The Vilkači Lore
Background
All around the world in cities, farmlands and rural areas there is a unique species that has made its home among the humans of the world. This species is called the Vilkači and resembled what the common man would call a werewolf, but that is as far as the resemblance goes. Their appearance is that of a humanoid wolf with fully functional feet, legs, arms and hands. Vilkači are also born as a Vilkači and not the effect of a human being bitten by one.
From what is known there were once 12 clans of Vilkači, each with their own unique attributes and skills that made them hunters, survivors, powerful. The clans would often wage war over territory and resources with some spanning over the course of decades.
With the increase of humans in the world it wasn’t long before humans started seeing the Vilkači , calling them werewolves and started hunting them out of fear. The Vilkači soon released that their survival would rely on them finding a way to blend in with the humans and avoid being hunted and so, they adapted with the assistance of certain clans. Gaining the ability to shape shift into human forms and avoid detection, thus effectively ending the werewolf hunts, and only shifting back to their natural forms when they were in the company of other Vilkači.
Living with the humans posed yet another challenge as the clan battles over territory didn’t go unnoticed and caused a stirring in the humans as there were werewolf sightings again. Realizing the severity of this threat the most powerful of the Vilkači clans, the Meltrican, took it upon itself to become the overseeing power of the Vilkači, taking on the title of Emperor or Empress of all Vilkači in an effort to end the clan wars. This role initially didn’t sit well with the other clans but, after another wave of werewolf hunts started up again, they started seeing the value of an overseeing emperor and submitted. The Meltrican emperor was tasked with compiling rules that needed to be enforced to ensure that the Vilkači stay hidden within the human societies. To combat the clan wars for territory the first emperor divided the known cities into territories that the clans could compete for in battles that would be held every five years.
And it was so that the Vilkači and the humans started living among each other peacefully, with the humans staying unaware of Vilkači existence. It wasn’t long before Vilkači and humans started romantic relationships that led to marriage and offspring. From the marriages the offspring would sometimes be Vilkači, other times completely human. Rules where set in place to have a child that is born Vilkači informed and trained about their linage and brought before the emperor to approve. This was merely as the emperor had an innate ability to see into the heart of someone and see if they harbour any grudges against humanity that will cause them to act up against humans. If there were any grudges the child would be sent to special camps where they would live separate from humans for the remainder of their lives.
The society of Vilkači flourished for centuries among the humans under the rule of the Meltrican emperor, though a lingering problem had surfaced that would disrupt this. The Meltrican, as powerful as they were, were plague by infertility and they seldom bore any offspring. Some say it was the price they had to pay for becoming the strongest clan and the emperor clan of all Vilkači. One emperor, Emperor Clouden, was obsessed with finding a cure for their infertility and spend years researching a possible solution to this. One day he did find a cure which led to a Meltrican couple having a child after 14 years of no children being born. Emperor Clouden immediately instructed all Meltrican to receive the cure to ensure the continuity of the clan. This, however backfired and the cure caused the child to pass away before the age of 7 due to heart defects which could not have been detected back then.
Having supplied the cure to all Meltrican, emperor Clouden knew he had caused the end of his clan. The emperor lost his mind and became enraged and went on a killing spree to kill off his mistake. The other Vilkači clans seeing this acted up against the mad emperor and somehow managed to banish him to another world. As the portal to the other world closed the mad emperor swore to return and kill all who stood up against him that day.
Not wanting to repeat the mistake of having one clan rule over all Vilkači the remaining eleven clans created a council consisting of nine well known and trusted members from different clans. This council took over the overseeing role of the emperor and lead the Vilkači to where it is today.
