I'm making new characters and need to hear from you if I'm doing good

[Bees]

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My character comes with a cNPC. They're both Šarplaninci/Shar Mountain dogs and I can say that they're that breed with confidence, as Šarplaninci are very much a landrace breed in Montenegro - their country of origin.

The PC is Cent (pronounced like "scent" without the "s"). 

• In base form, she's a pretty standard size for the breed;  60cm/23inch - 40kg/88lbs.
  
• Her eyes are pink (it's allowed!). Her underside is cream coloured, with a light brown base and dark brown markings/masking.
  
• She is a Verto, having been infected at mere months of age. She has no preferred form and is as comfortable on four legs as on two, but when in Optime she wears clothes resembling traditional Montenegrin wear, either masculine or feminine.
  
• She is 2 years and two months old, having the maturity of a young adult.
  

The cNPC is Dinar Ljudokoža.

• He is of pretty gargantuan size; 80cm/31.5inch - 80kg/180lbs. His size comes with health problems and a shortened life expectancy.
  
• His eyes are brown. His fur base is grey but fades in some places to dark grey. His masking is black.
  
• He is a non-Luperci.
  
• He is 4 years old and has the maturity of a middle-aged adult.
  

The pair of them are merchants from Montenegro. 

They are practitioners of a type of pseudo-Christianity unique to their area of origin. They worship "the Great Martyr" and believe humanity was eradicated by God to make room for dogs, His chosen children. This religion comes with lots of prejudice against non-dogs and many traditions.

The native language of the two of them is Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin, but Cent speaks English (albeit with a heavy accent and improper grammar).

The two of them lived in the area of Bokakotorska Bay, in a clan of dogs which had their claws on trade routes in and out the Bay.

Dinar was a feral dog from farther inland, who became indebted to Cent's parents and became her "pobratim" - adoptive brother.

Cent's parents held good ranks in the clan and were quite affluent, but events I'll flesh out at a later point forced her to escape the country along with Dinar - and several chests of expensive jewellery, fabrics and other items of worth.

The pair of them slowly traded away their riches over the following year, as they hopped from ship to ship, trying to escape their vengeful clansmen. They were left with only one chest of goods when they boarded the Italian ship which was supposed to take them farther away than any other - all the way to the land of 'Souls.

The ship they travelled with didn't expect the Freetown port to be utterly destroyed and couldn't land there, but a lot of begging and whining convinced the crew to let the pair leave on a dinghy, while the ship itself left for Portland.
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Thus, the two dogs reach the realms of 'Souls. 
Their starting area will be the Borderlands in the territories of the Western Forefront. 
Their first thread will be them asking for directions and where the nearest packs are. The two of them are prejudiced against non-dogs, carry with them a lot of expensive goods and only one of them speaks English. I wonder what kind of first impression they'll make?
After that I plan for them to head for either Del Cenere Gang or Salsoa, in search of a place to conduct trade in.

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Alright. Thoughts?

[Gen]

Hi 500 Bees!

So, I took a glance through the stuff and had a few things I wanted to get some more understanding of :>

These two would need to be a mix of other dogs rather than just the one dog breed. Purebred dogs are not permitted in our rules so they would need more dog breeds mixed in, regardless of how like the breed they look. It's totally fine to look very typical of a singular breed but they can't be purebred (nor should their parents at this point). After 30+ years of dog breeding, there's really not likely to be many purebred anything left.

Could you also explain further on why she was infected at a young age? Who infected her and why? It might be easier to justify her being Ortus or infected later in life since there are only a few methods of transmittance of the virus - one of which would have pretty serious connotations to infect a puppy.

Dinar is also considered a merchant, but is non-luperci. I would want to know more about why feral, unshifted dogs would bother with trading things in a mountainous region of Montenegro - and why he was indebted to the family of traders.

If you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, basic needs and safety are the very base of the pyramid, which would likely be the most important goal for feral dogs, especially those without the ability to shift and specialize. It would make more sense that Cent and her family / the clan were luperci, especially if they were also affluent. Affluence typically doesn't get acquired without the capability to meet higher tiers of the hierarchy - so if basic needs are met and time can be spent to accumulate wealth rather than merely surviving.

It does make sense that there could be good wealth left over in the years following the fall of mankind since at the time the Yugoslavian civil wars and Bosnian genocides had not yet happened and the general state of Montenegro was pretty good - basically, a hot tourist destination with seaside vacationing.

How did they transport their stolen riches if Dinar couldn't do much without hands? :o A young woman and a feral dog probably won't be able to make away with a lot of stuff unless they had a horse or something to transport goods.

Also a quick note! Portland would have been the first stop before ever heading to Freetown :> People in Portland would have let them know that there was no town up there and that the only real way to get up to Nova Scotia in winter/early spring would be to walk it, especially with no port available.

[Bees]

These two would need to be a mix of other dogs rather than just the one dog breed. Purebred dogs are not permitted in our rules so they would need more dog breeds mixed in, regardless of how like the breed they look. It's totally fine to look very typical of a singular breed but they can't be purebred (nor should their parents at this point). After 30+ years of dog breeding, there's really not likely to be many purebred anything left.

 

Alright, then they'll be Šarplaninac mixes, but they'll still stay looking the same as I can with confidence say that many mixed strays from the mountain regions of the country look the same. Shar Mountain Dogs are a breed perfectly fit for for the more sub-alpine climate of the country and so their strongest features are easy to find in mutts. 

