The Saahasi (Wolf pack)

[Chibiabos]

Anyone interested in Indian Wolves?

This is the pack Gyarahabala belongs to (see my Gyarahabala thread in the General section). Gyarahabala would be a pack elder; he would never have been alpha due to his specific history. He is one of the many heroes of the great war against The Clan (see: Badajiva character thread in the General folder). He lost a foreleg when he was in his prime in an almost completely failed attempt to fend off The Clan's Raja from slaughtering the pack's pups while the alphas were away (Gyarahabala was the lone pupsitter at the time; the pack, of course had no idea the tigers would come to kill their pups). Only one of that litter of pups was saved, and both Gyarahabala and that last pup were about to be finished off by the tiger when the alphas finally made it back to the den with the hunting party and managed to drive the Raja back.

The loss of so many pups and Gyarahabala's devastating wounds was a terrible blow for the pack's spirit, but with resolve, they came through it. A group of dholes, facing the same menace, joined The Saahasi pack along with a pride of lions and an assortment of a wide variety of other beasts -- including several rogue tigers -- and eventually, in a terrible and deadly battle -- killed The Raja and brought and end to The Clan's reign.

That battle was long ago, and Gyarahabala is now old. Wolves in their prime now were mere pups, if they even existed at the time of the Battle, but his name is revered as a war hero. Gyarahabala's name would be known not only to The Saahasi, but far and wide as well as the Battle passes from memory into legend.

It'd be great to have 'the next generation' about, if anyone else is interested in wolves and would like to lead as pack alphas.

[agni]

I'm interested, as my character Agni (yet to have a profile) will be an Indian Wolf. Though, Agni won't be looking to be an Alpha even if he has the makings of one. He's a rogue that might be beneficial to the pack, however.

[Deo]

I am definitely interested in playing a wolf here. Depending on my availability (which is intermittent at best right now, but should be improving in the near future) I could possibly -maybe- take on a leader spot if there aren't any other takers. I do I have a few thoughts about how the group might be structured, if that be the case. Hoping this isn't too forward, I'll toss out a few ideas.

Just for anyone who isn't familiar with them, Indian wolves are a little different than northern wolves in that they usually don't form big packs, instead hunting strategically in pairs or small groups consisting of parents and offspring. I think in this case I would like to see the 'pack' be a coalition of many of these groups. They would by and large live and hunt as individual families, while still recognizing and honoring their connectedness and strength as a larger entity, assembling frequently to exchange news, hold ceremony, socialize and, if need be, to defend from an enemy group.

This also would allow the wolf population (assuming that wolves end up being popular, as they tend to) to be more spread out over the grid interacting with other species instead of isolating themselves to a little patch of territory repeating the same inter-pack interaction ad nauseam.

Since the 'pack' isn't as rigidly composed as the northern wolves' would be, the hierarchy would be a loose structure of potentially three tiers:

First, the Sira (Head), the leaders, a pair of experienced adults that has demonstrated appropriate hunting prowess, wisdom and integrity to be entrusted to make decisions for the group. Since such decisions are not commonly or lightly made, the main function of the Sira is to ensure that the traditions of the pack are upheld, to mediate conflicts, and to preside at assembly and ceremony.

Second, and the meat and bones of the pack, are the Dhara (Body), the hunting pairs. Elders, though they no longer hunt, are still respected as equals in this category.

And third are the Puncha (Tail), the bone-pickers that scavenge from their fellow wolves rather than hunting and are held in lower regard by the others (when tolerated at all). Lone hunting wolves not related to the pack, called Won-tola, are tolerated within the territory so long as they aren't a threat but, are expected to be present and accountable at the pack assemblies.

Needless to say, there are a lot more details that can be fleshed out as to the culture and traditions of the pack. I would like to hear others' ideas. If anyone is familiar with Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (not the movie, mind), this is roughly the sort of atmosphere I personally would like to see... without blatantly ripping it off, of course. ;3

[Chibiabos]

A bit more detail.

