Clan: Belongs to Clan Nightriver
Size: Small-Medium
Insignia: For everyday use, one wears a braid of white wool on their belt. During ceremonies or important events, one braids white yarn into their hair. In wartime, these can be dipped in red dye, representing spilt blood.
Pack Ironshear is a small farming pack in North Central Nightriver, bordering the Great Wolf’s Hackles and near but not bordering the pass. It shares a border with Pack Blackknife to the southwest. The large swaths of clear land with bright green grass make the area perfect for raising sheep. As such, wool and mutton are their main exports.
Ironshear Ulven are renowned for their peacefulness and textile work, but their nearness to the Pass has made them easy targets for raiders and thus they have been forced to take up arms in recent years.
Leaders
Chieftain: Olgur Ironshear
High Priestess: Borda Járnúll
Founding
Pack Ironshear is very old. It has been around as long as anyone can remember. While the facts of its founding are not known, there are legends.
The story goes that on one of the Great Wolf’s hunts, he butchered four sheep, and gave the hides to Gaia. Gaia wove the wool into pure white cloaks, and magic into each of them. She gifted one cloak to each of four Ulven families. The first cloak granted the first family great resolve and patience. The second granted great strength. The third great agility. The fourth cloak granted the skill of weaving.
The four families became known as Járnúll, Rammrúll, Hraðrúll, and Vefaúll.
Járnúll was distinguished from the others by their calm temperament and slow, calculating movement. Rammrúll was distinguished by their hotheadedness and strength. Hraðrúll by their lean bodies and quick movement. Vefaúll was distinguished by their deft hands and finely woven clothes.
They soon formed a pack, and being chosen by the Great Wolf and Gaia, the pack rose to the top of a large and prosperous clan.
There is no evidence backing up this legend of the founding save for four Ironshear families named Járnúll, Rammrúll, Hraðrúll, and Vefaúll.
Today, Pack Ironshear consists of a few scattered agrarian communities. There is no information about the fall of the pack.
Unique Cultural Features & Tidbits
Braids
While braids are popular among all Ulven, Pack Ironshear takes it a step further. Ironshear pups wear two braids, one over each ear, often called ‘pup braids’. The style is known to outsiders as ‘double braids’. When a pup reaches 20 years of age or proves themselves to be grown, a braiding ceremony is held. During this ceremony, a village elder takes out the pup’s braids and rebraids it into a single one going over the top of the head. This is usually a festive coming of age ceremony.
Ironshear Ulven see unbraided hair as unclean and unruly. It is indecent to have your hair like this in public.
Bronze
Wearing or using bronze is thought to ward off evil and sickness. Ironshear Ulven are rarely seen without some form of bronze on their person or gear. Doors often have bronze fittings if the homeowner can afford it. Shields are also commonly decorated with bronze.
Faer-Eigi
The Faer-Eigi are shape-shifting creatures of Ironshear legend, said to prey on shepherds and their flocks near the Hackles. They stalk when visibility is low or when a shepherd is inattentive. They take the form of a sheep, and if they are not discovered, kill the shepherd and the flock.
Identifying a Faer-Eigi can differ based on the story. Sometimes, they act in unnatural ways. Sometimes they look just a little off. More often, there is no way to identify which of your sheep is a Faer-Eigi. In some of these stories, the Faer-Eigi will leave when it is counted. In all of them, a Faer-Eigi cannot infiltrate your flock if you keep proper count.
