Ferral has only recently left The Wood. Though someone matching his description has been noted as traveling with
a pale young man with white hair. They both seem to have a knack for getting into a variety of trouble.
Personality
Ferral is exceptionally young for one of his kind. At just over a century old, he is still a child by the standards of his race, socially treated as maybe between 13 and 15 years old by human standards, despite having been physically mature for decades. As such, unless he takes the time to think something through, he can fall victim to rash or impulsive choices.
When he does slow down and think he can demonstrate a great deal of wisdom, but like nature itself, he can sometimes come across as a bit callous or blunt, telling people uncomfortable truths that might have been better handled with more diplomacy. Again, this something he is fully capable of if he takes the time to think to be.
His quest to find Meto is a priority, but the more he sees of the world outside of The Wood, the more he wishes to see. He can be very curious and allow that to lead him forward in grand distractions from his quest, but ultimately he always comes back to it. He is very dedicated to those he forges friendships with and would ultimately sacrifice much for their wellbeing -- in particular, the wellbeing of anyone intent on harming them.
Background
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Ferral of the tribe of Wer grew up in the demiplane of The Wood, an elemental plane aligned with various nature deities but created by the combined will of Wyldir, Lord of Beasts, and Aldite, Goddess of Nature. It was a place to safely allow their children, the Si Jhori Olaer, to reside: three immortal wolf puppies that symbolized both the joy and beauty of nature as well as its potential wild savagery.
Ferral met the human boy Azel when he served as a hunter and guide in the tribe at a young age. Azel was the son of a merchant that arrived on the edge of The Wood several times a year to trade. Ferral and Azel began a friendship that over the course of several seasons became something more. However, at his young emotional age Ferral wasn't mature enough to see it as anything more than fun and playing at the time. Eventually Azel stopped visiting, and Ferral understood it had grown to mean more to him. As a result he became more serious, and grew up a great deal faster than others of his age in the tribe.
Ferral studied both under his uncle, the tribal shaman, as well as the most skilled hunters in the tribe. Both realized that there was something special about him. Some whispered that The Little Ones had taken an interest in him, which could be a blessing or a curse. Often in the oral histories, it proved to be both. So it was to be for Ferral as well.
At just over a century old, visitors came to the tribe claiming a desire to trade. They were adventurers, and while the tribe shunned outsiders it had been sometime since Azel's merchant father had appeared. However, these humans were not what they said, and were in fact thieves. They had stolen the equipment and wealth they carried from a powerful emperor of a foreign land. Emperor Edamura had hired a skilled assassin to track them down and return with the stolen goods. Metokimime Katakuto tracked the thieves across the very planes and into the demiplane itself. There, under cover of night he attacked them, but in doing so wounded Ferral gravely.
Instinct made him shift to his wolf form, and in the ensuing fight he gravely wounded Meto. by light of day the thieves corpses were disposed of, their equipment buried in the forest, and it was determined that Meto would change and could thus never leave the tribe. He was Ferral's responsibility by tribal law as well, so it would fall to him to train him despite his young age.
Section
Meto took the news with stoic resolve when he recovered enough to be told. He was a capable student and learned much about controlling the beast that now grew within him. By the time of his first change, he had a startling measure of control. Before the second, he was able to shift of his own volition. Before the year was out, he was no longer under any outside influence at all, but he continued to train with Ferral for different reasons.
For though Ferral was a decent enough teacher, he also proved to be a very apt pupil as well. Meto taught him as much or more than he learned: the ways of the shadows, and new ways to hunt beyond what Ferral had ever known previously. These were the ways of ninjitsu, of the shadow warriors. The teachings complimented his previous skills amazingly, and simultaneously he threw himself into his training as a shaman, learning much from his uncle beyond the basic skills he had previously bothered to learn.
Then, one night Meto was gone, his skills so great that he left a village of werewolves unseen nor heard. He left a note explaining that he had to leave, that others would come for him and he would not lead them to the tribe that had taken him in, albeit without any desire initially to. This broke tribal law, and custom dictated that Ferral would have to either bring him back or demonstrate that he would never be a threat to the tribe by returning with proof of his death.