The Saahasi Wolf Pack

The Saahasi wolf pack first formed ten generations ago, when Saahasi, a then-young male from the Ek pack and chosen heir to its alphaship, and Dileri, a then-young female from the Changul pack, forged a friendship that grew into a bond even as their rival birth-packs incited themselves and each other into a war from relatively minor disagreements one-upped into blood feuds mostly by the packs' elders and leadership.

A small smattering of wolves from both packs eventually joined the pair. The Ek and Changul wound up utterly destroying each other in an all-out war referred to as simply The Paagal Raktpaat (Crazy Bloodshed), with few loyal survivors -- nowhere near enough to rebuild either. One such survivor, still loyal to Ek even after its demise, was Saahasi's own brother Bal, who had envied Saahasi after their parents in Ek bestowed favored heir status upon Saahasi. Bal's envy from cubhood had transformed into a blood-enraged hatred of Saahasi, calling Saahasi a traitor for not remaining loyal to Ek and entangling himself with a Changul. Bal attacked Dileri suddenly, and Saahasi then tore into Bal. The fight between the brothers was terrible and ferocious and Saahasi was forced to kill Bal, but incurred mortal wounds of his own during the fight and succumbed to them a month later.

In the time between killing his own Bal and succumbing to the wounds, Saahasi tried to make sense of what had happened. The war, his beloved Dileri, and having had to kill his own brother. He told his beloved Dileri and the small smattering of wolves that had joined them that Swaamibhakti and Ahankaar -- loyalty and pride -- were beasts that could be fiercer than tigers and more deadly than a rampaging herd of elephants. Saahasi's pack gained in strength after he passed, and took his lessons to heart. Swaamibhakti and Ahankaar, over time, became cani-pomorphized "bogey monsters" to get wayward pups in the pack to behave and a caution to each other when a pack member started putting loyalty or pride before reason.

Unfortunately, as with many beginnings of successful packs, the lessons of the past tend to get lost through the generations, even though the warnings of Swaamibhakti and Ahankaar were passed down and chanted, their meaning became lost on several generations.

More recently, the eighth generation had a refresher when scandal broke out: a pack omega female, Konpal, had mated with a beta male, Geet. As with all packs, without explicit permission from the alphas, only the alphas may mate. The eighth alpha male to succeed Saahasi, Paadri, was so enraged by the scandalous affair that he killed Geet. The Saahasi pack had been gradually, unsteadily increasing in strength, but when Paadri killed Geet, underlings in the pack -- and his own mate, Alphess Kaleja -- turned on Paadri and forced him into exile from the pack. The pack struggled to pull together, and it took a lot of sacrifice and hard work to feed both Kaleja and Konpal's pups. It was no easy task, and the sacrifices were felt by all; the pack members grew thin and gaunt to ensure none of the puppies would starve. It grew more difficult as the pups grew into adolescents. Weakened by their sacrifice, the hunters had trouble hunting even when they did find sizeable prey. Another Saahasi beta male, a quiet, stern wolf named Rookhah, stepped up to the role of alpha male. Few in the Saahasi liked him, as he was -- well -- stern and difficult to get along with. Between an unfondness for Rookhah and upset at the aftermath of an alpha killing and underling, and subsequently being exiled, several pack members left of their own accord, including skilled hunters, leaving even fewer to hunt to feed the pack.

One of Konpal's pups, a daughter named Aaveg, met a meandering young male wolf her age named Shikaari, the sole surviving son of a pair of nomadic wolves. The difficult life of lone wolves meant Shikaari had to learn to hunt from an early age, and his talents were already keen and sharp, even not fully grown, and -- to many's surprise -- the grumpy Rookhah welcomed Shikaari into the Saahasi's ranks.

Not long after, while scouting the territory, Rookhah encountered another young male, Gyarahabala, as he accidentally crossed into the pack's territory while relentlessly persuing a large hare. Rookhah offered Gyarahabala a place within the pack as well. Gyarahabala had left his own birth-pack, quite distant from The Saahasi pack, when he found he was not the favored son.

