Loopis Pack Lore [Read Only]

Loopis Pack Lore
                           
Summary

Above: First Leader Juneau (standing) and her mate, Sitka (sitting)
Reigned 17th August, 2022 (Winter, Year 1) - Current day

Mid Winter, Year 1

Year 1 of Juneau's Reign

It had been weeks since I last saw another wolf when I stumbled across Tala; thank the Mother she took me in. A "lone wolf" she called herself, though she would happily show me a thing or two so that I might start a pack of my own.

It was during a hunting trip together that we came across Sitka, his muzzle flecked with blood from a porcupine. Instantly I knew he was no threat to me  - there was something about his eyes that stopped me from slinking back into the brush, and cemented my gaze to his. They were bright blue, like the sky on a summer's day, and they felt just as warm.

I can't remember when Tala left, exactly, but it must've been after the birth of our first litter. I felt somewhat bereft, as if loosing my mother all over again, and apprehensive at facing motherhood without her guidance. Yet our pack had expanded threefold with Anchorage, Ketichikan, and Bethel. Mother knows what we would have done without them - Anchorage watches the pups whilst I'm away, Bethel scouts for new sources of food, and Sitka and Ketchikan spend their days amongst the trees chasing down rabbits and pheasants to feed us all. If I'm honest, this is more than I ever could have hoped for after being chased away from my birth pack.

I hope this lasts.

Above: First litter born to Juneau and Sitka; Kenai (left) and Kiana (right)
Born 19th August, 2022 (Winter, Year 1)

Spring, Year 1

Year 1 of Juneau's Reign

Anchorage's stomach swells with Sitka's pups. I want to chase them both for their betrayal, the meld of fury and hurt blinding my mind. The last time I felt this way, my own mother was nipping at my heels, driving me away from the den where she whelped me, pushing me out into the cold. I feel like I might collapse in on myself.

Early Summer, Year 1

Year 1 of Juneau's Reign

Both Anchorage and Bethel birthed their pups safely and delivered all seven alive - six boys and one girl. It is in the Mother's hands now if the pups survive to adolescence.

Anchorage's litter of males seem like a well tempered lot, whimpering little and content to nestle into their mother. Meanwhile Bethel's four are restless and mewling. I feel as they get older they will be a handful for Anc and Nanuq to care for. Despite this I can't help but like them more. Anchorage's pups look too much like Sitka - every time I look at them I struggle to suppress the hurt, anger, and jealousy welling up within my heart. I admit, I have avoided spending too much time with the pack. The wound is too fresh, and I wonder if it will ever fully heal.

My own two are strong enough to venture unguarded by a pupsitter. I've warned them about the dangers and not straying too far from the den. I pray they listen. Kenai is a sensible boy - he will take heed - yet Kiana can often be too confident in her own abilities. I worry about her sometimes, and that she'll drag her brother into trouble.

Family Tree Updates:

Above: Anchorage and her 1st litter, (from left to right: Adak, Anvik, and Ambler)
Born 28th August, 2022 (Early Summer, Year 1)

Above: Bethel and her 1st litter, (from left to right: Brevig, Burnaby, Selawik, and Seward)
Born 28th August, 2022 (Early Summer, Year 1)

Key Lore Events:

• Juneau and Anchorage are no longer friendly.
• Sitka and Juneau's relationship is strained.
• Kenai and Kiana are old enough to not need a pupsitter.
• Kodiak seems quieter than usual.

Today's Events:

Early Summer, Year 1

Year 1 of Juneau's Reign

Two weeks have passed since the pups were born, and so far all 7 are thriving, despite us not having enough pupsitters to keep an eye on everyone. I'll admit I half expected tragedy to befall us by now, but it looks like Mother Nature is on our side... at least for now.

Kenai and Kiana have grown so strong, I often see them tumbling over one another on the edges of clearing where we've denned the pups. Kiana seems to be more brutal with her attacks - her confidence giving her the upper hand against her brother, but he holds his own. I suspect it will only be a few more weeks before they're ready to learn how to take care of themselves. Before I know it, they'll be adults themselves. Perhaps they will want to leave and form packs of their own. Perhaps they will want to stay. Whatever they decide, I am so proud of my two eldest.

