View source for History of River Twine Holt

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''(article by Holly Hutchison & Whitney Ware - posted 07/31/06, updated 04/04/07)''


After the crash of the Palace, the trolls drove the Firstcomers and the Preservers far from the area (to the south and east, off the Holt map). The Firstcomers and their offspring (collectively known as the High Ones) spent many years struggling for survival, in a world in which their magical abilities were much weaker than they had been back on their native planet. One of the strategies they pursued was the study of the world's native creatures, and those among them who had the ability shape-changed in order to better understand how the animals lived successfully.

One of the Firstcomers, Zerran, studied and took on the form of the wolves; eventually he spent more of his time as a wolf than as an elf. As a wolf, he eventually became a pack-leader, and bred with natural wolves. This resulted in many offspring, some of which took after their wolfish mothers, but a few of which took more after their elvish father.

Halfwolf was one of those who looked like an even mixture of wolf and elf – but he was elvish enough to Recognize with some of the High Ones. His first offspring was Wolfsister. Halfwolf and several of his full and half siblings Recognized with a number of the High Ones, producing wolf-blooded, mortal offspring whose looks varied from a feral mixture of wolf and elf, to some who were all-but indistinguishable from the High Ones (except for their mortality, keener senses, and later tendency amongst the males to grow facefur). These included Eagle-Eye, Knifemaker, Crow, Moth, Cubmaker, Raincaller, Bravestride, and Greenleaf.

The High Ones and their wolf-blooded bretheren lived in harmony for many years, but eventually, there was increasing conflict between the aggressive, ambitious Wolfsister and Danos, the Firstcomer who was looked to as the leader of the elves. While all of the group valued the contributions of the wolf-bloods, there was a strong tendency to defer to the surviving Firstcomers for all decisions, and Wolfsister and some of her half-siblings began to chafe under that restriction. Eventually, when the ambitious Wolfsister proved unable to break the Firstcomers' supremacy, she decided to strike out on her own.

(The tale of the tribe's origin would come down to Zerran's descendants suggesting that Wolfsister and her group were driven out by the High Ones because of their wolf-blood. This spin on the story was started by Wolfsister herself, though it was supported, or at least not challenged, by the others who had come with her. The sense of exile, and lack of appreciation on the part of the High Ones, may have felt emotionally true to them.)

Wolfsister led a small group away, to find a new territory and establish themselves as a new tribe. She took with her most of her wolf-blooded kin, as well as some pureblooded High Ones who agreed with her criticism of the Firstcomers, and a handful of the Preservers who had always accompanied the elves since their original exile from the Palace. Wolfsister led her group northwestwards, back toward where the Firstcomers' stories indicated the Palace should be, with the Preservers helping to guide the way.

The journey back lasted a little more than a full turn of the seasons. Along the way, one child was born, the wolf-blooded Little Paw; but the group also lost members, including Halfwolf, his latest lovemate, and Little Paw's parents.

The small tribe eventually reached the area the Firstcomers' stories had told of, marked by the two great snowy peaks on the coast, between which many rivers twined – but they found no Palace awaiting them. Though the Preservers indicated that it was the right spot, they too were frustrated by their inability to locate the Palace itself. The Firstcomers had left behind a largely-intact Palace, and were unaware that in the ensuing years, the trolls had dismantled it, taking the shards into their underground caverns. The tribe today remains unaware that the shards of the Palace are underneath their feet.

Although there was no Palace, Wolfsister and her group also found no enemies (there being no surface evidence of the trolls and their great underground civilization), and the area was rich in game. So the tribe settled there, and has stayed in the area to this day.


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