"Run, if you want to. You'll only die tired."
• N A M E S
Wolf, Loup, Lupo, Vargen, the thing that growls in the dark.
• S T O R Y
Various, primarily Little Red Riding Hood.
• B I R T H P L A C E
The deepest, darkest forest in Wonderland.
• M A G I C
Wonderland and its denizens are, in a sense, soaked constantly in magic. Most see it as a part of their nature, drawing on it not like a wizard does but like you would use your arms or your eyes. Loup's own nature is that of the predator that exists in the imagination and so his form was tied the popular fear of a predator. Since leaving Wonderland, he has ceased to have a transient form, now existing only as a man, but still retains an the ability to emanate fear.
• A G E
When humans first heard howls in the night, some part of him was there.
• R O M A N T I C I N T E R E S T S
Mating, rather than romance, is a more familiar concept to Loup but since leaving his home, he's allowed the softness and corrupting comfort of society to dull his hunter's edge. In other words, he's more human and civilised now than ever before, maybe even enough to comprehend love and even to reciprocate it.
• A T T I R E
As a man, Loup is a little above average height, a fair ways above average muscle mass and leagues above average in beard growth. And while he might not look as toned or chiselled as some athletes, every muscle in Loup's body is tensed and coiled for action at any given moment. As such, he projects an aura of controlled menace with each step, glance and snort, whether he means to or not.
Loup favours dark colours or muted palettes, though whether that's because he misses having fur or would rather blend easily into a dark room is anyone's guess. Regardless, his wardrobe on earth is full of warm, thick, practical clothes that have a certain rugged charm and style to them, but could equally be warm for a trek through the woods or day's hard work. He scorns hats, scarves, gloves and other protections against the cold, preferring to wear his jackets open and his shirts low cut.
• H E R O ' S N A T U R E
Loup is a, in essence, the predator you imagine the first time you see a carcass in the woods or a sad little pile of feathers. He is exactly as ruthless and terrible as you can imagine, having been born out of human fear and into the primordial mess of early Wonderland. Overtime, he has gained the qualities of modern, anthropomorphised predators humans have projected; cunning, callousness and cruelty. But at his roots he's still a deeply pragmatic beast who has no confusions about the nature of life, which is to make sure it lasts as long as possible.
Where in the past, Loup's nature and identity was tied to the conception of fear and dread in the human mind, his defeat at the hands of Red Riding Hood and the Huntsman combined with his exodus to Earth have wrought profound change in his form and thoughts. His form has now settled in that of a man and his attitude has followed suit. Civilisation has seeped into his being so that he no longer even considers ripping out a barista's throat rather than paying for his coffee. Some days, he worries that he's not the being he was but other he feels almost... guilty about the old days of blood and fear.
The beast now wears a muzzle but it's made of gossamer and hope, who knows how long it will restrain him?
• R E N O W N E D S K I L L S
As a predator most ancient, Loup is unequaled at hunting like a beast. While he knows nothing of traps and tracks, there's little he doesn't know about scents and slaying. He can and has followed foes across entire kingdoms without losing their trails once. So too can he hold his own in a scrap, fighting with an animalistic fury that can't be matched. Finally, as the original thing that goes bump in the night, Loup owns the shadows and can move through them without detection should he choose to, though he has always preferred to allow a little detection. All the better to frighten you with...
• F A T A L F L A W
In his heart, Loup is still a beast. After all, you can take the wolf out of the deep dark woods but you can't take the deep dark woods out of the wolf. Merlin's conditions for bringing him to Earth were enforced by more than Loup's questionable understanding of honour, they are magical geas that bind Loup body and soul. And, like all wild things, these bindings chafe him horribly. Should Loup's original nature break through, it will cost him more than he knows, even before the heroes of Mystvale come for him.
• O N C E U P O N A T I M E
Do you remember the first time you walked alone in the dark? I'm sure you do, the heart-in-your-mouth terror and cold sweat is hard to forget. And when you heard a twig snap or something rustle, you were sure that is was a feral beast or terrifying monster, come to devour you whole, weren't you? You could feel its eyes on the back of your neck and hear its panting breath. And when you got back to the light, you dived into bed and told yourself it was nothing, that monsters don't exist and there are no more true wolves, that you were alone. Well, you were wrong.
Loup was there, in the dark, watching you.
Since long before you were around, humans have feared the dark, whether it's an analogue for the unknown or simply the space beyond the firelight. And as you know, every little noise in the darkness becomes the stalking of something hungry in the human mind. But what you may not know is that over time, ideas in the human mind can take form, shape and life in another place. So it was in Wonderland that something took form in the shade of the trees and the black of night; a beast of unimaginable fear, fright and terror. Or, rather, exactly as terrible as you can imagine.
