Migration in Mourning
The stories of the recent haunting of the currently abandoned 'Elokh Settlement by the Snow Pup Migration straddles the line between myth and urban legend, being new in origin but featuring an entity which has been known for millennia. Different folklorists categorize the story in different ways based on their own specific reasoning.
Summary
The first account comes from a legend tripping adolescent who had plucked up the courage to visit the site based on older stories of Migration's favor of the Low Pass clan 'Elokh. Reportedly she wanted to know how things fared for the Snow Pup. She found the settlement "eerily quiet" and amidst the open area enclosed by the old clan residential, she found a pup sitting in the snow, staring sorrowfully at her. She approached the pup, and although she didn't physically see them move, they seemed to get farther away from her as she advanced. When a breeze picked up the loose snow, obscuring the pup from view, they seemed to vanish.
Similar accounts began to circulate shortly thereafter, featuring a morose-looking pup later confirmed to be Migration themselves (allegedly by someone who was allowed to get close enough). Occasionally vocalizations are heard, typically of a questioning nature, but reports have not mentioned them for decades. These tales have spurred on other legend tripping adolescents from the Low Pass region, many of whom report coming away from the experience wiser and/or more depressed than before embarking on their journey. Sightings of Migration have been reported in a large majority of cases and it is speculated that when not protecting journeying Stenza, they are quietly awaiting the rebuilding of 'Elokh Settlement.
Historical Basis
Although the first account is passed in oral history as having occurred on the exact anniversary of the date the Clan Killings took most of 'Elokh droga, the true date of the first sighting has never been recorded and is now lost to time.
There are two schools of thought on how the legend first took shape. The first is that due to the traumatic events of the Clan Killings, many young people began to interact differently with local legends about the Snow Pup in question. It has been known for generations in the Low Pass that Migration favors one or more clans in that area, most commonly 'Elokh due to the clan's history of ensuring good relations for migration and propagation of the hospitality code. Therefore, folklorists speculate, many of the local young people wondered what would become of the Snow Pups without their favored clans, and answered that question through stories. (This is helped by the fact that the earliest account involves someone wondering precisely that.)
The second school of thought is that Migration, as an independent actor, changed their behavior in response to mortal Stenza actions, and local adolescents made note of this behavior and began to pass it along as oral history.
Spread
Migration's haunting of the old settlement is primarily a Low Pass legend, and some variations or interactions with it (such as legend tripping) are classified as "childlore", where adult folklorists are given minimal access. However, the reminiscences of the older folk who have interacted with the legend are available for commentary and analysis, as in the Low Pass the barrier between childlore and adult study is more permeable than in the Greater Pass.
Cultural Reception
Decades after the first accounts were told, Low Pass adolescents interact with the legend as an expression of duty toward their bloodied history. The stories of Migration's lurking about have become part of their identity as Low Pass children and later adults, although they have not spread much further beyond the Low Pass and associated migration routes.
Date of First Recording
Long Night, 2421
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