The Wolf Kingdom

The Wolf Kingdom is the major antagonist faction in the stories of the Four Seasons Academy.

## Overview

Formed by the Wolf King after his kingdom's exile to the Wastes Beyond, the Wolf Kingdom is not just a nation, but a manifestation of the lupine rejection of human supremacy over nature. No wonder when you were to look around the kingdom, it seems to be a combination of labyrinthine caves in hills and canyons, graveyards for anything that has crossed the wolves, and wild, unmaintained gardens. Indeed, as much as the Wolf King wants to project a unified front from his kingdom, the Kingdom is controlled by many factions lead by generals who spend their free time arguing each with each other as much as they with their leader and king. Each general rules a region of the kingdom from their headquarters that's linked to the Wolf King's castle.

## History

In Ancient times, the wolves served as allies of the seasonal guardians and their Garden Rulers along with the other animals, with Ysengrim, the B-Star of Spirit, serving as their King Animal and alpha wolf. They were meant to be warriors who root out the monsters that threaten humanity. Until one day, a pack leader arose. He was charismatic enough to have a following that shared his extreme beliefs.

Calling himself the Wolf King, he declared to his brethren that humans are only destroyers and thus not worth protecting. He taught the wolves that they must unite to be a kingdom to purge the Earth of humanity, so that nature is preserved. Some wolves disagreed and were declared not true wolves by the Wolf King, exiled from the newly formed kingdom with the label of "Mutt". But knowing that the Garden Rulers would disapprove, the wolves played nice with them for a while.

### War of the Wolves

Once in one of the annual meetings, the Garden Rulers listened to the Wolf King rant about the superiority of humans over animals, and tell them that they must overthrow humanity to ensure the safety of nature. They disagreed with him and his followers, denouncing them extremists in their beliefs. Rejected by the Rulers, the Wolf Kingdom led an all-out war on humanity and their protectors, the Seasonal guardians. Ysengrim, the B-Star of Spirit, and his fellow King Animals made pleas for peace, which fell on deaf ears.

Humanity was thrown into chaos and the champions found themselves fractured and tested. Until eight warriors arose and defeated the wolves, chasing their forces to the Wastes Beyond, where they stayed to plot their revenge. The wolves left behind had to guard the Boundary of Rot as a form of atonement and to ensure that their own kind won't wreck havoc again. The Mutts who were exiled by the Wolf King soon joined these wolves to help them in their task.

As of now, the Wolf King and his army is plotting their revenge...and he believes that a Wolven Queen can help him in this task.

## Geography

The Wolf Kingdom encompasses a large part of the Wastes Beyond. Protected by a hedge of thorns, it boasts a defense against anyone willing to enter it. The kingdom itself encompasses places such as swamps, deserts, forests, mountains, even subterranea. Most of these areas used to belong to individual animals who were exiled there. It's divided into many regions ruled by the factions that serve the Wolf King as much as they bicker with him.

### Places of Interest

#### Lycan Castle

The Wolf King's headquarters, he oversees his kingdom from one of the towers of his home.

## Factions

While the Wolves loyal to the Wolf King and Wolf Queen form the kingdom as a whole, there are many factions within that each have slightly different goals in mind for what should happen to the Seasonal Guardians and their Garden Rulers and who should rule after the Last Hunt. And somehow, they don't get along well, except when their rulers command them to.

### The Black Widows

A faction of feminists who believe that the patriarchy is the reason why humanity despoils the environment. Their leader, approved by the Wolf Queen herself, wants a world where women rule over men, albeit brutally.

### Wastelanders

Somehow, they believe that money is the reason the world is damaged. Led by their leader, they shun the Wolf King's palaces for the forests of the Wastes Beyond, planning to bring their version of equality to the world...with their meaning being that everyone is equally poor, the Wolves are rich, and that social classes and the state are absent from the world. Their beliefs seem derived from extreme forms of asceticism involving exposing oneself to heat or cold, sleep deprivation, flagellation, and even self-mutilation.

