![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Vorkosigan - wolves notes
I had to write something for the AO3 series page, figured I might as well post it here too.
Contains worldbuilding and a list of people and wolves and scent names.
Inspired by A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, where Norse-inspired men bond with sentient, telepathic wolves to fight trolls and wyverns coming from the north. (The wolves are born with a gender ratio, males being more abundant; the pack is always led by a queen wolf. Subordinate females also tend to have high ranks. They're also a source of dubious consent of the "the wolves made them do it" variety, being telepathic but still possessing of powerful instincts; any Volkosigan story where that is explored will contain warnings.)
In the Volkosigan 'verse the books are assumed to have happened in the past of Earth; telepathic wolves exist on Earth, and have stayed close to some classes of society in countries with a history of such -- warriors, mostly; the army, policemen. They haven't emigrated onto many other planets, as they tolerated early jump technology pretty badly. On Barrayar, though, they flourished, entangled with the Vor and those who work closely with them.
Notes:
Wolves and their brothers and sisters, and assorted scent names:
General Count Aral Vorkosigan - mud and old blood and sweat [Commando Training Camp]
Petya (Piotr Volkosigan) (M) - sharp cold prickly wet [Snowstorm Coming Down the Dendarii Mountains]
Countess Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan - hot sand [Betan Desert]
Adrian Volkosigan (M) - fox and rose bushes and compost [Fox in the Rose Garden]
Count Vorhalas - gunpowder and adrenaline [Gunfight]
Sabina Volkhalas (F) - falling snow and earth under a heavy scent of bear [Wintering Bear and Ice]
Gregor Vorbarra - stag and does in woods [King Hart in the Heart of Wilderness]
Katenka Volkdarian Volkbarra (F) - Barrayaran native plants [Barrayar Wilderness]
Lord Colonel Vortugalov (??)
Verusha (Vera Volktugalov) (F) [??] (big, russet fur)
John Pym
Oleg (Oleg Volkosigan) (M)
Jankowski
Vaska (Vasily Volkosigan) (M)
SPOILERS
Lord Ivan Vorpatril - lilac and alcohol [Lady's Perfume]
Paddy (Padma Volkpatril the Third) (M) - steel and metal grease in damp, decaying leaves [Bear Trap in Autumn Leaves]
Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan - Ozone and burnt earth [Lightning Strike]
Elizaveta (Volkhalas Volkosigan) (F) - Hot blood pouring off wounded, lathering boar [Victorious Chasse à Courre]
END SPOILERS
Male cubs are named by their new brother (usually after family elders), females are named by the partner of the bitch who whelped them. So they don't get mixed up with the human they bear the name of, or a human child also named after that person, they are very often referred to by a diminutive instead in discussion.
Cordelia's Adrian is always called Adrian because he isn't named after anyone in particular, and because Cordelia is just like that.
Wolves that bond with armsmen take on the Volk-name of the family the Armsman is serving. Wolves that bond with proles still retain the right to affix a "Volk-" to the start of their partner's name, as they are considered inherently noble, but proles only bother with their wolf's last name on paperwork or if they've got a chip on their shoulder about the whole thing. Female wolves who bond outside of their birth pack use both names, "to keep track of the lineage" (it mimics the patriarchal practice used for the human women, though really with the gender ratio being that way it's marginally more useful to stay aware of where a female comes from; usually when a breeding is coming everyone present is perfectly aware of their wolf's lineage and how advisable a crossbreeding would be.)
The Volkosigan pack is eight wolves strong to start with, all male.
Contains worldbuilding and a list of people and wolves and scent names.
Inspired by A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, where Norse-inspired men bond with sentient, telepathic wolves to fight trolls and wyverns coming from the north. (The wolves are born with a gender ratio, males being more abundant; the pack is always led by a queen wolf. Subordinate females also tend to have high ranks. They're also a source of dubious consent of the "the wolves made them do it" variety, being telepathic but still possessing of powerful instincts; any Volkosigan story where that is explored will contain warnings.)
In the Volkosigan 'verse the books are assumed to have happened in the past of Earth; telepathic wolves exist on Earth, and have stayed close to some classes of society in countries with a history of such -- warriors, mostly; the army, policemen. They haven't emigrated onto many other planets, as they tolerated early jump technology pretty badly. On Barrayar, though, they flourished, entangled with the Vor and those who work closely with them.
Notes:
Wolves and their brothers and sisters, and assorted scent names:
General Count Aral Vorkosigan - mud and old blood and sweat [Commando Training Camp]
Petya (Piotr Volkosigan) (M) - sharp cold prickly wet [Snowstorm Coming Down the Dendarii Mountains]
Countess Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan - hot sand [Betan Desert]
Adrian Volkosigan (M) - fox and rose bushes and compost [Fox in the Rose Garden]
Count Vorhalas - gunpowder and adrenaline [Gunfight]
Sabina Volkhalas (F) - falling snow and earth under a heavy scent of bear [Wintering Bear and Ice]
Gregor Vorbarra - stag and does in woods [King Hart in the Heart of Wilderness]
Katenka Volkdarian Volkbarra (F) - Barrayaran native plants [Barrayar Wilderness]
Lord Colonel Vortugalov (??)
Verusha (Vera Volktugalov) (F) [??] (big, russet fur)
John Pym
Oleg (Oleg Volkosigan) (M)
Jankowski
Vaska (Vasily Volkosigan) (M)
SPOILERS
Lord Ivan Vorpatril - lilac and alcohol [Lady's Perfume]
Paddy (Padma Volkpatril the Third) (M) - steel and metal grease in damp, decaying leaves [Bear Trap in Autumn Leaves]
Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan - Ozone and burnt earth [Lightning Strike]
Elizaveta (Volkhalas Volkosigan) (F) - Hot blood pouring off wounded, lathering boar [Victorious Chasse à Courre]
END SPOILERS
Male cubs are named by their new brother (usually after family elders), females are named by the partner of the bitch who whelped them. So they don't get mixed up with the human they bear the name of, or a human child also named after that person, they are very often referred to by a diminutive instead in discussion.
Cordelia's Adrian is always called Adrian because he isn't named after anyone in particular, and because Cordelia is just like that.
Wolves that bond with armsmen take on the Volk-name of the family the Armsman is serving. Wolves that bond with proles still retain the right to affix a "Volk-" to the start of their partner's name, as they are considered inherently noble, but proles only bother with their wolf's last name on paperwork or if they've got a chip on their shoulder about the whole thing. Female wolves who bond outside of their birth pack use both names, "to keep track of the lineage" (it mimics the patriarchal practice used for the human women, though really with the gender ratio being that way it's marginally more useful to stay aware of where a female comes from; usually when a breeding is coming everyone present is perfectly aware of their wolf's lineage and how advisable a crossbreeding would be.)
The Volkosigan pack is eight wolves strong to start with, all male.