As I was trying to figure out a back-story for Freddie's girl-thing Hadley, I came up with an interesting idea.

I knew I wanted to have her be a mysterious sort, showing up only every once in a while. I needed to come up with a reason for her to be so secretive and hard to find -- so I made her into a werewolf.

But, to make things more interesting, I had a thought -- what if she was in a werewolf cult? I've studied up quite a bit on the subject and in addition to perusing the wiki, I've come up with a few ideas. Feel free to elaborate on them!

CULT:
1. a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociology . a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

"Alliance of the Mandara" is the name I've come up with for the group. (Mandara means mystical celestial flower -- I figure they'd be into the positive connotation of flowers and such.)

Since obviously the Ministry would frown upon such a group, I figure they'd live unregistered in a secret commune together. Turning their kids into werewolves at a certain age, studying werewolf history, eating lots of raw meat even outside the full moon, all sorts of fun cult-y things. I'm working on coming up with a set of guidelines for the quasi-religion.

I was particularly interested in the introduction of direwolves from a few years ago. Seeing as they're described as more powerful and dangerous, the condition would appeal to the Mandarans - but since they're so off the grid, they'd definitely have trouble accessing it (and the news of it would probably be delayed anyway).

Hadley (Freddie's girl) is a bit of a free spirit so she travels to the Wizarding world quite a bit, frequenting the Artful Dodger. Of course it is difficult for her to get away from the Mandaran, so this will spike Freddie's curiosity. Where does this girl go? -- Eventually she will tell him and explain about the danger of the Mandarans getting a hold of the Direwolf potion. She realizes she's in a cult but doesn't know how to escape, especially considering most of the people she knows (family, friends) would also be members. Together, her and Freddie can try and stop/change the Alliance's plans.

If nobody wants to adopt Hadley, I"m perfectly alright with creating her and playing her myself. It would be nice, though, if someone else did -- that way Freddie could interact with her.

If you're interested in adopting her, my adoption page is Here. Scroll to the bottom to find Hadley.

There would definitely be] a need for more  members of the cult, or at least people who know about it. Perhaps the Ministry will catch wind of their existence and begin to hunt for them. Still not fully developed! I'm open to suggestions.

Thoughts?!

Ohhhhh my god. Can I offer my wolves - Rick and Shona - knowing about them?!

Rick - my sourgrumpwolf, the criminal of the two - has had some dealings with wolf packs back in the States---although those were more mob-styled, money first but 'purism' second. One of my NPCs, Angel-- it doesn't say where she came from, but a werewolf commune would certainly explain a lot. It wouldn't be a very strong connection, maybe, but Rick could know about the Mandara then? Maybe even saw or met a few of them himself?

And Shona---she's definitely not as delinquent as her brother, but she's been around enough to have heard of them, too. Or at least something about them?

As for the Direwolf potion---I wasn't around for that and haven't done my reading, either, so I can't say with any surety as to whether the recipe was leaked (as far as I know, the number of its co-creators is pretty small? If not one?), but perhaps the Mandara came up with their own?

Or... possibly an entirely different potion? :>


(I have so many thoughts about this hahahaaaaaa)

That sounds perfect! When I looked at your page I thought Angel would be a perfect candidate for the Mandara. Perhaps her and Hadley could even be pals! -- Do you think Angel would be into taking down the Madara?

It's an interesting idea to have them come up with their own version of the direwolf potion; perhaps they come up with something even stronger. According to the wiki, they used the saliva from a werewolf -- maybe the Madara can use something stronger, like blood, to make themselves even more ferocious.

Im sure as a "secret society" there's some gossip/rumors about them, similar to the Illuminati or whatever. I think they'd be pretty far off the grid but definitely not impossible to run into.

Yes and yes! Angel's pretty inscrutable about her feelings towards the commune and its practices, but I think deep down she knows there isn't something right with the way they were raised. And if Hadley wants out, Angel could be/have been persuaded into taking the commune down.

Perhaps the potion could (further?) blur the lines between human and wolf outside of the full moon. I know that at AO, Lexus Dale's appearance has altered beyond her control at some point, and in the film Fenrir Greyback was portrayed as rather viciously wolfish in appearance, likely due to the way he embraced the curse. (Personal preference or simply literary metaphor/allegory for spiritual corruption?---the latter more literally portrayed in Voldemort+horcruxes. You decide.)

ANYWAY. Another idea could be an attempt at making the wolf shift possible outside of the full moon---but the affected would/might still act moon-crazy, so it could be the same as letting the beast out of its normal timeframe cage. Perhaps the affected has to be knocked out to be turned human again. Perhaps there are unpredictable results when mixed with Wolfsbane.

Perhaps this new ability might be eventually controlled, but given the mindsets of likely volunteers and 'volunteers' (re: children), one could hardly tell the difference.

(Of course, either result could still be rightfully called a Direwolf. :>  "Mandara Direwolf", perhaps?)

I was thinking Fenrir Greyback would have something to do with them -- they're all about werewolves as the superior race, a sentiment Greyback definitely supports. I bet these people would be pretty wild like you say since they embrace the lifestyle- definitely would adapt some wolf-like qualities even without a full moon.

A mandara direwolf would definitely be scarier than a regular one-- after all, they'd want to be more dangerous and frightening, rather than involuntarily dosed like those who participated in the direwolf plot.

