#novel: wolfheart

[huramuna]

novel characters ✨

shera waya & august blackbourne

[huramuna]

i’m still so blown away!!! 😭😭

for @huramuna

[mosquitobible]

got any music recs? I’m a metalhead myself and I’m always looking for some more to listen to

Of course! Hmm it's hard to make recommendations cause I feel like my taste is pretty all over the place but I can name a few bands/albums that aren't just the same 10 metalcore bands that everyone (myself included) love and always recommend or the big name heavy metal bands everyone knows lol I'll name a few that I've been enjoying a bit more recently so they're at front of my mind lol.

One of my favorite favorite albums of the last few years is A Dark Euphony by Blackbriar. They're a sort of more alternative, gothic vibe. I listened to this album for the first time while binge reading a lot of fantasy novels lol if I had to describe what the sound of this album made me think of it's like a ghost bride who haunts an old pirate ship. Very haunting and beautiful sound with the heavier instrumentals is awesome.

Another album that I've been enjoying a lot is the band Moonspell's debut album called Wolfheart. They're another more gothic sort of sound, that album in particular having a sort of black metal sound vibe to it as well. Very vampiry vibes. I don't enjoy most of their newer stuff as much though but I haven't given it all enough of a listen to say it's not as good.

Probably like my top album this whole year is Knocked Loose's 'You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To' — literally an instant favorite album to me I wasn't actually a big fan of them before this album. I had seen them once live when they opened for Motionless in White and it was my first introduction to them and although I loved their energy and stage presence the songs didn't immediately stick out to me but this album absolutely sold me. The entire album is great it's just one banger after the other.

Uh a couple more rapid fire ones; Candlemass (doom metal), Paleface Swiss (death core), Kublai Kahn TX (metalcore), The Amity Affliction (metalcore), Left to Suffer (deathcore), are all a couple that I have a couple really songs from that have been in rotation as of late.

Sorry this reply ended up being a bit longer than I meant for it to be lol. And clearly I've been a bit more in the mood for more slow, dense and moody sounds lmao but maybe hopefully some of these are new to you and hopefully you'll enjoy some of them if you give them a listen. I would also be interested if you had any recommendations of your own!

[winningthesweepstakes]

Mapmakers and the Flickering Fortress by Cameron Chittock, illustrated by Amanda Castillo

Mapmakers and the Flickering Fortress by Cameron Chittock, illustrated by Amanda Castillo. Random House Graphic, 2024. 9780593172971 Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5 Format: Hardcover graphic novel Genre:  Fantasy What did you like about the book? Captured, Alidade and Blue are taken to Nox City to meet the Night Ward Wolfheart, the one in charge of the dreaded Night…

[nelfs]

i really like the older warcraft novels... they're very different in tone from the newer stuff and they have much more of a classic fantasy vibe

[huramuna]

LOOOOOKKKKK AT HIM!!!!! 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥺

my lovely friend's OC <333 (done for an art swap)

@huramuna

[damien-ward]

I'm back on my bullshit again, here to talk about Feral Worgen.

Feral worgen are not to be confused with mindless worgen. Though there is overlap. All mindless worgen are feral worgen, but not all feral worgen are mindless worgen.

Mindless worgen are just that, mindless, they have no reason they are just killing machines. The best example of mindless worgen is the player character in the starting zone when we change and attack our allies before we are caught.

Feral worgen on the other hand are more complicated. They are basically any worgen that has not undergone the ritual that the players go through in Tal'doren (and many other worgen undertake in Teldrassil as we see in the Wolfheart novel). And they have varying degrees of sentience, and ability to control their transformations.

Some examples:

Ivar Bloodfang: Never underwent the ritual as far as we know and revels in being a worgen, he enjoys the hunt and killing Forsaken especially. He talks and meets with Crowley so he has his sentience he is just more bloodthirsty than your average Gilnean Worgen. 

Alpha Prime: The first worgen, he never underwent the ritual but was able to think and talk. He commanded the worgen and even made Arugal his puppet.

Genn Greymane: Was able to hold off the worgen curse and even change at will in the later parts of the Gilnean starting zone, and Curse of the Worgen comic without ever undergoing the ritual, though Genn does eventually do the ritual.

All three listed above show higher willpower and control as feral worgen, this is typically not the norm.

Denmother Ulrica and the Talonbranch Pack: In Felwood the player comes across this worgen group and it is easily missed but these were Kaldorei worgen that were released from the Emerald Dream. They obviously have not undergone the ritual and thus are still feral, however, they show no signs of aggression and have complete control over themselves.

