I just looked up the name I made up for this race of wolves, and found that it is the name of some kind of hypothesis regarding linguistics... But I was thinking of something that had to do with North, because that is where these wolves started out, and where most of them stay. (by the way, Borean is pronounced Bore-e- (as in eek) an.

These massive brutes (they are not bad, but they can definitely be vicious, boy can they be vicious!) are about four feet tall at the shoulder and a bit over eight feet long from nose to base of tail. (I'm not entirely sure how good these ratios are, but I looked at wolf dimensions, and I think these are similar, except bigger. )
Because of variance in body structure, they range from one hundred fifty pounds (for those built more for speed and agility) to upwards of two hundred pounds (for those built for strength and brute force).
They range in different levels of strength/speed/endurance/agility, but they are all fast, strong, agile and have good endurance to some degree.
They range in color from black to grey to white with streaks of yellow, just like wolves in this world.
They have an extremely loud snarl/growl/roar that functions as a sonic blast, stunning prey/enemy for a second. Some of the stronger snarlers can summon the power to knock someone backward.

These huge wolves hunt in small packs ranging from about 2-10 or in gargantuan packs of 20-60! The larger packs hunt massive creatures (some of which could be called monsters...epic ) that roam their territory. They also sometimes break up into smaller packs when lean times strike, etc. then sometimes they gather back up a few months later.
They mate for life and rarely mate again if their mate dies.
Sometimes, though, a male will take a younger female simply in order to protect her, but this often results in the loss of respect for him so he'd better be ready to regain it or leave the pack. (I don't remember what inspired this, and I know it needs work, suggestions are appreciated here as they are for any other part of these wolves)
Borean Wolves as a race are very noble, well organized, wise, intelligent...and deadly. Most of them are honorable creatures that know their maker. There are different divisions of them, however, some of which are clearly and inherently evil.

•Boreans: these are the eldest group from which the others were born; most of these are upright in spirit and body.

•Wargs: these wolves are the utter opposite of the true representatives of their race. These wolves have given themselves to evil forces and demons, sometimes possessing impossible amounts of strength, but often simply being very violent and not above cannibalism.

The interesting thing about these wolves is that they are sentient, and have a very complex culture (at least, even more complex than real wolves do).
They are able to speak to other sentient races, but they have their own tongue as well, they can also speak with 'wild' wolves that no longer can talk (because they have given themselves over to demons, and lost most of their faculties except for an intense bloodlust and hunger, almost perpetual hunger).

Part of what makes them interesting is that they engage in diplomatic affairs when they choose territories and try to divide the land (sometimes un)fairly, so that they can survive. And they also will go to war on other packs if they must in order to get food.

They also have (of course!) a complex government (for animals at least), which consists of one Alpha for each pack, and some wise, trusted elders of his choosing (you can see how things would go badly if the leader was foolish and/or evil).
These elders do their best to give the leader advice and council in making decisions and diplomatic pacts and other affairs concerning other packs, but the leader always has the last say (unless of course the whole pack turns against him).
Sometimes a large council is held by all the (or at least the main) wolfpacks, each sending their own leader and most of the elders. But this only happens with large matters pertaining to their survival as a race.

Well, what do you think? I crave your thoughts and suggestions!

This is neat, RunningWolf! You are RunningWolf, right? :D I can tell you've done some substantial thinking about all this. If I think of any questions, I'll be sure to ask them!

Yeah, I'm RunningWolf! I still answer to it, because I like it as well. My new username is the name of the first Werewolf in Vadra to return to God's calling.

Thank you! I have been thinking about them for awhile, I love wolves (I'm sure no one has noticed that ), and so these wolves I discovered have been pressing on my mind a lot, and I finally decided they were ripe for posting on HW!

Good, I like questions (sometimes even if they cause headaches)!

These sound very cool, Wolf! And scary! *Imagines a wolf whose withers would only be a foot shorter then her*


I was going to mention that.

Thanks! Oh, the nice ones aren't scary to good humans! (you are a good human, aren't you?) In fact, they are a very good animal to have at your side at almost any time (except if you're near some noblewoman who pretends to be allergic to animals...you might-no would get thrown out on your ears...unless you gave the wolf permission to eat the lady....(just kidding, just kidding!)
But I do intend to have some of them fight alongside humans and even befriend individuals...and possibly help guard children (of course, not many humans will consent to this, but...).
Even still, a wolf that big is scary, friendly or not.





P.S. If you're a Werewolf, you should stay away from them...they don't like their identity stolen.

I want one! How do the governments work when they form large packs or split off?

Come to think of it, I want one too! If a puny mastiff threatens you, the Borean could just eat him, while if a Grizzly attacked you...well, then he would have to at least exert a little effort... Besides, I hear they make great friends!

Now, on to your question.

We'll say there's a pack of sixty wolves, their alpha would have to show himself superior in battle to every other wolf (this is not a bad way to do it even for intelligent wolves because their intelligence is used for battle tactics as well, so winning would be a good sign of high intelligence). The alpha then picks at least four other members of the pack, each must excel in fighting and battle tactics, simple wisdom, survival (like how much food they need and whether or not their territory is supporting them), or diplomacy, hopefully he can find one or more of each (and of course their are subcategories that could be excelled in as well, in which case there might be more elders/advisers.
Then, whenever there is a decision to be made, the alpha and his council gather together (the alpha only need howl a certain way to call them to a meeting), if the pack is suffering due to lean times, they must find out why it is, if scouts (wolves that are built more for speed and endurance than brute strength) find evidence of trespassers, a war may break out. In this case the diplomat would go to the other pack and arrange a meeting between diplomats (this is always a hairy experience because they never know if the other pack will honor their diplomat if they have the nerve to steal game all of a sudden; even if they have dealt with that pack before, it could completely change once a new alpha establishes himself over it), if it is simply because there is not enough food in their territory, they will spread out in pairs or small groups for a time, assigning general locations to each, in hopes that they would be able to find game that way (by covering more territory at once and needing to feed less wolves, this way the lesser wolves would get more food instead of a minimal serving after the warriors, scouts, and elders have eaten).
*releases held breath and gasps for air*
And something else I just thought of: once the alpha male is established, he is given command until he dies or no longer has stable health...these wolves value the wisdom that comes with age (I'm sure real wolves would do this too if they could grasp knowledge the way we (or Borean wolves) do).

Well, that was longer than I had anticipated, hope I didn't bore you. I had some of these ideas vaguely thought out, but an awful lot of this came off the top of my head...what do you think?

I think it makes sense. I was picturing it from a smaller packs combining view where the alpha that is the most powerful might take a high position while the other alphas become part of the group of elders. Sort of like a group of city states pledging troops to one another. Your thoughts make good sense though.

Thanks, yeah, those ideas make sense too, and in fact there are times when smaller packs will merge (for a time, at least), and even huge packs will do this in extreme cases, then each alpha can choose two of his most trusted and valued advisers to be active with him in co-leadership...if that makes sense.