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Isle Royale

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Close to the Canadian mainland, Isle Royale rests in Lake Superior. The Largest Island in the largest of the Great Lakes, it boasts small, but plucky population of wolves who have managed to cling to existence since their introduction to the island in the late 1940's. The wolves of the Isle are very xenophobic and highly inbred, though have managed to dilute the pool by taking captives when ice forms over the lake, or capturing those who shipwreck. The wolves of the Isle are known to those on the shores of the mainland, and mariners who travel around it. All who enter never return, as the wolves of Isle Royale canabalize and take captives.

1.  Essentials

1.1  Geography

Isle Royale is a chunk of land carved up by glaciers during the last ice age. It is encompassed by Lake Superior. Many lakes dot the land, dug out by ice long ago. Fingers of rock, reach out into the water along its southern and northeastern coasts. The landscape is covered with trees, and is very hilly. Rivers and streams connect most of the bodies of water on it with Lake Superior. The Isle itself is about 72km long and 14km wide. Marshes tend to make travel around the isle very difficult.

1.2  Climate

Isle Royale's climate is influenced greatly by Lake Superior. Harsh, long winters are interrupted by short, cool summers. Mountains of snow falls in the colder months, which revitalize the isle's wetlands and waterways.

1.3  Flora and Fauna

A whole slew of animals call the isle home. From the mighty Lake Sturgeon, to the tiny longnose dace, may fish call the Isle's water's home. Many species of trout teem in the waterways. Salmon species, bound to Lake Superior, take refuge in the many bays, and use the rivers for reproduction. Waterfowl use the abundance of water. Small mammals like otters eat mollusks alongside beavers who strip bark of trees near rivers and ponds. Bats flap in the air at night, while birds take off during the day. Martens climb trees, foxes hunt mice and small game. The largest mammal, the moose, stomps along in search of food, ever wary of the wolves of the Isle who use them for food.

2.  Culture

The wolves of Isle Royale consider every member of the pack to be family, that is because they are. Every member is related in one way or another. Deeply religious and highly xenophobic, the outside and all of its influences are not allowed. Women and men are equal, however pregnant women are almost revered, puppies as well. Despite the communal living and care given for the pregnant and young, the sick and elderly face a far worse fate. If a young wolf falls ill, they are forced into isolation, should they recover, they are then allowed back into the fold. If they perish, their body is left to rot. Elders who can no longer aid the pack are humanely slaughtered and eaten, in death they still provide for their families.

The pack is lead by a religious head, typically the most able-bodied and brightest among them. This was a recent change, however. Previously the strongest male lead by force.

2.1  Species

The pack is comprised mostly of Eastern Grey Wolves, however recently coyote and dog genes have worked their way into the population.

Luperci & Shifting

Every wolf on Isle Royale is Luperci. The typical forms used on the Isle are Lupus and Secui, mostly for travel and hunting.

Languages

Isle Royalean is the language spoken on the Isle. Though there is no word for the language itself, the few outsiders who have met the people of the Isle dubbed the language after the name the landmass is called by the Isle Royale wolves. It is most similar a very, very, heavy dialect of Canadian and Yooper English.

Technology

The wolves of Isle Royale are very wild. What technology and tools they have and use are stolen or plundered in raids on the mainlands, or from vessels that wash ashore. Weapons of war are coveted above all else, very few consider the worth of learning how to make their own, finding it much easier to take from the mainland, once Lake Superior freezes over.

Only recently have the wolves of Isle Royale began experimenting with watercraft. For now they use rudimentary rafts and mainly attempt to test them in the bays. There have been one successful trip to the mainland, on a particularily calm and placid day.

Residence

The wolves roam as a large pack across the Isle. They hunt moose, fish the rivers, and harvest wild fruits along the way. From one end to another.

Practices & Traditions

The Isle Royale Pack, having been so isolated from any other groups, have a very strange culture, compared to the other groups in the area. Utterly untouched by human influence. Behaviors most groups would only adopt in extreme times, if adopted at all, are common practice of the Isle Royaleers.

Incest is accepted, mostly due to the fact that everyone is related.

Cannibalism is ritualistically committed if one of their own perish, and is casually committed during and directly after raids.

