The Black Mountain Saga (A literate wolf/raven RP)

[shatteredecho]

Come join us in the attempt to revive an old and once popular wolf roleplay! The Black Mountain Saga was started...so many years ago I can't quite remember. It might have only been 6 or 7 >>. It started on a free for all roleplay site and quickly moved to its own site only months after beginning due to the fast increase in players and characters. The Black Mountain Saga started as only The Black Mountain Pack, but it was quickly decided that TBMP needed a rival and so by the second person ever to join TBMP after it started created The Swift River Clan. A detailed and dramatic history was written between the two packs, which ignited an immense plot. Many many people joined and The Black Mountain Saga, as it came to be known, was a bustling an active forum. However, some Administration absences here and there (admittedly, mostly on my part) began to hurt the morale of the forum and upon my return I found that only a handful of our most dedicated players have stuck around. We are now trying to breathe life back into The Black Mountain Saga, but we can't do it alone! Without further ado, there's the story of The Black Mountain Saga....
(the events recounted below are actual rp happenings. A lot of things are likely to be left out either because I want to keep this as short as possible because it's going to be hella long as it is or because I simply forgot.)

The setting is long before North America was 'discovered' and settled. Native Americans are the only humans roaming the lands but they do not (yet *winkwink*) live anywhere near the wolves in this roleplay. As of right now, it is a strictly animal rp.

The Great Sickness had finally ended, leaving The Black Mountain Pack with only four pack members. These were the female Alpha, mostly feared by her pack mates, Sage Ghost and her much easier to get along with male Beta, White Ash. The last two were Pine Raven, a male with fine hunting abilities and Bright Lark, a submissive and very forgetful female. These four survivors struggled for a short time, but one day Sage Ghost came across two wolves that had overstepped Black Mountain's boundaries. One was a primarily brown male and the other a pure white with silver patches. Furious that these wolves had intruded on her land, Sage Ghost leapt upon the closest one..the white male. After some snarling interactions, the male was drafted into the pack. The brown fellow was so terrified that he'd fled the territory.
Time passed, and more wolves began to trickle into the pack either willingly or by force. Mateships formed and families began and The Black Mountain Pack was starting to thrive once again. One particular newcomer began to show some promise. He'd come in with the name Thrawn and through the ritual Dreaming the Spirits blessed him with his true name...Deepening Shadows. Eventually Sage Ghost approached Deepening Shadows concerning being her mate and he accepted. At first she had asked him merely due to his obvious skills as a leading figure, but over the next several months she came to truly fall in love with him. They bore a single litter of four. At this time the pack was tense and on edge for a few months after Deepening Shadows became the male Alpha, the respected Elder FireWind spotted a dire sign circling in the sky. A falcon...the eyes of their enemy The Swift River Clan. The Clan was becoming active again, and with the spotting of their aerial ally The Black Mountain Pack suspected something was up. Borders were tightened, and minor squirmishes ensued here and there. Eventually things began to worsen. The Black Mountain Pack's rabbit ally, Black Paw, risked her life on a spy mission to Swift River's territory. Needless to say she was spotted and killed on the spot. Her carcass was fed to each pack member in defiance of Black Mountain. When Black Paw failed to return to the Camp that night, Sage Ghost knew. She was infuriated, but the pack was not yet ready for a battle. A couple months passed before the final straw when a Black Mountain she wolf was found dead near the edges of the territory with what looked like battle wounds...and the scent of Swift River upon her. The same was found near the edges of The Swift River Clan's boundary, as well. Little did either pack know that this was merely a coincidental and fatal meeting between the two pack females. Both had been out of their packlands, near the rockiest edges of the towering Black Mountains, and had accidentally run into each other. The two had not actually ensued in any battle, but as they stood there in shock staring at eachother a minor earthquake sent an avalanche of dirt, rock, and boulders down upon the two. Each just barely escaped to their homelands...but not without fatal injuries. Perhaps it was all a set up by the Spirits to guide the packs to their final destination...but either way a war finally ensued. The two packs, along with TBMP's smaller pack ally The Tall Pines Pack, met several dawns later at the border of the territories...a narrow creek...for their first battle. It ended in an equal standoff that night, with some major losses on both sides. At this battle The Black Mountain Pack lost one of their most important and beloved wolves, White Ash the Beta. The next day the second wave of wolves met at the bloodied battlefield to clash. Those amongst this final and particularly vicious battle were Sage Ghost and Deepening Shadows. Both sides fought hellishly, and no clear winner was yet in view. On the horizon a dark and massive thunderhead brewed. When Deepening Shadows fell to the teeth of another, and the Alpha MudClaw of The Swift River Clan fell from the jaws of a traitor Swift River wolf a call for an end to the battling was sounded by Sage Ghost. As she stood over the lifeless form of her mate, she watched as MudClaw's beloved followers began to mourn. Right then and there she declared that enough blood had been shed and there would be no winner to this war. At that moment the Spirits chose to unleash their final piece to their plan for these packs. A lightning bolt arced down from the near storm and set The Black Mountain Packlands afire. The flames spread quickly, and the wolves were forced to further work together. They had to hurry down the creek, flames nipping at their heels, until they at last reached safety hours later. Both packlands were destroyed and their numbers drastically damaged due to both the war and the fire. Realizing the sign, the packs banded together to begin a long journey in the search for a new home. Many died along the way, mainly from sustaining burn wounds, and it was during this time that Sage Ghost stepped down from her place as Alpha and named her son, Ebon Star, as the new Alpha. Soon after he asked a female by the name of Aspen, daughter of Pine Raven and Bright Lark, to be his mate. Together, they led the packs through the long journey and when they at last reached their new home...at the complete opposite side of the Black Mountains...they settled in and split the huge unclaimed land. The Tall Pines Pack merged with The Black Mountain Pack, and them and The Swift River Clan are now on peaceful terms..even if somewhat tense. Old habits are hard to break. Now, with a new generation leading the packs these tensions are beginning to ease. Sage Ghost was one of the last few of her own generation alive and was stricken with a canine Alzheimer's. She has recently passed into The Mountain In the Sky. The Swift River Clan unknowingly has yet another threat in their midst.
Recently the young Alpha, granddaughter of Sage Ghost, Hailstorm relocated the pack to safer grounds, away from the dangers of the swamplands...and the Cougar Clan. Not all wolves wanted to move, and the pack split. The Beta and his mate stayed behind with a few others and renamed the pack The White Ridge Pack while Hailstorm and her mate, with a few packmembers moved to safer ground. But how safe? Already one other pack is known to be in the area and new territory means new and unknown dangers. Hailstorm is hatching a plan, but needs to wait for the pack to grow and become strong again before taking action.

There are three packs to choose from (and one is still in need of an Alpha). Or perhaps you prefer being a loner, or maybe not even a wolf at all?

So come and join the ranks of The Black Mountain Saga!