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The Wolf rules the wilderness and haunts the imagination of men since the dawn of time.
The wolfen are the fiercest predators on Aarklash.
Born from the union of Yllia, the moon goddess, and the
most majestic of all wolves, they roam their vast hunting
grounds and travel the Paths of Destiny with great confidence. Guided by their instincts and proud of their ancient
traditions, the wolfen have always stood against the corruption brought by the civilizations of Light and Darkness.
The Wolf is the guardian of nature and it makes sure the
law of the strongest is enforced.

Much like their wolf cousins, the wolfen live in packs.
Some of these packs, the sedentary packs, share huge territories in the middle of which mysterious stone circles stand.
These sanctuaries, standing testimony to the apparition
of the moon goddess and used as celestial observatories,
are at the heart of Wolf culture: these places are where the
wolfen celebrate their rites, where they share their secrets
and where they bury their dead. Few are those allowed to
approach without triggering the ire of the wolfen. Any trespassing is considered a declaration of war.

Long before they became powerful warriors, the wolfen
were only wolves whose pack ruled over a territory at the
heart of the great forest of Diisha.
As for the events preceding their transformation, only those
first worgs still alive can remember well.

== Chronology of the sedentary Wolfen packs ==

*''~ 1500 before the Winter of Battles'' : The Craftsman imposes himself as the guide of the Sphinx Empire.
*''~ 1000 before the Winter of Battles'' : The Sphinx Empire becomes the most powerful nation on Aarklash.
*''~ 500 before the Winter of Battles'' : Vile-Tis impregnates Instinct, birth of the worgs.
*''~ 200 before the Winter of Battles'' : Assailed by the wolfen, the Sphinx Empire disappears along with the Craftsman. Vile-Tis hunts down his enemy across the whole of Creation.
*''0'' : The Winter of Battles
*''2'' : The worgs raise the stone circle of Môrn in the great forest of Diisha.
*''435'' : Battle of the Beast of Dracynrän
*''617'' : Y’Anrylh and his pack massacre a Kelt village and terrorize the plains of Avagddu.
*''990'' : Killyox becomes pack leader.
*''999'' : Return of Vile-Tis to Aarklash, fall of the Throne of Stars.
*''1000'' : The sacred weapons of Yllia are gathered and presented to three pack leaders: Asgarh, Elhyr and Karnyrax.
*''1001'' : Battle of the Red Oak
*''1008'' : Call of the First Born

== In ancient times ==

Thousands of years ago, Instinct gave birth to trees, plants
and animals. Little by little, under her impulse, whom mortals know as Yllia, Aarklash was gifted with wildlife unique
in the whole Creation. And among this wildlife, no other species benefited more from her love than the wolf. The moon
goddess admired these courageous, untiring and untameable
animals, which lived in communities and developed tight brotherly bonds.
While the other gods watched the dwarven, goblin, elven
and human communities grow, Instinct was watching every
other living creature.
Yllia did not take part in the contests the other gods of
Aarklash competed in. She had no interest in those peoples
enslaved to powers that they worshipped blindly. She preferred to encourage the animals and creatures living across
Aarklash to terrorize the gods’ favorites.
This could have gone on for centuries if a particular event
had not disturbed the peace of the gods. One of them secretly
requested the assistance of a being known as the Craftsman, and invited him into Creation from another Realm to
defeat his opponents. The Craftsman appeared to the young
Ishim’Re nation. Soon he became the nation’s spiritual leader,
in exchange for his knowledge.

