INSPIRATIONS
Where does this rangers’s wolf come from ? From a gaming point of view : it doesn’t matter. But I’m a roleplay nerd so I had to make up a story that would make it tangible.
My first idea was to imagine a real wolf. But I came up with this idea strongly inspired by Drizzt Do’Urden and his panther Guenhwyvar. “The black panther resided on the Astral Plane. She was summoned to the Prime Material Plane by the use of an onyx “ (https://othya.fandom.com/wiki/Guenhwyvar).
Apart from the nice reference to one of my favorite fantasy character, it explained a lot :
- Why the animal is summoned
- Why it disappears after a while
- While you can wander in the streets of Denerim without any weird gaze and having a wolf anytime you need at your side.
- Why you can’t f*****g summon the animal while you’re in the fade.
- Why it would be resistant to the darkspawn taint.
As opposed to the drow, I turned the (black) onyx into (white) moonstone.
I got the idea to insert this stone in the “family necklace” that becomes really useful here, turns into an essential accessory for my ranger and gives more value to the family heritage that is passed on to her. It also gives the impression that her special relationship to animals would perhaps come from her family .
As Cole is a spirit incarnated in the flesh, Halani is a sort of spirit that comes to the real world when summoned.
I also had to invent a story to explain the name. All the animals of my rangers have elvish names: but the panel is not very wide. Initially, I would have liked to call him Greywolf, referring to a Baldur’s Gate character (https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Greywolf). I also thought of White-Fang because I love the famous book written by Jack London. Unluckily, the existing dalish vocabulary does not allow to translate these names.
I would love to imagine that ultimately, the stone would enable an experienced ranger to summon every animal curved in the beads : a stealthy rabbit, a flying hawk, a halla as a steed, a strong bear, a venomous spider. It’s not really lore-friendly but maybe I will anyway. ^^… Cause this is so cool !