Juneau has been distant of late, spending an increasing amount of time out in the territory, patrolling. I'm worried I've caused too much damage to our relationship. I've been avoiding Anchorage and her pups out of shame and guilt from a moment's weakness. I wish I could take it back.

Spring, Year 2

Year 2 of Juneau's Reign

Key Events:

• Nanuq disappeared one morning with the majority of the pups. Anchorage claimed two males showed up whilst the rest of the pack were out hunting and overpowered her. Despite her injuries, Bethel blamed Anchorage for the pupknapping, and refuses to even talk to her anymore. She watches over her one remaining pup, Seward, like a hawk. Anchorage, meanwhile, has become bizarrely quiet following the incident, choosing to spend all of her spare time with the only pup she has left - Adak.
• Kiana and Kenai aged up into adults.
• Kiana left the pack. She joined The Magnolias Pack and whelped 2 pups, Red Velvet and Red Sunset by Akilah. link
• Kenai has decided to stay in the pack, but has no desire to lead like his mother. He seems to have little aptitude for it regardless.
• Juneau and Ketchikan came across an ageing wolf, Wicatawi, and both bore litters by him. Whilst Ketichikan was particularly charmed by the older wolf, Juneau's motivations were somewhat hubristic, with the end goal to hurt Sitka as he had her.
• Juneau and Sitka are no longer a breeding pair, yet Juneau refrains from chasing him out of the pack for Kenai's sake.
  

Above: Juneau's fur has slowly bleached in the sun from constant patrolling of her territory.
Left to right: Juneau's 2nd litter of pups, fathered by Wicatawi - Couver, Alaska, and Coquitlam.

Above: Ketchikan and her 1st litter, fathered by Wicatawi, from left to right: Coyote, Nightmute, and Kobuk.

Summer, Year 2

Year 2 of Juneau's Reign

• Kenai finally felt ready to leave the pack. He joined Todd and Wulfrun, and headed off to start his own life. Whilst Wulfrun split off, he and Todd, having become good friends, decided to stick together and settled into a new pack.
• Atka and Kodiak fell in love, decided to pairbond, and welcomed their first litter. Unfortunately, of the 4 Atka delivered, only one survived the birth. They named him Noorvik.
• Buckland and newcomer Koyuk fell in love and pairbonded.
• Seward, Bethel's last remaining pup, aged up into an adult, and decided to leave the pack. He settled into a new pack called Pack Pack Goose, where he became the breeding male.
• Emmonak joined the pack. Incredibly strong and very confident, Juneau has taken a particular liking to him.
• An outbreak of influenza is starting to spread through the pack. Juneau and Kodiak are already infected.

Above: Atka and her first pup, Noorvik.

Part of me thought Kenai would never leave. He seemed so comfortable and at ease staying with the pack, but the arrival of Wulfrun and Todd, with stories of their lives beyond our forests triggered something for him - a sense of adventure, I suppose. I will miss him, deeply. He is so like myself, it will hurt to see him go. Yet I hope he finds happiness wherever he finds himself, and that he thinks of his poor mother sometimes.

Autumn, Year 2

Year 2 of Juneau's Reign

• Juneau and Emmonak fell in loved and pairbonded.
• The six Wicatawi siblings aged up into adolescents.
• Diomede and Ketichikan finally admitted their attraction to one another and pairbonded.
• Diomede took his stepdaughter, Nightmute, under his wing as an apprentice herbalist.

Above: Diomede with Nightmute.

• The pack received the devastating news that both of Juneau and Sitka's granddaughters by Kiana (Red Velvet and Red Sunset) died due to a pox outbreak in their pack..
• Coquitlam and Alaska apprenticed as chasers
• Couver apprenticed as a finisher.
• Kobuk apprenticed as a stalker.
• Noorvik aged up into a puppy.

Above: Noorvik with his father, Kodiak.

Winter, Year 3

Year 3 of Juneau's Reign

• After the pupknapping, the pack never really recovered. Driven by paranoia, Juneau made the decision to move the pack further north. As the first snows of winter rolled in off the hills, the pack travelled north, as far away as they could get from the more populated forests, and settled on the barren wastes of the tundra. Whilst some might think it foolish, Juneau knows it was worth it, even if the pickings are slim.
• Kodiak and Emmonak found the ruins of a pack, killed by starvation, whilst scouting one day. Amongst the dead, they found a handful of pups still alive, and made the hard decision which pups they could carry back to the pack. Of the 5, they could only manage three between them - Ghost, Druid, and Elowyn. Ghost and Druid were adopted by Koyuk and Buckland, whilst Elowyn was taken in by Juneau and Emmonak.