The "curse" of The Little Ones made itself known. As Meto's teacher, Ferral would have to leave the tribe and venture into the world after Meto, but having learned so much from him, on some level he realized that perhaps this was what had to be now. As much as he loved The Wood, perhaps he needed to leave it behind now and see the world beyond it, to ever be able to love it more.
Section
Ferral left with Madyrn Shori and appeared on the edge of what he would come to learn was the Obsidian Forest. He recognized it as the very place he used to meet Azel many years before. Traveling, his first taste of the world outside was not to his taste. It was a dead place, replete with walking corpses and worse. His stealth managed to keep him safe as he made his way in the direction he recalled Azel speaking of years previously.
Eventually Ferral came to a vast castle, which seemed to be the source of the terrible rot and ruin. Sneaking within that terrible place, he found Azel's father and a strange cat that seemed to watch him despite his hiding spot. A shambling corpse stumbled in the direction of his hiding place, until a vase fell and shattered across the room, drawing its attention. Ferral took that opportunity to leave and noticed the cat followed him.
Leaving the castle, Ferral felt strangely compelled to a hidden temple in the southern regions of the Obsidian forest, drawn along by the barks and howls of small wolf puppies. Inside the temple, Ferral discovered the sleeping body of Azel! He looked different than Ferral recalled. Taller, stronger looking and far more pale than he had once been. As he drew near, Azel opened his eyes and they were reunited again. In that moment Ferral knew what he had been unable to process years before. He loved Azel, and would not let him go again.
After exploring the ancient temple they both realized they would not be able to stop what was happening to the country of Azel's birth, certainly not alone. They would need more experience and almost certainly help. So, with a promise to each other that they would someday return to set things right there, they set off to track Meto and see what adventures awaited them along the way.
SKILLS
ACROBATICS - Expert: Ferral was naturally exceptionally acrobatic before his training in ninjitsu. Since he started training, he has increased his skills by orders of magnitude. He is an adept climber and floor style gymnast as well.
He routinely dashes through the canopy of forests utilizing his parkour style skills. He can even run up walls and the like, upwards of 20 feet. Coupled with his stealth he seldom even makes a sound while doing so. He is able to leap fantastic distances with little effort: upwards of 35 feet long and 20 feet high with no great strain, even further with a running start, thus allowing him to do things like wall-spring up an alley to the rooftops or through the trees with ease.
ARCHERY - Expert: Even from a young age Ferral excelled with a bow, quickly becoming one of the most skilled hunters of his tribe. His lethality with his weapon of choice was only enhanced through his training in ninjitsu. Some examples of his skills include the ability to nock, draw, and fire up to four arrows in just under a second, often more than one at a time; to split an oncoming arrow in half with one of his own; to catch and shoot an oncoming arrow in one continuous movement; and to sight and shoot objects as small as a gold coin in the air multiple times, effectively "juggling" it and keeping it aloft, while running.
He is adept at using his bow to flank opponents and even at shooting into a crowd where others are engaged in melee combat without hitting any unintended targets. In fact, when an opponent is distracted that way his training as a ninja usually allows him to target particularly vital spots that might otherwise have been better defended. Coupled with his stealth, Ferral is a truly deadly sniper, particularly under cover of darkness, his stealth skills making it particularly difficult to find him even after he has taken a shot.
ATHLETICS - Expert: Swimming, climbing, running, tumbling. Growing up in The Wood, Ferral engaged in routine, daily athletic pursuits. Leaping from limb to limb in trees that reached hundreds of feet into the sky while chasing friends as a child gave way to running through treetops and across the forest floor, hunting game and fighting back giant spiders and other horrors. With his substantial resilience to fatigue, he is able to maintain such activity for a prolonged period of time as well and recover quickly when pausing.