Halford Ramsey: We see his journey becoming a worgen in the comics and we see that after he changes he is feral, he desires to hunt, but he is still able to think and remember showing he has sentience and isn’t mindless. However, he sees a sheep near a farm and cannot control his bloodlust and attacks it as he sees it as prey.

Sven Yorgen: In Duskwood he is encountered as a worgen stalking a farm, he attacks the player and runs off until he is captured. He is given a salve by the Gilneans and his mind returns, similar to the potion the player gets in the starting zone for Gilneas, and he tries to attack Jitters but is talked down. So he is another example of a feral worgen who while no longer mindless is still very temperamental and easy to anger and attack.

So as shown feral worgen have varying degrees of sentience and control, it seems to just be based on the individual more than anything. Some have a stronger will to fight the feral nature of being a worgen like Greymane and Alpha Prime.

This is speculation, but there also seems to be a connection between how a person was infected and their level of control and sentience as a worgen. Alpha Prime chose to become a worgen and has a lot of control. The Wolf Cult in Gilneas, who orchestrated the attack on Gilneas, had members who willingly chose to become worgen and find others to join their cause, and they were able to retain their human form and change at will. 

Compare that to the player, and many of the Gilneans who were infected during the worgen assault on the city, they were attacked and bit against their will in a high stress situation and that lead to turning into a borderline mindless worgen that attacks everything on sight.

Just some of my thoughts. Thank you for coming to my lore talk.

[oathstrong]

Hi old friends, followers and people who at least once wanted to bonk Skotan on the head. I’m writing a novel now. It doesn’t have orcs, but it does include my old OC Arutha Sly.  As I wrote on Twitter, it is “ A story about a detective who becomes infatuated with a suspected assassin, and his curiosities lead him into a conspiracy that involves hidden monsters, ancient dynasties and a powerful buried magic.“

The book won’t be available for a while, but if you’d like to reconnect and/or follow the progress of it as it comes along, I’d love to connect with you on Twitter. Follow me and send a DM if we interacted in the past!

[lockandkeyhyena]

dahlia & petunia?

oooh good ones!

dahlia- has a death scene ever made you cry? if so, which one?

you asked the right person!! not because i cry alot but kinda because of the opposite lol. im surprisingly very detached when it comes to main character deaths like spottedleaf, bluestar, ect.

however the deaths that really caught me off guard and hit my emotions were random background characters that were never mentioned again. yeah i know weird- here’s a few!

i know bumble is a semi important character in dotc but man her death hit me like a truck. i think i was more angry than sad because it felt so unfair and pointless :(

smokepaw!! that random apprentice that falls off a cliff on the journey. idk what about of it got me so hard because that was the only time in the book i remember him but it might’ve been the suddenness of it or something. me and a friend actually theorised that he survived the fall and joined skyclan. i think i had a dream about it- now u know why hes on my fave character list!!

longtail’s death just. killed me. not even so much his death but mousefur’s reaction and the suddenness of it all.

smallstar, wolfheart and runningstorm and that whole novella/story absolutely destroyed me. also i like it because it spits in goosefeather’s curse determinism face.

badgerfang and snowkit also killed me but thats a given.

lichenfur!! my girl!! :(((

shaded moss!! idk why but this scene had such a vivid atmosphere for child me

while i didnt read these, coming back to the series and finding out billystorm, echosong, purdy and spiderleg were all dead made me sad.

petunia- which arc is your favourite?

im guessing no graphic novel arcs so i’d have to say,, dawn of the clans?? i havent read the books in ages but this is the arc i have the most memory of reading because i was doing so as it came out and funnily enough the sun trail was the very first warriors book i read!

i honestly remember being able to create such a visual image in my head while reading it. the cover art especially really stuck with me and my tiny ten year old self felt so engrossed in the world like i was imagining myself alongside these cats and everything felt so huge. this is definetly my nostalgia speaking but it was wonderful. it was also the only series i read in order

[characterrevolvingdoors]

I still love this one

So I finished Wolfheart on Audible...

And this interaction popped into my brain:

-Varian and Garrosh fighting in the middle of the war for Ashenvale- Varian: Pray to your spirits Garrosh: I will...you need a proper guide into the afterlife Rain: -in a tree above them- WILL YOU TWO FUCK ALREADY?! ELUNE'S TITS I'VE SEEN LESS SEXUAL TENSION IN GOLDSHIRE!

