THE PACK Message Boards

I don't know about the rank of the new werewolf, but as for the meeting or ceremony, another option would be to have some kind of semi-annual meeting where all of the local werewolves get together to discuss pack business. There, all new werewolves could be formally introduced and answer questions about themselves in front of everyone. If he had questions or concerns, those could be answered as well, and he could be taught the basic laws and fighting/survival skills.

They might also give him instructions on certain tasks to perform after the meeting is over; this would be to prove his loyalty and willingness to comply with the pack's rules and at the same time test communication lines.

Hmmm

Humans are social animals

Wolves are incredibly more so.

The lone wolf is the exception and the rarity.

I would not be surprised if wolves hang together a lot and socialize muchly. Thusly while formal meetings, a human thing, can be scheduled, the opportunities for werewolves to network outside of that, I would anticipate being nearly constant.

I imagine that the pack would stick together like glue whenever someone new was introduced as well, as I can't help but think that the Wolf side may see the new were as vulnerable, much like a pup. And there would be those who'd need to protect them, and others who'd be there to help them find their place in the pack and cement that.

So I agree with you garouda, and I liked Scott's points from earlier regarding pack hierarchy. I think the initial meeting would probably be as informal as possible, to set the young-bloods at ease, and then from there the structure would be built up around them as they and the pack do things together. And aspects of what they do as Human, Werewolf, and Wolf introduced along the way.

I'd think that in that regard, a pack would probably be quite nurturing to any inductees, at least for a short while after they were brought in, and I think those ties will remain strong. A Werewolf pack is very likely going to be akin to a family, or a commune. To the Human, there will be leader figures and advisers, and to the Wolf there will again be the alpha they're accustomed to following, and the intermediary betas. And after a while they'll come to easily link the two.

So I'd imagine that bringing new members into the pack is going to be handled dynamically, and over time. Landing everything on them at once may be disastrous.

In my story, new werewolves are treated equally. It's the humans who are usually seen as Omegas.

garouda wrote:Hmmm

Humans are social animals

Wolves are incredibly more so.

The lone wolf is the exception and the rarity.

I would not be surprised if wolves hang together a lot and socialize muchly. Thusly while formal meetings, a human thing, can be scheduled, the opportunities for werewolves to network outside of that, I would anticipate being nearly constant.

Well, yeah. While I'm more of a lone wolf type myself, I'm not saying that it would only be those two meetings a year and nothing else! By all means werewolves will get together a lot whenever they want and have friends in the pack that they hang out with every day. I'm just saying that for convenience, this meeting could be the place to, in addition to formal pack business, introduce new werewolves so everyone can see them at once and know who they are.

That's an interesting way of looking at it, Berserker! I'd be interested to know more of how the structure works in your storyline, are there any intermediaries between the Wolves and the Humans, or is it just a stark line?

Celestial, I think I get where you're coming from. If I may? Gatherings of the sort would likely be a good idea if the Werewolf community was structured, and there were clans/sects which all the packs resided inside of. The packs might remain close all year around, but the sect would likely not stay together all the time. So a communal meeting every now and then for each pack to declare their status and their intent, for everyone who's new to understand the sect system, and for all the packs to meet each other's newbies, it could definitely be helpful.

If the pack is also business-oriented, or they have a particular mission in mind, then formal meetings outside of sect meetings could be helpful in order for everyone to understand what it is they're supposed to be doing.

It would depend on how structured Werewolf society is though, given the World.

I think a new werewolf would have to distinguish itself somehow if he's going to be inducted into a werewolf pack at any level above omega, if a newly infected just shows up on a pack's doorstep fresh from the first stage and with little idea what's going on, why should he be treated as an equal until he proves himself? After all he might turn out to be more of a burden if he can't carry his own weight.

I'm sorry, I don't view werewolves as giving others respect until they've earned that respect.

Vagrant wrote:I'd be interested to know more of how the structure works in your storyline, are there any intermediaries between the Wolves and the Humans, or is it just a stark line?

Don't know about Berserker, but in my own writing, humans ideally start off as familiars while they're being evaluated, then they are given the option of transitioning. So while humans are generally in the omega/familiar stage, it's far from impossible for one to remain uninfected but still achieve a much higher standing among his infected packmates.

So in my case, there are plenty of gray zones between being a wolf and being a human.

If I may? Gatherings of the sort would likely be a good idea if the Werewolf community was structured, and there were clans/sects which all the packs resided inside of. The packs might remain close all year around, but the sect would likely not stay together all the time. So a communal meeting every now and then for each pack to declare their status and their intent, for everyone who's new to understand the sect system, and for all the packs to meet each other's newbies, it could definitely be helpful.

Beat me to it. In my own writing, packs only maintain contact with each other through a single representative, but otherwise keep to themselves. Not because of instinctive or territorial reasons, rather as a survival strategy. If one pack is mishandled, is targeted by a hostile third party, or just plain has a run of bad luck, their problems will be isolated to just that one pack; that way if whatever problems they have prove too much to handle and are that one pack's undoing, it won't have a ripple effect that will spread throughout the entire werewolf population.

It is obviously in their best interest to know what the other packs are doing, and they do regard threats to one pack as threats to all packs (except in the case of internal affairs, IE: conflicts between packs), but for the above-mentioned reasons, they try to keep that contact limited to just one member of each pack, and who ideally will introduce himself only as the representative of said pack as opposed to by name. The pack is a family, yes, but it's a family like the mafia in the sense that it's not one you can freely associate with.

So just like how most humans have the small immediate family and the distant extended family, most werewolves in my writing have the immediate pack and the distant community.
But that's just my take on it. Feel free to add your own if you want.

I’ve never imagined any kind of communal ceremony for mine to go thorough. They generally discourage the idea of biting and don’t go looking for humans to bring into the pack. If they ever have a need to bite a human because that human has found out about them (a rare occurrence, since they often prefer the option of killing them instead if they don't believe they would be safe to change) they would simply choose an experienced werewolf to act as a guide when bringing them into it. The guide would explain what is about to happen, which would probably be pretty frightening because the person would be having to accept being bitten as the only other option than death and may not be too thrilled with the idea, and then give the newly bitten werewolf the option of joining the pack if he chooses. Otherwise it’s “Fine, enjoy the rest of your life, but don’t forget we’ll be watching you so you best remember to behave yourself!”