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PSA: Wolves in South Africa


Wing

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So, I had been operating under the mistaken idea that Wolves were totally not a thing in South Africa.

 

Turns out they are. People have been attempting to make pets  out of them, you can buy them. It almost always goes very badly and they end up either being put down or handed over to the sanctuary very far away from Cape Town (so don't get caught).

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This has always been a bit of a messy question. Are Grey Wolves (C. lupus) the only "wolves" in the sense we mean in Forsaken? What of Red Wolves (C. rufus/C. lupus rufus) or Ethiopian Wolves (C. simensis) or any of the other Canis species? Some are native to South Africa (C. mesomeles and C. adustus). When Forsaken change into "lupus" do they always default to looking like a European canis species? If so, it poses some interesting questions about the WoD mythology.

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This has always been a bit of a messy question. Are Grey Wolves (C. lupus) the only "wolves" in the sense we mean in Forsaken? What of Red Wolves (C. rufus/C. lupus rufus) or Ethiopian Wolves (C. simensis) or any of the other Canis species? Some are native to South Africa (C. mesomeles and C. adustus). When Forsaken change into "lupus" do they always default to looking like a European canis species? If so, it poses some interesting questions about the WoD mythology.

 

Page 97 (under Urhan) says that you blend in with any regional wolves pack. Now, I don't know if that means that if a European werewolf moves to Egypt that the form of his Urhan will change to an Egyptian Wolf or not; though I am inclined to say yes.

It also speaks about Wolf Umia. SO I'm inclined to say that even if there are no wolves in the area or wolves are not indigenous to the areas that you would turn into the European Timber Wolf, because that's what people tend to think of as Wolf.

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Oh, Egyptian wolves are not lupus. They're just canis.
It wasn't going to come up, except as that hypothetical. But I'm inclined to say that you stick to the lupus family.

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Page 97 (under Urhan) says that you blend in with any regional wolves pack. Now, I don't know if that means that if a European werewolf moves to Egypt that the form of his Urhan will change to an Egyptian Wolf or not; though I am inclined to say yes.

It also speaks about Wolf Umia. SO I'm inclined to say that even if there are no wolves in the area or wolves are not indigenous to the areas that you would turn into the European Timber Wolf, because that's what people tend to think of as Wolf.

 

It is a question of what "wolves" are. The Ethopian Wolf (colloquial term) or C. simensis is actually notably farther away (genetically) from the Grey Wolf (C. l. lupus) than the Grey Wolf is to dogs. The colloquial term "wolf" isn't very precise.

 

Do we want to go with any subspecies of C. lupus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Subspecies_of_Canis_lupus) as viable for blending in purposes? Or things with wolf in their name in English, regardless of their genetic closeness? Or some other approach entirely?

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Oh, Egyptian wolves are not lupus. They're just canis.

It wasn't going to come up, except as that hypothetical. But I'm inclined to say that you stick to the lupus family.

Ahhh... I thought you were referring to the Egyptian jackal (C. a. lupaster) which was colloquially termed a jackal, but turns out to be a subspecies of the Grey Wolf (C. l. lupus).

 

Yeah... this is messy. Perhaps it is best to just detail with specific questions and not try to hammer it out! I'll think about what options I think would make sense for my character and ask you about just that. :)

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Ahhh... I thought you were referring to the Egyptian jackal (C. a. lupaster) which was colloquially termed a jackal, but turns out to be a subspecies of the Grey Wolf (C. l. lupus).

 

Yeah... this is messy. Perhaps it is best to just detail with specific questions and not try to hammer it out! I'll think about what options I think would make sense for my character and ask you about just that. :)

 

Oh, no. I had actually given consideration to having the occasional Ethiopian Wolf character, but it doesn't seem to make sense. They are now Egyptian Jackals. By the magic of retroactive continuity.

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