Jess created a character (Primrose) who'll be working with Werewolf Legislature, so she'll definitely be involved with this plot as well!

Jess created a character (Primrose) who'll be working with Werewolf Legislature, so she'll definitely be involved with this plot as well!

Just came through review

I am 100% in. 

Primrose would be glad to cause quite a ruckus if something like this is coming to light.  She is a harsh critic of loosening sanctions on werewolves and would use this as a platform for increased measures and security against the formation of such terroristic groups ever again. 

I have it written into her history that Primrose was once going to be part of the WCU, but was bitten early in her career by a non-transformed werewolf who appeared to be manic/insane - she didn't clearly hear what they were talking about, but it very well could have been Mandara.  If the connection is made, perhaps early attempts at whatever they're doing produced some heinous results (like the manic that was recovered, bit Prim and jailed).  Either way, it's certainly colored her view of werewolves and the laws that keep everyone else safe (in her opinion). 

She is quite passionate and says whatever she feels, so she could provide a nice antagonistic edge to this, since obviously not everyone else is going to jump to the "all werewolves are going to do this!" argument - but Primrose would, after, of course, getting to the heart of things with the others involved.  I imagine potential for betrayal, the use of secrets/inside information, and a lot of not so happy feelings. 

Jess! The more the merrier!


So which potion are we going with? Or... are we going with both? Blurring forms - "beta" forms? - being a sign that the potion is taking, full moon forms being the aim. (I vote both :> :>)

ORRR something entirely different? ovo

I'm definitely down for both!

I'm working on Hadley now. Except i'm changing her name to Ruby, because i've become hyperfocused on the importance of names. It mostly happened when i discovered that "Quinn" (her last name) means "counsel," which I think could be an interesting addition to the whole thing. Maybe the 'older' families' names have significance, sort of like Game of Thrones.
 Anyway, I made her mom's last name Lyall which means 'shield wolf,' so I'm carrying along with that theme. Ruby means nothing significant really (red jewel) but Jess pointed out that Hadley Quinn sounds quite a lot like Harley Quinn and this isnt Batman, this is Harry Potter!

So maybe besides Freddie, Ruby will make a few other friends in the Wizarding World and become more closely connected to it. So Sly -- maybe she can meet Shona/Angel/etc one night at the Artful Dodger? -- Maybe she can meet the more 'criminal' sorts you mentioned first because she'd probably be more comfortable around them.

Then maybe Shona/one of the more 'good' werewolves can show her the light -- that this Mandara stuff is a cult and she needs to expose the danger they're creating with the Mandara wolves. Maybe one of the friends she makes who knows about Ruby's personal life leaks the info to Primrose and she can start investigating.

Jess, do you think Primrose would cooperate with Ruby if she wanted to expose them, even though she's a werewolf?

Primrose would definitely cooperate with someone who is trying to expose another danger.   She might (read: will be) rude to her and most likely condescending - but an ally is an ally.

I have no idea how she'd fit into this but I'd be down for Lex getting involved. She's been permanently partially transformed for over a year now due to a botched wolfsbane potion that contained tainted ingredients (part of the Ideas of March plot) If the Mandaran are looking to make a potion they might get wing of her and want her to try and recreate what went wrong for her or even use her blood or saliva or what have you as an ingredient. Lex is a master potioneer who's currently freelancing for some dangerous criminal types right now. If the Mandarin are of the type, since they're living in some backwater secret commune they might have to heavily persuade her to come out to them (read: possible abduction?)

Whatever you'd like, however she'd fit in, she's not currently doing anything so she's completely open for plotting. 

Lex can definitely be involved! The idea of an abduction is a very good possibility.
maybe Ruby can try to protect her, too.

i have an outline together! Just have to flesh out the bio for Rubyand we can get started.

For the 1st thread i thought ruby could come to the Artful Dodger one night and  grab some attention as i imagine someone living off the grid would. i wrote that she probably breaks into and robs houses,mostly of clothes/food/books and looks at pictures. so she's not totally clueless, but definitely would stick out.

Interesting!

I have a couple of quick questions, if you'd oblige me!

Is the cult very old?  It seems so odd and, by civilized contentions, extremely objectionable so that they would have to lay very low? The stuff of rumor and gossip?  Maybe what's commonly known is so quiet or strange that almost no one has heard of it, or those that do disbelieve it?

Am I getting the right idea?  Just want to lay some groundwork for the perspective that Zephyr would have on it, should it ever come to light. 

Yes -- that's pretty much exactly what I had in mind. I'm thinking there's lots of spells cast to keep their location protected, plus it's probably in the middle of nowhere anyway. Since they have no interest in being involved with wizarding society, it's unlikely that anyone would have really been able to locate them. They're not that old, either- probably around 5ish generations?

Hey guys!
So Ruby is all ready to post with =) I'm still getting over The Worst Sinus Infection Of All Time, but i'm mostly better.

I think one of her first threads should be her at the Dodger, getting noticed/talking to people. It'd be pretty easy to figure out she isn't quite like everyone else. She's been to the Wizarding world a few times but hasn't interacted much with other people. Yay social skills! That will probably be the big tip that there's something fishy going on. She'd definitely be secretive about her background.