Lorespeakers
Lorespeakers are a group within Ulven society who find themselves outside of the normal bonds of Ulven society – having ceremonially severed their ties with Pack, Clan, and name, they are in a unique position of honored outsiders. Wandering from Pack to Pack, retelling the stories of the Ulven, they turn themselves into living representatives of stories and sagas of the Ulven as a whole, bringing news, spreading the stories of the dead to other Clans, and making sure that the stories are being told correctly. They are sometimes considered to be the representatives of the Great Wolf, as the Daughters are to Gaia, and while their words are seen as advisory, they are merely tolerated outcasts – separate, yet vital, to Ulven society. This is in part due to their migratory nature, and in part due to their oaths to the Great Wolf – they rely entirely on the hospitality of the Ulven as a whole, seeing how the Clans can support one outside of their known bonds. Each Lorespeaker has a duty to train their successor in the correct recitation of the stories and sagas before their death, with the duty often falling to orphans and other outsiders in Ulven society.
The Great Wolf has no formal priests – the closest he has to representatives are the Lorespeakers, who play a similar role in testing the Ulven and reminding them of their duties. Though in the year 269 a new figure has appeared on Mardrun and has become known as The Great Wolf’s Priest.
May 264
An expedition into the Dirge Swamp simultaneously tried to explore deeper and activate the secrets of an Ulven Orb. It eventually did activate once a nearby corruption idol was destroyed, and the orb recalled two adventurers through the mana stream and into the swamp. A search party was sent out and the two were found recalled to a specific point. Upon digging into the ground, a cache was found containing some magical artifacts and notes from what appears to be a lorespeaker. In the cache was a well known saga and what appeared to be the original which featured ulven battling each other. The implication of the history of the ulven was profound, but more questions needed answers.
July 264
Gustav Ironmound, Clanleader of Clan Ironmound, has made it known that after his Clan’s expedition into the dirge swamp, he has acquired a number of old Ulven texts that he intends to share with the other Clans. He has no intention of hiding these texts or keeping them from the Ulven people as a whole and apparently takes great pleasure in making sure it is known that representatives from his Clan had the honor of leading this expedition with the support of both sides of the war. Daughters, bearing copies of the texts, have begun traveling to numerous locations and freely share this information with others. Deep concern and confusion begins to set in with some of the Ulven people as the content of the texts is unsettling and questions many details of their history as a people. Whether this is a show of bravado and personal honor or a piece of some sort of larger plan is unknown at this time, but the impact of these texts being made public begins to travel like wildfire through the Ulven people.
August 264
Following the release of many documents detailing the true history of the Ulven people, a joint effort between Clans Nightriver and Spiritclaw has been formed, seeking any information regarding the Lorespeakers. Rewards have been offered by both clans for information leading to the discovery of these traitors, with substantially larger rewards for their capture, assuming they are kept alive. A number of smaller packs, namely among Shattered Spear, have taken matters into their own hands, branding and severing any Lorespeakers they come across.
September 264
A number of Lorespeakers has already been captured and turned over to Cahal Spiritclaw and Branthur Nightriver, who have set about the delicate task of learning the truth from those who have proven themselves liars. The will of the Lorespeakers already captured seems to be stronger than anticipated, however, and efforts to extract information from them have proven relatively futile thus far. Threats of violence, shame, and even death seem not to faze the captives as they would a normal Ulven. Branthur has continued to offer rewards for the capture of any living Lorespeakers, however, hoping that one of them will reveal the true depths of their deception in due time. Many Ulven feel betrayed by these supposed historians, who appear to have willfully deceived the Ulven people for generations about their true history. As a result, vigilante justice continues to pop up in some of the more remote locations of Mardrun, the perpetrators eager to have their sense of vengeance appeased. This anger, justified or otherwise, has begun to spill over into other groups, however: A handful of reports indicate that a number of Truthseekers have gone missing in the past weeks, with others voicing their disapproval of the group’s inability to discover a lie of these proportions.
October 264
The Truthseekers of Clan Spiritclaw have been hard at work attempting to locate any and all Lorespeakers they may be able to find, though their resources are stretched thin. Many packs have begun offering rewards for information that leads to the apprehension of a Lorespeaker, more for the capture of one alive. They insist that they mean to question those they find, although rumors of vigilante justice among other clans have led to some concern about Spiritclaw’s true intentions.
Currently
A village in Nightriver Territory has taken over housing the captured Lorespeakers. They are barred from saga-telling and instead live as members of the community though they are not allowed to leave. Many of them have become welcome members of the community, but the ghosts of their past continue to haunt them.
Occasionally strangers calling themselves Lorespeaker Agents appear in areas where people are trying to dig up long lost caches of information. It appears that though many Lorespeakers were captured there are still those out there who are willing for fight and die so that some information is never revealed.
