The Kin

Known as simply “The Kin,” they are a secluded group consisting solely of werewolves and their children who have yet to come of age. Once a child comes of age and is ready to choose a mate, they too become werewolves and take their place among the Clans.

The Kin have inhabited Wolf Fang Mountain nearly as long as the Witches have been on Pantook Mountain. They have only had brief glances of the tall, ethereal beings that inhabit the Mountain and so believe they are the gods of this world and leave their home in peace out of respect and a healthy fear of divine wrath.

Their presence is a secret from the outside world and is kept that way at all costs. Any who have sought to reveal Kin secrets have been silenced, permanently. Their interactions with the human population are restricted to simple trades in small, remote farms and villages that border the Black Wood.

They live in naturally formed caves and dens in Wolf Fang Mountain, to the north of the Black Wood. They are primarily a hunting society and enjoy being the apex predator in the woods. Though their diets consist heavily of meat, they do utilize gathering and trading to meet the remainder of the needs of their human halves.

The Kin consists of three Clans: Dáinn, Dvalinn, and Duneyrr. While they do not have traditional surnames they will identify themselves by their Clan (ie: Connor of Dvalinn).

There were once four Clans, but the fourth was wiped out and its name outlawed after instigating a war that nearly exposed the Kin and destroyed their way of life.

## History

The Úlfhéðnar were legendary barbaric warriors who were said the take the form of beasts in battle to destroy their enemies. They fought as mercenaries to whoever could pay the high price of flesh. As time went on, and the world became more settled, the Úlfhéðnar’s nature changed and they were given another name in the lands they had migrated to. The Faoladh, as they became known, were seen throughout the Isles as creatures who were as often helpful, or at least benign, as dangerous. Many humans believed them to be guardian spirits of children, the wounded, and the lost. The truth, however, is probably somewhere between the two extremes.

When the gods began driving out those mortals whose blood was mixed with the blood of the divine, they drove out the Faoladh as well. Four Clans set out in twelve great ships to find a new home. After a long, difficult journey, they eventually landed in the shadow of what is now called Wolf Fang Mountain. They found no humans in this land, but lush forests, clear streams and basins, and abundant prey to hunt. Several scouts reported seeing beautiful giants flying through the skies near the largest mountain (Pantook) and believed they had been delivered to the home of the gods. The gods were to be honored and feared in equal parts and so their home was off limits to the wolves and their descendants for all time.

They settled instead in the mountain they had beheld when first they landed on these shores. For many centuries they were alone with the sea, the mountain, the forests, and the gods. While they never lost the fierceness of the wolves, they slowly forgot the bloodlust and war of humans. They were hunters and warriors who fought to live, to eat, and for honor, but gone was the desire to shed blood for sport or pleasure.

## Kin Interaction with Humans:

Eventually, humans began landing on the island and settling in the valleys and fields to the south. They built their cities along the shoreline and farming villages popped up in the countryside, but few ventured into the Black Wood. The Clan Elders decided unanimously that the Kin would not associate with the humans and continue to live wild and free, but they knew they needed new blood to keep their lines from growing weak.

At first, they would raid the villages, stealing a handful of youths to marry to their own young. This brought humans into the Black Wood in numbers they had never dared before. While farmers with torches and pitchforks were never a true threat to the Kin, it was an infringement on their territory and chased away game.

And the young who married the kidnapped women and men had difficult mates at the least, and in the tradition of wolves, pairs are mated for life. A new strategy needed to be applied.

With humankind taking over various parts of the island, procuring things like raw metal for forging had become difficult. The Elders again came to agreement that trade with the humans would be the easiest route, and it would, at the same time, allow the young people of the Kin to mingle with humans in hopes of finding a mate by mutual choice.

There was some disagreement from the Clan Duraþrór, but the other leaders overrode their votes and seeds of dissent were sown.

