▫The Ancient Whelkon Information Thread▪

[Wind Song]

The Ancient Whelkon


''Protectors of nature and lovers of life''


Species Information Thread

Welcome
This is the full species information thread of the Ancient Whelkon. Every part of the whelkon both physically and emotionally is explained here, their life and biology inside out showing the true nature of The Ancient Whelkon.
I hope everything is clear and understandable, and that after you read this the whelkon will seem a little closer and a little more real to you too.

|| The Ancient Whelkon Adoptables ||



Contents

▫Basic Information ▫
(Overall summary and Name origin)
▫Biology ▫
(Lifestyle, Origin, Habitat, Diet, Breeding, The Senses, vocalization)
▫Physical ▫
(Anatomy, Size, height and weight, Males vs. Females, Color Tendencies, Antlers, Markings)
▫Psychological ▫
(Overall nature, personality, Animal and instinct, Relationships, Judgement and Opinion)
▫Other ▫
(Antler decorations, Speech, Protecting, guarding and ‘powers’, Rarities)
▫The End ▫
(Final words)

[Wind Song]

Basic Information
This is the basic information about the whelkon as a species itself and the overview of the idea behind them and their name.



The Ancient Whelkon
Whelkon are an ancient species.
At a first look they seem like a strange type of wolf, but it’s believed that both wolf and elk have descended from this ancient creature. It’s a shocking fact because of the difference in the two animals, two opposites of the hunter and the hunted.
They’re truly a unique species, the balance between predator and prey is somehow beautiful yet scary. When seen by a human they take their breath away.
All creatures have a great unsaid respect towards the Whelkon, who seem to carry a sacred aura.
Some humans call them ‘The dragons of the forest’, because of their long, horn-like antlers and the ancient history of a thousand years.
‘Doctors of the world’ they roam our lands, un-feared but respected, hunted like any other. Nature doesn’t bow down to the whelkon, it’s as cruel and fair as it should be, but it rather silently follows every step they take, observing their sad, mysterious lives that they would give up for nature itself.



▪ ▫Name▪ ▫
The Ancient Whelkon (pronounced Well-kon) name comes from the combination of the words wolf, elk and dragon.
Three creatures that all resemble the whelkon in their own way.
Whelkon is both plural and singular, so when talking about a few it’s still just ‘whelkon’.
When called by their full name ‘The Ancient Whelkon’ all letters start with a capital, this is a show of respect towards the mystical and ancient creatures.

[Wind Song]

Biology
This is the the information of the whole lifestyle of the whelkon. The way they live, where they live, their origin and even their habits are explained here in great detail.



Lifestyle
The whelkon live a simple life trying to get by each day peacefully and without danger.
Like all animals their priority is to eat, sleep and reproduce, though they have a deeper relationship and meaning when it comes to life.
Their ability to think in depth sets them apart from all those other animals, they have the ability to wish to achieve something and to hope to have something meaningful done before the day ends.
This influences their lives greatly and they face a much greater range of situations than other, common creatures.


Origin
Whelkon are quite common animals found in most forests as they are suited for many types of weather and their range of diet helps them to stay full and healthy throughout most of their lives.
Europe, Asia, some of Greenland and most of Northern America is where they most commonly habituate.
Whelkon do not migrate to the extent that deer do, they like to stay in the same place for most of their lives, only moving to sub-areas of their home in search of food, shelter and for hiding purposes.
The location where whelkon were first seen is unknown because by the time they were discovered, they had already settled in most places they live now.
Though it’s believed they most likely started their lives in the European forests as the greatest numbers seemed to habituate there.
After the ‘Human Plague’ their numbers decreased tremendously, but as their population has started to grow again, they once more populate a large area of our world, more hidden than ever they try to simply survive.
These are the areas known to populate whelkon:


(Edited image, original from here)



Habitat
Whelkon range in forest and forest-edge habitat,
Their surroundings are very similar to those of wolves or elk.

Unsurprisingly, their thick fur makes them adaptable to harsh and very cold winters. It's common to find these creatures in countries with heavy snowfall for 5 or 6 months. The weather does not bother them but makes it much harder to find food.

Whelkon also enjoy staying in large meadows, cluttered together and being able to see their whole herd in one place makes them feel safer. They'll remain in the woods if they feel in danger though.

