In-Play Concerns, How to go about replacing wolf-friends

Return to Wolves of River Twine Holt.

(this section is repeated in the Membership FAQ portion of the Wiki)

Although the wolves of the River Twine pack are significantly more long-lived than their natural cousins, they do have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years. Life for wolves is a dangerous thing, and wolves can die at any age from injury, starvation or illness. Most elves can expect to have *at least* four wolf-friends each century. In-play, this means that it won’t be unusual for characters to lose wolf-friends, and then have to forge new bonds.

The passing of a wolf-friend is an event due some respect, as is the experience of a new bonding. (And we hope you’ll memorialize both the loss and the new bond for your elf with fic or art!) Members who own characters with elderly wolves may also find themselves asked by the Council to have an old wolf pass on, in order to keep some balance in the pack.

To select a new wolf-friend for your elf, you have three choices:

a) select one of the currently available pups (pups are available on a first-come/first-serve basis)

b) select one of the available unbonded adult wolves described in the article above (note – when considering the adult wolf of your choice, consider why the mature wolf would be attracted to your elf as a bond-friend – many of these mature wolves are personalities in their own right, and a bond relationship is a two-way street!)

c) if there are no currently available pups, and none of the existing unbonded adults appeal to you, then put your name on a waiting list for the pick of next year’s litter!

Mature wolves will have some limited personality & physical description already determined for them, but members are free to create the personalities and descriptions for new pups, within the following guidelines:

• Pups can be bonded with at any point once they’ve physically begun to be weaned by the alpha female of the pack (pups are approximately six weeks of age at this point). Breeding season for the alpha male & female is normally late in the first month of the year; pups are born approximately 63 days later, early in the fourth month; pups would then be beginning to be weaned in mid-month of the fifth month. Additionally, wolves take at least a year to become full-grown; elf children might sneak rides on their wolf-bonds before a wolf is a full year of age, but this is frowned on, as it can cause damage to a wolf’s joints, causing future disability.

• We expect wolves to be “normal” looking: natural grey-wolf coloring is preferred with its natural range of color phasing allowed. Some allowance made for EQ-comics-style coloring (i.e. more solid coat colors). Please no wacky coloring/patterns. Albino wolves are extremely rare (no more than one at a time in the pack) and will be expected to have associated health issues: bonded albinos will always be omegas within the pack, and unless bonded as pups will be chased out of the pack at an early age.

• Wolves don't have the same range of eye colors as the elves. Eyes will be in a yellow/amber range, except for albino blue or pink. (While cubs, wolf eye colors will sometimes go through subtle color variations while the eyes change from the baby blue-grey color to adult gold.)

• You can submit drawn or painted artwork to represent your wolf. Otherwise, wolf photo portraits will be used to represent each wolf-friend. Please choose a snapshot from Monty Sloan's site (we have his permission to use his photos on our website as representational of our fictional pack). Please don't submit reference photos or art from anywhere else, without written permission of the photographer or artist. (If you have another reference pic you prefer, talk to one of our artists about creating a piece of art from it.)

• Throwback wolves are very rare, and will be limited to only two in-play within the pack at any time. (Our current throwbacks are Moss’s Weasel and Beetle’s Rooter.)

If at any time you intend to replace your character’s wolf-friend with a new one, email your wishes to the Council. (Understand that we do hope you’ll be creating fic or art to represent this important time of passage in your character’s life!) Additionally, every year in-play, the Council will look at the existing wolf pack and, taking into account the individual ages and temperaments of pack members, will shift the hierarchy accordingly. If you have any particular wishes for your character’s wolf-friend in term of increasing or deceasing their pack rank, please communicate this with the Council!

Additionally: once you determine you will replace an existing wolf-friend with a new one, you are asked to update your elf's CIS form with relevant information ASAP; please keep information regarding the old wolf under the "additional wolves" section of the CIS, for continuity purposes. We would also recommend posting a note to the message board regarding the new wolf friend, alerting other artists and authors to the date of the planned change.

Return to Wolves of River Twine Holt.

(Return to the River Twine Holt website.)