As the wolves come 'round.

[Azuremoon]

One would think that with mankind's huge walls and towers, things like wolves and bears were just an issue of the past - and they have been. For years, man had need only fear himself. They invented large walls that barricaded their cities, and in response, others studied the laws of physics and found ways to throw dead cattle set aflame across those walls, or huge boulders.

For ever defense discovered, a more dangerous offense was found. Man isn't the only one that can evolve though.
When a predator is forced back into a corner it may retreat but it'll return stronger.

This is the Kingdom of Alorium. The most prosperous realm of man. For centuries mankind has fought nature and then itself, and during that time both mankind, and it's former predator evolved.

Valorie

In Alorium - a city so vast that the watch towers on the walls couldn't see the opposite sides - few names were known by all citizens. One name was the royal families, any others were famous heroes in the years of wars that proceeded the new, Golden Era of Alorium. One of these names was Valore. Valore was a hero of the Last War who decided the wildlife could be lead and used against the enemy.

The strategies Valore used to lead the beasts into enemy territory, and used them as pincers in joint attacks against the enemy.

After the war, however, Valore retired and his name, along with a few others, moved through the city-capitol of Alorium like wildfire. Same as when he had a child. An heir. A torch into the future.
A daughter.
Valorie
(Val-or-e)

In this time of peace, Alorium has been dead set on making sure it's army is even better than before, despite the lack of war. There is no shortage of soldiers - young men come to join everyday. Young woman, however were something much more different. Woman were not allowed to serve in the military, but only due to their importance in the continuation of the population of Alorium.

There are exceptions. Exceptions being the family of war-heroes. Like Valorie.
Though she was an exception to the rule, the rest oft he soldiers did not see her as an exception. She was something different that didn't belong, and they treated her as so.

--

"Hey, Red. I wonder if you can actually use that sword."

"Better than you, Rickard. That toothpick even good for anything besides tickling your mates?"

"Oi, lass. I got something you can tickle...!"

---

Valorie was just how one might imagine. Her training from a young age had made her brash, and brazen. She spoke her mind and couldn't help but act more boy-ish than ladylike. Her attitude was where her boyishness ended however.
Her hair was a unique fingerprint that made her stand out in a crowd; scarlet red like her mother's and golden at the roots like her father's. Her eye brows were thin and arched; sharp and intimidating. The eyes they roofed were a bit more wide though and began her feminine features. They were round, brown, and doe-like. They betrayed her nature and gave the men a fuel for their words. That was just the beginning though.

Her body was tone and cut. Her jawline was pronounced a clear line. Her armor was fitting and, as far as she knew, she was the owner of the first and only female breastplate in Alorium. It was tight, and made without experience of the female form. It was a very flawed piece of metal. It sat right under her chest and worked more as support for her body, than protection. The rest of the armor wasn't so bad. Everything under her chest was covered in chain-mail and her shoulders in pauldrons. Her legs, in greives.

The young woman, aged at 20, wore her armor in shades of brown, red and silver from the steel.

She was considered a beauty, but her boyish demeanor and foul mouth pushed back those without mettle.

--

The woman left the bunch of training soldiers behind her as she moved towards the training camp, where the captain could be found. Today was the first missions she, and a couple others, had ever been assigned to that took place outside the city. Valorie was excited. She was going to prove she wasn't just a girl in armor with a considerably large sword. She was a soldier. She could be a captain. She wanted to lead men to victory, like her father had in the past.

She would not fail that.

​

 

[wolfs rain]

(Will post pic later.)
Vulcan was quick to jog up to valorie. During the last war, some of the beasts were domesticated to be the pets of some of the war heroes. He had fought alongside valore and now he was going to be his daughters partner. His black fur and red eyes made him look like a monster out of the human stories. Most believed wolves should of been killed after the war, but valore had protected him and now it was his turn to protect his daughter.

 

[Azuremoon]

Valorie

The soldier woman had heard the animal before she'd seen in, and it slowed her pace. Valorie had a phobia of wolves. All wolves except for Vulcan. Vulcan, ironically, was a security blanket for her. The wolf had been ever since childhood, when her father had first tamed the beast. She saw him as a respected comrade - not some mangy animal or cute little pet. As the animal met her side her hand firmly, but gently met his head. She rubbed the top of his head and behind his ears before moving on. She didn't consider herself, or her father, Vulcan's owner. Her father and her both let the animal come and go as it pleased. To be honest, however, if Valorie was going outside the walls she would be happy if Vulcan was going to go with her. That'd be best, for her. She could train, and knock men on their asses all day long but... outside. In the world. Against men *and* possibly wolves... maybe not.

Valorie continued, with the wolf-hound at her side, and entered the soldier camp. It was filled with men, most of which burly and stinky, but she carried a presence behind her, and the wolf at her side only made it only more intimidating. This was proven by the absence of sexual remarks or gender-based insults. Maybe they thought if they made a comment about her figure, she'd sick the only tamed wolf in the known world onto them. If she could, she might, but that would be Vulcan's call.