The scientific and technological expertise the Craftsman
offered allowed the Ishim’Re to become the most powerful nation on Aarklash. Within a few years what was yet to
become the Utopia of the Sphinx had defeated a large part
of its enemies and united under its banner the peoples that
were attracted by the Principle of Light.
The knowledge of the Craftsman also helped the empire
build sumptuous cities whose graceful towers reached towards the heavens. Combined with the knowledge of the
Craftsman, the mystical awareness of the Ishim’Re allowed
their scientists to assemble automatons capable of defeating
the enemies of Light on the battlefield and enforce the supremacy of the empire’s allies over Aarklash.
The empire developed so quickly that no army was able
to oppose itself to the Craftsman effectively. Humiliated
by this seemingly endless string of defeats, the gods, whose
peoples were in difficulty, decided to breathe fragments of
their godly essence into some of their fi ghters, making these
selected few their champions. They were soon imitated by
their enemies. Every army on Aarklash now had Incarnates
in its ranks.
This marked the threshold of a new age. Pushed on by the
gods, the Incarnates resorted to some of the most destructive powers in Creation: they unleashed energies that could
turn mountains to dust. Magic and faith were opposed to
science and technology. Despite their efforts, the gods were
forced to admit in horror that this confrontation was taking
Creation down the path of destruction as the conflict began
to spread to the other Realms.
The gods then turned to Yllia, since she was the only one
of them to have not entered the conflict. They begged her to
intervene to balance the struggle opposing their believers.

'''Yilia's choice'''

Yllia listened but was not willing to answer their
request as it meant jeopardizing the existence of an
entire species to end their war. Torn between her
duty to the gods and the love for her children, Yllia
went into isolation to meditate. She chose the shores
of a lake near an imposing rock at the heart of Diisha.
She observed her reflection in the pool, looking for a
sign to direct her choice.
Her presence did not go unnoticed. A wolf was
gazing upon her. He was the leader of a great pack
living in these woods. But Yllia ignored him. So he
sat there, unable to take his eyes off
her, while a voice
wormed inside his head trying to make itself heard.
The strong and firm voice closed upon his mind and
held the wolf under its powers. Disoriented, the animal heard many alluring promises. He eventually
gave in to the voice and was rewarded with the right to know the name of the voice, Vile-Tis. Vile-Tis
was a powerful being from a distant Realm. He could
not take a tangible form on Aarklash for reasons he
could not understand. He had therefore been forced
to possess the creature he knew was dearest to Yllia’s
heart in order to pursue his plans.
This is when the other members of the wolfpack
awoke, sensing something unusual was going on.
Realizing the absence of their leader, they sought
him for several long minutes before reaching the
banks of the lake in time to witness, powerless, an
uncanny scene. Facing Yllia, their leader stood erect
on his hind legs. His body transformed, taking on a more hu-
manoid shape. Under the features of this man, Vile-Tis walked
over to the moon goddess and sweet-talked her into letting
him approach. Seduced by the handsome stranger, Yllia surrender herself to him in a passionate embrace. Mesmerized,
the wolves assisted in this union, without understanding their
leader had become Vile-Tis’ puppet.
Yllia was still deep asleep when Vile-Tis released his host.
The moon goddess never got to see the light of day on her
lovers face and neither did she see him revert to his animal
form. She did not see the disorientated wolf make it back to
his pack.

'''The children of Yllia'''

Knowing she was pregnant, the moon goddess remained
hidden in the forest for a time to conceal her pregnancy from
the other gods. She gave birth to a litter of humanoids with
wolf-like features. Frightened by her offspring, the goddess realized she had been cursed. In the absence of the vile seducer,
her anger was directed at the only beings present: her pups.
However, she could not fi nd the strength to kill them and,
tormented by her destiny, she condemned them to be constantly torn between the instincts she had given them and the
greed and arrogance of humanity. She then set out to fi nd the
wolves which she had seen that night. When she found them
she transformed them to give them the same features as her
descendants. When she returned to the other gods, she offered them what they had been waiting for: an army that would
obey the orders of Vile-Tis and overthrow the Craftsman, who
would become forever her army’s number one enemy.
She called her progeny and the wolves she had transformed worgs. Instilled with part of her essence, she promised
the gods that they would be victorious. In her heart she still
wished to see them die in war and thus end her torment.
Having remained in the background, Vile-Tis was issued
orders by the gods to train the worgs. So he gathered them
and undertook their martial education. Seeking to break the
chains of their passion and instinct, Vile-Tis gave command
to the former pack leader whom he had possessed that fateful
night, and called him Ekynox. The latter played his role perfectly.

