𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕁𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕤

» Perched upon the easternmost cliffside of Darkspine, a curious light illuminates the shadowed forests high above the inky waters. A warm glow; it speaks of light and life, stories and song. Here, the Jocolantern pack lines the trees of their territory with lanterns in the hundreds. Their low light keeps away the dark - and the malevolent beings that creep within it.

Hello, and welcome to my personal lore thread! You're more than welcome to browse and read through; however I do request that you please refrain from posting here. If you'd like to chat about the lore or whatever else please feel free to message me! (:

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚜

» From where he lay, Vinn could have sworn it were an invasion of fireflies. The Lanterns that surrounded and protected the Jocolantern lands flickered and winked with magic. Each Lantern hung suspended from a towering tree, and glowed despite carrying nothing within it. It was something unnerving to him, despite the protections it gave. In the dim light of deepening dusk, Vinn pondered once more at how something like this could possibly exist.

“Hey, Dad… dad!”, whispered Vinn, nudging the acorn-furred Teppin who lay beside him. Teppin didn't so much as stir, so young Vinn rolled to push his little paws against his resting father's back. “Daaaad!”

With a grunt, Teppin lifted his head. Wolfsbane eyes cut like jagged glass - but he wore a tired smile as he addressed his son.
“What, what?” A great yawn escaped his maw, flashing teeth in the dim Lantern-light. On his other side, Vinn's mother snored obliviously.

Vinn looked to the Lanterns surrounding the little family. They glowed warmly, surrounding Vinn and his mother and father with a faint light while the forests beyond lay in inky darkness. He thought he could hear a faraway howl from beyond it - one not like a wolf's. A shiver crept along his hackles.
“How do the Lanterns even work? There's nothing even in them to make light! And another thing; it's just light. How can it possibly keep.. things.. away?” His brows furrowed over his little violet eyes. “Surely all-powerful beings can just.. walk right through it?”

Teppin watched his son, letting a low chuckle escape his teeth at Vinn's frustration in not understanding. There was so much to the Lanterns, yet nothing at all held inside. The Jocol thought for a moment at the best way he could describe this to his son, without going too much into detail, yet leaving the pup satisfied enough to drift to sleep. The whole story would give his young mind nightmares.

“Vinn, tell me this: look up and see; does the moon shine?”

Vinn snorted and rolled his eyes at the question. “Daaaaad..”

“Well?”

“Ugh, yes, it shines.”

Teppin grinned at Vinn's annoyance. “Yes, it shines. But not with its own light. The moonshine we see, is the moon reflecting light cast out from the sun - a body much bigger, more powerful than the moon.”

“Well, it's kind of the same with our Lanterns,” He said, his tone becoming one much more somber. “Vinn, these lanterns have nothing in them because they are objects of reflection. Their power to keep away whatever demons creeping about outside is casting from somewhere else.. or, I guess you could say from some'when' else.”

Vinn pulled a face, but Teppin shook his head to let the pup know that this was not a story to poke fun at.

"The Lanterns, like the moon, are reflecting a light - a power - from something bigger than they are. Long ago, another pack called this cliffside home. They numbered in the hundreds; their culture was colorful and bright. Their pups were happy and healthy, and they lived lives one could be proud of.

“One night, something came for them. Dead of night, it came. Maybe it was hungry; maybe offended. Either way, it wanted one thing - to wipe this pack from the Darkspine forest; from existance.”

Vinn found himself cowering closer to the reassuring presence of his father, staring out into the dark forest beyond the Lanterns.

“The pack - its name is lost, you know - came together to defend themselves and eachother. They could have run for the trees; they could have dove from the cliffs and swam to shore. But they did no such thing - how could they? How could they run and let something so corrupt take their way of life from them?”

Teppin looked down to his son, and Vinn thought his eyes looked suddenly much, much older.

“They died. They stood no chance. They were only mortal, but something happened that night. Something bigger and more powerful than any demon was turned loose from the sacrifice they made. These lands became a sacred space, one that those who love darkness and death cannot enter. The Lanterns are a manifestation of this loss, of their love for one another and for the life they led. The Lanterns ‘reflection’ is not just light, but the bravery and strength it took for the pack to stand their ground against such a foe.”

Vinn was quiet. What could be said after such a story? He wondered if it were real - or if his father was telling him a tale just to get him to sleep.

“Sleep now, Vinn,” whispered Teppin, lowering his head back to his paws as another bone-chilling howl sounded off from the distance.

“We are safe; I promise you that.”

𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝙵𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚝 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚢

» “Are you here with me?” The whisper on the wind felt softer than the clover and dandelions beneath Tip's toes. The sky above was the clearest blue, with happy little clouds drifting on the breeze without a care in the world. They certainly didn't feel the heartache coming from the Lupin standing in an open field far below.

Someone had told him, long ago, should Tiptart need them he would only need to look up to the sky; to the sun or the stars, and he would be seeing the same sky as they. He could howl to the celestial bodies his message and they'd carry it on whispers back to the family he once had. As a pup, he'd believed this. He would howl and howl and howl away, telling of this adventure and that discovery as he grew. So many stories he shared - never did he hear a reply. He spent nights with ears cocked to the heavens, straining to hear so much as a sigh from the sky, telling him his family had heard him and knew that he was okay. Now he knew better. The sun and the stars didn't whisper - they screamed. They screamed to him how he was not enough, how this life was not fair but it never was going to be, and he was foolish to have believed such a thing.

With a mighty sigh, the Saffron-furred Lupin flopped heavily into the weeds he stood in, sending dandelion seeds floating slowly, beautifully, off into the clearest blue sky and up to the sun and stars that ignored him.