For as long as there have been merchants, travellers and heroes venturing through the deep dark woods, there's been something in their to feast upon their bones. Alongside the Jabberwocky, the wolf of the woods was reputed to be the most dangerous beast in all the land, more evil than a host of Bandersnatches or a horde of Jub-Jub Birds. Many heroes came to test their might and many found their ends between his fearsome teeth.
But in time, the great powers of the land turned their attention upon this beast troubling their subjects. Unlike the Jabberwocky, Loup was not under the protection of a monarch of the realm and was chased from Wonderland through the combined efforts of several of the great powers. And while they called it a job well done, few in the realm they chased it into could agree. Indeed, the citizens and nobility of Bellegarde would have happily chased him back had things not changed somewhat.
On Earth, the middle ages were dragging on and the wolf was now the symbol of the wild in Europe. Tales told of packs dragging off children and devouring villages were all the rage in Germany, France and much of the rest of the continent. But with its anthropomorphising, the wolf gained certain qualities that the animal itself knew nothing of; everyone knows that wolves are cunning, cruel and vicious. But while a real wolf is no more cruel than a rabbit, Loup was now a wolf of the mind.
The beast that stalked Belllegarde, therefore, was more defined and wolfish than the one that dwelled in the deep, dark woods but had gained a rough, animal slyness and a distinctly human capacity for cruelty. The people of the land soon leanred to fear leaving the beaten path, for more and more of their countrymen disappeared, never to be heard from again. But soon even that wasn't enough to guarantee safety, for Loup was learning to take advantage of the nation's passion for romance and his own nature as a transient being of Wonderland, where form is much less settled. Beware the suitor with a glint in his eyes, people learned, especially if his teeth are a little too long...
It took the efforts of the land's greatest Huntsman and a girl with a famously red hood, along with a healthy portion of luck, to finally put an end to Loup's glory days in Bellegarde, though they didn't manage to end him for good. Rather, they disemboweled him and dropped him into a lake. Needless to say, he's still a little sore about that and spent most of the long crawl back to Wonderland and the deep dark forest plotting their deaths. And perhaps he would've returned to wreak a terrible vengeance on them both has not something taken his mind off of revenge; the Cataclysm.
That rending, twisting chaotic event shook Bellegarde to its core and shattered the Wonderland that Loup understood, leaving him a beast among monsters in an unfamiliar land. Rather than fall to the void or see himself warp into something alien, he followed the route predators have since the dawn of time; adapt or die. He fled Wonderland with all speed, intending to take up residence in Bellegarde again, only to find the intrusions of the Void there as well. As he beheld the terrible majesty of the shattered world, a dozen of the void's creatures fell upon him.
Their fight was legend. Great tracts of earth were raised in their wake as the group wrestled for the upper hand and scrambled for more advantageous positions. These invaders were strong, quick and had their own unique form of magic (though more learned souls have since referred to it as unmagic) but Loup was old, cunning and very, very angry. Still, he could tell he'd soon succumb to their attacks and had simply resolved to take as many of them with him as he could when a new force entered the fight, one of singular power; Merlin.
As he had prepared to rescue heroes from the land of Bellegarde, the ancient wizard's ceremony had been interrupted by the battling creatures and realised that one among them was of his world, not the void. With a muttered incantation and a wave of his hand, Merlin banished the voidlings and approached the wounded Loup. He offered him a choice; die here in the dirt of Bellegarde or survive and go to a new world. There were of course, the old mage smiled, a few conditions.
What exactly they were stayed between Merlin and Loup, but when the Kings and Queens of Bellegarde arrived at the site to dispatch their greatest heroes to this new realm, they were told Merlin had found them a warrior of mythical skill to act as bodyguard for them in the new world. Some bridled and complained, though not so loud as for Merlin to hear them, but none amongst them recognised Loup for what he was and he arrived on Earth along with a cadre of legendary heroes.
• A N E W C H A P T E R
Since then, Loup has kept himself to himself and not gotten involved with any of his new neighbours. The dual constraints of society and Merlin's conditions chaffed him terribly for the first year or two, as did maintaing a human shape at all times. When he felt ready, he started to look for work and found more than a few opening for a man prepared to inflict pain on other men. Currently, he's working as a bouncer at a high class Nightclub but he never stays in one job too long.
Loup has greeted the news of a second cataclysm with mixed emotions. He is thrilled at the news something will break through the monotony of his everyday life here on Earth, that perhaps he will once again feel the joy of the hunt and the taste of fear on the air. But he remembers the strength of the void beasts and does not much wish to face them again, not to mention that Merlin is nowhere to be found and his magical geas still burns in Loup's mind.
fledermaus,
Nightwing95
