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I'm no longer posting an episode of Blood on the Moon and I'm feeling a little... lost.
All good things must come to an end - of course I know this.
So I've decided to not only remind myself about the characters, but I figured I'd give you something to sink your teeth into too.
This is not really a character, more like a characteristic but it is still an important part of my books.
There's a part of my book that is not easily understood and that's the hierarchy of the Wolf classes. There are three main classes and these excerpts explain the classes and a bit more of the Wolf society.
This is found in Deadlier - Red's Story and of course, also in the full novel of Deadlier Than The Male.
I used quite a lot of science in the books because I found a lot of facts that marry-up with the legend I tried to develop. For example, it never quite sat right with me that if a werewolf's paw is severed, it turns back into a hand. How can that be? There's no energy to turn it back. Like a dead frog's leg needs outside influence to make the limb move, so too does a severed limb. In my legends, if a limb is severed, it remains in the same form as it was when it left its owner.
An ‘Aeger’ Wolf translates to ‘Infected’. Someone bitten as prey, if they survive by a mistake on the predator’s part when he doesn’t finish the kill for some reason, by Wolf law they should be hunted and killed for the security of Wolfkind. An ‘Aeger’ should not be allowed to live to Full Moon.
Victoria represents the ‘Putus’ line as Lycaeon. Putus is translated to ‘Pure and unadulterated bloodline’, by virtue of her ancestry, she heads a long line of Wolves who trace their ancestry back to the first born wolves rather than any that were bitten. The Putus marry others in the line and their offspring are the elite. There are enough Putus to keep the Bloodline fresh and untainted. The other ancient line is the Macero or weakened bloodline.
The split between Putus and Macero can be traced back to the birth of Rome, before it became an empire.
As Red herself tells Steve:
“The First Laws were drawn up around that time, as was the hierarchy of Putus being decided as the ruling class, and Macero revered only as Ancients but no more important than that. If you live long enough as a Wolf, you get to be important, the trick is living long enough - five hundred years would do it.”
She continues:
“Now, a Throwback is really dangerous to us. They are betrayers and backstabbers to our kind. They have no tendency for loyalty; neither to Wolfkind in general or their immediate family. It was a Throwback that betrayed us all and led to the eradication of wolves from the whole of England centuries ago. The king set a bounty on all wolves in order to catch the rest of us who had not fled, but may have been hiding. Throwbacks are self-serving beasts and use their talents for material gain. Sometimes they are touched by madness, but in such a way that they are cunning and sly, not simple-minded and harmless, especially so, the ones born to humans - or as we know them better - ‘Humes’. Throwbacks were once prolific, which is the reason for the Sentinels; we hunted them down whenever possible. It was a necessary evil.”
Red paused to give Steve a chance at a question which she could see he was having trouble containing.
“Do Throwbacks have different categories like Putus and Macero?” Steve asked.
“Not really, they have not been studied so much as to categorise them. Ancestry is always more interesting, especially if it could help to make us stronger as a species. Throwbacks are not studied so much because we cannot learn anything from them; they are a weakness, a cancer to be cut out before it causes the death of the host; in this case, Wolfkind. What we do know is that there are a few ways of propagating Throwbacks. For example, a Wolf mating with a Hume may sometimes result in pregnancy. If the female is Hume then the Wolf should, by rights, kill it when it is born. If the female is Wolf then she would of course, kill the offspring herself.”
“That’s horrific,” Steve said, his mouth open in shock at the information.
“Yes, probably so, but as it happens in only exceptional and rare circumstances, it makes no nevermind. I was always taught that if this did happen, then it is far better that the parent killed the offspring rather than any other. A Wolf and Hume hybrid doesn’t happen easily, there are members of our society who actually live with and marry Humes and usually they just find that they cannot have children. What is more commonplace is that a Wolf makes his or her own mate in a fit of passion and the resulting offspring is always Throwback - no exceptions.”
A Throwback is dangerous because they have the same senses as Wolves. A born Wolf grows into his abilities, whereas an Aeger or a Piaculum has to develop those senses and learn to recognise and use them properly. A born Wolf has them naturally and so is more in tune to them from the very start. Both Aeger and Piaculum are sometimes referred to as ‘Imp’ or impure. It’s an antiquated and little-used term these days, used as an insult.
Piaculum means ‘sacrifice - bitten for’. Hazel was chosen by her husband and then bitten by his brother - or, in this case, his best friend - Darius.
Wolves marry for life, they are not allowed to get divorced, really it’s ‘til death do us part’.
Red turned her perspective inwards for a little while. Steve noticed that she had become quiet but didn’t push, if she had something to say, she would say it in her own time.
“You know when I said that studies were not made on Throwbacks? That wasn’t quite the truth.”
She waited for him to look at her before she continued.
“I know of one Ancient that did study the phenomenon in depth and he in turn taught me quite a lot about them too. In fact, we learned some of it together, back before I became a Sentinel. Back before it was realised that I had the potential to become Sentinel Exemplar - a title that had never been held, but had been provided for. I had to go through extensive training, under many different Sentinels and I have seen a great many of them die as a result of their career - and because of their choice to mentor me. Not one has ever been corrupted though; we are loyal to our Lycaeon to the death. I think that is one of the reasons that we are hated so much - that and the fact that we have carte blanche to kill first and ask questions later - if we feel it necessary to even ask questions.”
“I never realised that you have so much authority. I figured the Sentinels as a police force, but respected and honourable, or the few that I have encountered are.”
“Well, not many think like that, you’ve led a sheltered life.”
She gave him a sad little smile by way of apology and continued.
This is a little teaser... she's in my next book
“We have evolved into a police force I suppose, but without the red tape. What used to happen if a Wolf killed another was that the family of the slaughtered Wolf could call a tribunal - if the killer survived their ‘investigations’ - and was put on trial alongside the dead Wolf. If the verdict went in favour of the killer, he was set loose and it was deemed that the dead one was justly served. If the verdict went against the killer then the family and friends were allowed to kill him - or her - in any manner which they deemed fit, without retribution. Unfortunately, as only the Sentinels can lay claim to being incorruptible, those trials eventually degenerated into a farce. Bribery, exploitation and misrepresentation were rife and First Laws were brought into question. Eventually, the Lycaeon gave the order that these trials were no longer working and so the only true justice was the incontrovertible word of the Sentinel. So we got lumbered with a larger workload, although killings between Wolves don’t happen often, so we don’t get swamped.