Could you also explain further on why she was infected at a young age? Who infected her and why? It might be easier to justify her being Ortus or infected later in life since there are only a few methods of transmittance of the virus - one of which would have pretty serious connotations to infect a puppy

 

This wasn't asked, but she is a Verto because I wanted her to be an inexperienced shifter and also be a tad more "feral" in behaviour, not as humanised as European dogs usually are. I can easily change this to a Luperci Ortus and excuse her more doglike behaviours as a product of her upbringing around non-luperci dogs, who were also a part of the clan as "pets" and guard dogs (Not slaves! Just infantilized family members). 

Dinar is also considered a merchant, but is non-luperci. I would want to know more about why feral, unshifted dogs would bother with trading things in a mountainous region of Montenegro - and why he was indebted to the family of traders.

Oh he's a merchant of by extension and wasn't one prior to leaving the country with Cent, neither of them were, actually, I suppose I worded that confusingly.
 
He got indebted to the family as a dog of slightly over one year. Cent's parents found Dinar, who was pretty much a starving beggar, and offered him food and shelter and a permanent home, simply because they felt that it would be a waste for such a big and strong dog to starve. When he recovered enough Dinar decided to stay, getting adopted into the family proper (his surname is a "default" surname, kind of like illegitimate children surnames from Game of Thrones).

If you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, basic needs and safety are the very base of the pyramid, which would likely be the most important goal for feral dogs, especially those without the ability to shift and specialize. It would make more sense that Cent and her family / the clan were luperci, especially if they were also affluent. Affluence typically doesn't get acquired without the capability to meet higher tiers of the hierarchy - so if basic needs are met and time can be spent to accumulate wealth rather than merely surviving.

The clan was always Luperci, with a mix of non-luperci and luperci dogs, but I'm changing Cent's parents to be luperci as well. Now she's an Ortus who due to her upbringing acts a bit "odd" (perhaps her mother was a non-luperci?).

It does make sense that there could be good wealth left over in the years following the fall of mankind since at the time the Yugoslavian civil wars and Bosnian genocides had not yet happened and the general state of Montenegro was pretty good - basically, a hot tourist destination with seaside vacationing.

Hehe, yup yup. MNE was never a rich country, but the leftovers of the civilisation pre-Yugoslavian fallout would make for easy pickings for Luperci. I should also specify that much of what Cent and Dinar left the country with was Luperci-made goods, such as furs, wool, crude jewellery and embroidered clothes, etc., mixed with human-made goods such as rolls of preserved fabric, jewellery, decorative items, household items dogs don't know the use of but look nice (they pawned off a broken clothes iron early into their travels) etc.

How did they transport their stolen riches if Dinar couldn't do much without hands? :o A young woman and a feral dog probably won't be able to make away with a lot of stuff unless they had a horse or something to transport goods.

They were helped in their escape by several luperci relatives. They escaped in the dead of night, via a ship which was previously loaded with several chests worth of mixed goods - let's say it was five chests, and during their travels the number shrunk to one half-full chest they brought with them to 'Souls, along with items they traded for along the way

Also a quick note! Portland would have been the first stop before ever heading to Freetown :> People in Portland would have let them know that there was no town up there and that the only real way to get up to Nova Scotia in winter/early spring would be to walk it, especially with no port available

Hrm, I still want them to enter 'Souls via Freetown, as travel by foot from Portland to the realms wouldn't be possible in such freezing, stormy weather. Can I stretch believeability a bit and say that the ship skipped Portland due to poor navigation?

[Gen]

Alright, then they'll be Šarplaninac mixes, but they'll still stay looking the same as I can with confidence say that many mixed strays from the mountain regions of the country look the same. Shar Mountain Dogs are a breed perfectly fit for for the more sub-alpine climate of the country and so their strongest features are easy to find in mutts.

That's perfectly fine that they're mixed dogs :> They can still look like the purebred variants but they just can't be purebred. There are probably lots and lots of large dog breeds in Montenegro,  not including wolves outside of city centers, so it's not impossible to think that there was plenty of interbreeding among the strays and former pets.

This wasn't asked, but she is a Verto because I wanted her to be an inexperienced shifter and also be a tad more "feral" in behaviour, not as humanised as European dogs usually are. I can easily change this to a Luperci Ortus and excuse her more doglike behaviours as a product of her upbringing around non-luperci dogs, who were also a part of the clan as "pets" and guard dogs (Not slaves! Just infantilized family members).

Whether or not they're more on the feral behavior side of things can be somewhat independent of their being Luperci or not. There are characters that are Lupceri but come from much more simple backgrounds and are less humanized in comparison to others.

They were helped in their escape by several luperci relatives. They escaped in the dead of night, via a ship which was previously loaded with several chests worth of mixed goods - let's say it was five chests, and during their travels the number shrunk to one half-full chest they brought with them to 'Souls, along with items they traded for along the way.

It might still be a lot for them to carry and protect since it's just the two of them admittedly, but I figure most of that would have been gone by the time they even secured passage from the European coast to the Caribbean.

Hrm, I still want them to enter 'Souls via Freetown, as travel by foot from Portland to the realms wouldn't be possible in such freezing, stormy weather. Can I stretch believeability a bit and say that the ship skipped Portland due to poor navigation?

I would saaaay probably not.

Freetown has been pretty abandoned for several years so no one would have encouraged them to go north past Portland. You might want to take a gander at our travel guide because it's got a really great itinerary of a canine traveling to North American c: It does say Freetown is a destination, but it's really not anymore - it's generally abandoned and no longer a functioning port. Travel in winter is also pretty dangerous and I don't know what ship is going to go that far in peak bad weather. Traveling overland would at least be slightly less risky and with their heavier breeding, the weather might be more reasonably tolerated. Overland travel from Portland would be longer than it would be in milder weather, but it would be less dangerous than trying to take a boat into the stormy coasts.

[Bees]

Alright thank you so much for your imput, I'll have the two of then arrive in 'Souls from Portland - and with that I think I have a proper character.