Hunter's Moon

The age of the Lycans began with a great war between the gods and dragons.

For aeons, they fought and no one knew how it started or why. All anyone remembered was that it had given rise to the ancient race of warriors called Lycans.

The gods were losing, and they knew it. They grew desperate, and Aworyn—the goddess of the moon—created her children from the remains of a falling star. They were born with a special connection to the world and were the fierce warriors the gods wanted them to be.

Before the dragons vanished into the void, a truce was reached for self-preservation.

A truce that would last until one of them produced a descendant whose blood was evenly split between them: half god and half dragon. A descendant powerful enough to end the war—and it would be their only chance of peace and survival.

After the prophecy of the truce was made, both sides dispersed. Aworyn left humanity and the Empire of Morrian to the first, noble line of Lycans.

The Lycans forged an unbreakable bond with their creator and served as guardians of humanity for centuries, ever-loyal to Aworyn and their sworn duty. 

Born from the moon with the unique mantle of a star entrusted to them by Aworyn, the Lycans dominated the world. In time, the Lycans mated with humans, resulting in a subaltern line of half-breed.

The wolves.

Half human, half Lycan, the wolves possessed many of the abilities of their Lycan forefathers but were also burdened with human weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

The Lycans despised these halfbreeds, seeing them as a blight on their pure bloodlines. They used the wolves as soldiers and labour in their endless agendas, relegating them to the bottom of the food chain. Their low opinion of the wolves became firmly entrenched in Lycan culture and tradition.

Throughout their history, wolves have been subjugated. It was impossible to escape the Lycan King’s absolute authority over them all. His rule was so strong that it became a common saying that ‘even the wind had to obey the Lycan King’.

It was a howling injustice.

With the second Lycan King’s decision to release the wolves from their service to the throne, they were finally able to live on equal footing with the Lycans. In no time, they spread around the Empire of Morrian in packs. Their newfound freedom wasn’t without danger, with their packs constantly hunted down and slaughtered by those who wished to keep the Lycans’ reign over the Empire of Morrian unquestioned.

Lord Wulrics's first decree came eleven years after the wolves were freed, compelling the wolves to submit to Eleadoi’s rule, again. His decree was met with mixed emotions by both the wolves and the people of Morrian, with some submitting and others fighting it. This unprecedented move drastically changed the future of the wolves.

It was the beginning of the war between the predecessor and the ascendant. This monumental decision forever altered the course of the Empire of Morrian, setting the stage for another epic battle between old and new powers.

…and the gods did not intervene.

To most wolves, it didn’t matter whether the gods intervened at all. But there were those who believed that the gods intervened by freeing them from the king’s rule.

They were outnumbered, outmatched, and abandoned by their goddess.

As the senseless war raged, the unification of two bloodlines triggered the singularity that would end the feud between the dragons and the gods, as prophesied.

The Whitecrest pack, led by Alpha Elliot Chavére and his Luna Raven Semmeline, were pursued for months by Lord Wulric’s sentinels until they found a haven in the mountains near the border of the Empire.

On that night, under that blue moon, the prophesized bloodline evenly split between gods and dragons to end all wars awoke.

Elliott Chavére, chased by prowling Lycan sentinels, followed the pull of the waning moon south of the Empire. Blood-stained and on the verge of death, he prayed to Aworyn to save him- to save the wolves. For that split second, in that moment, a spark of faith ignited in his chest, a single flame that would remain lit until the day he died.

And as luck would have it, Aworyn finally answered, bestowing on him an ancient power with a single howl that still echoes in the night.

That was the first occurrence of the hunter’s moon.

From that day on, warrior wolves awoke in every pack throughout Morrian. They each had their unique ability, with venom in their bites and scratches that killed Lycans and wolves instantly. An army that banded together to defend the wolves.

They were called hunters.

In his dying prayer, with the token of his faltering breath, the first Chavére Alpha provoked the ancient truce and etched it into his bloodline. In every decade, under the hunter’s moon, hunters with skills and strength comparable to the Lycans woke to protect wolves.

And for a bleak moment, there was hope for the wolves.

Still, the war raged on, as both sides refused to yield and were determined to fight to the bitter end. The toll of the war lingered, both in the memories of those who fought and in the hearts of those who watched. With every hunter’s moon, the number of hunters dwindled.

… and Aworyn finally stepped in.

For different reasons than the Lycans and Wolves believed; they were on the brink of the prophecy and the gods were eager to sway it.

But everything must end the same way it started.

With the blood of a Chavére to end all wars.