Images of their most common habitats:






(All images from x



Diet
Whelkon are omnivores, meaning they eat both meat and grasses.
Their most common food that’s also the easiest to find include grasses, plants, leaves, berries and bark.
When it comes to meat, they will never hunt it. They rather eat leftovers from other hunts, clearing the forest of rotting diseases that start growing in carcasses (and receiving the nickname ‘doctors of the world.) As they do not need much of it they easily survive on their herbivore diet.



Breeding
Breeding is an important part of the lives of whelkon.
As their numbers have decreased one of their main priorities are to extend their population.

The Breeding Season is usually during late Autumn and most of Spring.

Though the whole species can be called ‘Whelkon’ as a whole, whelkon females have a sub-name ‘Whelkan’.
The whelkan will only ever have a single offspring at a time.
Though not impossible, twins are extremely unlikely and are known to only have occurred on two or three occasions.
The offspring is called a Welk.
The Whelkan will only have up to about 3 Welk in her lifetime.

Unlike all cervids (the deer family) who are uniparental (meaning the offspring is taken care of by the mother only) whelkon seem to have a strange system.
After the age of 1 after being taken care of by the Whelkan mother,
The Welk stays with the father for the most of his life.
Families always stay together except that the offspring and father are much closer after that 1 year of the Welk's life, as he teaches his young about the forest, their past and life.
But the Welk always has a strong connection with its mother and in life threatening situations turns only to her.

Most Welk are born with more faded markings, no swirls and no stripe under the eye.
All this develops as it grows.
The markings stop developing at the age of 6-9 years.

After the age of 8, the Welk is known as a Whelkon.



The Senses
Being prey, the whelkon's senses of hearing, sight, and smell are amazingly keen. Their large ears act as radar and are always tuned in for any out of the ordinary sound. Its auditory perception is sharper than that of most other animals, being able to hear up to a frequency of 26 kHz, which is sufficient to register the fall of leaves in the autumn period.
Whelkon also listen to woodland creatures-the chatter of a squirrel, the alarm call of a crow, or the scream of a blue jay are all sounds that reveal the hunter's presence.
In addition to their radar like hearing, welkon can spot the slightest movement.
Sight is psychologically their most important sense so they most often fear what they see, dangerous sounds or smells don't alarm them as much.

The whelkon’s sense of smell is relatively weakly developed when compared to other animals such as hunting hounds or even wolves themselves, being able to detect carrion upwind no farther than 1–2 km. Because of this, they weren’t born to hunt and be able to capture hidden hares or birds, though it can easily follow fresh tracks.
Their night vision exceeds that of most other Canines.



Vocalizations
Whelkon are known to create sounds very close to those of wolves. Howling, barking, whining and grunting are all commonly heard by the human ear.
The higher the pitch the more distressed or in panic the whelkon is.
When in great pain or sorrow they whine for long periods, or sometimes release a low long grunt or growl, which would be the same as a scream of distress or sadness to humans.

[Wind Song]

Physical Information
All of the physical and anatomical information of the whelkon is explained here.
Their body build, size and color tendencies in detail.



Overall Anatomy
The Whelkon are compact animals suited for most weather and terrain, and the ability to run quickly from predators. They have the main body and head of a wolf and the legs and back of an elk.
Though there are some distinct features: longer deer-like ears, an extremely long and full tail, and the un-deniable long antlers. Their heads are also not the typical wolf shape, they are a bit bulkier with a larger jaw and much bigger, pointier eyes, which makes them seem a bit more herbivore.
The legs are a lot more muscular than common elk to support the stocky body and heavy antlers.
The hooves are also larger and almost horse-like in shape, with the groove in the middle that is suited for their environment and colder conditions that the whelkon have to face.
An overall distinct anatomy with an interesting combination of a herbivore’s and carnivore’s confirmation.



Size, Height and Weight
In size, antlers and tail included, the whelkon are similar to most elk, but slightly larger because of the length of their tails and antlers.
Here is an average whelkon in proportion to an average human.
(Human = 1.80 cm or 5 feet 10.86 inches)



When referring to the height of whelkon they are measured in ‘hands’ (h.h) like most hooved animals and most commonly equines.
One hand is equal to about 10 centimetres, so for example 16 h.h is equal to 160 cm or 1 metre and 60 centimetres.
On average whelkon are about 17 hands in height, this does not include the neck and head as the height of this is never fixed due to it moving or being risen up and down. They are measured at the exact point where the back reaches the neck.
Females will always be a bit smaller and so usually measure about 15 h.h, while males can be from 17 h.h to almost 18 h.h which is quite a big difference.

