Post by &! R H E A on Nov 11, 2010 10:58:45 GMT -8
about the cepheus
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all we have is honor. Cepheus is a society of fighters. From a young age, its pups are taught to both attack and defend, told that their sole purpose is to defend the admirals and to defend the pack. Catch a Cepheus wolf in a tight spot, and he will fight, fight, fight, all the way to the end. This determination and loyalty found in the Cepheus is what makes them excellent on the battlefield, not just their strength (although their organization, dividing their fighters into multiple squadrons led by brigadiers, does help them quite a bit). It's a well-known fact that many Cepheus wolves usually aren't the sharpest minds around, but they make up for it in their knack for battle; Cepheus is a pack woven around the concept of Wartime.
To some members of other packs they seem like they're all bite and no bark, a group of moral-less barbarians looking to start a fight. But look inside the world of the Cepheus, and you will see that they are much more than that. Like the ancient Japanese samurai and Medieval knights, every good warrior has an equally good code of conduct. Though Cepheus wolves sometimes regard their packmates with rowdy attitudes, it's all in good spirits; the Cephian code mandates that no packmate is left behind. It seems that from birth, the Cepheus knows that they must be prepared to sacrifice their lives for their fellow packmates, for their pack, and, most of all, their admirals, for the admirals (believed to be a living god and goddess, but we'll get to that later) are the pack's heart and soul.
Furthermore, although the Cepheus are not impartial to killing, they have one of the strongest senses of honor in all the packs. Honor is a central part of pack life in the Cepheus. If you have no honor, you have nothing, and that's proper grounds to be treated like dirt. Honor is going back for your teammates in battle, standing up for your pack and never backing down, showing bravery and courage in your battles and all your actions. A coward is a wolf without honor. And someone without honor, who runs from a fight and puts themselves above the good of their pack, has no place in the Cepheus.
what we believe in. The Cepheus believe in Cepheus the Great, of the original Four. But, mostly, they believe in two reigning figures of life in the desert: the sun and the moon. Sol, representing all that is warm and masculine, is the wolf who lives as the sun. Luna, his mate, represents everything that is cold and feminine, is the wolf who lives at the moon. The strongest wolves alive, together they heave the earth through the stages of day and night and take turns watching the wolves who live on its surface.
The admiral is said to be the mortal incarnation of Sol, and the same serves for the admiress being the incarnation of Luna. The Cepheus choose their leaders by having a bloodbath: the wolves who want an admiral position compete, and the winner, the strongest, becomes the new admiral or admiress. The Cepheus do this to prove which wolf is Sol's or Luna's incarnation; Sol and Luna are the strongest wolves, so either one of their incarnations will be the strongest wolf in the pack, so, in theory, the strongest wolf is their incarnation.
Either Sol or Luna, whoever is present at that moment, give the Cepheus strength in battle, but, first, the wolves must gain the gods' favor. Sol and Luna will only support the bravest, those with the most honor, those who please them. For this reason, the Cepheus give sacrifices to their gods. They sometimes offer their food, or sometimes their own blood. Often times they give a living sacrifice: their slaves.
our traits. A wolf once said that the Cepheus deserve to be aggressive due tot he nature of the land in which they live. The desert is harsh, quite a bit harder to live in than the other territories. But the Cepheus themselves don't seem to mind it much; their bodies have long since adapted to the climate. Their fur is short, so that they don't overheat in the coat of an average wolf. Their limbs are long and their ears are large, helping them lose heat quickly.
our neighbors. mountain lion, kit fox, gray fox, coyote, bobcat, black bear, white-nosed coati, raccoon, ringtail cat, collared peccary, antelope jackrabbit, desert cottontail, rock squirrel, ground squirrel, cliff chipmunk, desert rat, insectivorous bats, nectarivorous bats, whiptail, spiny lizard, horned lizard, skink, gila monster, desert tortoise, box turtle, roadrunner, woodpecker, elf owl, quail, cactus wren, raven, hawk.
a word to outsiders. The Cepheus are extremely territorial. Despite the respect they have for their own pack and its members, they have little tolerance for the actions of other packs, especially if it concerns them. Unless you're looking for a fight, wolves from other packs are advised to stay away from Cepheus borders; these wolves look for the slightest excuse to start a dispute and prove their superiority in battle. They have no tolerance for intruders, especially those from other packs, and, without question, will enslave a Cassiopeia, Orion, or Andromeda wolf if it happens to cross the border. If the wolf's pack decides to invade Cepheus territory to retrieve their lost member, well, that's their own business, and the Cepheus will be happy to retaliate.