Overview
Wolf Men are the furred kin of the conifer forest. They live in the hollow oaks, hunt in the deep dark, and they consider the pack a promise rather than a family.
Habitat
Wolf-men live in the conifer forest — their home is Howling Fen, a conifer forest of hollow oaks where the dens are carved and the howls carry for miles. They need three things: a ground that is deep enough to dig, a dark that is cold enough to be honest, and a howl that is wide enough to carry. They are settled around the dens, with hunting-lines in the deep forest; a wolf-man who has not howled with the pack in a season is called "the one who forgot the howl."
Appearance
A wolf-man silhouette is the heavy, low, broad shape with the fur — thick-limbed, broad-shouldered, with the head that sits a little too low on the body, like a word that is waiting to be spoken, and the tail that is a separate sentence from the body. Males stand 1.52 m to 1.68 m, 82 kg–109 kg, heavier through the jaw and shoulder, with a thick grey coat and a lower, longer howl; females 1.52 m, 73 kg–95 kg, leaner and quicker, with a shorter howl that carries further. Skin is a deep, warm umber to a soft, muddy brown, with a faint, almost imperceptible warmth to the cheekbones and a network of fine, pale veins at the temples that show when a wolf-man is roused. The fur is the crown: a thick, dense coat in a range from deep grey-brown to a true, quiet black, matted with the forest, with the fur-tips a clean, deliberate bone-white that is the wolf line's most persistent claim, and the fur is the wolf-man's most persistent identifier at any distance. The ears are the tell: a pair of true, pointed ears, set high on the skull, in the same grey-brown as the coat, with a fine, clean white at the inner edge, and the ears are the wolf-man's most persistent claim — they turn, always, toward the sound that is not a sound. The eyes are large and a pale, luminous amber, with a slow, deliberate blink and a depth that makes them look like they are looking at something behind the person they are talking to — and in most cases, they are, and what they are looking at is the direction of the hunt, and the direction is the point. The claws are the crown: a set of true, long, curved claws, in a range from deep umber to a true, quiet black, with the claw-tips a clean, deliberate bone-white that is the wolf line's most persistent claim, and the claws are always clean, and the cleaning is the point. The tail is the tell: a long, thick tail, in the same grey-brown as the coat, with a clean, deliberate bone-white tip, worn as a mark of the blood, and the tail is the wolf-man's only ornament. Males carry the wolf line in the jaw and the shoulders; females in the neck and the tail. Elders are marked by a full silver-grey coat and a back that has stopped trying to be straight — an old wolf-man moves with a slow, deliberate economy, like a forest that has decided to stay. Everyday wear: a simple, clean tunic in a muted umber or soft grey, a thin leather belt, and no boots, because a wolf-man does not announce their arrival and does not touch the ground more than they have to.
Behavior
Disposition: pack, territorial, honor-bound, patient. In peace, wolf-men are quiet, watchful, and absolutely incapable of being rushed — they have the forest, and they let you know it. In war they fight as the pack, and the pack is the point. Strangers are either meat or a story, and the story is usually the worse one. The social unit is the pack, 15–40 strong, led by the Matriarch — no pack follows a male, and a male who says otherwise is already outside the circle. Two signature quirks: a wolf-man who is being lied to will not call it out — they will simply ask a follow-up question that the liar cannot answer, and let the silence do the work. And they keep their howl for a lifetime, and they remember who broke it, and the remembering is a form of patience that mortal races find unsettling.
Warfare & Markings
Tactics: pack-hunt — the wolf-man line runs and does not stop, and the running is the point. Armor: none, by choice — a wolf-man who wears armor has already decided the fur is not enough. Weapons: the short spear, the claw that is not a weapon but is used like one, and the howl that is not a weapon but is used like one. War markings: the Claw-Notch, a single, deliberate chip in the left claw for every hunt survived, worn as a record of the long run; the Pack-Knot, a single knot in the tail-braid for every pack oath kept, in deep grey-brown; and the Howl-Brand, a small, deliberate mark on the inner wrist — the first word the wearer spoke in the wolf tongue, worn as a mark of the beginning. Post-battle: the dead are carried back, their names howled over the den, and their spears laid across the threshold — a wolf-man buried without their spear is buried as a stranger.