CHARISMA - Competent: Ferral has a wild, untamed charisma that compliments his elven attractiveness. The combination can be very enticing to the right type of person, though just as often he would prefer to work with animals. He is used to working with his fellow brothers and sisters in his tribe as well, so he is no stranger to leadership principles and teamwork. He is particularly adept at working with Madyrn Shori, his Great Wolf companion, but the principles work the same with others as well.
The reverse side of his charisma is his ability to intimidate others. Ferral is, in temperament, much akin to nature itself: neutral in most matters, particularly at the start, but if incited to anger he can be a frightening sight. While he does not lose control of his beast within, it often subtly makes its presence felt in those moments.
CRAFTING - Competent: Living in a society where most of what you own you either made yourself or traded for, you learn to make a lot of things for yourself. Ferral is accomplished at maintaining his weapons, and others', but he is particularly skilled at all stages of the crafting of bows and arrows. Though he does know a variety of more mundane crafting skills as well, particularly as they apply to survival in the wild. In a town setting his work would sell for above average based on quality, though it is more functional than beautiful.
EMPATHY - Expert: Ferral's observational skills when coupled with his leadership make him a keen judge of other's motives. While he is naive to many of the details of the worlds outside of The Wood, he is able to determine when people are attempting to manipulate, lead him astray, have his best interests at heart or are just lying. He is no mind reader by any stretch, but his intuition is very strong, and he seldom ignores it.
MELEE COMBAT - Competent: Ferral knows how to fight with short and long blades as well as quarterstaff. His proficiency with them pales by comparison to that of his bow. These are skills he learned in his ninjitsu training to compensate for times when an opponent closed to close range and he couldn't shift to his wolf forms.
SHAMANISM - Competent: Beyond just the magic of a shaman, Ferral has learned other things from his uncle. Among them are things like: herb lore, potion making, basic injury care, and animal husbandry.
He knows the proper uses of most plants, herbs, and fruits and can deduce the uses for those with which he is unfamiliar with a little experimentation. The Wood included many types of flora from many worlds, giving him a wide range of experience in this regard.
With those ingredients, he is able to make healing ungents, philtres, salves, and potions, as well as the means to properly pack and care for injuries. He can likewise care for poisoning or diseases if the cause is natural. He is able to craft poisons as well when he is of a mind to. Though he has notes on how to prepare still more obscure and arcane formula, he currently lacks the experience. He knows how to treat someone in a more long-term manner, too, knowing how to make splints and to immobilize wounded areas, for example.
Ferral is well-versed in how to take care of a variety of animals, both in their survival needs as well as how to treat them medically, should that be needed. He is able to train animals much more fully and quickly than most thanks to his ability to communicate his desires, as well as ride with exceptional skill on those somewhat rare occasions when he does so.
Ferral can use the various arcane means to accomplish a variety of sundry tasks. Some examples include predicting upcoming weather, or just reading vague interpretations of the future, divining for water and at least the direction of lost items. Most instances of using shamanic knowledge of nature and beasts this way requires a ritual of some sort and/or a ritual focus. These rituals can take anywhere from minutes to over an hour to perform. Some of the truly complex rituals, like a rain dance, would require a number of other people to perform. His most complex ritual, that of awakening an animal, takes six hours to perform.
STEALTH - Expert: Elves of The Wood have a natural affinity towards stealth in their woodland home. All training as a ninja did for Ferral was extend that to other terrains and settings as well. With but a moments distraction he is able to effectively vanish from sight in any terrain outside of a utterly featureless and flat plain. He is even adept at hiding from animals or individuals that use abilities like tremor sense or blind enhances senses, particularly when he remains very still.
Even at a flat out run his footfalls seem to land silently and muffled. He has practiced extensively on sneaking up on a variety of animals in The Wood to hone his craft. Until he could literally reach out and touch them before they knew he was there. Or have the crawlers from the swamp move within a few meters of him and not discover his presence.