'''When wolves dare'''

Forged by the martial skills of Vile-Tis, the worgs had become killers, combining the art of combat with the thirst for
blood dictated by instincts unrivalled in the Realm of mortals. Under the guidance of Vile-Tis, they learned to manufacture and manipulate metal weapons. They covered themselves in plate armor and trophies. Their natural qualities as
well as their godly ascendants made them the best warriors on Aarklash. Only a handful at first, the worgs created by Yllia
reproduced and gave birth to further litters. Over the generations the power of Yllia’s blood thinned. The direct consequence was the appearance of smaller worgs, whose parents
called them wolfen.
Fortunately, the wolfen had not lost the predatory instincts
of their forefathers and were not rejected by their parents.
So worgs and wolfen followed the teachings of Vile-Tis who
ensured their cooperation. The latter set his bloodthirsty
beasts loose on Aarklash. The first wolfen packs, led by the
worgs, massacred anybody showing even the slightest sign of
the Craftsman’s influence or having anything to do with the
Ishim’Re Empire. Like starving wolves they stormed the borders of the empire, attacking it on all sides with thousands of
assaults followed immediately by strategic retreats.
With the wolfen snapping at its neck, the Ishim’Re Empire sent into battle experimental weapons and unfinished
automatons whose strength was ten times that of its regular
soldiers. Battle was raging everywhere. Forests were burned
to the ground while the earth shook in pain. The conflict opposing the wolfen and the Ishim’Re Empire was so
violent that many peoples tried to leave Aarklash.
Some were attempting to escape the massacre, the
others were trying to take the fighting into the other
Realms.
The gods were taken aback by the way things had
turned out. The Incarnates were not just bearing
their message anymore; they were improvising their
own solutions. The gods tried to re-establish some
form of order and told their troops to calm down,
but the wolfen advance was far too great; the wolf
people, led by Ekynox, besieged the Ishim’Re capital.
Vile-Tis was by their side and he was determined to
crush his personal enemy. But Vile-Tis was already
dreaming of his victory when the Craftsman revealed his last trump card. With a terrifying rumble,
the Craftsman and the Ishim’Re Empire disappeared from the face of Aarklash.

'''The Winter of Battles'''

Determined to get rid of his enemies once and
for all. Vile-Tis left Aarklash, along with the wolfen,
in pursuit of the Craftsman. The worgs and their
descendants, freed from his influence, went back to
doing what they did best: hunting. It did not take
long before they made the other nations of Aarklash
their prey.
The gods observed in fear the wolfen hunt down
every living creature they came across, washing the
land with the blood of their victims. Over time, the
nations of Aarklash stopped making a distinction between the worgs and the wolfen. In their eyes both formed
a single people, that of the Wolfen, who had become the most
numerous representatives.
While the war did not seem to end and the wolfen gave in
more and more to predation, a scourge slowly stretched its
white curtain over Aarklash. Freezing winds and everlasting
snow fell over the nations still standing, forcing the herds to
migrate and the mortals to follow them. This phenomenon
was a manifestation of the father of all gods as he wished to
end the games of his children and the consequences these games had on the wolfen. The nations deserted the battlefields to
fight for survival instead. Only the wolfen seemed unaffected
by this mystical winter. Their enemies had fled the fight, or
had died from the biting cold, so the wolfen travelled back to
Diisha.
Winter came and should have gone but the snow covering
the land did not seem to melt for years. The wolfen believed
time had been frozen. The rigor of such a long winter eventually took its toll, even the tough wolfen started having problems providing for themselves. Worried, Ekynox turned to Yllia, begging for answers.