[dylan-grimmkell]

The Members of The Grimmkell Brigade

Dylan Grimmkell Worgen Rogue and leader of the Brigade(though is mostly just takes advice from everyone else)

Samantha(Mantha) Devidire Priest from Gilneas who isn’t afflicted with the Worgen Curse and Dylan’s best friend. First member of the Brigade

Garmm Grimmkell Worgen Death Knight and Dylan older bother by 15 years. Reunited with Dylan after the events of the novel Wolfheart. 3rd member to join

Callahan Devidire human Paladin. Samantha’s brother and Garmm’s best friend(before the DK thing). He is from Gilneas but left to become a pally do to all the undead attacks during the scourge war. He joins during the events of Wolfheart after reuniting with both his sister and Dylan. 2nd member to join.

Chow Prowlpaw Pandaren Monk currently Dylan’s Boy Friend(pretty sure that won’t ever change) Joined during the events of Mist of Pandaria. Saved Dylan from a ship wreck and helped get him back to health before everything went down with the war on the island. 4th member to join. 

Celestina Felmoon Night Elf Demon Hunter joined up during the events of Legion because she found the group interesting. 5th member to join. 

Jeremiah Adkin Kul Tiran druid.  Dylan and Garmm’s uncle on their mothers side. Joined during Battle for Azeroth during Garmm and Callahan’s journey in Drustvar. His reason for not taking care of his nephews all those years ago was because of the Greymane Wall and his Thornspeaker Druid training. 6th Member to join.

Allen “Sprocket” Wrench Mechagnome warrior also joined during the later parts of BFA mostly during the Mechagon arc. Joined because he mostly wanted to explore what Azeroth has to offer. 7th and currently last member to join. 

[huramuna]

august in all of his glory

[inexplicifics]

I keep thinking of the smutty witcher books Aubry is still holding on to for Jaskier. Jask wants to do a dramatic reading for his wolves (his heart! Now I’m thinking about someone calling Jask “Wolfheart”) anyway Aubry blushes a deep red and let’s Jask know the book is currently in the possession of Zofia... cut to Zofia who’s doing her own dramatic reading and everyone either laughing SO HARD or blushing SO RED it’s amazing. At least 1 witcher decides on a new hobby... just for fun... writing..

Zofia would have a lot of fun doing a dramatic reading of smutty Witcher romance novels. The fun bit would be making sure to do it after the little menace is in bed...

[booksociety]

can you rec the most romantic, sweet, tooth-rooting, angsty (but happy) romance novel/series you can think of? bonus points (but not necessary) for fantasy elements!

Sure thing! The first list is definitely sweet (in our members’ opinions), but please note that some of the books in the second list contain romance that may not quite be tooth-rotting.

Sweet Contemporary Romance

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (Alex)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Alex)

Jock Row by Sara Ney (Isabel)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Scarlett, Mels, Marisa)

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Ania, Teona)

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (Alex)

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (Ania, Alex, Mels)

Romance with Fantasy Elements

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Ania, Franzi)

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson (Vee)

A Dance with Darkness by Jenna Wolfheart (Anna)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (Isabel)

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead (Ania)

Burn for Me by Ilona Andres (Isabel)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Mels, Alex)

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Franzi, Manaal)

Graceling by Kristin Kashore (Mels)

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (Mels)

Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn (Marisa)

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (Kat)

Radiance by Grace Draven (Isabel)

Red Winter by Annette Marie (Melissa)

Ruby Red by Kiersten Gier (Franzi, Vee)

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin (Isabel)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Franzi, Alex)

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh (Isabel)

The Awakening by L.J. Smith (Teona, Ania)

The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead (Ania)

The Host by Stephanie Meyer (Ania)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Franzi)

The Selection by Kiera Cass (Teona)

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (Marisa)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (Franzi, Joyce)

- Alex

[shadowsblades]

VALEERA’S AGE

          I made a post a while ago about how old I think Valeera is, but since then I’ve done a lot more reading and become a lot more educated about the Warcraft universe, so I’ve decided to update that original post. Importantly, this update only marginally changes the conclusion I came to previously, but I argue it better this time imo djwekhfakh

          The tl; dr for people who would like to avoid the headache of calculating ages from Warcraft’s mess of a timeline is that Valeera was born in Year 10, she was 10 when the Scourge invaded Quel’Thalas, 15 when she was enslaved as a gladiator, 16 when she came to Stormwind to be Varian’s advisor/bodyguard/spy/favourite pest, and is now 23 as of Battle of Azeroth.

