Welcome to Gaia! ::

Do you like urban legends and myths? Do you like Shaoilin Woods? Do you want to make up an urban legend or myth for Shaoilin Woods? Then you've come to the right place! As we have built a world with many languages (including its own slang), locations, and societies, it seems only logical to assume some stories have been passed down from generation to generation. After all, wolves don't have the internet, so what else are they doing to waste time?

We are looking for:

1. Urban legends
Examples: Bloody Mary, Woman in White, Kuchisake-onna, etc.

2. Myths
Examples: "If you don't wait thirty minutes to wait after you eat, you'll drown for sure! I heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy."
"If you eat the flesh of another wolf, you become a deer in your next life."

and things of this nature.

Please be sure to read the current Myths and Urban Legends thread to make sure your idea doesn't overlap with any legends already posted. Please note that we may not be able to accept every idea and will change some a bit to better fit with the lore when necessary. By posting, you accept your idea might undergo some editing before it's made official.


Do these have to be realistic?

Not really! In fact, in some cultures they're liable to be ridiculous, especially when the point of an urban legend is to teach a moral lesson. If you want a bear to fly through the air and into the sun, you can do so.

That being said, your story should not consist of a bear flying through the air while listening to his iPod and watching Space Jam on his smartphone. It can be unrealistic, but it should still adhere to shop lore.

Can these be true?

Yes and no. They can have a foundation of truth, such as mermaids possibly being the result of sailors seeing manatees, and therefore it technically happened in a sense. Note we are not looking for celebrities, but urban legends, so please refrain from submitting your personal pet / character as The Legend of Bob, he who ate three deer in one sitting.

Do my legends have to be about wolves?

Nope! We encourage legends about all sorts of animals. Even animals without lines, such as hares, can be included.

What do I get for this if my legend is chosen?

Your choice of a semi-custom or a recolor (please see rules on recolors in this thread and note if your wolf is very complex, it might take longer to finish). Plus, your legend goes in Myths and Urban Legends thread where it will be referenced for RP in years to come.

How many can I submit?

As many as you want! We'll give you a price for every legend or myth chosen.

How do I enter?

Post the form below!

FOR LEGENDS:

[b]Legend:[/b] Tell us about your legend from an IC POV. How is a character likely to recite it?
[b]OOC Info:[/b] Is this legend based on a real animal or group of animals who once lived? How old is it? Is it supposed to teach a moral lesson or is it just for fun? Give us ONLY the facts, not IC assumptions, whether correct or incorrect.

[b]Prize:[/b] Semi-custom or recolor?
[b]Prize Information:[/b] Link to your pet's image for recolors; for semi-customs, give us a gender, species, and two to three colors. Note the only lines we have finished are wolves, bears, and crows at this time.

FOR MYTHS:

[b]Myth:[/b] Tell us about your myth from an IC POV. How is a character likely to recite it?
[b]OOC Info:[/b] What started this myth? How old is it?

[b]Prize:[/b] Semi-custom or recolor?
[b]Prize Information:[/b] Link to your pet's image for recolors; for semi-customs, give us a gender, species, and two to three colors. Note the only lines we have finished are wolves, bears, and crows at this time.

THIS WILL CLOSE AUGUST 29TH AT 10 PM EST.