POWERS
ELVEN HERITAGE - Enhanced: Ferral is an elf of The Wood, a demiplane created to protect the children of Wyldir, Lord of Beasts, and Aldite, Goddess of Nature. The Elves of the Wood were appointed the guardians of those children, Si Jhori Olaer, and as such have a number of special abilities. Ferral has slightly above normal base abilities compared to the other elves born to the tribe.
Physically speaking, elves of the wood are amazingly dextrous and stronger than they appear to be. They have above average stamina as well, given the unforgiving nature of The Wood. Ferral is at the upper end of this range in all three categories. Ferral is also preternaturally fast even for a elf of the Wood. He is seldom surprised, and none but the very fastest of opponents have much chance of getting the jump on him. His raw intelligence, and mental fortitude are also exceptional, second only to his uncle in the tribe.
Elves of The Wood are functionally immortal, and Ferral is no different. They always possess an ethereal, almost eerie beauty about them with flawless features, with no imperfections or marring. They are particularly good at negotiation, bluffing, and diplomacy as others are often too distracted by their looks to rally against or even notice such attempts.
Transmutational effects and magic have a more difficult time finding purchase against their elven immunities. Unless they are cast from a very powerful source they typically fail. Even if they take, they seldom last for as long as they were intended, with even otherwise permanent transmutations eventually fading away.
Thanks to the vast canopy of trees in The Wood, the lighting is almost always dim there. Elves of The Wood excel in dim lighting. They are far harder to find in such conditions, and their own sight and senses are very keen, making up for darkness or dim light. Consummate hunters in the darkness of the forest, they can quickly and quietly move and use their bows with uncanny accuracy even in the dark.
NINJA - Enhanced: Ferral has taken the first steps into his training as a ninja. While he is as yet not able to access all of the unique skills his mentor was, he has a solid understanding of the basics, including how to channel his ki for enhancing his stealth and physical skills, such as acrobatics and leaping.
At present, Ferral's natural stealth techniques and ability to attack others with surprise have increased dramatically through his training. He is able to use this skill to flank or surprise opponents with bow or melee weapons to inflict grievous wounds.
He is harder to track or discover when using his stealth and sneaking skills to hide and remain under cover. This is especially true when remaining still.
He also has learned how to utilize poisons of varying strengths to both incapacitate or harm others without threat to himself when applying it.
Whenever he falls, he never takes any damage. In fact he always lands on his feet no matter the height. When using this ability, he falls at a rate of 150 feet every six seconds, and he can move up to 5 feet horizontally for every 10 feet he falls.
Ferral is able to see in utter and complete darkness up to 60 feet away from himself. Allowing him to navigate without any need for any source of illumination at all.
Whenever he is in darkness, Ferral can move at his full speed without taking any penalty to his Stealth. He can even merge with the darkness and exit from another such darkened area within 100 feet, so long as he has line of effect to it.
SHAMAN - Enhanced: Ferral's uncle raised him and taught him the ways of the tribal shaman, which he served as. Though he is not nearly so proficient as his uncle, Ferral is able to call on spiritual magic for a number of presently moderately powerful effects. Largely, this is healing magic, and he may actually heal moderate wounds on touch without need to invoke a spell at all. But, he is also capable of various manipulations of nature and calling on woodland animals for aid.
Generally, Ferral's magic requires him to speak ancient words of power to call on the spirits and the natural world to aid him. So, in any situation where he would not be free to do so, his magic is almost sure to fail.
In addition to his shamanistic spellcasting, Ferral is able to speak to animals at will, and animals of all sorts have a tendency to have a much better disposition with him.
Ferral is able to move through any sort of naturally occurring undergrowth or overgrown areas without any hindrance. This includes but is not limited to loss of speed or physical injury. In addition, he leaves no trail through such terrain unless he elects to.
He may use his shamanic magic to call up a number of spirits at once. They act singularly to defend him, Distracting those that engage him at melee range, harrying them until they withdraw, and causing Ferral to be more difficult to strike as a result.
