The Starved Wolf

Fangnir, Lord of Wolves, member of the Feys Winter Court, has had many children. But legends tell that his first child was the spark of a conflict that ravaged the material plane and the Feylands.

Herdithas Vessilac was born before the Elves, to a human woman with the lands of the south. It is said that when he reached adulthood, he learnt of his nature as a son of the great wolf and consumed his own mother.

Herdithas was bitter. He was first son to Fangnir, a Fey Lordling, and sought to make his place within court. He was denied, his father had heard of his murder of Herdithas's mother.

Herdithas bitterness grew until it manifested into boiling rage. He enlisted the help of a grand coven of Hags. Some say they had forsaken the Lady Sarneth, others tales say Sarneth hated Fangnir for denying her advances and commanded the covens to do what they did next. The Coven of Coloured Feathers would corrupt the blood within Herdithas, and turn him into the father of werewolves. He would spread his tainted blood through the territories of orcs and men, terrorising the villages and small kingdoms that existed within the early years. He is said to steal children from their cradles and stalk young folk who strayed from village paths, corrupting those who wandered too far or devouring them entirely.

The Fey courts were at odds as to how to handle Herdithas, but Baulon the King of Bears was not conflicted. He sent his son to the land of mortals, Iunam Arctos. The Lordling would do as Herdithas had, but along a different route - and with help from the Lady of Night and Magic, created the first were bears. More stable than lycanthropy, it allowed those inflicted to keep their minds rather than falling to ill intentions. However, it did lead to many others copying the wards and magics - and created the Wererats, tigers, and others seen today.

Iunam Arctos would found the Moonweavers, and strike out against. Herdithas and his "Coldpack" who had declared themselves lords of a range mountains. Some stories claim it to be the Anvils, others say the wolf stalked the Hastlands.

Within the Feylands, Fangnir would battle Baulon - wanting to deal with his wayward son himself. The Lord of Wolves and Monsters would, in these moments, embrace the curse his son had spread. Baulon would not want to fight his old friend at first, opting to let the wolf besiege his lands within the Fey until his son was brought alive or dead. However his tune changed when Herdithas would slay Arctos, tricking the bear into tight canyon and then collapsing it - trapping it. Iunam would find the walls too steep to climb, and it would take him days to remove the blockage in the canyons end. Herdithas and his pack had over hunted the woods before trapping Iunam, and the bear would starve as he escaped. By the time he made it through, those he brought with him were dead of starvation and Herdithas overpowered him easily.

Iunam would be disembowelled, his limbs feasted upon, and left to rot in the open sun.

Baulons rage would be unending. He first lashed against Fangnir, demolishing the Wolf Lords forces and sending him fleeing, wounded, back to his domain. Then, without approval from the court, Baulon would descend into the material plane and take personal command of the war against the wolf Lord. He would save the forests from werewolves, defend villages from siege, and kill a thousand wolves before facing Herdithas. The two would wage a thunderous battle, said to level forest. So much blood was said to be shed, that the rivers ran only red for 4 nights. Herdithas would be felled, chained, and brought to the courts.

Fangnir and a few others would want Baulon removed for insolence, for stepping into the plane of mortals without courtly approval and waging war. But the rest would see it was necessary, that they were losing worshippers and trust in the early kingdoms and druidic folk by letting Herdithas reign and rage.

The Court of Summer would sentence Herdithas not to death, but imprisonment and torture. He would be shackled, kept chained and locked away, and forced to constantly starve. He would be left in the dark of a prison cell, and through magic be unable to die of starvation or thirst despite feeling the effects of such things.

Humans and halflings often tell the story of Herdithas to ward those against harming their own families or straying from villages, that the Starved Wolf is still out there and hungry. The Fey and Elves don't tell the story much, but when they do it is a tragedy. In High Elven modern society, the Starved Wolf is a popular play often use to mock the Fey courts inability to communicate and played a dramatic comedy.