Legend:
Here's a story, now, that's been passed around for at least a half a dozen generations or so if I'm remembering correctly. Perhaps you've heard it before? The one that goes, 'There once was a stag...' Eh? What sort of stag? Well, he was a strange thing – made of ash and soot, some would say, or maybe bits of dark cloud pieced together during a storm. His coat and eyes were as black as sin, and his antlers were said to span the sky; they probably didn't, of course, but it is fair to assume they were unlike anything else seen by mortal eyes, to have been exaggerated so far. Anyways, this black stag was said to have been the very bane of hunters and dreamers alike, as its beauty and its size promised that the one to bring it down would be immortalized forever for their mighty deed. The problem? Well, as real as he seemed to be, no one could ever catch his scent! Not a soul knew where this creature grazed, nor from what ponds it drank from – hardly anyone knew if it preferred mountains to grasslands, honestly. And so that is where the legend was born, of a stag so illusive that those who laid eyes upon it were few and far between.
Here, perhaps, is where you think the story might end. Fancy deer prancing about, perhaps not existing at all. But I tell you, that stag is real – and it should never be pursued, by anyone, and I'll tell you why! There's a reason so few witnesses to its 'splendor,' so to speak, can be found, and it's simply that they... get lost. Or maybe 'lose themselves' is a little more accurate. That stag inspires a madness in those who happen to catch a glimpse of him, a need that starts off as a small, niggling feeling in the backs of their brains and just grows and grows and grows. They start needing that stag, start really pining after its pretty antlers and soft fur. Wants become musts, musts become an obsession that swallows them alive from the inside, and before they know it their every waking minute is dedicated to following that invisible scent, hunting the un-huntable with a feverish fervor that kills whoever they were before they saw that stag. They don't eat, they don't sleep, and they certainly don't stop to rest, all these things are just 'inconveniences' that can be and are ignored. And, when it seems as though they cannot take one step further – can hardly breathe, see, hear, move - they say the stag finally appears. It comes from the forest and stands before its hunter, who is given an unearthly strength that lifts them to their paws and urges them to chase the stag as it bounds forth, seeming for all its worth to never grace the ground with its hooves. They lead a merry chase, always to the mountains or any respectable cliff that may be about, and just when it seems as though the hunter might actually catch the stag...
Well. If you've been listening, you would know that they don't. No one ever catches the stag, mostly because those that follow it to higher ground always suffer a fall from which none have survived. Most theorize that the stag, seeing its chance, leaps into thin air over the steepest, tallest ledge it can find, and when its hunter follows, they plummet to the ground below. Others think that it lifts those same hunters high into the air with its antlers and tosses them to their doom. Fewer still might believe that the dead had been kicked, or perhaps simply wandered off the cliffs themselves from delirium or exhaustion. It's hard to say what really kills them because generally, there aren't any witnesses. Suffice to say that every hunter meets the same ending. The stag has never fallen prey to anyone, and probably never will - sightings continue even to this day, I've heard, though that'd make for one old deer if you think about it. I suspect the sightings will never end, so long as mysterious bodies keep appearing in gullies and ravines. That ol' stag is very convenient to blame.
Anyways, that's the story as I've heard it. I leave you now with these words: never chase the black stag, for if you do, you will find the drop is particularly unpleasant.

OOC Info:
The legend is, at its very core, based on a dark-coated buck of peculiar agility who did trick many a wolf over its lifetime into falling from precarious cliffs should they pursue him. The stag would eventually die of old age, but stories of his endeavors were told and retold so many times that the exact details became warped. Even his coat colour changes depending on whose telling the story, ranging from the purest white to the blackest black - always to an extreme, and always of a shade that most deer rarely express. Nevertheless, there is a moral to this story: one should not focus too heavily on one aspect of their life if they do not wish to lose sight of what's really important in the long run. Of course, the story is up for interpretation and could mean to some that one should always be realistic of their goals, or else become overwhelmed by them and inevitably fail.

Prize: Semi-custom wolf!
Prize Information:Tan, peach, and white are nice colours, I think. And female~

Myth: Pups conceived under the light of a double-full-moon will be born as twins, as one soul was split into two bodies. These are sometimes called the "pups of the twin moon" and are believed to be very lucky.
OOC Info: The "twin moon" hypothesis is fairly popular explanation for identical twins. The fact that wolves might either forget/not be paying much attention to when their pups were conceived helps keep this from being examined too closely -- and very rarely, identical pups happen to be born in the right timeframe, giving the myth some support.

EDIT: To clarify -- a double-full-moon because Avela has two moons. So if both are visible as being full in the sky, it's a double-full-moon.

Prize: Recolor
Prize Information: This lady, Aduial. Gamma this time, since she's parted ways with her pack, and with a happy expression. (Pending)

Legend: So you've heard about those bears, right? The ones up in that mountain, that keep wolves as prisoners? Well. Here's what you don't know.

Once, one of those bear guards had his way with some poor female prisoner, filling her up with pups. A whole litter of them, maybe a dozen in all. The pregnancy killed her, but the pups were strong and managed to survive. But here's the thing: They were monsters. Half-bear, half-wolf, these tall hulking things that were born half-witted but completely vicious.

And they still live up there! Hidden away so nobody finds out the truth! But I swear, if you go up to the base of the mountain at night, you can hear them calling out for their freedom. And one of these days they are going to break free and come down here, and there is no stopping them.

OOC Info: This is told and believed primarily among wolves who don't have much interaction with the Mountain Guard, but it's widespread enough that it's often lurking in the back of the mind of prisoners as they're led up to their fate.

Mostly, this is rooted in the fear of the Mountain Guard, particularly for those wolves who think it's unseemly to let bears do a pack's dirty work. It's a tale with very xenophobic roots.

Curiously, a version of this story circulates among some bears, too, but the outcome is different -- in that version, the bear was in love with the wolf, but she died during pregnancy. When this version is told, the moral is different: Don't get too close to wolves; you're from different worlds.

Prize: Recolor
Prize Information: Dubhe, who approves this message (his totem animal is bear). Same lines -- neutral gamma, please (although if it would be possible to include a long scar on his shoulder from his teenage hunting accident, that'd be spiffin, but zero pressure to make that happen).

Legend: The story of Jariel, the bringer of colors

In the beginning, all the creatures of the earth were as white as the fresh-fallen snow. The wolves, bears, lynxes, squirrels, deer -- every animal looked exactly the same, and no one thought anything odd of it at all.