## The Four Clans

*Dáinn, The Builders. Dvalinn, The Smiths. Duneyrr, The Weavers. Duraþrór, once The Hunters, now The Clan That Is Not.*

Named for the Four Winds, each Clan has a purpose within the Kin’s society. All members are expected to contribute to every aspect of Kin life, but focusing time and energy where their talents lie ensures that life flows smoothly season after season. Every Kin member chooses, or their talents choose for them, the Clan with which they belong when they come of age. Most commonly, children follow their parents’ paths, but it is not unheard of that a youth chooses to join a different Clan. Sometimes this is for a specific mate, sometimes their talents lie so strongly in one area that the choice is all but made for them, and sometimes their reasons are their own. Kin may also choose to leave the Clans and join the human world for a human mate. Should this occur, they are sent with blessings, but sworn upon pain of death to never reveal the secret of the Kin. They live out their lives as humans, never to return to their people.

### Dáinn

The Builders, once built and maintained the great ships that carried the Clans to this island. Now they focus that skill and precision making everything from wooden bowls and cups to large furniture, including beds and tables.

### Dvalinn

The Smiths, forge weapons, armor and mundane tools from iron and steel traded for from the Coalition villagers. While their skill is nearly unparalleled by any in the human lands, no Kin smith will waste time creating things from soft metal like gold. Any ornamentation added to utilitarian things always has the strength to survive battle.

### Duneyrr

The Weavers, create all manner of textiles, leathers, and furs into all cloth and clothing for the Clans. While leathers and furs dominate attire in their society, fibers gathered from specific plants can be spun into thread and then woven with various methods to create necessary cloth and some very special garments for ceremonies and rites.

### Duraþrór

Once The Hunters, now The Shadow Clan or Clan That Is Not. While all Kin are warriors and hunters, the Duraþrór excelled at violence. Most who were born to this Clan, and all who chose it, harbored the feral bloodlust of the old Úlfhéðnar and many felt chafed at hiding from the human world. It was a belief among the Hunters  that the Kin should be ruling over the humans, hunting and killing them as they did the deer and the bear. For many centuries, their appetites were curbed by procuring the rarest and most dangerous game for all the Kin, but when the agreement was made to trade and barter with the humans, they could stand it no longer.

## Death of a Clan, Birth of the Werewolves

Roughly a quarter of a century ago, a new leader rose within Clan Duraþrór who took Ivar as his name in honor of the bloodiest of the legendary Úlfhéðnar. Upon his ascension, he stirred the unrest that had been seething within the Clan since the trade agreement to a raging fire. In defiance of Kin law and custom, Ivar and Duraþrór declared war on the humans.

They began raiding villages, stealing in under the cover of night to slaughter livestock, burn homes, and otherwise rape and pillage their way through the countryside. Dozens were bitten or clawed by battle-mad wolves, and dozens more carried children as reminders of what was later dubbed The Blood Moon.

By the rise of the next moon, the other Clans had banded together and waged civil war on their brothers and sisters of Duraþrór. The rivers ran red as each and every warrior was brought down. For Ivar, they exacted the Blood Eagle, a traitor’s death, in full view of every Kin man, woman, and child. He laughed as they executed him, as if death itself could not stop him.

Following Ivar’s execution and Duraþrór’s fall, the Clan was no more, its name wiped from the Kin forever. When stories are told of how it came to pass, it is called the Clan That Is No More. Kin members speak informally of the “Shadow Clan” in hushed whispers. The children left orphaned by the Clan’s demise were adopted by other couples in the remaining Clans. “Shadowborn” is a backhanded slur about such offspring outlawed by the Elders.

And so the Kin returned to their lives of hunting in peace, but a shadow had been cast over all of them and the humans alike. Lycanthropy had been introduced into the human world, feral and untrained. Those among the Kin were born with wolf blood in their veins and were guided from infancy in controlling the predator within, but the men and women bitten during The Blood Moon were rabid beasts with no control. The only thing that kept the human population from being wiped out completely was the dependency on the full moon to morph to wolf form. Between the Kin doing their part to rehabilitate those who find their way to the Black Wood (and eliminate those beyond hope), and the Enforcers experimenting upon and murdering those they are able to capture, it has kept the epidemic from spreading throughout the entire population.

