Garden of the Gods

Hello! Very new here and kind of just poking around. Bit of a learning curve but I'm trying to get into it. Still in tutorial as even though I started wolvden in January I forgot I did until June ^^'

Hosting a wardrobe design contest here for prizes, including a trophy! Come give it a try

Fun fact: a superstition among those living in the Garden of the Gods is that wolves born under the full moon are blessed with great hunting ability, whereas those born under the new moon are blessed with the skill and wisdom to excel as herbalists. Given that the Goddess of Hunting, Leia, is associated with the full moon and her brother Leos, the God of Healing is associated with the new, you can see where this belief comes from.

Want to know more about the gods and demons? I have a WIP lore thread here going into detail about all of it! There's not much right now but I'm working on it

Also got 7th on the Deciduous Forest fishing leaderboard 6/17/24. Somehow O.o

Had my first puppy death 6/27/24, RIP Blueberry. Your story was wholesome until it wasn't 😭

7/16/2024 got a brachy first try! It's my first lethal ever

Side note, why is EVERYONE always born on the full or new moon?! Like seriously, I've had a grand total of one (one!) puppy not born on those nights and its getting ridiculous at this point

~*~

In the heavens dwell the gods, immortal beings of immense power who each oversee their domain of influence. The greater gods are those with vast domains, such as the God of Death, while minor gods are those with more specific domains. This is the story of one of them: Aleph, God of Groves, and how he came to reside on the mortal plane.

See, the gods are locked in an eternal war against the demons of the underworld (NOT the land of the dead, that's different). Demons can't do anything on their own as they're insubstantial on the mortal plane, so to get around this, they make deals with mortal wolves. Not for their eternal souls, that's beyond their purview, but their mortal bodies. In exchange for a mortal vessel offered up by the dealmaking wolf, they'll grant whatever wishes the wolf in question desires - with the exception of resurrecting the dead, of course. Nox has quite thoroughly squashed any and all attempts to break into the land of the dead to the point that these demonic beings actually have generational trauma from it.

As for the God of Groves, Aleph had gotten sick and tired of the gods claiming to shower faithful mortals with their benevolence while actually doing very little unless it directly inconvenienced them (with Nox, Leos, Behi, and Leto being the notable exceptions, but even they never bothered to leave the heavens save for when duty demanded it). These were the people whose faith and worship gave the gods their power - without them, the gods would be nothing. And yet here they were, spouting off about their benevolence while leaving the prayers of their worshippers unanswered in favor of lounging around doing whatever they wanted, deigning to intervene in the lives of mortals only enough to keep their faith.

Finally, Aleph had had enough. The gods wanted to sit on their high thrones demanding worship from mortals they claimed to love but did nothing to earn it in return? He'd go down and do it himself. So Aleph snuck off from the heavens, descending to the mortal plane at the edge of the world, far from prying godly eyes. Not that he really had to do much sneaking - who among the greater pantheon cared for the doings of the minor gods, after all? Unless it was a direct inconvenience or affront to their pride of course, but Aleph was being careful so he should be fine. As long as he didn't flaunt his little paradise in their faces, they wouldn't even notice he was gone, much less actively on the mortal plane.

(Leto and Nox noticed, of course - how could they not when all pairbonds invoke the God of Love to bless their union, and the Goddess of Death comes for all mortals in the end to take them to her realm? But they agreed not to tattle on him so crisis averted.)

And so the Garden of the Gods was born. Here in this sacred grove in the glacier, wolves of all kinds can find shelter and safety. Here is a place where demons cannot touch and starvation visits never. Aleph can't say it's been easy, and he's learned the hard way that here on the mortal plane, even gods can get sick and injured. But it's worth it. These are his people, and he is their god. It's his responsibility to do nothing less than his best for them. And with every new life born beneath his boughs, new lives that may very well not have existed had he not descended to the mortal plane, Aleph knows he's made the right decision.

~*~

The Pantheon of Gods

The Greater Gods:
- Leia, Goddess of Hunting
- Leos, God of Healing
- Nox, Goddess of Death
- Leto, God of Love (design by Angawd!)
- Sarabi, Goddess of Skies
- Zoë, Goddess of Waters
- Dereth, God of Land
- Siroc, God of Seasons and Change
- Behi, God of Truth and Patron of Trans Wolves (use opposite gender pronouns of yours to refer to Behi or they/them if not binary)
- Mira, Goddess of Luck, Karma, and Curses
- Pan, God of Music
- Yelena, Goddess of Crafting

Minor Gods:
- Aleph, God of Groves
- Erani, Goddess of Springs
- Nero, God of Youth and Guardian of Puppies
- Kuranda, Goddess of Rain
- Rylene, Goddess of Lightning
- Irae, God of Travelers
- Roy, God of Flames

~*~

Goals:
1) Successfully locate a genetic carrier in the wild
2) Get or breed a black panda + blue moon eyes wolf
3) Get or breed a coyote lookalike
4) Have every wolf in my pack have bios and be decorated ^-^
5) Have twins
6) Host a traveling wolf! ✅
7) Give the other gods actual designs in wardrobe