Gyarahabala did not take long in oggling over Aaveg, and he and Shikaari became fiercely competitive, each trying to out-do one another for Aaveg's affections. They wrestled for rank among each other, and went to great lengths to hunt more for the pack, and their fierce yet sporting competition for Aaveg's affection helped drive them to pull more than their weight for the pack. The champion among them tended to swap ... Gyarahabala would come out on top one turn, Shikaari the next. They both earned Beta ranking fairly young, under Rookhah's quiet, watchful eye. Some began to realize Rookhah had been direly underestimated, and when it came time for him to retire, he was much more deeply revered and respected; many realized he knew exactly what he was doing by allowing two strangers to join their ranks, bringing fresh blood and vigor that brought the pack back from the brink of starvation and disaster. Rookhah and Kaleja both decided that, though Kaleja had several good pups worthy of naming an heir, they named Konpal's daughter Aaveg as heiress, and the role of alpha male successor to Rookhah would be worked out between Gyarahabala and Shikaari's challenges.

Gyarahabala actually earned the first turn as alpha, but before the mating season, Shikaari won back "top dog." Their friendly competitiveness remained strong, but matured, and Gyarahabala naturally halted his challenges to win back the position of Alpha back while Aaveg bore her first litter from Shikaari. He did, of course, intend to challenge again the next year ... but that would never happen.

It was around this time that Vijayi, a large, bold and brutish tiger, began his brutal rise to power. When Aaveg's pups by Shikaari were only a few months old, and Aaveg finally worked herself to part with her pups for the first time to join a hunting party, Gyarahabala was left with pup-sitting duty. Thanks in no small part to his ongoing rivalry with Shikaari, Gyarahabala was quite strong, and no one perceived anything might happen he could not deal with -- but that assumption of safety with his strength proved direly false. Suddenly, with no warning, having somehow snuck himself past the border guards, Vijavi struck -- directly into the pups!

Gyarahabala was completely taken off guard, and Vijavi had already slain two by the time Gyarahabala managed to get a nip in. It was an utterly futile fight, as a wolf is dwarfed by a tiger -- and even as tigers go, Vijavi was huge. Gyarahabala did everything he could to make himself a more pressing target as Vijavi killed pup after pup. It was only when one single pup out of the six in the litter remained that Gyarahabala managed to get a neckbite in on Vijavi serious enough to draw the pup-killing tiger's attention.

Gyarahabala knew he could not win the fight, but it did not matter. He knew he could not simply give up, even knowing he was doomed, and he needed to buy every last second he could for reinforcements, and kept himself pressed tightly into the thrashing tiger to keep himself too close for Vijavi to use his massive claws.

Gyarahabala's strength began to wane inevitably, however, and Vijavi managed to finally rip Gyarahabala from his throat and fling him like a ragdoll into a boulder. Gyarahabala crumbled, but refused to give up, and charged to try and attack again, but Vijavi countered, quickly snapping his jaws around Gyarahabala's left foreleg, holding him fast and hard. Vijavi bit down hard, completely snapping through Gyarahabala's leg, then struck a powerful blow with his own foreclaw, throwing Gyarahabala back again into the boulder, even harder. Gyarahabala was then unable to move, crumbling into a bloody mess by the boulder.

Vijavi turned back to hunt down the last pup when, finally, Shikaari, Aaveg and their hunting party arrived and immediately went into action. They harrassed Vijavi and managed to drive him off before he could kill the final pup.

The aftermath was devastation ... five of six pups, dead, and their powerful Beta, Gyarahabala, crippled and near death.

Though he received no serious wounds, Shikaari had never felt so weak at the sight of his children slaughtered, and Gyarahabala -- who had been such a thorny rival -- torn asunder. Shikaari had not realized how close he and Gyarahabala had come to one another until he saw his rival, and now trusted beta and pupsitter, bleeding.

Gyarahabala was conscious, but in terrible pain and unable to move. Considering himself crippled, and so heavily burdened with both the pain of feeling he had failed in his duties to guard the pups and the terrible physical pain in his body, pleaded with Shikaari to grant him a merciful, quick death.

