CC FW Familial Myth

## Familial Myth

To a large degree in modern times, Wolfen have contextualized their interaction with Human society through the lens of a mythologized story told about a significant interaction one of their ancestors had with Humans. It is unclear how true these apocryphal tales are, or if they are meant to be allegorical in nature. Yet there are very real differences between Wolfen based on the story they ascribe to. This has lead to the belief that these instances of folklore act as an oral tradition to track a genetic or spiritual lineage despite the high frequency of Wolfen-Human interbreeding.

### Selection Methods

There are three methods to determine your Familial Myth:

* **Intentional**: Choose your Familial Myth
* **Creative**: Create your own Familial Myth following the listed Effects below, pending GM approval
* **Random**: Roll a d10

### Effects

Increase three Attributes by 1, and one Skill by 1.

## Myth Details

### 1. Treated Sickness

A Wolfen farmhand came down with a disease that left him bedridden and on the verge of death. The farmer's daughter insisted on treating him, staying by his bed throughout his illness, though at some point his weakness left him unable to conceal his tail and ears any longer. Upon finding out that he was a Wolfen, the woman helped him hide his nature from the healer and oversaw his treatment. When he recovered, they began courting and later married.

### 2. Gifted Clothes

A young Human Prince going on a stroll through one of his villages came across a Wolfen woman living as a poor seamstress, selling beautiful dresses alongside her daughter. Their poverty meant that- despite selling clothing made by their hands, they wore ragged, old tunics. Out of a sudden sense of charity, the Prince bought the duo a meal and purchased one of their own dresses to gift it to the daughter. Years later, the Prince became embroiled in a plot of intrigue and was captured to be held ransom, or else assassinated. The Wolfen girl, now a grown woman and a seamstress in her mother's place, heard of the Prince's plight and came to his rescue, slaying his captors and setting him free so he could become the rightful King. She was rewarded handsomely for her service, given a job as the castle's tailor and her family remained close friends with the royal family.

### 3. Reconciled Lovers

A village boy fell helplessly in love with a Wolfen maiden despite her insistence that he couldn't be with her. He persisted and they carried on a hidden dalliance until being discovered by his father, at which point she turned into a wolf and fled. Enforcers of the Synenolic Church took the lad into captivity for consorting with a servant of the Dark Temptress, as Wolfen were seen to be at the time. He was to be punished, when the Wolfen lass showed up at the cathedral, prostrated herself in front of the altar, and submitted her soul to the Living God, becoming an Ortueist and earning the right to marry her Human mate.

### 4. Attempted Murder

There once was a Wolfen woman who was beloved by the Humans of her village despite many of them having caught traces of her nature. She was jokingly referred to as the "Wolf Mother" of the town due to how she would watch over the young children in the town center. A visitor heard this nickname for her and took it to mean she was a creature of evil. He told everyone he could about the evil nature of Wolfen, and at the end of the day he followed her home to confront her. Outside of her house where she lived as a widow, he yelled to her and threw a bar of iron over her head, believing it would force her out of her Human disguise. When it did nothing, he attacked her with a knife and she was forced to defend herself. Despite being stabbed multiple times, she managed to overcome and kill the stranger. But the next day when the townsfolk came to investigate they found the dead visitor and believed what he had said about Wolfen. They chased her and her children out of town, making them live as exiles in the woods.

### 5. Wolf Redeemers

There is a story of an entire camp of warlike men who turned into Wolves to prey on Human villages and steal children and livestock alike. They were said to do terrible things to any children taken, including eating them. All lived in fear of this gang of murderous and debaucherous Wolfen, but several bands of armed townsfolk had already been slain by them, so none could do anything to remedy the situation. Then one day a group of men and women sporting Wolf ears and tails arrived to ask around the Human villages where this band of murderous Wolves was camped. Thinking that these were more of the very same Wolves which had been attacking them, the Humans quickly told where the camp was to get them to leave. After that day, the raids suddenly stopped altogether. After several weeks, some villagers worked up the courage to go investigate the camp, and found that every single one of the bandit Wolfen had been violently slain, their bodies left to decompose in their ransacked camp. The story of the group of noble Wolfen soon became as well-known as the evils of the brigands they had defeated.

### 6. Misguided Rage

A Human clockmaker married to a Wolfen woman found his business failing and his debts piling up. Debt collectors came to his home to repossess his belongings, but his wife flew into a fit of violence, transforming into her Brute form and slaying them out of the urge to defend her husband and home. When she came to her senses, she apologized for what she had done to her husband, but after getting her to swear to raise their children as a penance, he went to the authorities and turned himself in for the crime, ensuring she stayed free of blame.

### 7. A Mutual Surprise

There once was a fisherman who was married to a Wolfen without knowing the nature of his wife. He went on a fishing trip that lasted longer than expected due to his net being caught by some creature that seemed intent upon toying with him. By the time he managed to get back to his house it was already late in the night. His exhausted return made more noise than he had intended, and out of fear for a burglar his wife transformed into her Brute form to confront the unknown assailant. Seeing this hulking beast made the fisherman cry out his wife's name out of fear for her safety with such a monster around. But upon having her name spoken, his wife turned back into her Hybrid form and both realized simultaneously who the other was. Despite the shock, they overcame the revelation and went on to live happy lives together.

### 8. A Kindly Priest

In a time of great turmoil, amid war and famine, there was a Wolfen mother who – despite the assistance of a kind clergyman in the village who gave her food – was killed by soldiers of an enemy kingdom. This left her young Wolfen daughter to fend for herself and out of desperate hunger that girl attacked travelers in Wolf form to devour their horses. On the third such ambush, she came across the clergymen who was bringing more food to their village. The priest – knowing the nature of the woman he had been helping and having heard of her fate – called out the daughter's name three times (the name varies between tellings), and upon doing so she transformed back into her Hybrid form. He took her under his care and raised her as a daughter of Ortues until she came of age, at which point he married her off to a hardworking blacksmith's apprentice.

### 9. Harried Flight

A Wolfen man working as a cobbler hid his nature from his town and his wife. One day a Wolf Hunter came to town following stories of unrelated slaughtered livestock. After tracking down the Wolfen, the Hunter injured his prey and the Wolfen fled into the forest. His wife later came to join him, tending to his wounds and they lived in the woods after that, staying hidden but together.

### 10. A Mild-Mannered Monster

In a town long ago there was a kindly Wolfen schoolmaster who lived disguised as a Human, and taught all of the town's children, from their earliest years until they came of age. He was patient with all of his pupils and spent his spare time helping others as much as he was able. But at some point rumors began to spread of there being a half-Wolf monster in the town. When his older students came to him and spoke of this monster and their desire to hunt and kill it, the schoolmaster panicked, thinking he had been discovered. He turned into a Wolf right there in front of them, and darted out of the window to hide in the woods. As one, the town came out to the woods to apologize to him and beg him to return, which he did, and continued to teach for the rest of his days.

## Next Step

With your Familial Myth selected and your lineage's influences added to your stats, move on to **Traits**.