### The Grey Reapers

Taking the negative traits of Autumn guardians up to eleven, the Grey Reapers think that the world and its inhabitants are beyond saving and nearing death, thus the need to hasten its destruction to save it. They and their leader plan to achieve their goals through either obvious acts of destruction or the subtle corruption of human society.

### The Iron Antlers

Why is it that humans take from nature to keep their dreams and imaginations alive? And why is it that they keep their hope for a better future while nature dies? From this faction and its leader's perspective, stealing hope and idealism from humans and pushing them down the path to despair can have them give up on their dreams and stew in nihilism, no longer improving themselves. The faction's methods for doing so involve deliberately giving false hope, and then taking it away, and targeting idealistic people whom they know can change their society and breaking them down to drive those who know them into despair, earning them the ire of Spring Guardians everywhere.

### One Pure of Flesh and Blood

For them, survival of the fittest is the only law of nature. Cruel even to their own kind, this faction, led by their leader, embodies the worst traits of the Winter guardians: Prizing cruelty, survival, and selfishness over friendship and patience.

### Soulless Wheel

This faction and its leader figured out that since humans are so dependent on technology, why not use it against them? A bunch of Luddites who practice magic arts to hack technology and use it to turn people against each other or become addicted to the Internet, they claim that their actions will show humans the evils of technology and drive them to embrace barbarism and primitive nature. Ironically, they use tech to do so themselves, causing their fellow wolves to whisper "Hypocrite" behind their backs.

### Apex Predators

Their tenet is to be so controlled by their rage towards humanity and the Seasonal Guardians that they abandon all reason and attack whenever they see one. They plan to win the war on humanity the speedy way, by presenting themselves as the saviors of the animal kingdom, corrupting them to rage against humans whether they treated them poorly or not. In short, animal supremacists who embody the Summer Guardian's worst traits.

### Fearmongers

Fear can control humans and make them do dumb things, and this faction knows it best. With a preference for shadows and spooky things, this faction plays the part of the monsters in your closet and bed, the eyes watching you when you're walking in the forest, scaring humans and trapping them in fear. And sometimes when their prey gets scared enough, they go for the kill.

### Nemesis

Playing judge, jury and executioner, this faction is kinda active in the Wolf Kingdom's forces against humanity, punishing the seasonal guardians for their sins real and imagined against nature, and sometimes doing the same to the other wolves. They think that the Wolf King and Queen are divine, and that if enough of humanity (and Mutts) are cleansed, the Last Hunt will start, and the wolves will conquer the Earth with the blessings of their false gods. But sometimes, they infiltrate religion to achieve their purpose...and recruit new blood.

### King's Pack

Since their leader is close to the Wolf King and Queen, they are the ones who think that wolves must be united under a nobility to subjugate humanity instead of removing it, and that they must spread their culture to humanity and 'enlighten' them to their ways, by hook or by crook. Oh, and they refuse to involve animals in their war against humanity, saying that it goes against the real reason why their king rebelled. They get along with Black Widows, Soulless Wheel and Wastelanders despite being critical of them.

### Serpentines

A faction of spies and assassins who steal knowledge from humans to advance the Wolf Kingdom. The more rare and valuable the knowledge, the better. For knowledge is power, and he with the most power wins, according to them.

### Corporate Hounds

The capitalists to the Wastelanders' socialism, they use money and precious things to bribe humans and others into working for them, planning to one day 'buy' the world when the Last Hunt arrives. 'Precious things' doesn't have to be expensive branded goods and gemstones, they can be love, beauty and fun. They have no problem with the commoditization of intangible concepts both humans and wolves treasure to achieve their goal of arming the Wolf King and Queen with more moolah.

## Culture

The Wolf Kingdom places value on bonds like humans and other species. They simply accomplish this by spiriting away humans to turn them into werewolves. They also place a high value on strength and power, often ritually hunting animals and eating them to gain their abilities and traits. They (especially the King's Pack) regard their pack leader highly and believe him as sent from their gods. They despise humans as greedy and wicked, and claim that turning them into werewolves saves them from their nature. They think of other animals as either food or competitors (such as the bears), and their leaders like the Seven Beast Stars as traitors and heretics. Ysengrim? They think they need him not.