Whelkon are about 2 metres in length not including the tail. The tail itself is about 1.5-2 metres long.
The antlers are in same proportion to the back, although the tips can sometimes stretch further, making them also about 2 metres or over in length.

Whelkon are very athletic and easy moving animals who are able to spring up in the air surprisingly high considering their weight. The tail, main body and antlers make up most of their weight although the muscular shoulders and legs add to it, along with the strong head and neck.
On average Whelkon weigh about 600-630 pounds or 272-285 kilograms.
The females are lighter due to their size and weigh about 550-580 pounds or 249-263 kilograms.
The antlers alone weight about 90 pounds or 40 kg.



Males versus Females
There’s very little difference between male and female whelkon apart from the size.
The females are usually 3-4 hands shorter and lighter in proportion.
The colors also do not vary between the two, although reds and white seem to occur a little more often in females, while blues and greens are usually more common in males.



Color Tendencies
The variety in color that occur in the whelkon is almost limitless though 80% of their population are natural. They are all still ‘naturally colored’ but in a different sense compared to other animals.
Colors like blue, green or purple are not commonly seen on whelkon however they do exist and seem to be any color found in nature (forests, sky etc) mimicking their surroundings. Looking at the way a whelkon is colored it’s easy to guess the kind of habitat it lives in.
Most of their coat colors provide camouflage (browns, tans and so on) but some come from shades of flowers, butterflies, birds, trees, rivers etc.
You will never see a neon or extremely bright colored whelkon, their fur colors are usually dull versions of the basic primary colors.
The antlers and hooves are most commonly a darker shade of their coat color, but can also be silver, gold or scarlet. The hooves are usually the same color as the antlers though this is not a strict rule.
White is a very common color and it appears frequently on the whelkon coat, but it’s not usually seen as an overall base. Because of the thick fur suited for winters, the tips of their tail, legs and chests are usually white,
The most common ‘body’ colors are; browns and creams, after that are greys, tans, yellows and reds. Bright and unusual colors like green or purple are rarely seen but not non-existent.
Surprisingly black and white are quite rarely seen, the reasons are unknown.
Overall the whelkon are unusually colored creatures with a strong sense of nature that shows and shines through their colors.

Here are some examples of the frequency of coat colors in order~

Common:


Uncommon:


Rare:


Very Rare:


Does not exist:




Antlers
The antlers of whelkon play a major role in their lives, but the true use and significance of them is still barely known to the outside world.
The physical appearance of the antlers is unlike any other animal’s, in texture and in size.
The antlers are big, heavy and almost hornlike, they stretch as far as the whelkon’s back, sometimes even further. Unlike the Cervidae family their antlers grow completely horizontally, not vertically.
Another difference is that there’s only ever one or rarely seen two tines sprouting from the main beam making them resemble the horns of antelope or as people believe, the horns of dragons.
The dragon horn myth is somehow reasonable because the texture and surface does not resemble the antlers of elk in any way. There is no fur or hair on the surface, but it’s rather smooth and cold to the touch, almost metallic.



Markings and Special features
The markings that appear on the whelkon might seem to be quite complicated and overlapped, but the shape of them is actually quite simple at a closer look. The markings will always be stripes in shape and sometimes resemble a tiger or brindle pattern, even dots or will create patterns with thin brindle lines.
They’re made up of many strokes, some thinner, some thicker, and they can vary in sizes greatly.
The markings on the hindquarters and tail are noticed to be larger or more defined, sometimes with a raccoon-like pattern, especially on the tail.
The markings themselves can be almost any color and flow in any way, but are usually just a variety of shades of the main coat color. However you will never see markings based off 'objects' on a whelkon, for example hearts, stars etc, it is unnatural and does not exist.
One or two defining stripes of a bright color might be seen in the older whelkon.
The less stripes the older the whelkon, while the coat itself may be made up of many layers of color and shades.

The whelkon have two very special features when it comes to markings.
The first is the unmissable stripe under their eyes that will usually consist of two thinner stripes, one always a shade lighter in color. The strange fact is that the age of whelkon can be guessed by looking at this stripe. Sometimes a thousand ancient generations can be tracked down by this simple stripe under the eyes because the darker the stripe the more ancient the whelkon. The marking can sometimes seem like it’s not there in younger whelkon because their markings develop slowly, but will later be clearly seen and show the true worth of that whelkon.
The second feature that does not occur in all whelkon, if any, is the strange formation in their fur that creates a defined swirl shaped marking. With the same significance and meaning as the stripe, the swirl is a sign of great struggle and most survivors of the human plague will carry them. While this marking can still be passed down to the young It will always show an ancient and sad history. This marking is never any one color, but will usually be brighter and more defined. It is usually seen on the tail, stomach, chest or shoulder.

