Winter Wolves

Winter Wolves are a large, semi-sapient canine renowned and feared throughout the colder regions of the Shattered Isles for their ferocity and cunning intelligence. They thrive in environments considered unhospitable to most; even other wolves find the extremes of arctic plains and the heights of snow-capped mountains too harsh to survive in, but Winter Wolves revel in the cold. To most, they are considered evil by nature as they go out of their way to spread fear and pain, whether that be in other animals or humanoids. 

Basic Information

Anatomy

Winter Wolves are one of the largest species of canine in the known world. Their fur is exclusively white in colour which gives them excellent natural camouflage in arctic terrain, and their fur is extremely dense and soft, making their pelts highly prized throughout the Shattered Isles. A notable feature is the wolf's hackles, which seem to be perpetually frozen into ice shards. It is theorised that these sharp protrusions offer some form of defence for the wolf's back, stopping them from being ambushed from above. Their eyes are almost always blue in colouration. They possess powerful and stocky muscles, particularly in their legs and shoulders, for surging through drifts of snow with ease.

Genetics and Reproduction

Like all other wolf species, Winter Wolves in a pack environment have an alpha male and alpha female that are the exclusive breeders in a pack. The gestation period lasts from 65-85 days, with only three to four pups being born at a time. Female Winter Wolves are rarely found outside a pack, but if they are, they refuse to breed with any wolf except another lone male Winter Wolf; the lone males are not so circumspect and will also mate with Common Wolves and feral Snow Wolves.   

Growth Rate & Stages

The growth rate of Winter Wolves is somewhat slower than that of other wolf species, with pups reaching adolescence at around 14-16 months old, and adulthood at around two and a half to three years. They reach sexual maturity around this time, with females able to breed up until their third decade of life and males up until old age takes them. They have exceptionally long lives for canines, with most being capable of reaching 50 years old, although many do not live to see out their twilight years due to being hunted, killed by rival wolves, or disease. 

Ecology and Habitats

Winter Wolves cannot tolerate warmer climates, even temperate ones, and so they stay in frigid, arctic regions until winter makes the landscape more to their liking. They are particularly at home in snowy mountains and arctic plains, where the snow offers them the advantage of natural camouflage. They have been known to bury themselves under snow drifts to cool off, as well as launch ambushes on unsuspecting prey. The snow serves to mask their scent as much as hide them from sight.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Unlike their Common Wolf and Snow Wolf kin, Winter Wolves are not omnivorous and gain no nutritional benefit from plant matter. Obligate carnivores, they are relentless hunters that work well in a pack but are also more than capable of bringing down a large deer on their own. Sometimes a wolf and its pack may hunt purely for the pleasure of it, gorging a meal and then celebrating by tracking and hunting a frightened herd.  

Biological Cycle

Winter Wolves stay in the mountains or arctic regions during the spring and summer months, emerging into more temperate regions only during the winter to expand their territory and find more game to hunt. Despite their increase in territory size, they often come into conflict with other Winter Wolf packs, fighting for parcels of land and hunting rights like rival humanoid tribes would. 

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Winter Wolves are present in most cold regions of the Shattered Isles, although they are particularly concentrated around the Daggerjaw Mountains and the northern Malcord Peninsula in Anuan, the mountains of the Eastern Isles, and the Frozen Wastes of the far north. They typically avoid temperate regions, but they have been known to descend from mountains in the winter months to hunt further afield and temporarily expand their territories, returning to the mountains when the snow begins to thaw.

Average Intelligence

Winter Wolves are without a doubt the most intelligent canines in the known world, and the only ones who are capable of some speech. Although they aren't able to give complex responses (with most attempts being only a few words at a time), they can understand everything spoken to them. Many an adventurer has insulted a Winter Wolf, thinking that its lack of formed sentences means that it is dull-witted. In actual fact, it is believed that Winter Wolves have formed a kind of society within their packs, with some scholars hypothesisng that they give each other names and even show signs of worshipping Auril, the Goddess of winter. Getting close enough to a pack without being sniffed out, however, has proven difficult, and thus far most of what is known about Winter Wolf behaviour is based on limited evidence and guesswork. It is known that Winter Wolves have some grasp on strategy and tactics beyond that of how Common Wolves hunt, as they have been witnessed using environmental traps and ambush tactics to bring down their prey.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Winter Wolves have an excellent sense of hearing and smell, most certainly far beyond that of an ordinary wolf's. Their eyesight is also very sharp, although they tend to see the world in various shades of blue rather than full colour. Interestingly enough, their descendent species, Snow Wolves, can see the world in full colour, but it is not known how this trait came to be. Winter Wolves also tend to be fairly insightful of another creature's true feelings, being able to sense fear and deception as easily as they can pick up the scent of deer in the snow. 

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Winter Wolves communicate with each other through an intricate series of growls and barks that only they seem to understand, but they are capable of some simple speech in Common and Giant.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Impossible to domesticate and fiercely independent, Winter Wolves rarely have anything to do with other intelligent species except to to hunt and kill them, whether for sport or for food. Sometimes, a pack may align itself with Frost Giants, especially if the two groups have a common interest or goal that can only be achieved if they work together, but Winter Wolves will only tolerate this alliance for a short time. Their ill-temper and brutal nature makes them quick to turn on friends, if the creatures truly consider them to be 'friends' at all; most allies end up as the pack's next meal, rather than being left to walk away from the union unmolested. The only creatures that Winter Wolves do not wantonly attack for sport are other wolves, despite seeing themselves as superior to their by far less intelligent kin. Some Winter Wolf males who wander outside a pack will mate with Common Wolf females to satisfy their urges, giving rise to the Snow Wolf, a descendent species that has been carefully domesticated by druids over many years into a guard and companion animal.

Genetic Descendants

• Snow Wolves

Scientific Name

Canis lupus hiems

Lifespan

~50 years

Average Height

1.2 - 1.4 metres at the shoulder

Average Weight

95 - 130kg

Average Length

1.8 - 2.4 metres from nose-to-tail

Geographic Distribution

• Daggerjaw Mountains