Born in Mer Bleue, Maskwa was raised in a small, feral pack consisting of his parents and brother, an uncle, and his grandmother. Maskwa and Nik had a normal early childhood, often babysat by their uncle Butterbur (who was too infirm to hunt), and told stories and taught wiles by their keen-minded grandmother, Karthwine.

While all previous generations of his paternal family had been non-Luperci, his mother Soraya introduced the virus to her mate Bittercress and, by extention, her children. The pack adapted well to this in the beginning, as neither Soraya nor Bittercress utilized their Optime forms. However, when the pups reached shifting age, they were eager to explore what made them different from most of the packs in Mer Bleue.

At first, this was not discouraged; the ability to shift granted them, and by extension their pack, an advantage. However, what would have been a quickly-forgotten minor territorial scuffle when the boys were yearlings ended up turning other packs in the area against them -- as they teamed up on an interloper in their Secui forms. While attitudes toward Luperci varied in Mer Bleue, they were often ambivalent at best, and this act made the threat the shifters posed apparent to their neighbors.

Two family groups banded together to attack Maskwa's pack, demanding that the shifters be cast out of the reserve. The conflict escalated, which resulted in the death of Butterbur. In the end, the little band was forced to move.

Indignant and desiring revenge, Nik made a lot of noise about reclaiming their territory and insisting they'd done nothing wrong -- but his family was too scarred by the conflict, and Maskwa disagreed with him. He ended up standing by the family to protect them when Nik dispersed to find his own path.