[Wind Song]

Psychological
Here is the information of the psychological, emotional and personal side of the whelkon. Everything from the way they think to their nature and relationships with everything that surrounds them is explained.



Overall Nature
The Ancient Whelkon are peaceful creatures. They seem to live in their own little world of thoughts, apart from the rest, apart from all the creatures that surround them every day and apart from the humans that their nature doesn’t let them hate or judge.
Their strongest qualities are to protect, to help and to forgive. Their nature is pure and innocent, it seems like the smallest hint of evil or greed and they’ll flee in an instant, almost untouchable, ghost like creatures. Their minds are bizarre and shocking to this day. But still, they’re simple animals with instincts, needs and wants. They merely try to survive each day, guarding nature, with their heads held high. Heads full of emotions that humans seem to forget about. Their loving, loyal nature makes them easy targets and though not easily broken on the outside, these calm creatures take everything to heart, carrying sadness and grief with them for days, months, years and sometimes forever.
Unlike a deer that loses her young but has to move on by instinct, a whelkon will slowly get eaten away by grief yet still forgive those who caused it.
This human emotion makes them closer to us humans than any other animal, but the missing feelings of greed or hate in their nature, separates us further apart than ever.



Personality
Of course, every whelkon has their own personality with stronger emotions and fears than others, but there are some traits that are present in the minds of all whelkon, as a species, an animal and an individual.
All whelkon are extremely loving, caring and motherly, which makes them so approachable and warm. The downside is that they are easy to take advantage of and their innocent hearts are easily fooled.
While quite emotional, whelkon are overall calm and level-headed animals. They face everything with a peaceful mind, but if they sense any danger they will panic and flee. One very obvious trait is how forgiving they are. Feelings like hate, greed and selfishness are absent in their nature. Some whelkon will find it very hard to forgive if they have been deeply scarred or lost their young as they have such deep bonds with their offspring, yet still, holding a grudge is almost physically impossible for them and the sense that everyone and everything deserves a second chance is one of their strongest beliefs.
Whelkon also have a very different side to their personality that they don’t like to show much, especially males who are taught by life to be calm and silent in order to survive. This is the playful and free side of whelkon which is surprising but beautiful about this species. They are naturally very spirited and untamed animals who love freedom, open spaces and not belong to anyone.
Females tend to be more playful and almost silly, especially when playing with the young. It seems like males play both parental figures in a welk’s life. The mothers may seem a bit careless and too caught up in themselves which really is a bad side, but they always mean well. They make up for it with a great power of acceptance that’s present in the personality of all female whelkon. They accept any orphans into their families and never leave any whelkon behind. They are the first to welcome any loners or lost whelkon into their herds and all males seem to accept their decision.
Overall, they are very loving, free yet peaceful animals with strong human emotions and personalities. We will never know fully what feelings run through their heads but we can only hope to find other creatures so fair and honest.



Animal and Instinct
Whelkon are animals.
They are not some legendary creatures from myths.
Their ancient history makes them seem untouchable to most humans but they are undoubtedly real and breathing.
They rely on their instinct like most animals, but their ability to think is what separates them from other animals and makes them seem almost human. Their instinct is what reminds them to eat or run away when chased like any other prey. Although respected creatures, whelkon flinch easily at every noise. The ‘Flight or Fight’ response is almost nonexistent in the whelkon nature; they do not fight back in any situation, but are usually able to run away. They respect nature though and if their fate is to be hunted because another creature is simply trying to survive, they will accept it. It’s instinct.



