “pessimistic could be fun” my first thought was like, paired with Leveret, but you know what could be fun? That, and also murder. Maybe. Maaaybe. But goddammit, even if her appearance is harder to explain from the far north, I can’t shake the idea of goldie here also being a follower of $whateverYouCallThisBeliefSystem, and also claiming she got transformed young. Can anyone validate that? No. But does Esker just nod along and go with it? Heck yeah.
- Friendship ended with the Jackdaws now this motley side crew is my new best friend. It’s like suddenly abandoning the main characters in favor of that side character who got put on a bus last season, except narrative coherency doesn’t matter because lore has no rules no gods no masters. They’ll join the Jackdaws eventually
probably I swear, - I mean, I could throw her directly at the Jackdaws instead. Team stoic/friendly will be full with Jackrabbit’s* addition, but she could be a backup finisher? scout in the interim? We love a plain-ass scout.
- *Side note, even if he’s named after Drove’s bro, I kinda wanna change Jackrabbit’s name and that is entirely because I keep wanting to type Jackdaw when I mean the boy. It has also just dawned on me that, if he’s finisher, then sulphur won’t be needed on this team ever. Hmm, since unlike Liesl I don’t have any particular plan for his character, maybe I’ll sell him eventually…? Aforementioned thing about not looking stunning applies, but idk.
Anyone reading this thread interested in a lore boi? Time will tell.
- —Actually I. Hm. Im Mr Fool we have two prospective finishers for the friendly/stoic squad, glaucous and Jackrabbit. The former has super high speed too but >:V it’d feel like a got damn waste. As would having Jackrabbit finish instead, though. I mean, glaucous is older, but neaaaarly lvl20, and that means I probably got over a year left with her.
- TL;DR I only really “needed” to keep Liesl from the getgo. Amazing. I wish you could specify which sub-role a solo hunter gains proficiency/stats in, and/or have more than two scouts, but alas. As with everything else though, plans be damned, and I’ll see what the game throws at me with time.
- UPDATE FOUND A CHASED WOLF FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE. BIOTITE LASS
- Says she was “created” yesterday (2021-01-14 22:19:27) too, dang; I guess that’s when she was chased? But YEAH GONNA SHOW OFF EVERYWHERE NOW WHAT A STEAL
- Observant too… the perfect personality for a spy…. 👌👌👌 Pretty young, though, dang (1y5.5m); wouldn’t she have been an adolescent when the pack moved last year? Interesting.
- Ignoring the hunting party dilemma, the space works out as long as I keep the squad (can’t say “the pack” anymore smh) exactly as they are—Talak just has to retire/die before the Aspens grow up (RIP), and Leveret yeets too before liverducat grows. Orrr I pull another Husk/Bone and let Jackrabbit run, which is certainly an option 🤔 Yeah, you know what, I think I’ll put him on the TC with no buyout for now; if anyone shows interest he’s gone, and if not then I figure things out the rollover before he’s set to grow. And I pray that rollover doesn’t overlap with a school day :^D
- Also, ‘nother change of plan (maybe): not breeding Andesite and glaucous this winter after all, at least not until they’re on their very last heat. Heir plans what heir plans, I just straight-up do not have the space to keep the potential next in line. Liesl can snag the spot or something. Maybe. For the second time today: aaaaaaaaaaaaa
- Plus there’s the whole “the Jackdaws have literally no reason to follow some bloodline bs” thing. Even if Diorite personally buys into it, why the fuck would anyone else follow. Personally I’d like him to have some onsite descendants, but like, Husk exists. so.
- >delayed realization that now I get to develop the feline-allied pack too to flesh out biotite’s backstory >stares directly into the camera
- She’s literally six months younger than Micah. The fact they had an adolescent scoping out the hostile pack sure is, uh, Something. Even if it was some kind of rite of passage, you’re really gonna throw her straight into the fray?? Was it an emergency move because their last spy died unexpectedly or something??? Leaning towards that, tbh.
- Also, what in god’s name was a young, growing wolf doing in the attack like that. Whether that pack has a concept of adolescence or not, the whole thing kinda just feels like tactical suicide. That part is easier to explain, though, as biotite acting out on her own, having a last-minute change of heart and wanting to help her friend. But the spying??
- I am playing topic pingpong SO MUCH today but I also just want to mention, it would actually be so fucking funny if Liesl took charge because like. I am clearly not doing a great job of sticking to monochrome wolves, but I’m at least trying to use that as a doorstop when it comes to keeping NBWs (uh, shaded and/or TIIs notwithstanding, ig) and when looking through sales threads. But like, making a completely brown wolf lead? All bets might as well be off. (As if they’re not already.)
- I think the moral of the story is that I just need to keep my adult slots full and stay far, far away from sales threads and the trading center. NBWs or breeding or to heck with it all.
- ”But you have great buying impulse control; it’s the NBW recruitment that’s been a Thing from day one.” Listne
- At this point I know better than to make any promises about the “last note for the day/night” but it is rollover in <20 minutes, so: final note of the post, confirmed the minimum death age is in fact 7y6m (Toshiro seems to have been hit by a bug), and the wolf stat spreadsheet has been updated accordingly.
- ahaha talak is not dying until after the aspens grow up and i Refuse to buy more space, we are fuuuuucked
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