Ways of the Blood

Coming from such a relatively small and isolated peninsula, it was important for early Wolf to establish amongst themselves who owned what, and more importantly how well it could be used.

As such, contests over limited land, property, loyalty, and such quickly stratified into a system of nobility, where courtly political maneuvering and plays for the favor of the jarl took precedence over robbing, pillaging, and sacking villages for resources, and honor duels and challenges of strength and skill won out over wholesale bloody conflict.

The idea of making something useful out of what one had became highly prized in Wolf society, and testing what you made to ensure others could trust it (and you) was just as prized.

These concepts of making and testing fell mostly, although not completely, along lines of gender. Generally, women make, and men test. The actual implementation of this core concept varies wildly from profession to profession and even artist to artist, so actual gender limitations to most walks of life are negligible to nonexistent.

What this does lead to is a common practice where children are raised for their first six years by their mother and their mother’s family, and for their second six years by their father and their father’s family. After their twelfth year, a child is allowed to choose which household to remain in, and for how long, until they become an adult.

Practically speaking for most Wolf clan farmers and peasantry, this means very little: multi-generational households and the lack of extravagant family wealth means that most children are still raised under the same roof from birth to adulthood. For noble families, however, this means both families are invested in ensuring the best available upbringing and the best possible heir to their holdings.