A Leader's Questions...

@ greahound # 27654 

i'm just going to answer your question in a new post. from what i can tell from reading the main post about the rules in the game there is no rule against users answering the same question. 

i'm aware that other users edited their posts. 

@greahound # 27654 

Magic turning her head to other wolf that answered the same question. 

" i haven't thought of moving my pack. i don't plan on moving pack. we do have some older members  where moving the pack could be hard on them" says Magic. 

after pausing for a while. " the thing the prevents me from moving my pack is that we have made a home in the mountains and we love it here" she says. 

Rain was quite confused for a moment, there seemed to have been a bit of a mishap with the other two wolves. Though she decided to answer the latter's question. "Fairly simple. When a valued member of the pack dies, we say our goodbyes, the guide burns some herbs to send them on their way, and then we bury them. Death can be hard to handle, Ayri was devastated when her son died recently, but we have to move on." The shewolf glanced back at her daughter, who looked at her paws. "Fires burn, wolves die, but there is new growth when the smoke clears, and new life when the dust settles." She tipped her head at the other shewolf, perhaps she was in need of the same advice as Ayri. 

Rain raised her head, and caught another wolf's eye. "How do you handle death? Does it vary depending on who it is, or do you give all the same respect in death? We personally have our rituals, and marked graves. What about you?" It seems the gray shewolf didn't find death to be a sensitive subject, but treated it more like just a part of life.  

Ash looked up at Rain. This was the first time she had been here, but she felt inclined to answer. "We bury them near the huge oak tree in the center of the forest. Then, we howl, both to mourn and to help lead the spirit to the stars. If an intruder is killed, they are also buried- near the spruce forest. We howl for them too, to drive the bad spirits away from our lands." The light gray she-wolf glanced up towards the stars. She wondered, Do all spirits go to the same place, or do different packs'  dead travel different skies? 

She nodded towards another wolf. "What are your rules and customs when accepting new packmembers?" Ash seemed curious and interested, like she wanted to learn everything she could from the more experienced pack leaders.

One whiskered brow twitched, as his ears perked up before relaxing. His gaze flickered to Ash and considered the question. " It's not often we accept outsiders into the pack anymore, but one of the main things is that there's a one-season trial. In that time they are watched either by one ranked member, hunter, scout, herbalist, and even a Sage, Lord, Lady, or my mate or I if we're desperate." Giving his jaws a lick the male let his gaze flicker around. " Should that go well, they are invited into the main den, where most of the pack sleep. From then on, they begin to learn our customs, religion, and language. Once they have been accepted into a rank as a full member, they are formally greeted for the first time, by the pack."

He relaxed his body, motioning with his tail to another wolf, "Does your pack follow any certain god or religion?" It was an important question, but the answer was much more important. Scathos really didn't want to deal with a fanatic. 

Ash tilted her head up towards the sky. "My pack are not the type to worship. We are creative, yes, but we are still rooted in reality. But, we do have a, what would I call it, maybe a "patron spirit". She is called Tala, a wolf-spirit who guides new pack leaders." Like me, she added in her mind. 

Ash turned towards another leader. "What are the ranks and roles in your pack? How would one ascend the ranks?" She asked, curiosity glinting in her sky-blue eyes.

Rain tipped her head, ears perked. "We have three main ranks, young, main, and lead. The young are just that, puppies and adolescents. Main are the hunters, scouts, and retired. While the lead is the leader, their mate, and the guide, the most respected members of the pack." She thought for a moment. "I suppose the main two ways to rise in the ranks are simply to get older, and to earn the respect of the leader. We don't really have a hierarchy among the main, everyone is pretty much held in the same respect, unless you violate the rules." 

 Rain turned to another wolf, quickly thinking of a question. "What are your customs? Rituals, ceremonies, special things your pack or just you do?" She was curious, she had heard of many different lifestyles in her time and wanted to know.

Ambrose thought upon the question for a moment. "My pack is still a fledging one; as such, we do not have many shared customs to speak of. That being said, I have carried forward a naming custom from my birth pack. Each wolf born in my pack receives a pup name from their mother upon their birth, but also receive an adult name from the pack leader when they reach maturity. It is the adult name which is most important, as it comes from an intimate knowledge of the wolf, what they want to be, what they are, and what they will be in the pack." With that, he suddenly gave a sly smirk. "Of course, pups who act out of line or disrupt the pack may get stuck with names that are humiliating or insulting, so it is a useful tool to threaten them with".

Having said his peace, Ambrose looked across to another wolf. "The winter season is fast approaching. What sort of measures does your pack put into place in order to deal with the conditions?"

Nyx thinks for a moment; in her eagerness to look after the pack's hunting grounds, she has nearly forgotten about winter and how fast it is crawling over the mountains and towards her wolves. She snorts quietly at her own inability to keep track of everything, tilting her head a tad as she considers Ambrose's question; it's not an easy one to answer. "Our hunters work twice as hard to gather food for the pack; prey is scarce at this time of the year and it takes a bit more effort to locate enough game for all of us," Nyx is no hunter, but her mate is leading a hunting party of his own and doesn't shy away from pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of such a position. "Our herbalist stocks up on herbs and the scouts focus on gathering any other materials we could need once the snow descends. If the winter seems like a rather harsh one, our scouts will look for more... comfortable hunting grounds to wait out the cold," she muses aloud; they take a lot of precautions when it came to winter, even if she isn't a part of them all. "I myself go out more to ensure no pack is a threat to us, too."

There is little else Nyx can add after her explanation and she falls quiet for the briefest of moments, thinking of something to ask. She doesn't want to look boring or dull and yet, she wants to gather answers that may be of use to her. "Would you consider abandoning your pack if the life of an Alpha became too difficult? Or would you step down and let someone else take your place?" She doesn't know why that particular question escapes her muzzle, but it's out there before Nyx can do anything to stop it.

Numen felt his breath catch in his throat at the question, shock constricting his throat and choking him. "No! Never!" He yelped, answering a bit too quick and a bit too loud for it to sound sincere. "I would be letting down both Lycan and the leader before me if I chose to stand down. It's a sign of weakness." He shuffled on his paws, his hackles raised as though he had been backed into a corner. "I love everyone in my pack... I couldn't bear to think how they would look at me if I took the coward's way out..." Being an alpha was hard, sometimes too hard for the young alpha and the thought of desertion often nagged at him in the back of his head, but it wasn't an option for him.

He let out a nervous whimper before turning to another wolf, eager to turn the attention away from him with another question. "How do you treat the pups in your pack? Are they seen as more important than your adult members?" Pups were always a nice subject to talk about and he was hoping for some wholesome news to calm his nerves.