[Faction] The Wolf Hunters

[Alex Cromwell]

I came up with this idea in one of my very first posts. The faction is known as the Wolf Hunters. They are a moderately sized group of fanatical humans that have an undying hatred for the kelvics, especially those that morph into a wolf. Formed in the early years after the Valterrian, they slowly grew in size until they had around 1000 members across the world of Mizahar. They continue to expand to this day. Their group is hated across the land, but they still preach their message of a world without kelvics. They will also go to the extreme and send out some of their more violent members on hits against kelvics in the world.

Any feedback would be appreciated on how I can improve this.
-Alex Cromwell

[Oscar]

(Raises hand) Question. Why do these human hate Kelvics? Are we just talking run of the mill bigots that give humans a really bad name, like the Syliran Knights but less benign? Or do these people have some kind of reason?

Also, why do they specifically hate wolves? I know historically they have never been the most liked animal but, by that logic you could say the same of bears. Seems like there would be even more of a story behind that.

Also, hated across the land seems a little extreme. I doubt they would be hated by pro human individuals, and they might even be welcomed in places like Ravok who are pro human by default. The Syliran Knights might look like knights in shining armor but they are also quite racist, so unless they caused chaos in Syliras or broke the law in the city it is unlikely they would really care.

Just some things to consider. At least things I could paraphrase from the wiki.

[Titus]

I agree with Oscar's theory about it just being Wolves. I personally think it would be better if they hated Kelvics in general. But I don't really think they need a reason. Maybe they see them unfit to live? Like they are a sin against the gods or something.

[Alex Cromwell]

Sounds good. I'll be sure to make the changes before I submit it for review. Thanks.

[Oscar]

You do make a fair point, Titus, racism rarely requires reason behind it. I just tend to think that having a reason would make them a little more deep than just people who hate Kelvics. The religious aspect might work since it is said they were created by means of magic and science, though possessing that knowledge is probably extremely rare.

Also, since they are clearly pro human, would their disdain carry over to other shape shifting races, like the Dhani? What about mages who can shift, are they considered the same way? Then again, most everyone in the world hates magic so that wouldn't really be surprising. I'm actually not sure if there exists a faction devoted to hunting mages, perhaps this faction could include that on their agenda as well.

I think I'll stop my train of thought here, if I keep going I'll probably just devolve into incoherent ramblings.

[Khida]

Racism might not need a reason per se, but this kind of group is always much stronger for having a mission and purpose greater than bigotry alone. As others mentioned, I don't think such a group should have a vendetta against any particular 'type' of Kelvic, because all Kelvic species give rise to any other -- there's no distinction in the race between wolf or squirrel or hawk or dolphin. It's impractical to try and stamp out one breed -- and if they were to dislike wolves specifically, then they should dislike all wolves, Kelvic or natural beast. That comes back to a question of why? For example, it makes sense for farmers to detest wolves, because wolves prey on their livelihoods, but not to expand that to all Kelvics -- or to create a continent-spanning organization to stamp them out. Those who can spread their hatred into that kind of scope probably don't care what type of Kelvic one is. But I digress. As I was saying, a strong faction should be motivated by more than formless hate. It could be enough that Kelvics are mage-created, not of divinely ordained make -- that much about their origin is widely-enough known. I think that's an unfortunately simple motivation for a crusade against a race with a lot of history and meaning written into it, but it's potentially viable. You could make the group pro-human, but as Oscar is describing, then they lose the specificity of anti-Kelvic vendetta. Pro-human is by definition anti all nonhumans, whether Dhani or Eypharian or Symenestra or Akalak or Konti -- maybe especially those last three, because they breed non-human children from humans. Kelvics at least breed human children almost all the time, when crossed with a human. There are some hints and allusions within the Kelvic lore and other documentation that I find absolutely fascinating, and which I think could be the foundation for a really strong anti-Kelvic motivation. From Morwen to Nya Winters' mother: The Kelvics of today are just pale shadows of what they once were. Bred too frequently, bonded too young, they are but shadows of what their maker meant them to be. The Kelvic he created and later bonded with were brilliant. There were no courts in either Suva or Alahea that didn't know their touch when he was done. You see, he used them to murder, to steal, and to scout. He sent them across the barriers to other worlds to search for Azala. He sent them to courts and palaces far and wide to see if anyone had the information he sought; his sisters wereabouts. And he killed for coordinates - or his kelvic did. And this, from the very bottom of the Kelvic lore page: Marcus Kelvic and his sister Myrna Kelvic might very well be alive and well somewhere. If this group has been extant since the Valterrian or before, perhaps they could be motivated by something those early Kelvics did, something they don't ever want a repeat of to happen again. Maybe they nurse a vendetta against Marcus, or have reason to want Myrna to remain lost. Even if they've forgotten it in the centuries since. Maybe they don't care about the general run of Kelvics, the 'pale shadows' -- just the ones that are too smart, too skilled, the ones that stick their heads up above that crowd. The ones that could be more. I would find that kind of story much more compelling than plain ordinary bigotry.