#sonus ch

Sickness talk under the cut! Stuck it there because there is definite death mentions, as Niets is terminal.

The Pack keeps records, well. Okay. Alpha keeps records. Mostly of who is related to who. It started out for primarily selfish reasons (he wanted to make sure that he didn’t accidentally pick one of his own cast aside daughters for a Grower) and eventually expanded as The Pack grew. So The Pack has extensive family lines marked down for the ones who are born in it, and the ones who are sold to them or captured and put to use are marked with a set of curved lines instead of parentage if Alpha cannot find a way to acquire the information. The Shamans keep records of other things - Attack/Defense Dog pairs, found family, allergies, and the strands of sickness that have cropped up. Alpha keeps his updated by using magic to shape the walls of a cavern dug out and already explored by Repair dogs! The Shamans keep theirs updated by using what they call the letter bones - bones enhanced by Alpha’s magic that they recruit a cockatrice to breathe flames over as soon as they’ve placed them carefully in one area. The Shamans are the only ones who actually understand the symbols they use.

Other records can be seen literally scarred onto the bodies of The Pack! Scarification is an... admittedly huge practice, and certain scars tell part of the history and record of different members. This is mostly visible among the Rust Pups and Argent Dogs, who never quite get good enough treatment that the scars go away. An example! On the right shoulder, a deliberately curved scar pointing in towards the heart signifies Argent Dogs that are parents. Small, circular burn scars on either side of the deliberate one indicate how many children they’ve had.

And different parts of the clans have different sayings that stand in for that! Alpha has none, so far as anyone knows. The Growers have had a various number of them, always changing because The Growers are always changing. The Shamans occasionally cast in their lot with the Argent Dogs when it comes to sayings. The Argent Dogs and Rust Pups have less a saying and more a word!

Redline.

It’s a word from the place Alpha is from, and each letter stands for something the Argent Dogs hold dear to them! Since this is getting pretty long, I’ll put that in a separate post and come back and link it here!

Other species familiars are viewed largely as part of The Pack, connected to the member whom they are with in a manner not too far from the Attack/Defense Dog pairs. They’re expected to hold their weight just the same as any other member of The Pack, and if they don’t, they’re subject to the exact same punishments as the rest.