TOUCHED BY THE GODS - Supreme: Ferral is followed by Si Jhori Olaer, The Little Ones: three divine wolf puppies, the children of two powerful nature deities. Though they are seldom seen, they have had an impact on Ferral from an early age. As such, he displays abilities beyond others of his kin. Presently the additional mythic gifts of Si Jhori Olaer have only begun to manifest. As Ferral faces more challenges and reaches deeper within himself, more are sure to follow.
At present his mythic power manifests in a couple of subtle but powerful ways. He is far harder to kill than others of his kind, which is already no easy feat. He can appear for all intents and purposes dead and still heal back from the injuries completely with eight hours of rest. Even just an hour's rest though will see him back on his feet, though he will still need to heal further to reach his full health.
WEREWOLF - Enhanced: Like all members of his tribe, Ferral is a werewolf, his tribe having long ago been changed into such by the playful bites and scratches of Si Jhori Olaer. He has spent much of his nearly century of life learning to live in harmony with the animal within him, and as such has great control over his shifting, though sudden or extreme bodily injury can cause him to shift against his will.
Ferral changes with great speed, unless he purposefully delays his transformations, something he can do for the sheer intimidation value when desired. Otherwise, his shifts take only moments to accomplish. He may shift to the form of a direwolf or a man-wolf.
In either wolf shape Ferral is far harder to harm, shrugging off most weapon damage with no ill effect at all. Wounds inflicted by magic weapons or spells are blunted somewhat, though still may inflict harm. As far as mundane weapons go, only those made from silver bypass his immunity at present. Outside of his wolf shapes, he is somewhat more resilient to harm than ordinary, though nothing approaching his resiliency in his wolf forms. Likewise, in both wolf and elven shape he is immune to extreme climates and naturally occurring weather phenomena. He is likewise immune to naturally occurring poisons and diseases of all kinds thanks to his lycanthropy.
Should he be wounded, Ferral regenerates wounds with supernatural speed, leaving no scarring or long term negative effects.
His speed and senses are substantially increased, even above those of a natural wolf, though his direwolf form is somewhat faster than his man-wolf. He is easily able to track a target through scent alone.
In balance, his natural attacks with fangs and claws are far more brutal in his man-wolf form, hough in either direwolf or man-wolf form he can inflict brutally savage wounds, easily rending through even thin metallic armor with his claws or biting a weapon in half. This is particularly true with his enhanced physical prowess.
In eith
ADVANTAGES
ADVENTURING GEAR Ferral wears minimal armor made from the leaves and bark of the Mia Tyr trees. It is functionally leather armor, but like all of the hunters' armor is enchanted to literally merge with their bodies when they assume their wolf shapes. Because of this Ferral will typically not wear any armor that has not been treated to do the same.
The adventuring party that Metokimime Katakuto was paid to eliminate had stolen a great deal of equipment. Meto was hired to eliminate the thieves and return with the equipment in a provided bag of holding. Though he did eliminate the thieves, he himself was compromised. Knowing he would be hunted now as well, he left the Wer tribe to lure any potential threats away. But left them with the bag of holding, and all the gear contained within. When Ferral was sent to find him and return with him, he was given the bag and it's contents.
Within are a number of items, including several sets of armor and weapons appropriate to several types of adventurers, all of it enchanted at least lightly. It also included various potions, rings, necklaces, belts, gloves, and boots. Likewise, all are enchanted in some form or fashion. Ferral seldom touches any of it, as he does not know what they do. He has only picked out a couple of items he liked from the gear (above) and carries the rest with him for when he hopefully finds Meto once again.
CARRIED ITEMS Ferral carries a number of items on his person, to assist him in adventuring. Some of the less mundane gear include the following:
A variety of arrows including Dureable darkwood arrows with jagged arrow heads, Durable bleeding Arrows and Grappling Arrows.
Blowgun and darts.
Several varieties of poisons, including ragespittle, ogre spider, and blood leaf residue.