          Canon gives us a couple of clues regarding how old Valeera is. The first is that she’s referred to as a child consistently throughout World of Warcraft: The Comic. Varian is the first to accuse Valeera of being a child, and although Valeera denies it, she is also identified as a child by other humans including Agewynn, night elves, blood elves, a trolls, ogres, and dwarves. According to World of Warcraft: Illidan, night elves who appear “mature” can be anywhere between 20 years old and 15 thousand years old, with night elves themselves unable to distinguish exactly how old another member of their race is between these ages from appearance alone. If the same is true of blood elves (and given that its all I have to go off, so I’m going to say it is), Valeera must be somewhat younger than 20 throughout the comic in order to be as obviously young as to inspire all these comments.

          There are a couple of alternative explanations to Valeera being younger than 20 that could explain why she’s consistently identified as a child. For example, Valeera could simply have a baby face, such that even though she’s older than 20, she looks a lot younger. Similarly, the other characters could be commenting on Valeera’s child-like appearance (which, if elves look perpetually 20 once they reach that age, she would look very young) relative to their age and the average age of gladiators. These would be more plausible if it were only non-elves that were commenting on Valeera’s age, as they’re less familiar with elf aging, but given that the night elves and the one blood elf they encounter, also identify Valeera as a child, make it more likely that she actually is a child. She also acts like a surly teenager: she’s petulant, vindictive, reckless, argumentative, and doesn’t give her actual age in order to refute the comments made about her.

          The second clue further reinforces Valeera being this young, although it’s a bit more difficult to interpret. When Varian offers Broll and Valeera a permanent place in Stormwind, Valeera remarks that she hasn’t “had a home since I was younger than Anduin”. This begs us to determine i) what “home” Valeera is referring to having lost, ii) how old Anduin is, and iii) how much younger Valeera was. Anduin’s age during the comic is perhaps the easiest (but not easy) to determine and less open to speculation, so I’ll start with that.

          How old is Anduin? Canon gives us a few options (because it’s inconsistent as hell). Earlier in the comic, Varian notes that he was a year younger than Anduin is now (during the comic) when the orcs invaded Azeroth and the First War began (Year 0). So, we can look at how old Varian is described to be in the novels around Year 0 to determine how old Anduin is now:

Option 1: Anduin is 9-10 years old. Arthas: Rise of the Lich King suggests that Varian is “a few years” older than Arthas, who is 9 at the time, when he arrived in Capital City after fleeing from Stormwind following Llane’s assassination. I think “a few” is generally accepted to be 2-3, making Varian between 11 and 12 when this occurred in Year 3, and 8-9 in Year 0, and Anduin 9-10 now.

Option 2: Anduin is 11 years old. World of Warcraft: Wolfheart states that Varian was 13 when Llane was killed in Year 3, making him 10 in Year 0 and Anduin 11 during the comic.

Alternatively, we can disregard what Varian says in the comic about Anduin’s age relative to his and focus only on the years in which the comic occurred (Year 25-26) and how old Anduin is described to be in the novels:

Option 3: Anduin is 10-11 years old. Anduin is described as “not quite thirteen” in World of Warcraft: Stormrage (end of Year 27), “thirteen and a half” in The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm (beginning of Year 28; but also “thirteen summers” during World of Warcraft: Wolfheart which occurs after this, maybe they were rounding down idfk), 14 in Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War (end of Year 29), 15 in War Crimes (end of Year 30/beginning of Year 31), and 18 in Before the Storm (Year 33).

So, depending on whether we use the novels to discern Varian’s age (and which novel we believe regarding this) and calculate Anduin’s age from Varian’s, or we use the novels to discern Anduin’s age directly, Anduin is between 9 and 11 in World of Warcraft: The Comic. So, Valeera must have been younger than either 9, 10, or 11 when she lost her “home”.