But then Jariel was born.

He was a smart young wolf, but the kind who was frequently in trouble for breaking rules. That particular day, he had wandered far from his family and found a cave that he had never seen before. Inside it was a deep, still pool with waters that seemed more cool and refreshing than any he had ever seen.

He splashed down into it, soaking everything but this tip of his nose and the tip of his tail. Then, climbing out, he rubbed his shoulder against the stony cave wall and was delighted to see that the color appeared as a swath of gray on his shoulder.

Overjoyed at this discovery, he ran outside and threw himself down on the grass, rubbing it all over his belly, which gained the brilliant emerald hues. Then he found a patch of wildflowers and rolled around in them, dotting his pelt with blues and reds and yellow. He climbed to the highest mountain so that he could touch the sky, pulling the blue down onto his back, and he pawed at the starry night sky that evening to cover his feet in white-speckled inky darkness.

When he returned to his pack, he had his head and tail held high with pride at all the colors. His pack ooh'd and aah'd and marveled at him, but no matter how many times the other wolves asked, he wouldn't tell them how he had come by such a marvelously colored pelt.

But there was one thing Jariel had not counted on. When all wolves were the same, no one had any cause for jealousy. But now he was different, and that difference made his packmates jealous and angry. Why should he have all the colors? Why wouldn't he tell them his secret?

In the night, while Jariel slept, a group of these angry wolves descended upon him, killing him from jealousy.

And when Jariel's spirit rose up into the heavens, the water that soaked into his fur fell to the earth like tears, drenching every wolf, lynx, deer and other animal below. It rained long and hard that night, the strangest rainstorm anyone had ever seen, and when it was finished a beautiful band of every color crossed the sky.

From that point on, the animals found that the colors of the world stuck to their fur, just as it had for Jariel, and those colors stayed within them, passing to their pups, filling the world with brilliance.

And that's how Jariel brought color to the world. And wolves know that when a rainbow comes out, that Jariel is watching from the heavens to see how colorful the world has become.

OOC Info: This legend is primarily an explanation of two natural phenomena -- the coloration of animals, and of rainbows. But it's also a warning of sorts against being greedy or keeping the best things to yourself.

It's also given rise to a related myth regarding white wolves (see below)

Prize: Semi-custom or recolor?
Prize Information: Fubar, who really should be grateful toward Jariel. Gamma with a neutral expression and black lines.

Myth: White wolves are over-cautious (and boring sticks in the mud). When Jariel's rain brought all the colors to the world, some wolves hid from it, and they and their offspring missed their chance because of it.

OOC Info: Rooted in the myth of Jariel and the colors, this story is very old and particularly common among those packs where brightly-colored pelts are held in high regard. There may also be a bit of truth to it, as white furred animals do sometimes have reasons to be cautious -- like the eyesight problems associated with albinism -- but mostly, it's just a way to write off "boring"-colored wolves as having boring personalities, too.

Prize: Recolor
Prize Information: Roshan. Gamma, shy expression.

Myth: "Don't stray from your pack at night, little pup, or you'll be stolen away by the shadow monsters!"

OOC Info: This particular tale originates in Telk, and is very much rooted in fact -- of a certain nocturnal pack that does have a penchant for stealing pups. Many are quite convinced that it's just a fairytale, and the details of the "monsters" themselves are often extremely exaggerated. Telkish wolves are likely to spread the rumor through Tolas as they mingle with the natives.

Note: If this counts as "submitting my own wolf" then of course overlook this ^^ But since the Brotherhood was established by the shop originally as canon, and it's made clear in this thread that the pack is an official part of Telk's lore, I figured I should add it here smile

Prize: No need for a prize here since it's mostly a repost of old shop lore!
Prize Information:

Staff Edit: This thread is for Tolas' lore / legends. Wolves from Telk can spread this rumor themselves via RP, but Tolas residents would have never heard of it.

Myth: Beware the mists that linger over water, little pup, or the mourning mother might take you for her own.

OOC Info: A myth based on the sorrowful tale of a mother wolf whose pups were swept away during a flood. To this day, it is said that she searches for them still; as a spirit that takes form amongst mist (specifically the mist near/over water). It is retold as a lesson to pups that they must beware the dangers that mist might otherwise conceal, though some wolves swear that they have seen her taking shape amidst the pale swirls.

Prize: Recolour
Prize Information: a recolour of this girl. Gamma lines, aggressive mood. Can the dark colour as seen in her adult stage be lightened to the colour that is in her pup stage? Puppy here

Myth: "Winter thunder, pack asunder"

OOC Info: This myth began in the mountainous regions where avalanches could prove devastating to packs and other groups. It has since developed into a superstition, so any rumbling sounds, even far away, are seen as a bad omen, especially in winter.

Prize: Semi-custom
Prize Information: Female wolf, orange/teal/blue