Potions and healing ointments. Notably antitoxin, antiplague, bloodblock and troll styptic.
Softpaw boots, made for him as a gift from the catfolk in The Wood. They enhance his natural stealth.
A filter scarf to assist in filtering out airborne fumes.
LOVE CONQUERS ALL Call it what you will. Destiny, written in the stars, divine intervention. Perhaps something of all of those things. But Ferral of the Wer tribe and Azel Julious Magnus were somehow fated to be together. They bring out a strength and purpose in each other that makes them greater in many ways than the sum of their parts. This is most noteably true when one or the other are in imminent danger of loss of life. Under such circumstances they seem to exceed their normal limits to acheieve results that under other circumstances might be impossible. That perfectly ricocheted shot. The ideally timed spell. The two hundred percent necessary to save their one true love.
MADYRN'M COR Ferral was given tools by his uncle that had been passed down through their family for so long as the Wer tribe had existed in The Wood. Ferral communed with his mother and father, who had undergone the ceremony to become Watchers in The Wood. His father gifted him with a branch from the tree they had grown to become. Ferral used the tools from his uncle and the branch from his father to carve himself the bow Madyrn'm Cor, Shadow's Kiss.
The bow is made of a dark hued, shadowy wood that seems to drink in the light around it, leaving the area dimmer and shadowy as a result. Though the bow is wood, it is as hard as metal thanks to the runes carved into it by Ferral's uncle. Unknown to Ferral, it is linked to him on a deeper level than he could hope to realize. As he grows stronger and more resolved, so too does his weapon of choice. Locked away, hidden within it are far greater powers than he yet realizes. Currently it acts as a lightly enchanted bow.
MADYRN SHORI The members of the Wer tribe all bond with one of the Great Wolves that live in the cave-like root system of the massive Mia Tyr trees in which the tribe makes their home. Ferral's companion is a black-furred great wolf named Madyrn Shori in his tongue, or Shadow Bite. The wolf is more than he appears, though, as he also serves as Ferral's spirit animal, existing in both the physical and the spiritual world in equal measure. As such he is effectively as immortal as Ferral himself is, and if slain will heal in the spirit realm before returning to the physical world.
Beyond his great size (his back stands nearly at Ferral's chest) and spirit animal qualities, Madyrn Shori is otherwise just a great wolf: a strong physical opponent in a fight with his savage fangs and claws, as well as their natural resilience to injury. Madyrn Shori is very fast, able to maintain his running speeds for long periods thanks to his stamina. He can swim upwards of 10 miles before needing to rest, for example. He can track a target by smell and his senses of hearing and vision are quite acute as well, making sneaking up on him, even invisibly, a challenge.
As a spirit animal, Madyrn Shori is inherently quasi-magical, able to shrug off a measure of mundane weapon damage and do harm to those only harmed by magical weapons or spells. He is far more sturdy than what he might even appear, allowing him to weather more attacks before having to retreat. In the absence of anything or anyone doing damage to him he heals at about 10x the speed of a normal wolf, with no scarring or other lasting negative consequences. He is more intelligent than an ordinary great wolf as well, capable of understanding rather complicated strategies and plans.
PRINCESS POOFY TAIL An unusual black cat with an equally unusual name, one which she is VERY defensive about at that, Princess Poofy Tail elected to follow Ferral, leaving Azel's father, whom she had previously followed. Aside from her unusual gift and uncanny intellect she is in all other ways a simple house cat -- one with a very well-developed sense of vengeance if someone makes fun of her name.
She has an uncanny ability to manipulate luck around her, though she can be quite capricious in how and when she uses it. The act of granting luck to someone has the impact of also stripping it from someone else, with each effect occurring within about a 15 meter range. Stripping the luck from several people in close proximity can have a particularly chaotic impact, particularly if they are interacting in some way.
SI SHYR TARN MAS Much as his father had, Ferral's mother granted him a branch of the tree she had become when she underwent the ceremony of The Watcher in the Wood as well. Using the tools his uncle provided, Ferral carved that branch into Si Shyr Tarn Mas, The Wolf Claw Staff.