Caught between her motherly love and the anger of having
been deceived, Instinct imposed itself as a stern and demanding goddess who would only reward the strongest. She requested that they abandon all their artefacts and all the marks
of prestige Vile-Tis had given them, forcing them to forget
their knowledge and to rely on their instinct and on the forces
of nature. Seeping into their dreams,
she told them of the gods’ quarrels and
the curse to which she had been the
victim. She had decided to make them
the guardians of Creation, she offered
them the possibility to channel their
savagery and make the most of their
human conscience. By making them
her guardians, she was giving them a
purpose, a reason to be.
One night Yllia went to meet Tyresiax. She made this worg the first wolfen scribe. Untying ribbons from her
hair, she handed them to him so that
he could write down the fi rst wolfen
runes. That night Tyresiax learned to
draw each one of them. Yllia also revealed that some of them held great
mystical powers that could be unleashed by uttering words of power. He
also learned how to share the secret of
magic and litanies with future generations.
Returning with this gift, he told his
kind of the goddess’ present. Keeping
the ribbons safe, he told his companions how to reproduce the runes of
power onto pieces of cloth.
In time, runic writing spread to
every pack and the wolfen learned to
make ribbons and how to write the
signs of Yllia on them. Since those
ancient times this sacred heritage has
been a medium used to commune
with their goddess and to benefit from
her favors.

Grateful to their goddess, the
wolfen, still guided by Ekynox,
raised a stone circle around the
lake in the forest of Diisha. They
called it Môrn in memory of the
intense emotion his fight had caused during the Battle of Aureus.

== The Dawn of a New World ==

Not only had the Winter of
Battles struck Aarklash with
never-ending winter, it had also
forced the gods away. They were
to lose their immortality if they
were ever to set foot on Aarklash
again. Yllia could not take such a
risk. So she trained the worgs to
manipulate elemental energies.
She also requested of Ekynox
that he should fight the Winter of
Battles since he was the strongest
among the worgs.
Thus the worgs gathered and
called upon their new knowledge
to support Ekynox. Standing in a
circle, they whispered the words
of power, making the freezing
energies waver before gathering then. After some incredible
efforts, they managed to channel the divine cold and locked
it inside Ekynox’ body. Seized by lethargy, the pack leader collapsed in the middle of the stone circle. And while Ekynox
was deeply asleep, the effects of the Winter of Battles only
began to fade after several more years of freezing cold and
snowstorms.
During these uncertain years, Ekinox remained fast asleep
under the vigilant guard of some of his closest companions.
But as time went by, the worgs grew tired of waiting for him
to wake up. They scattered. Some formed new packs. Others
sought deep forests to lie down and get the rest they believed
they deserved.
Then one day Ekynox awoke. It took some time before he
became accustomed to the divine scourge now freezing his
flesh. Yllia whispered sweet and comforting words into his
ears.
As the Winter of Battles was coming to an end, the wolfen who remained distrustful of Yllia encouraged their brothers to distance themselves from the gods, all of them. They
agreed that the existence of the wolfen was necessary to protect nature; Yllia had told the truth then. However, they were
doubtful of her intentions and they did not hesitate to remind
every wolfen who would listen that there had been a time
when the goddess had not been all that kind.
Savage and primitive, these wolfen were considered as blasphemers and pariahs. Their presence would only bring Yllia’s
anger upon the pack. Finally these individuals went into exile
and gathered in wandering packs. These nomads are considered lost by the sedentary wolfen. They have become wolfen
whose savagery has taken over their ability to reason.

== The Age of Rebirth ==

During this age of great conflicts, the different nations rediscovered ancient artefacts.
Ekynox set out to find the various packs and became the
prophet of Yllia, making sure the wolfen had not forgotten
their mother and the task she had entrusted to them. He recommended that every pack living on a set territory should
erect a stone circle to honor the moon goddess, since she was
the only one who could support them and guarantee their
species would thrive. In order to commune with the goddess,
Ekynox further encouraged the sedentary packs to have at
least one faithful in their ranks capable of interpreting the
words of Yllia and transmitting the foundations of their culture to the other wolfen.
So the faithful grew more and more important in these
packs. Some became true warlords. Ekynox convinced the
sedentary packs that they were the only ones that could guarantee the security of Creation. Thanks to his close bond with the moon goddess, he learned to raise carved stones into mystic patterns, making them nexuses capable of protecting the
pack and its territory.
The Age of Rebirth was indeed the time of wolfen territorial expansion. New packs were founded. Within a few years,
there was no place on Aarklash a wolfen had never trod.

== The Golden Age ==