## Culture, Traditions, and Rites of Passage

*Protect your pack;*

*Show no fear;*

*Respect the elder;*

*Teach the young;*

*Lead your companions;*

*Survive each day;*

*Hunt your enemies;*

*Howl to a new tomorrow;*

*Explore the unknown;*

*Adapt to the environment;*

*Demonstrate no weakness;*

*Never back down;*

*And leave your mark*

*(Poem by Rafhael Vieira)*

Despite their desire to be left to the woods in solitude, the Kin are by no stretch of the imagination pacifists. They fight, play, hunt, sing songs, and tell stories all in equal measure. They keep a rich oral history, dating back to the world before this one, and many of their rites remain intact. The two most important of which are the coming of age and marriage ceremonies.

Before a young Clan member comes of age, roughly during their eighteenth summer, they are sent frequently to do the trading amongst various human villages. This has a dual purpose. The youngsters are able to observe the human world more intimately, giving them the opportunity to choose to live a life among them, and it allows for mingling with humans their own age which could lead to romance and the choosing of a mate.

When the Elders have deemed the child ready to become an adult, a ceremonial hunt is performed for a sacrificial deer. A great feast is held and after nightfall, the question is asked. “Run with the wolf or walk with the man.” An Elder offers a spade and sickle in one hand, and a necklace of wolf claws from an ancestor in the other.

If the child chooses the farming implements, they are blessed by the Elder and sent to collect their belongings and bid farewell to their family. They are sent with honor, but know they may never again return to the Kin. They must live out their lives as their human half, never awakening the wolf within.

If the claws are chosen, everyone howls as a new member is born into the pack. A family member, most commonly the parents, takes wolf form and administers a ritualistic mark with claws or teeth, and the first change takes place. Those who are born among the Kin, with wolf blood already within their veins, generally struggle little with the change. Those who are brought from the human world to become Kin and marry their mate, often need far more guidance.

Marriages among the Kin occur between any gender(s), and may happen at any age, so long as both members have reached adulthood and chosen the Wolf. In the same tradition of wolves mating for life, marriages are a once in a lifetime event. If one mate dies, the remaining mate is a widow(er) until they reunite in death.

Kin marriage ceremonies are only performed under a full moon in mid to late summer and have remained very near their ancestral origins. Once a couple announces their intent to marry, several weeks to even months of preparation begin.

As might be imagined, if one of the pair is coming from the human world it can be a very delicate and drawn out process. A Kin member looking to marry a human must reveal their wolf to their intended mate, and explain that a life with them means a life as a wolf as well. Due to the laws concerning the Kin’s anonymity, should the human refuse, the Kin member who revealed the secret must kill their lover to keep the secret.

If the human agrees, a family among the Clans must offer to “adopt” them and indoctrinate them into Kin life, including the coming of age ceremony. After they are turned, they must also spend the time necessary to control the wolf before a marriage can be performed.

Time and care is taken to brew “bridal ale” (mead). There must be enough for both the wedding feast, and for their honeymoon following. Feast preparations are made and there are several ceremonial hunts. The two families of the would-be mates negotiate bridal prices and must both agree to the marriage between their lines. If the pair are from two separate Clans, the one to which they will both be members is also negotiated. A new dwelling is prepared for them as a couple.

The ceremony itself is presided over by the Eldest in the Clans and the couple dons fine clothing, the claw necklaces they were gifted during their coming of age ceremony, and a bridal crown. There is also great care taken with their hair, weaving it elaborately. The couples exchange their ancestral necklaces and perform a handfasting rite.

After the ceremony, the feast begins and does not end until dawn, when the newly wedded couple is escorted by twelve members of their families to their new home to consummate the marriage. Afterwards, they are isolated from the rest of the Kin for a full moon cycle in which they hunt, mate, drink, and otherwise enjoy their “honeymoon.”

Unsurprisingly, nearly all Kin firstborn children arrive in the spring following their parents’ nuptials.

## Appearance

Due to their Norse/Celtic heritage, many Kin are fair, but their intermarriages with the island’s human population have brought diversity to the Clans.

They dress predominantly in furs and hides, with the occasional woven cloth and iron or steel ornamentation.