Shikaari could not make sense of the world. His rival was at his paws, begging for a merciful release ... but Shikaari could not go through with it. Shikaari had no real solid spiritual beliefs -- his parents had been mere nomads, after all, with no real lore of their own. He felt a definite need for some greater power's help, however, and his mind settled on this pack he had joined and earned leadership over.

"Saahasi, founder of this great pack," he uttered a quick prayer before even realizing he was praying, "guide me now. Help me pull Gyarahabala back from death. Grant Gyarahabala the strength to avenge this day. Show us the way!"

Shikaari had Gyarahabala's wounds tended to, and ensured he was fed. He tended to his second-in-command, night and day, as Gyarahabala learned to walk on three legs instead of four. Tirelessly, Shikaari was there, helping Gyarahabala up when he fell, and using their rivalrous ways to challenge Gyarahabala to keep trying. It took many long, painful months, but Gyarahabala learned to not only walk, but run, and -- as strong as he was before the attack, he became even stronger afterward. All notions of rivalry vanished, however, and Gyarahabala readily accepted his place, proud to serve as beta to Shikaari.

From time to time, Shikaari felt shifts in the wind guiding him off, sometimes far from the packlands. They guided him to a cunning pack of dholes and a pride of lions, each also having suffered terrible attacks from Vijayi and his rapidly growing harem. Over time, the wolves, dholes and lions found other allies and worked with one another, overlooking the bloody rivalries they had with each other in the past, and developed cunning plans to weaken the Sakht Nakh and kill Vijayi.

When it came time for the final attack that would kill Vijayi, Gyarahabala did not take a back seat. The three-legged wolf was probably the greatest surprise in his boldness, using feints and quick reflexes to wary the tigresses and Vijayi himself to attack, so masterfully executed that he managed to get them to strike one another while attempting to strike him. The Sakht Nakh were mighty, but Gyarahabala destroyed their unity and cohesion when they most needed it -- while under attack -- leaving them in chaos and confusion. He would steal their focus and attention, allowing a Do-Rakaana tiger to strike from the rear, and when an attacking lion would earn the focus of one of their defenders, he would slide in and take their jugular vein before they even realized he was attacking. The one relatively small wolf, on three legs, delivering the killing bites to four Nakht Rakh tigresses himself, including the clan's Mahaaraani (empress), Thataka, who was also the mother of Vijayi's chosen heir. That final death forced Vijayi's focus on Gyarahabala, which blinded Vijayi from his own heir-turned-vanquisher.

Time has passed, a great deal of it. Shaakari and Aaveg both have fallen to it after leading long lives; yet Gyarahabala remains even longer lived. The cooperation required among so many beasts -- wolves, lions, dholes and other tigers -- to defeat the Sakht Nakh, the fervor of the war and how closely they have worked with one another has seared Gyarahabala's name into legend, and even non-wolves weep at the story of the Saahasi pack's pups being slaughtered, and cheer at the notion that a loving family devastated by such tragedy can overcome it to rein ultimate victory. There is much for the current generation of Saahasi to live up to. It would certainly give rise to pride. I won't set the name of the surviving pup from that litter, but he/she would make a good successor to alphaship. The pack should be good, but pride from their legendary victory might make at least some of them a bit arrogant and forgetful of the lessons of the past.

[Deo]

Thanks for the background info Chibi. The history of the Saahasi doesn't seem to contradict with any of my ideas so far as I can see (since it says a lot about events and less about the composition and traditions of the group), but I was hoping for some feedback on my post, and would still like your (and anyone else's) thoughts on the current structure of the pack before I decide whether I would like my character to lead or even take part as a member. :3 Thanks.

[Satya]

Deo - the wolf structure you're proposing seems pretty interesting. It also seems pretty similar to what dholes have - small hunting groups linked together into a bigger social structure. Might be interesting to consider how the species would inter-relate with each other... It would be nice if people felt that as a wolf /or/ dhole they could range freely and interact with each other over a large swathe of the muck instead of all clustering together in one spot.

