The Mourning Veil

The Mourning Veil is a traditional ceremonial garment worn by Veiltenders across all territories. It is a hooded cloak made from specially treated werewolf fur. The veil becomes translucent when esxposed to moonlight and is increasingly transparent the more souls the veiltender helps to cross to beyond the veil. It symbolizes the role of the veiltender as the intermediary between the living and the dead.

A proper Mourning Veil is made from the winter coat of the Veiltender's mentor (predecessor). The coat must be given willingly before death and is collected in the form of shed fur when the summer warmth causes the wolves' coats to blow. It is then treated with sacred herbs and blessed oils to sanctify it and make it shimmer to stand out.

With use, each veil becomes infused with the spirit-threads of every werewolf the veiltender helps cross over. Because it is made from the coat of the previous veiltender, it carries the spirit threads of the wolves they helped cross over, too.

Each veil takes months to properly prepare and consecrate. In the time it takes, the newly-minted veiltender is considered "naked" without it. To be "naked" is a mark of the ending of the apprenticeship and the acceptance of the new role.

The Mourning Veil is believed to allow the wearer to "see through the veil," although this has never been proven. On the rare occasion a veil is stolen, the thief does not receive the same benefits of wearing it as a trained veiltender would, thereby making it more likely that it is the wearer, and not the veil, that is significant in the ability to see through the veil between worlds.

What the veil does do is hold onto the wisdom of the previous Veiltenders, passing their wisdom on through generations from the master to the apprentice who takes their place. This creates a Mourning Veil of accumulated wisdom, with each veil being unique to the clan and tradition through which it has been passed down. Since a clan tends to have several veiltenders, this means that there may be several different schools within a single clan!

Werewolves are able to sense the power of the veil, which means that some veiltenders are considered more powerful than others. This is not strictly true, only that some veiltenders are more experienced than others. This can be seen in the transparency of their veil, which becomes more translucent with each soul they transition to beyond the veil.

Veils and their wisdom are passed down from mentor to apprentice, not through bloodlines. Most veiltenders keep the veil their predecessor wore and weave their own threads into it. As a veil is passed down, it becomes more and more transparent.

The veil is considered sacred, and therefore, to steal or intentionally damage a Mourning Veil is considered the worst possible sacrilege.