Northwolvens

The Northwolvens (Northwolven: Dothidl) are the mightiest of all the wolven civilisations. Lords of the Sea and Lords of the Land, the Northwolven Empire remains the principle power of their people. Though its slow decline has seen the secession of many territories and periods of chaotic infighting, the survivors of the Plagues are once again united to face the apocalypse ushered in by the advance of Mankind. From their colossal mountaintop citadels of black Nessine stone they yet stand as rulers of the world and will cow to none.
The Northwolvens have two cultural strains in their rulership: the elder, martial tradition of their Moonwolven ancestors, upheld by the Northwolven aristocracy, and the younger, entrepeneurial tradition of the merchant class, whose ventures have placed the Empire at the centre of Wolvenland's economy. These two offices have led the Northwolvens to mastery of both warfare and commerce: the two fists by which they brought the world to heel and maintain their position as the beating heart of Wolvenland.

by Toby Lewin

The Wolven castle-city of Gōzgan at night.

It comes as no surprise that since the first days of the Invasion, the Realm of Men has seen them as the foremost enemy to destroy in order to dominate over Wolvenland. Locked in an unrelenting war of extermination, the age of the Northwolvens seems doomed to end, with so much of their lands already cleansed of wolvenkind and many of their once-unreachable citadels torn down from their peaks. If the Northwolven Empire falls, Wolvenland itself will have no chance...

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Proto-Kessite > Proto-Tombic > Goumine > Northwolven (Dothidloth)

Culture and cultural heritage

Northwolven society is heavily stratified and hierarchical, with the view that every segment of society plays a vital role with its own rights and duties. Just as the Moonwolvens hold the tribe as an inseparable unit of loyalty, the non-tribal Northwolvens view their realm as an inseparable unit (which for most means the Empire). However, unlike with the Moonwolvens, the Northwolvens are tolerant of foreign peoples and see them as suitable for serving their own role in the Empire, bringing new perspectives and worldviews that can contribute to the advancement of the realm as a whole.

Shared customary codes and values

Family, honour, strength, dignity, excellence.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

Like all Goumine-descended cultures, the Northwolvens are patriarchal, matrilineal, and matrilocal. There is a strict gender divide between external, public matters - deemed to be the natural place of males - and the domestic, private matters - deemed to be the natural place of females. While titles of public power are reserved for males, such as lordships (by male seniority), ownership of the household is reserved for females (by female seniority). Family properties are therefore almost always owned by the eldest wolfess (though military properties such as castles are not). Families also carry the name through their mother and a husband must relocate to join the household of his wife.

Courtship Ideals

Northwolvens typically marry young, having been arranged for marriage since their childhood. Upon reaching maturity at the age of 20, Northwolfards (males) are ejected from their parental household with a sum of wealth called the 'boy-fund', to start a new life with their wife by either joining their household or founding a new one. Alternatively, if rejecting marriage at 20, males can use the boy-fund to join the warrior-class, become a merchant, or take up another respectable itinerant profession, planning for marriage later in life instead. It is considered shameful for a male to be settled down in one place without a wife after the age of 20, in violation of the female-domestic ideals. Northwolfesses (females) are expected to marry at 18, either by arrangement or by their own choice. It is shameful for a Northwolfess to intentionally delay marriage too long, and neglectful for parents to fail to arrange for a respectable bridegroom.

Relationship Ideals

Northwolven marriage is very much focused on the establishment of a harmonious household life, unconditional love, and faithfulness in their role to the family - not on the pursuit of perfectionist romantic ideals, which is considered childish and vain.

Parent ethnicities

• Moonwolvens

Related Organizations

• Northwolven Empire