misce posting

Pack Leadership

You are a part of your paternal grandfather's pack as the culture you live in is patriarchal. Your grandfather is an alpha and also serves the role of pack head just like his father before him. Your father is an alpha and holds the position of "second alpha". When your grandfather dies he will become the pack head. Your grandmother is an beta and fulfills the role of Lady of the Pack, if she were an omega or alpha she could also fulfil this role. As your grandfather is the leader of men, she is the leader of women and children. When the men are away: trading, hunting, or otherwise she is the acting pack leader. Your father's position as second alpha does not supersede her authority.

While it is common for the pack head and the pack lady to be coupled, that is not always the case. The Lady of the Pack is always someone who grew up in the pack, not someone who married in. When your brother becomes pack head after your father your mother (who will likely succeed your grandmother as the Lady) will pick her replacement. Traditionally it is the previous pack head's eldest daughter. Your brother's wife would then become that Lady's second.

The pack head and the pack second do not travel together. When there is something that needs to be handled outside of your pack's region - normally your father is sent to handle it under your grandfather's explict direction.

Pack Territory

Your region can vary in size. It gets larger when a daughter of the pack alpha's line get's married, as land is often part of her dowry. Trading with other packs in the area can also be a source of expansion, but the biggest cause for expansion is often absorbing another pack altogether. This may happen after a pack war, but a merge may also come about as a political decision to strengthen both bodies.

Large packs may split up and live as pods around the pack region, unified under the direction of the pack head. In this case, each pod would have it's own leader - normally an alpha but it could be a beta. Pod leaders would be connected to the pack head through a familial line, the most common is that the pod leaders are the pack head's sons, nephews, or grandsons.

A pack split occurs after a civil war, or may occur if a pack head feels the population and territory is becoming too large to control. Unlike a Pod split, a pack split means the territory would be permanently split according to the pack head/current circumstances. The new pack would not be a pod and therefore would not be entitled to any resources, protection, or miscellaneous support from that parent pack. This is not always a negative thing, sometime it occurs if a pod begins to flourish further than anticipated and it makes sense to become independent.

Gender Roles -

Men and women have very clear and distinct roles. A pack or pod leader is always a man. Men are also warriors, traders, farmers, gatherers, etc.. Women are seen as vital to the pack's prosperity and therefore are not to engage in work that takes them outside of the pack region. Women are teachers, keep the pack records, are crafters who make things for the men to trade, take care of the children, are often cooks (but not always), etc.. In many cases female pack members recieve a more well rounded education, than their male counterparts who begin the apprenticeship process from a very young age and only learn the skills required of that position.

Alphas, betas, and omegas also have different roles. Alpha men are normally chosen to fulfill combat/very physical roles such as warriors, builder, shephards, mechanics etc.. Beta men might be navigators, negotiators, engineers, etc.. Omega men might also be farmers, gatherers, cooks, voyagers, architects etc.. Men are the ones that leave the pack frequently - it is no uncommon for a man to be away from the pack for many weeks at a time due to his occupation.

Alpha women are often teachers/educators/child rearers, they might provide pack protection if the men are away, and frequently engage in trades like carpentry, blacksmithing, etc.. Beta women are doctors/nurses/morticians, gardeners, tailors, record keepers, librarians etc. Omega women are often painters, ceramicists, chandlers, printers, lawkeepers stenographers they might tend to small animals like chicken/rabbits. Women always stay within pack territory unless of an emergency.

Children/Families

Children grow up in their parents' homes until they are either married or can support themselves via the wages from their occupation. All children are educated through the age of 13. At age 3, children are sent to a nursery to be looked after by nursery attendants here they will receive basic schooling. At aged 6, children move up to "reading school" which lasts until age 11. Years 12 and 13 are spent in a more rigorous environment called "topper" in which they are scouted after by townspeople looking for new apprentices, take apptitude tests, try out different jobs, and hone skills in specific areas. Boys typically begin their apprenticeships full time at 14. Girls often move on to "AES" or "academic and educational stimulation" which may last until age 18, but they may leave at any time, most leave by 15. Girls who complete AES are normally then trained to be governesses, teachers, law-readers/makers, etc.. Apprenticeships and other extra-vocational training normally lasts 2-3 years.

Due to the limited resources of a pack, couplings aren't permitted to have children any time they want. Instead, they must wait for periods of prosperity to be granted a special license. Licenses are handed out based on wait time, for example a coupling that has been bonded/married for 3 years would be ahead of a coupling that has just been bonded. Having children out of bond is normally unacceptable, as it could easily put a strain on pack resources. In large affluent packs, this is not as much of a worry. In a normal pack, couplings wouldn't have to wait more than a year to get a child-rearing license and if they were just bonded, they would often wait half that time. It is a sign of bad fourtune ahead if the wait time becomes longer than 24 months or you notice your pack without any unweaned children. (Bonding liscenses will be touched on in another post, but also exist to prevent incest and intermixing of close family lines)

Because couplings cannot have children whenever they'd like, multiples like twins or triplets are seen as a true blessing - and that family will be said to have good favor forever. Marrying a multiple is also said to be good luck as multiples often run in family lines.

Some packs have family limits - for example a coupling may not have more than four full term pregnancies. Others have occupation limits, for example a farmer's family may have seven pregnancies but a warrior's family might only have three. Others may have no limits at all and put more of the financial risk on the parents.