          What “home”? What Valeera considers to be the “home” she lost and when exactly these homes were lost is open to speculation. Valeera’s losing her home could refer to a) her parents’ murder which causes their house to no longer feel like a home (which the flashback in the comic depicts her as being an actual child during), b) a later point when Valeera leaves that house, c) the destruction of Quel’Thalas by Arthas and the Scourge (which Valeera claims to have been present during) which ruins the qualities of her homelands that made it “home”, or d) a later point when Valeera leaves Quel’Thalas. We don’t know when a), b), or d) occurred, but we know Quel’Thalas was invaded in Year 20. Personally I see a), b), and c) to have occurred in a fairly short period of time. This is because Valeera described her parents’ murder and claims that she “even survived the Scourge” in the same breath, as if they were a list of tragedies that occurred one after the other with little of note in between. In contrast, I think d) occurs sometime after these first three, because Valeera must have remained in Quel’Thalas for long enough after the invasion in order to so strongly identify herself as a blood elf, to learn how to siphon magic, and to learn of Kael’thas’ allegiance with Illidan and the naga. 

If Valeera is referring to d) as when she lost her “home”, then she’s even younger than 9, 10, or 11 when her parents are killed and the Scourge invade Quel’Thalas. Realistically, I don’t think this is possible – Valeera could not have been much younger and been able to survive what she did alone, as she claims to have. So, Valeera’s “home” is probably a), b), or c), and she is probably also not that much younger than Anduin when she loses this home. So to answer the last question pertinent to this clue:

         How much younger than Anduin? Not much.

           Where does that leave us? Fortunately, these two clues line up. If Valeera is still somewhat younger than 20 in Year 26, she must have been born in Year 7 at the earliest, which would make her 19. However, this would make her 13 in Year 20 and not younger than Anduin when she loses her home. If she’s younger than Anduin’s 9, 10 or 11 in Year 20, then this is revised to her having been born in Year 10 at the earliest  -- if Anduin is 11 during the comic, and if Valeera is only one year younger than him, Valeera is 10 in Year 20 and 16 in Year 26. In saying that, Valeera could also be much younger than this if a) Anduin is 9 or 10 rather than 11 during the comic, and/or b) if Valeera was more than one year younger than he is during the comic in Year 20, and/or c) if Valeera’s “home” refers to her leaving Quel’Thalas rather than it being destroyed.

For the sake of realism and not making Valeera unreasonably young to have survived and achieved everything she has, I prefer the scenario where she’s born in Year 10. This makes Valeera 15 when she’s first enslaved as a gladiator, 16 when she begins living in Stormwind and acting as Varian’s advisor/bodyguard/spy/favourite pest, 22 when Varian dies, and 23 as of Battle for Azeroth.

[the-silver-circle]

Ishnu alah! Really appreciate your website detail on applicant expectations, specifically about the adherence to headcanon (still scarred from RPing w/someone who said they were half-druid/satyr). I wanted to ask what the general interaction is with the older Kaldorei with the "recent" acceptance of Highborne back in Kaldorei society? My druid is a little gruff around any magic users based on Kaldorei history, are there others who may feel similarly, or would this be unusual among your members?

Ishnu’alah Anonymous! It has been over half a decade since the Shen’dralar, led by Mordent Evenshade, returned to kaldorei society. In that time, there was some unrest (Wolfheart Novel) and there are certainly plenty of night elves who are still cautious around shen’dralar highborne. So your own druid’s gruffness would not be viewed as odd. That said, there is also evidence that many if not most of the shen’dralar highborne and new arcanists taught at the Tower of Estulan are in fairly good standing within kaldorei society. We witness this in Battle for Azeroth, beginning with the War of the Thorns where Darnassian Mages have joined the ranks of the Sentinel Army. 

The leader of the Shen’dralar Highborne, Mordent Evenshade, also makes an appearance in the Battle for Darkshore scenario and warfront. 

Former Priestess of the Moon, Vestia Moonspear, has also opted to relinquish her mantle as a priestess of the moon to study the arcane among the highborne. Her case is particularly curious, but it is one of the few clues we’ve been given to determine how kaldorei society is slowly opening up to their long-lost brethren. 

Characters who are gruff are welcome in Silver Circle, provided they have good reason and aren’t immovable in their stance. Where civil unrest and/or darker themes such as hatred are concerned, we prefer to see those develop in characters over time. If a character becomes far-gone and lashes out at other members based solely on things such as prejudice or xenophobia, they are usually called to trial before the Circle during Council Glade to account for their actions. 

All of that said, we are very adamant about correspondence OOC where internal tensions are concerned for story and character development. While our characters are from another world and should be permitted to stay true to themselves, it’s important to balance their IC responses with OOC communication to ensure everyone involved in a roleplay scene is still enjoying themselves.