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ladala99 · 3 months ago

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Wolvden Narrative - Debates

Content warnings: political debates (not on real-world topics), awkward discussion of inbreeding

The six young wolves lined up surrounding the speaking rock, as other wolves from the pack and sub-packs started to gather.

“What are they doing?” Petros asked Freya, his mate.

“They’re trying to convince the other wolves to vote for them as leader.”

Petros huffed. “Morbid, isn’t it? I’m not dead yet.”

Freya gave a noncommittal ear flick. “It’s not like there’ll be time to do something like this when that time comes. It’ll help everyone decide beforehand.”

Freya was younger the Petros. She would likely be participating in the vote herself. Petros still didn’t like thinking about it, though. He still had several seasons in him yet.

Tanguy, a wolf who by no means would ever be eligible to be leader, had taken it upon himself to gather hard-hitting questions to ask. He stepped forward.

“Thank you for being willing to come to this debate,” he said to the six contestants. “Say what’s on your mind, tell the truth, and we will all get what we need to vote for who the next leader really should be. Let’s start with an easy question: what is your political affiliation, and what does that mean to you? Caradoc, you start.”

The brown teen jumped to the top of the speaking rock, striking a triumphant pose. “I’m of the Easy and South parties. That means, I believe everyone should have the best chance to thrive and be awesome.”

“Thank you,” Tanguy said. “Starla?”

The pup with mismatching brown-and-blue fur daintily made her way to the top of the speaking rock. “I am also of the Easy and South parties. That means, I believe we should thrive and be associating with other wolves who also want to thrive, making a big network of friends.”

“Nathanael.”

The white-colored pup strutted up the speaking rock. “I am of the Challenging and South parties. I’m gonna be just like my dad - making sure the pack is beautiful and varied and great.”

Petros couldn’t help but wag his tail a bit, despite his grumpiness. He loved how much Nathanael followed in his footsteps.

“Miraj.”

The wolf with various shades of brown and white jumped up on the rock in one leap. “Challenging and North. I don’t care about how we look - I just care about how well we survive. Under my guidance, we will be one of the most resilient packs in the land.”

“Ayla.”

The brown, white, and a little bit of blue-colored wolf sneered as she stepped onto the rock. “I am Challenging and North. I will ensure our pack can out-compete any other.”

“Isn’t that what Miraj said?” A wolf from the crowd asked.

“It’s not a bad thing to agree,” Ayla replied.

“Yuroq.”

The tan-and-blue wolf climbed to the top of the rock without flair. “Easy and North parties. I think it’s important that we thrive and that there’s enough food to go around.”

“Thank you,” Tanguy said. “Now, diving deep in, what is your opinion on the Faelcu and wolves descended from one?”

Several snarls erupted from the crowd, Petros one of them. He hated the Faelcu. They had taken his mother from him and replaced her with an imposter. Regardless of the vote, he did not consider the imposter’s descendants as members of the pack.

Caradoc stepped up. “Same order?”

“Yes,” Tanguy said.

“The Faelcu are evil, no doubt about it. I don’t trust their descendants, but they’re part of our pack. They’re just like any other of the weirder-looking from among us.”

This didn’t seem to go over well, with several growls through his speech. Petros found it non-committal.

Starla was up next. “They aren’t good optics and should be kept away from others, but should be respected within the pack regardless.”

Tolerated, not respected, was Petros’s policy. But her stance was better in his opinion.

Nathanael was next. “Are you wolves seriously so racist?” he asked, prompting several growls from both the fellow candidates and the crowd. “They’re wolves, plain and simple. If I’m going to be leader, I’m even going to take one as a mate to prove to all of you that they’re harmless.”

Nathanael was no longer Petros’s favorite.

Miraj was next. “No comment.”

Ayla. “Really? You scared to say something, Miraj? I’ll be up front - they’re part of our pack, and there’s nothing we can do about it. If they’re superior in any way, we’ll find out and our pack will be stronger for it.”

“They’re not natural!” Someone from the crowd barked. “They’ll take over us all if we let them!”

“It’s been two generations and they haven’t,” Ayla said. “Stop whimpering about it.”

Yuroq finally took the stand. “I don’t think they’ll be much of a problem. Genetically, they are related to most of us by the bodies they possess. The rest of us should avoid getting too close.”

“That does bring us to our next topic,” Tanguy said, trying to calm the crowd. “Inbreeding. Yuroq, you’re pretty passionate about the topic. Mind leading us off?”

She lifted her tail. “Certainly. It’s not good for us to be so related to each other, especially in the wider pack. To survive, to thrive, we need diversity. If I am made leader, I will not approve of any pair bondings who share any ancestor up to their great-grandparents.”

“That leaves very few choices,” Tanguy said.

“Then we bring more wolves into the pack,” Yuroq said. “There are thousands of wolves out there. It’s not good for us to be so closely related to one another.”

None of the other wolves seemed to want to touch this issue, but Miraj stepped forward. “I’m just going to keep it how it is. Bond out of your immediate family group and you should be fine. Ask Gene the bat to check your recessive genes if you’re concerned. If you really want to be safe, then yeah, bond with an outsider. But outsiders tend to be weaker than wolves who are from multi-generational lines within a pack, and I want us to be strong.”

Miraj seemed like he was about to stop, then added. “If you really think being inbred causes issues, you should absolutely not vote for Caradoc. He’s the only one of us with an inbreeding coefficient higher than zero. He probably shouldn’t even be up here since he not only is a generation removed from our dad, but he was also born outside of a pair bond!”

Caradoc growled and leapt for Miraj, but the older wolf gracefully stepped off of the rock.

“I’m a direct descendant of Petros,” Caradoc said to the crowd. “I’m perfectly eligible.”

“Why are you eligible and wolves related to previous leaders not?” someone from the crowd asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t make the rules!”

“Will you change them?” another wolf, notably one of the Faelcu-related ones, asked.

“Maybe?” Caradoc said without conviction. “I never thought about it.”

Starla nosed her way in front of him. “We are not changing who gets to be leader.”

“There’d be too much corruption if just anyone could!” Ayla agreed from beside the rock.

Wolves from all directions barked their opinions, and eventually Tanguy howled, silencing the rest.

“We’re done. Debate over,” he said.

Awkwardly, everyone starts to disburse.

“It was entertaining, at least,” Petros said to Freya. Though he had less hope his pack would be in good paws from that display.

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