[Chibiabos]

I'm okay with changes to the structure of the pack, especially to have positions instead of just ranks, and renaming the ranks for those who grit their teeth at alpha/beta/etc., but its my understanding they form packs as solid as other grey wolves, just not as large.

[Deo]

I'm no expert by any means. Evidenced by the fact that I was getting most of my information on Indian Wolves from wikipedia (and everything else I know about them I learned from The Jungle Book, which is.. well, questionably accurate). According to wiki, "Indian wolves do not form large packs like northern wolves, though they have been shown to tolerate crowding conditions in captivity better.[2] Packs typically consist of a nuclear family of six to eight animals, though pairs are more common," So there is a lot of flexibility as far as the size of the groups and whom they consist of.

I do like the idea of having a *large* pack of 50-60 wolves, made up of these smaller groups. Of course I'm not expecting them all to have players, most of them would be spoofed during the assemblies and ceremonies and whatnot. And I know some people will cringe at that idea, but if I end up leading the group it would be a peaceful one, not interested in war (except in defense of the pack itself), and I would have no intention of using the spoofed characters to powergame and so forth. Indian wolves are smaller than northern wolves, generally, so defending against an adversary like a group of tigers (or even a single one) would definitely require strength in numbers.

Reading through your post again, the only thing that really conflicts with mine is the existence of a 'Beta' rank, though I wouldn't mind implementing that so things can make sense. And noooooow.... I will ponder on my wolf character some more. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Avalikia]

I think that what Deo is saying about making the pack a 'group of groups' is actually a very good idea to consider. Since Indian wolves have smaller packs and my experience shows that a solid RP group is about 20-25 characters, give or take. That's a lot more than the average Indian wolf pack. However, you also don't want to make a pack structure where it would seem odd for any given member of the pack to be with any other member of the pack because that makes it more difficult to scene even within the pack. Sometimes it's best to forget about some of the realism just for the sake of making something that works as a part of a game.

[Deo]

I would have no problems with the mini-groups interacting with each other outside of the assemblies whenever they felt like it. The purpose of the assemblies, really, is just to make that kind of socialization more convenient without forcing everyone to stay together on the grid continuously. That, and because a big meeting of wolves would just be totally bad-ass.

[Chibiabos]

Unfortunately, if there were 20-25 "members" of a wolf pack, we'd be lucky to have 5 who were regularly active. That's one of the realism versus playability things. Look at the members of the groups at PC and Meadows, how many are actually active? If we had 20-25 members in 4-5 "mini-packs," each "mini-pack" would be lucky to have a single active member. That's one of my concerns there.

[Deo]

That is a really good point. 20-25 members would be healthy, but I dunno how realistic that is, and it certainly isn't a realistic goal to start off with. I think it might be best to start with a 'core' group first, spoofing most (or all, depending on how much interest there is) of the mini-groups until the wolf population is healthy enough to support that kind of structure.... if that happens. If not, the presumption of other mini-groups existing as NPCs shouldn't restrict or hinder RP in the core group.

[Avalikia]

I think that regardless of how big the NPC part of the pack is, the key thing is to make sure that it wouldn't be odd if, say, a pup belonging to one of the mini-groups were to interact with a completely unrelated adult from another - because what if those two are the only two online? Perhaps you might end up with a structure similar to a very friendly neighborhood - everyone has their own place, but you drop into the neighbors frequently, and the kids can wander freely between them. I dunno, just throwing out ideas.

[Satya]

Something like what you'd get in a boarding house seems like it might work - there are individual "rooms" for small groups, but things like the "kitchen" and "living room" are shared.

So, in practice, you have mini-groups that know each other better, go hunting with each other by default, and maybe call themselves by a subname ("The Smiths" and "The Joneses") - but everyone stops by the Big Rock and the Little Stream, and recognize each other. Especially if it's encouraged for the pups to meet up with those from other mini-groups, so they can make their own groups when they're older.