Finally, she entered the tent of the general and stood at attention. She knew what was going to happen here. She was going to be sent out. One early morning, more at noon and a last one at sunset. They were going out, finally. Finally going out of Alorium.

--

It was the best case scenario. She was being sent out in the morning. She didn't need to worry about some incompetent doff getting sent out and just wandering out into the wilderness. Valorie would establish a camp, collect materials for a fire and then obtain food and a source of water.

Until tonight, she would be the antithesis of a burden on this team. Once they were established out here and had a system, they could continue tomorrow.

The night shouldn't be a problem. Not with Vulcan and so many others.
They were just... wolves and bears... right?

​

 

[wolfs rain]

Vulcan followed alongside valorie as he eyed down some of the soldiers. It made alot of them shut up not knowing what was going on in the wolfs head. Once they entered the tent he sat down and listened to the orders. They were being sent outside the walls, a place Vulcan hadn't been in a long time. Once they began to set up camp Vulcan disappeared to hunt for food.

 

[Boo Girlie BoomBoom]

For ten years she stalked this bloated cesspool of excess and depravity.

Yes, she had been given a home here. They fed her, trained her and taught her things that she would never know outside these walls. And yes she was thankful but...

But still she was treated as a mere servant and never able to make direct eye contact with her superiors.

She was seventeen when she arrived here. She was a feral beast that could tear a man in half. She did not carry the muscle mass and honed instinct that she carried now, but she was still towered over many and was several fingerwidths taller than their captain of the guard. They named her Bellady as a joke, for that was not her true name. No, they named her that name for it the strange band of runes tattooed around her neck looked like a choke collar of some pitiful bitch in a kennel. And fittingly, there was such a pitiful creature not unlike a bitch in a pen. Her name was Bellady and she was a tiny and scrawny collared whore in the Delighted District in Alorium.

But she was no whore. They tried and oh, how they tried to make her into one, but the girl was a wild and feral girl; more animal than woman. She was a survivor of the forest, perhaps mad, but even more than that, she was dangerous. And so they worked to her strengths. And they found that it was true, music did calm the savage beast. And what a beast to tame. Once broken she would make the ultimate lap dog. Or watch dog. Valore kept her and trained her to become the deadliest bodyguard for his heir, Valorie.

Bellady was sworn protector to young Princess Valorie. But never once would they meet. For as prestigious and honorable a task that was donned upon the towering muscle of a woman, she was only meant to protect from a distance, from the shadows, from the outside. For she was never meant to be anything more than just a mere servant. A very, very important one, but a servant nonetheless.

That was a decade ago.

And so now here she was.

Alone, shamed and into the streets was Bel cut loose. There was another that tore from her grasp the role of sworn protector to the Princess. And the huge woman had no choice but to accept her fate. For Bellady was just a servant; only worth what she was told she was worth. And now a new protector was bestowed for the young Valorie.

A wolf.

An honoured and revered one; in plain sight was their relation shared for all to admire and hold awe. And treated more like a person was the four-legged thing, more so than Bellady ever was.

The immense wolf wore not a collar, yet the woman monstrosity had one tattooed round her neck. The wolf was free to come and go as it pleased. The woman was just another bitch in the pen.

Such a place was this. What depravity was this where a woman's worth was her breeding competence? What kind of ruler did not even know how to fashion proper armour for their female heir? How many years was this in the making before he decided to push up her breasts rather than protect her heart? Perhaps they were more similar than they seemed, Ruler Valore and Bellady... It seemed they were only capable of making a single offspring before becoming inert and null. And both were not prepared to accept that as reality.

And so here she was, the beast was cut loose to wander these streets. And so where would she go? Oh it seemed as if she would not know how to survive in this city, as a citizen and not a servant guardian. But he knew her, did Valore. He knew exactly where she would go and how she would survive. She was a beast, but he trained her; she was a creature of ritual and habit. And so he knew where she would go when he cut her loose. She followed the Princess and the Wolf for what felt like an eternity, up until this moment into the encampment.


They were more similar than they seemed, Ruler Valore and Bellady. They both wanted safety for Princess Valorie and swore only the best for her.

And they both loved her with all their hearts.

Or so it seemed.


Piercing green eyes, hardened as if cut from emeralds, watched from a distance, from the shadows, from the outside and knocked an arrow into the gigantic bow. A slow and calming inhale did Bel take as she drew back the string and aimed. The power of such a weapon could pierce thick custom made metal armour easily...

...or the hide of a despicable beast unworthy of its newly found rank and station.

 

[wolfs rain]

Vulcan had only made a few steps from valorie when he heard the straining of an old bow being drawn back to fire. He reacted with extreme speed and precision. He tackled valorie to the ground to have an arrow wiz by at high speed. He then let out a blood curdling howl that most knew as a alarm. The rest of the soldiers dropped what they were doing to grab their weapons to combat their attacker.