Wolfmen – The Bloodfolk of the Abyss
"Blood never forgets."
"The Shadow lies. Blood does not."
No one knows when the first Shadowbody emerged from the depths of the Abyss. Ancient legends speak of primordial beings that existed long before the kingdoms of today. Some call them demons, while others speak of the First Shadows. Only one truth is certain: from their remains, the Shadowbodies were born—living fragments of the Abyss, imbued with an ancient and unfathomable darkness.
For thousands of years, these Shadowbodies vanished once more into the depths of the world. Only a handful were ever discovered. Some were lost forever, while others were created and concealed by the powers of the Abyss itself.
The first known human to consume a Shadowbody was Varnok of Melandor.
Yet the Shadowbody did not merely grant him new power.
It created something entirely new.
Varnok's body did not break—it was reborn. His muscles grew stronger, his senses sharper, and his blood fused with the ancient darkness of the Abyss. From man and shadow arose the first creature of a new race:
The first Wolfman.
To this day, no one knows why the form of a wolf emerged. Some scholars believe that a Shadowbody assumes the deepest instincts of its host. Even as a man, Varnok was an unrelenting hunter whose strength, endurance, and pack instinct set him apart from all other warriors. The Shadow shaped those qualities into an entirely new form.
Since that day, all Wolfmen have called him only one name:
The First Alpha.
Not because he rules over them.
But because with his blood, a new bloodline was born.
The Blood of the Abyss
Wolfmen place no faith in books, kings, or written history.
They believe in blood.
To them, blood carries memory, truth, and the will of every living being.
For this reason, their oldest creed is:
"Blood never forgets."
And their highest truth is:
"The Shadow lies. Blood does not."
Eyes can deceive.
Words can deceive.
Even shadows can deceive.
But blood preserves every truth.
Every deed.
Every oath.
Every betrayal.
The Birth of a Wolfman
An ordinary bite is not enough to create a new Wolfman.
Only when the blood of a Wolfman seeps deep into a mortal wound, leaving the victim on the edge of death, does the true ritual begin.
The Wolfman gazes deeply into the victim's eyes.
Its crimson eyes begin to glow.
Not to dominate the mind.
But to summon the soul.
In that moment, the dying hears only a single voice:
"Will you deny your beast?"
Whoever completely rejects the darkness within dies.
Whoever accepts it survives.
But they never return as human.
From that moment onward, their blood begins to change.
A new Wolfman is born.
Servants of the Abyss
Most Wolfmen follow the powers of the Abyss.
They embrace their rage, their hunger, and their darkest instincts.
Many believe that only strength has the right to decide between life and death, and that mercy is the greatest weakness a hunter can possess.
Yet only a few understand the true nature of their own existence.
For every Wolfman still possesses free will.
The Shadow calls.
It whispers.
It tempts.
But it does not choose.
Every Wolfman must ultimately decide which path to follow.
The call of the Abyss.
Or the voice of their own heart.
The First Alpha
To this day, Varnok is regarded as the mightiest Wolfman who ever lived.
Not merely because of his immense power.
But because his blood is believed to be the origin of all Wolfmen.
Every newly born Wolfman carries a fragment of that same dark bloodline.
For this reason, the packs never speak Varnok's name lightly.
To them, he is no king.
No legend.
He is the origin of their blood.
The Alpha's Scar
A long white scar stretches across Varnok's face, running from his left temple down to his chin.
Wolfmen do not believe that this scar was inflicted by any ordinary weapon.
They tell that, in the very moment the Shadowbody merged with Varnok's soul, the man and the beast waged a merciless war against one another.
That inner conflict tore his face apart.
Yet Varnok did not break.
He did not conquer the beast.
Nor did the beast conquer him.
The two became one.
Since that day, his scar has been revered as the symbol of the first covenant between man and shadow.
For this reason, many Wolfmen carve a scar into their own faces in his honor.
The Packs
Wolfmen do not live as ordinary families.
They live in packs.
To them, a pack is more than blood relation.
It is a bond forged through shared blood, shared hunts, and shared strength.
Betrayal is regarded as the gravest of all crimes.
For whoever betrays the pack betrays their own blood.
The Eternal Hunter
Across every kingdom, parents tell their children the very same warning:
"You may outrun a bear.
You may hide from a lion.
But if a Wolfman begins hunting you...
...the hunt ends only when one of you falls."