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Svantevit Pack ([[Areas/Portland]], Maine)

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1.  Description & Significance

The Svantevit pack is medium-sized, consisting of about twenty permanent members located just outside of Portland. Despite their proximity with the trade port, the pack maintains its separation. The lifestyle found therein is uniquely old-world and very much focused around horses.

2.  Lifestyle

The Svantevit pack consists entirely of Luperci wolves. They are semi-feral -- they all camp in one big farmhouse and live a communal, wolfish lifestyle despite their humanized settings.

As one might expect, the lifestyle is very centered on horses: all Svantevit pack members can ride and tend to the basic needs of the horses. A team of those specializing in horse ailments exists within the pack, as well as a pair of canines dedicated to selecting the best pairings for breeding and culling unfit horses. Lower-ranked members of the pack attend to the many duties associated with the horses: mucking stables, attending to feed, fixing tack, etc.

Trading is an important pursuit in the Svantevit pack, though perhaps less respected. Canines such as Dalimil and other traveling traders find themselves "outsiders" in their own home: as travel and trade is their pursuit, they often lose some of the traditions and behaviors associated with their homeland. Contact with Portland is also minimized: though the Svantevit canines accept visiting traders, rarely do they deign to trawl the streets of Portland. A rowdy teenager or two has made it a habit -- and found themselves ostracized or given a quiet "talking to" in a corner of the farmhouse.

3.  Structure

The Svantevit pack has a defined structure with leadership and resembles the typical wolf pack -- Boris Kovachev and his mate Gobnait are the leaders. Their horses are perhaps the most humanized thing about them; their structure and society is otherwise very hierarchical. Dominance and submission are enforced, and most of the pack sleeps together in a communal room, with only the highest-ranked canines afforded the privacy of their own room.

The structure is somewhat patriarchal; a male has always been the definitive lead of the pack, and men tend to hold the greater positions within the pack. Recently, some women have won greater rights, such as Dalimil, who became a wandering trader of the horses despite clear segments of pack bias against her sex. However, the gender dynamics are entrenched within their religion and culture, with male-only deities and male-only legends, etc.

4.  Religion

The Svantevit pack practices and believes Slavic-based faith, and it shows along the borders of their claimed home. Their practices are generally inconspicuous: in keeping with most things, one doesn't tend to find complicated rituals, priests, etc. Worship is typically done by quiet, solitary prayer. There is a simple belief system, mostly concentrated around the trio of gods, the Triglav:

• Svetovid, a god of fertility, abundance, and horses. Rides a black horse.
• Perun, a god of thunder, lightning, and storms. Rides a bay horse.
• Svarog, a god of celestial fire, blacksmithing, and war. Rides a chestnut horse.

The three most important founding stallions of the Svantevit horse lines were of these colors, considered a sign from their gods by the earliest Svantevit leader (the fact that there were four sets of three mares matching these colors is mentioned, but not generally held in such high regard).

5.  History

Initially, when European wolves saw profit to be made in what they assumed was still a savage land, several families came together to send stock across the ocean. Many lost their investments due to storms and the unexpected savagery of Maine's winters. Those horses that survived were from hardy stock, and their owners sought to recuperate from loss. The remaining families consisted of the Irish/English Eachans and the Bulgarian Kovachevs. They have since become interwoven due to mateship, which both agree has strengthened their bond. While outsiders seldom join the pack, as most are simply passing through, it is not unheard of.

6.  Significant Characters

6.1  Within Svantevit

7.  Svantevit Horses

The horses raised by the pack are referred to as Svantevit horses.

Description

Known coat colors include black (very common), bay (very common), chestnut (common), grey (rare), and roan (blue, red, bay -- very rare). All bear the Svantevit brand; a small "fairy saddle" stripe over the whithers. Silky-long manes and feathering are typically found on the horses' legs, though some are without this trait.

The Svantevit pack does not have a "breed" -- their horses are of two differing types. The typings are separated according to each horse's conformation and size and typical use by the Svantevit wolves and encouraged through breeding between certain types of horses.