Magic Alignment
Primary domain: wild — wolf-man magic is the pack, the patient, precise holding of the hunt across the forest. Secondaries: shadow and oath. Named inborns: Pack-Sense (a wolf-man can feel the pack's mood the way a sailor feels the wind), Deep-Dark Sight (a wolf-man sees in the dark the way a human sees in the light, and the seeing is not a choice), Howl-Carry (a wolf-man's howl carries for miles, and the carrying is not a choice). Signature power: the Pack Word — a wolf-man can speak a word in the wolf tongue and let it land across a lifetime, and the word will keep the forest's faith. Limitation: wolf-man magic is spent on the forest; a wolf-man who has spent their pack word must stand still for one day, and the day is the worst one of the fen.
Religion
Wolf-men keep Korrath, the Fang as their primary god — the wild, the hunt, the survival that is the forest's own law. The forest is Korrath's, and the wolf-man is the forest's voice. Vessurax, the Veiled Eye is honored at the pack-rites; the dark is Vessurax's, and the wolf-man is the dark's walker. Priestly class: the Matriarch, who keeps the den-temple and speaks the pack word at every rite. Heresy is not blasphemy — it is a word broken in the pack, and there is no rite for that one; the pack simply stops remembering the breaker.
Society
Packs of 15–40, led by the Matriarch, rank decided by the hunt — who brings the pack its food. Outsiders are either meat or a story, and the story is usually the worse one.
Home
They live in Howling Fen, a conifer forest of hollow oaks where the dens are carved and the howls carry for miles.
Relations
The "you are either meat or a story" faction — forest allies whose price is a life, and rivals whose howl is the last sound you hear. The Orc clans of the fang are the big neighbors the pack does not fight — the orc keeps the war and the wolf-man keeps the forest, and the two have learned that a war that is not howled is a war that is not a story, and the not-howling is the whole of the peace. The Ogres of the marsh are the neighbors the pack keeps a distance from — the ogre keeps the wall and the wolf-man keeps the pack, and the ogre who has been chosen is the ogre the forest has already decided is a life, and the deciding is the whole of the law. The Goblins of the warrens are the small kin the howl tolerates — the goblin keeps the burrow and the wolf-man keeps the forest, and the goblin who has been heard is the goblin the pack has already decided is meat, and the deciding is the whole of the distance. The Frost-Bear of the frostfield is the neighbor the pack does not invite — the bear keeps the frost and the wolf-man keeps the howl, and the two have learned that a frost that is not howled is a frost that is not a story, and the not-howling is the whole of the law. Above, the ground-folk of The Forgotten are the ones the forest tests most often, and the testing is the whole of the bond, because the forgotten are the ones the pack keeps the life for, and the keeping is the whole of the promise. Uaellaen keeps a page of the forest in the wiki — the howl, the life, the choice that is the last sound — and the keeping is the whole of the record, because the camp has learned that a wolf-man who has been written about is a wolf-man who has been chosen with, and the choosing-with is the whole of the welcome.
In the Story
In the current story, the wolf-men are the howl in the forest — the life Uaellaen writes about when the story is the law. The Forgotten keep their distance at the forest line, and the distance has held for two seasons. This season a life came up from the forest that is not in the pack — a life the Matriarch does not remember choosing, and the not-remembering is the whole of the warning, because the forest keeps its howl, and the howl has started to choose itself. The choosing is the hand the camp has not been shown.
You walk through our forest and you make a sound. Good. Now we know where you are, and you have made our choice for us. — Matriarch Vessa the Grey