Above: The three rescued pups from left to right  - Ghost, Druid, and Elowyn.

• Noorvik became an adolescent.
• The Wicatawi siblings became adults and formed their own hunting party, with Kobuk as stalker, Couver as finisher, and Coyote, Coquitlam, and Alaska as chasers. They called themselves the Beta hunting team.
• Adak decided to leave the pack.

Above: The six Wicatawi siblings, from left to right - Couver, Coquitlam, Alaska, Coyote, Kobuk, and Nightmute.

Mid Autumn, Year 3

Year 3 of Juneau's Reign

• Noorvik aged up into an adult. All was quiet at first, but it gradually became apparent that the yearling was an unsavoury character - stealing excess from the hoard and lying about it. It became such an issue that Juneau travelled out from the main pack one night to The Thicket and spoke to Kodiak and Atka herself.
  
  "The boy must go," she'd growled, already at the end of her tether. "I cannot have someone like this in the pack, not when there is so little food to go around as it is, and so many mouths to feed."
  
  It was Atka herself that chased him away from The Thicket one night, feeling sick to the very core of her being. But it was for the best. Perhaps he would return one day, a changed wolf.
  
  Cut deeply by their betrayal, Noorvik joined Starry Wanderers Pack, deciding never to return to his parents.
  



• The adolescent, Somber, joined the pack after being chased from her own.
  



• It wasn't the first time Bethel had felt the deep ache within her joints, but it was the first time that she had to stop mid-chase because the pain was growing too much to bear. Sitka, her old friend, had stalled at the sight of her slowing to a trot, her breath heaving out in ragged puffs of steam.
  
  Eyes roving over her in deep concern, he leant in close. "Beth, are you okay?"
  
  She was almost limping by the time they caught up with the Alpha hunting team. She hated the way they looked at her, as if she was weak, deep concern marring their young faces. She was growing older, and she had known for some time. The shadow of death was trailing her every step, his gentle paws itching to ease her pain. But she batted him away with every sunrise that crested the horizon. She would fight him for as long as she could - weeks, months... years... she would not let him take her without a fight, not when new life itself stirred within her belly.
  
  Bethel retired from hunting, with Kodiak taking her place in the Alpha team, to become a mentor. She also stole away one night for a few weeks, and came back visibly pregnant. At this point Juneau is no longer surprised by her antics, but does wonder if this litter will share the same father as her first.



• Starvation is a real threat in the wastes of the tundra and glacier. Prey is seldom found, and when it is, it's often more bones than meat. It's not uncommon to come across the macabre sight of a lone wolf or - sometimes - an entire pack, stiff as the ice around them, mouths agape. Sometimes one or two are clinging to life, but often any survivors are long gone. Occasionally Kodiak finds a pup nestled in the dying warmth of his mother's ribcage. Often the pups don't survive the journey back to the pack. Sometimes he is lucky, and they do. That was how he found Moody - barely a pile of bones - just like he had found Druid, Ghost, and Elowyn months earlier. If truths be told, he honestly hadn't expected the pup to make the journey back to his den with Atka, but the pup had surprised him. With his belly filled, and sleeping deeply against the heat of Atka's stomach, Kodiak had felt a deep ache within himself that he hadn't allowed himself to feel for months.
  
  "We could start again," Atka had whispered to the dark. "We could do better, with this pup, this son."
  
  He had remained silent for sometime, his muzzle resting heavily on his forepaws. "This son," he murmured heavily, "we already have a son."
  
  His mate had not replied. He suspected the comment had cut deep and true. He hadn't meant to wound her, but as usual his bluntness had wedged a rift between them. A rift that inched wider and wider with each heat that passed with no pups to show for it.
  
  Eventually, when no reply seemed likely, he clambered wearily to his feet and stepped closer, until he could feel the heat of her body radiating into the air around him. With a deep sigh, he nudged the pup closer to her ribs, and then settled himself down against her, so the little bag of bones was pressed firmly, safely, between them.
  
  "I thought we might name him Moody," he muttered.
  
  He felt her damp nose press against the fur of his cheek and smiled.