Though the types use classical medieval horse types of similar appearance, temperament, and use, they aren't meant to be precisely equivalent to those horses. The specific words used (destrier, palfrey) are only intended to convey a general similarity rather than any direct heritage or connection with real horses.

Palfrey Type

From their Estonian horse ancestry, the horses have inherited a particular hardiness and general good health. Their hooves are hard and well-formed, also a trait from the Estonian. The East Bulgarian donated a leggy, lean appearance, tempering the great mass of the Eachan horses. Horses of this type are typically more high-strung and energetic, though in accordance with Svantevit standards, never overly so.

Destrier Type

The classical conformation Friesians of the breed contributed to the Baroque typing -- they tend toward larger and are more suited to carrying heavy Luperci, pulling carts, or other work requiring strength. These horses are usually more even-tempered and tend toward very docile.

Notable Stallions

7.1  Training and Temperament

Any male horse deemed unfit for the bloodline is culled; unfit mares are sometimes gifted to permanent residents of Freetown, but without the fairy saddle branding. The Svantevit pack vets their horses for evenness of temperament -- hot-blooded, ill-tempered, skittish, and other unwanted temperaments are deemed unfit. Any horses traded off are easy-going, generally difficult to spook, and obedient.

Traded horses are all trained as riding horses; a smaller fraction is cart trained (and accordingly worth more). The Svantevit horses are fantastic pullers with great strength. As riding horses, they are not exceptionally swift, but their strength and size makes them capable of bearing the weight of most Luperci.

7.2  History

The horses originally brought over from Europe were of varied stock -- the Eachans brought Friesian and Shire grade horses, whereas the Kovachevs brought East Bulgarian and Estonian horses. Various native horses were added to the standard, carefully selected. These bloodlines have begun to mix together; the pack aims to create a hardy animal capable of both draft work and trail-riding.

The horses are kept in the connected stables, allowed to roam in several large corrals.

The only genetic disease known within the Svantevit horses is CPL, an incurable and probably genetic disease -- it showed in one of the earliest generations of the horses -- all descendants of that horse were summarily culled, and the Svantevit pack hopes this will keep it from their stock. Knowledge of this occurrence is kept rather quiet, though this is also part of the reason for their general stinginess with trade -- they want to know where their horses are going so they might be monitored in the future.

8.  Trade

Travelers to Portland may interact with members of the Svantevit family as long as bNPC rules are followed. Please keep any trades reasonable.
If you are unsure about whether or not a trade would be accepted, please PM the 'Souls Assemblage

The Svantevit members primarily trade mares and geldings. Intact stallions are primarily used for breeding purposes and are kept by the pack. The Svantevit pack is extremely picky in who they choose to trade with: if the pack believes the horses may be harmed or mistreated, they absolutely will not trade. Their accepted goods include horse feed, tack, saddles, blankets, ropes, halters, buckets, etc. and anything else "farm friendly." They don't give a crap about shiny trinkets or non-practical items. The Svantevit canines rarely accept horses for trade. An offered horse must be in prime health, of a young age, well-trained, and to the typical standards of the Svantevit horses. Rarely will the trade be for the outsider's benefit -- e.g., if the Svantevit canines accept an older, trained horse, they offer an unbroken filly in exchange.

The following are some examples of trades that might be accepted for the horses to give players an idea of what might be accepted for a Svantevit horse. This shouldn't be used as an exact guideline; however, keep in mind the approximate value of each of these items when formulating your trade! Stud opportunity: Well-made saddle, ten smoked fish Well-made saddle, five horse blankets Standard horse: Well-made saddle, three bottles of alcohol, twenty smoked fish, and five horse blankets Trained Luperci slave/servant Extra trained horse: Five scavenged human books on useful subject (e.g., not a novel/fiction) Well made saddle and bridle, five bottles of alcohol, thirty smoked fish, and seven horse blankets Scavenged human sword, 30 arrows, a book on native plants