The staff is made of a dark hued, shadowy wood that seems to drink in the light around it, leaving the area dimmer and shadowy as a result. Though it is made of wood, the staff is as strong as metal thanks to the runes carved into it by Ferral's uncle. It is quite capable of defending against the blows of edged weapons, even enchanted axes and the like.
The head of the staff is the paw of a visitor to their tribe from many seasons past. He too was a werewolf, but a cruel and monstrous one. It was the tribe's first encounter with an outsider lycanthrope. It was what caused them to adopt their law of secrecy. When he attempted to take over the village, they reluctantly put him down. His massive clawed hand was all that survived that conflict. It is magically merged with the wood of the staff, and can even open and close to grab things or use its claws, allowing the staff to inflict blunt or slashing damage. The staff itself is not magical inherently, but the claw can be used to strike creatures only succeptible to magic.
THE WOOD Though Ferral has left The Wood to seek out his former ninja master, he still is capable of interacting with it in some ways. Using his shamanic rituals, he can skirt the periphery of The Wood, thus allow
WEAKNESSES
BEYOND THE WOOD Ferral is still relatively new to the world outside of The Wood. Simple things others take for granted can leave him nearly stunned with awe or annoyance at their very existence. He can ignore such things in the heat of battle well enough, but often the distraction can lead him curiously along paths better left avoided.
CRUELTY TO NATURE Ferral is a hunter, but he gives thanks for that which he takes from the wild and honors the spirit of the animal in a good hunt. He only takes what he needs and makes sure the animals do not suffer. When faced with cruelty to animals or wanton destruction of the natural world, he is both saddened and angered, which can easily lead to confrontations that can turn violent.
NATURE'S NEUTRALITY In The Wood a number of races existed side by side, their relations sometimes uneasy, but ultimately coexisting in peace. Life in The Wood could be hard enough without making it unduly harder. Ferral is largely neutral to most races or people. He does not believe in any inherently evil or good beings, places, or situations. All things are judged on their own merit, and life can sometimes be cruel, just as nature can be, but it is the wheel of life, and it turns for everyone.
Particularly in population centers, his ideology and mentality can leave him somewhat distrusted. This is further exacerbated by the notion that those he travels with mean more to him than anything else, which can be used to manipulate him under the proper circumstances.
THE BEAST WITHIN Ferral has been a werewolf all of his life. He has a great measure of control over his changes, and is not susceptible to outside influences like the moon. However, from his slightly elongated teeth to his a-little-too-sharp nails, werewolf hunters and those well versed in the old ways could recognize him for what he is.
THE WOOD The Wood is in many ways aware, a living thing that acts on its own largely alien set of rules. Crossing into it always requires a densely wooded area along the bank of a river one would have to at least wade across. Ferral is sometimes the victim of The Wood depositing him and his companions in places he would not have chosen to go, at times taking him when he would not have chosen to leave. The machinations of The Wood are unknown and unknowable to him. As a result, crossing a river in the forest is always something of a gamble for him and those he travels with.
TRIBAL LAW Though he has been sent forth until he finds Meto, Ferral still obeys the laws of the Wer tribe. Most do not apply, as he is not there, but several still do, and he is very strict about following them. Ferral never reveals the existence of The Wood or his tribe to anyone willingly. Likewise, he does not reveal what he is, a werewolf, save in situations that might otherwise be life or death. Even then, his preference is to leave no witnesses if it comes to that, so he would do his best only to let a foe see his transformation if he planned to kill them. It is a secret he will not lightly let be known.
UNEDUCATED Ferral has utterly no formal education to speak of. He knows the writing of his people and a smattering of outsider writing from books left by visiting traders. He learned to speak a common tongue from Azel when they were children, but by and large all of his education has to do with his own people, flora, fauna, and nature. The outside world and its cultures, customs, languages and writing are things largely alien to him.