Children are considered adults at the age of two. This is due to a lethal cogenital spinal deformity that typically takes the life of those affected by the age of two. When children come of age, they are welcomed fully into the pack and are thrown a celebration. It is during this time where the whole pack learns the names of the pups who reached adulthood. A feast is typically held during the celebration.

Gender and Sexuality

Gender and sexuality are fluid to the people of Isle Royale. As long as one creates young or helps the pack, it doesn't matter what they see themselves as, and what they see in others.

Families and Family Structures

Smaller families are unheard of in the pack. While mothers and fathers may be the primary caretakers of the young born from them, it is very common for cousins to be raised as siblings. Though the defining of blood relations is rather moot due to the very small genepool on the isle.

Hedonistic Behavior

Sex is open and common, to the extent that groups tend to partake together when the pack rests after travel. Incest is very common and is accepted, and often times expected. Close-kin marriages are common as well. Puppies are present to sexual and flirtatious behavior, but are never the targer as Pedophilia is punishible by death.

Vices

Drugs and alcohol are not available on the isle, and are not sought after during raids. Gambling is not practiced. Food hoarding is seen as awful, and is a punishable offence.

Luck and Superstition

The wolves of Isle Royale believe they live at the gate between a heaven and a hell. This belief was brought to them by a wolf who came from the very hell they believe in. To them, the water of Lake Superior and the sky are pure and good, whereas the mainland and all that inhabit it are to be plundered, used, and feared. Concubines and consorts that come from vessels that maroon themselves on the isle's shores are treated quite a bit better than the breeding stock captured from the mainland during winter raids. This is because they are seen as angelic peoples, where as those from the mainland could be demons.

Fishing and Hunting

Isle Royaleers fish using weirs they've built since Old Grey arrived. In recent times fishing spears have been used, this is the only plundered tool the people have tried to replicate. The wolves also hunt the moose that call the isle home. Much like the wolves, the moose are smaller. This could be due to the beginings of insular dwarfism, but not enough time has passed to say for sure.

2.2  Outsider Relations & Travel

Travel

The Isle Royaleers travel on foot across the Isle. Only during the coldest of winters do they leave their home in search of plunder and breeding stock from the mainland. All this is done on foot. Heavenly vessels(boats) are destroyed, so those who hit the shores with them won't escape on them.

Under the rule of Loops, the experimetation with boat travel has begun. This is mostly simple rafts.

Outsiders

No trust is put into outsiders. Demons, or angels, it does not matter. All from the outside who set foot on the isle are either eaten or pulled into the fold in one way or another.

Currently communication between Isle Royale and communities of Thunder Bay is being held. A tenious truce has formed between the groups.

3.  Structure

3.1  Leaders

A Religious head without a title leads the Isle Royale pack. The head appoints members of the pack who are exceptionally gifted or knowledgeable in certain things to help organize the goings on. In the past it had lead to nepotism, instead of those who deserve it. This practice was erradicated by Thread, and is unheard of in the current rule of Loops.

3.2  Law & Justice

All are equal within the pack, save for consorts and concubines.

Rape is punishable by concubinage if the offender is lucky, or by death if there's a food scarcity. Murder is unacceptable. If the murderer is male, they are killed and consumed, if they are female, they are given the choice of being executed and consumed, or to become a concubine. Pedophilia is punishible by death alone, resulting in the corpse of the offender to be consumed by the pack.

4.  Religion

There is one religion, and there is no word for it. The wolves of Isle Royale believe they live at the gateway between heaven and hell. The water of Lake Superior and the sky being the pure and good heaven, and the mainland as the wrong and evil hell. Despite viewing ships and watercraft as heavenly vessels, the few that run aground or wash ashore are plundered and destroyed, so that the angelic travelers using them cannot escape the isle. They view themselves as a neutral entity, born from water, sky, and land. By being the children of both, they are allowed to plunder and raid both sides of the gate, though they can never permanently leave, lest they lose the perfect neutral state.

Creation Legends

The World had always been. No one created it, no one shaped it.

Deities

The Wolves of the isle believe in angels and demons, and believe themselves to be the only neutral beings, as, as far as they can remember, were always at the gate, and bred with both the demons of the hellish land, and the angels of the heavenly water and sky. Some ask Grey the Gift-Bringer for guidance, but he is not a diety.

Symbols

The water and the sky are seen as pure and good. All earth that isn't the isle, and all things that dwell on land off of the isle, are consider evil and demonic.

Religious Order

There is one religious head that leads the pack.

Practices

One is to live life to it's fullest. Provide for the pack since the moment they can hunt, and even after their breath stops. There are no rituals, prayers, nothing like that. To live and to live for the pack is all that is required.

Ceremonies

In winter, if the lake freezes over, a massive raid, or several small raids are made on the mainland. This is for food, tools, and luperci to take as concubines and consorts. This event will likely change as talks with the affected groups are being maintained by the Isle Royaleers. This practice will likely fall out of favor after the rule of Loops.

When an elder can no longer assist the pack, they are killed and eaten. This is considered their last gift, and is a revered event. To live so long, and provide so much, one becomes exalted in death. The whole pack honors them and all the memories of them by allowing their flesh sustain everyone they loved.

Due to significant inbreeding in the past, several compounding neurological problems and physical malformities are prevalent throughout the population. Most puppies that survive birth won't make it passed two years of age. If an Isle Royale wolf makes it passed two years of age, then a small celebration is held. Thanks to the introduction of new genes into the pool, the ceremony is being held more often. It is much like a birthday, offerings of extra food and games are played. This is also when Isle Royale luperci are considered of "legal" age. Often times this ceremony involves matchmaking or personal sexual exploration.

5.  Significant Families

5.1  Isle Royaleers

All of ISle Royale are one family, they do not have a surname, but all currently alive can trace their lineage back to Old Grey.

6.  History

6.1  Significance

Thread is from Isle Royal and is a past leader of the Isle Royaleers.

6.2  History

Up until the late 90's, the Isle's population had remained uninfected. A pocket surrounded by impassable water. The wolves were all inbred at this point, and their population was at an all time low. A wolf from Ontario was able to cross to the Isle on an ice bridge that formed during the wintrer. He was a young fiery man who went by Grey. Grey was Luperci, and when he found an island full of smaller wolves who could not shift, he quickly turned the situation into one that could benefit him. Using his wit, charm, and strength, the lone male took lead of a pack. With the aid of his pack he either whiped out, or incorporated the other packs on the Isle.

He lead his pack, using his strength and intelligence, the man slaughtered and absorbed the other two packs. Even though the territories were divided among three family groups, the population was quite small. Grey used his Luperci gift to make himself seem like a god, he offered the ability of shifting to key memebers, and of course, every female he took as a mate. As time went on a cult formed around him, and he spun a tale that he was held captives by demons on the mainland, sometimes seen at certain points on the Isle when the weather was right. He informed the wolves that Isle Royale was a gate that kept the demons from spilling into the heavens. From then on, the wolves of Isle Royale saw themselves separate from other canines. Through Grey's teachings, they came to fear and hate the demons, and be in awe of any heavenly vessel gliding on the water through the heavens.

It took a few generations, but eventually all members of the pack were either Luperci Ortus or Luperci Verto, thanks to Grey's influence and breeding. Grey pulled all members to believe him to be something more than natural. Holy like those who traversed the heavens. He held a genetic monopoly, taking all the women for himself, including his own children. Close-kin pairings thusly became holy. Thanks to him the genetic diversity of the pack increased sigifnicantly, however it was short lived given that he spread his genes quite far on the Isle.

Grey is now a legendary figure among the Isle Royaleers, often referred to as Grey the Gift-Bringer.

7.  Notes & References

7.1  Quick Reference Index

Essentials Isle Royale Put stuff here, Scott. Isle Royale

Religion Old Grey The first Luperci on the isle, brought the gift of shifting to the Isle Royale wolves and united them through force.

7.2  Notes

Status Creator: Scott — see Wiki page for contact information. Status: REQUEST.
Inconsistencies something you maybe fudged from reality knowingly?	References any references not included in the index here?	Name Meanings Thead refers to the ficticious and partially submurged ferry in one of the harbors of Isle Royale. Loops, pronounced "Loops" refers to the term "Luperci" this is often given to very tall members of the Isle Royale pack. An easy feat, considering the average height is 5'4". Loops's real life reference is the "SS Kamloops" which is a ship that sunk off the coast of Isle Royale in 1927.