Relationships

With Partners:
Whelkon are such loving creatures and mates are very important to them. Males do not compete for the attention of a female by fighting, but rather by trying to show their affection and interest.
Most whelkon will only ever fall in love once and the feelings of the other whelkon will almost always be mutual, so it’s as if they are given a mate for life that they will stay with forever. They just have to find him or her.
Whelkon mates have a very close and loving relationship. The females are more nervous and panicky and so the males will keep them balanced, while the males tend to be colder and more sceptical of others, but the females will teach them of greater affection and care.
It’s rare for whelkon not to have an offspring sometime in their life and it usually happens a few years after they find each other.
When male whelkon become fathers they suddenly become a lot closer to their mates, following them with a warm gaze, more affectionate and caring than before, though they tend to get quite over protective and cautious, hinting their mates to run away at every threat and noise.
Whelkon partners, especially after being together for a long time, seem to develop an inseparable, but sad relationship. The males will always give up their life for their mate if it came down to it, and they will only hope that their partner will be happy and find another mate. If any one of the mates passes away the other will become silent and depressed, it will take years if not forever to get over the loss.
If they do find another mate, which is rare, it will usually be a whelkon with a similar past, though it’s still never quite the same.
They carry a sad aura for the rest of their lives, while some are able to hide it better than others; the pain never goes away, just like for humans.
Loss of a mate is one of the hardest things for whelkon to overcome, merely because of that strong relationship they have, forever.

With Offspring:
Whelkon make good parents and have very strong bonds with their offspring and even orphans that they take into their families. The closeness of the two parents with the offspring varies at different stages of the Welk’s life.
When the offspring is born the mother becomes extremely overprotective and doesn’t leave the welk’s side for a second, she tends to forget about her mate for that one year while her young is growing up. The welk is also very attached to its mother at that stage and pays little attention to its father. The males might feel alone during that time but they live through it, silently looking over their families.
When the offspring reaches one the mother slowly starts letting go and relaxing, this is when the male takes over and becomes very close to its offspring. The father then looks after the welk for the rest of his life and the mother seems to lose the panicky nature and tends to go where she pleases without worry.
But, the strong bond between the mothers formed with her young can never fade and so in threatening situations the welk will only turn to her. While the level-headed male teaches his young about life, the forest and humans, the mother is the friend and play mate of her welk. Her relationship becomes more playful and relaxed. She chases, laughs and messes around with the welk while the father continues to keep watch, always there, both parents closer to their offspring than ever, they have a bizarre relationship that will never get broken, even at death.

With Other Animals:
The relationship between whelkon and other animals around them is nothing special, they still get hunted and eaten like any other and they still go on with their own lives, not paying much attention to them. Yet, there’s a strange atmosphere when the whelkon are face to face with other creatures – simple prey themselves. There’s a silent respect when any animal looks up at The Ancient Whelkon. They’re almost a part of the forest and it’s as if there’s an unwritten rule to respect them.
Small creatures, especially birds love them. It’s not unusual to see some sparrows sitting on the antlers of some whelkon who don’t seem to mind it at all. They look at them as a figure of protection and unlike humans; all other living things seem to get along easily. The whelkon never interfere with nature, as cruel as it may be.
If a rabbit is being chased by a wolf who is simply trying not to starve, the whelkon will let it be, but they will always help and watch over the helpless who get stuck in unnecessarily cruel situations. Especially when humans are involved.

With Humans:
One of the most complicated relationships there is - the relationship between human and animal.
What makes this relationship even stranger is the whelkon’s ability to think and feel deeply hurt and disappointed by what humans do, something that humans seem to forget whelkon are capable of.
Most whelkon just tend to stay away from humans as far as they can. They don’t want to hear them, see them or even smell them. The human plague forty years ago left a deep scar on its survivors and all later generations have been taught to fear them with their whole hearts. If nature allowed them, they would probably hate them too.
Of course, not all humans are cruel and greedy, but sadly the whelkon don’t give them a chance to prove it. The younger generations seem less fearful and more curious and so if stumbled upon by a human not all will run away.
Their strong senses allow them to easily read body language and aura which helps them determine their intentions, some younger whelkon might even want to get closer to the two-legged creatures, lead by their forgiving nature maybe one day all whelkon will grow to trust humans, maybe even live in harmony with them.



Judgement and Opinion
As mentioned before, Whelkon have the ability to think, maybe not to the extent that humans can, but judgement of situations and opinions on certain things are still present.
Whelkon approach all situations with a calm mind, but when threatened or in danger they will rarely take time to judge the situation and whether it is safe or not, in most cases they will simply flee.
Opinions and controversy on things like beauty and the appearance of something is present in their nature, but not very important to the whelkon at least. They can see something and think ‘this is more beautiful than that’, but they rarely make decisions on materialistic thoughts like that.
Simply fair and intelligent creatures.

[Wind Song]

Other
Here are some other features of the whelkon explained. Most are questions I’ve been asked frequently, or just things that have caused confusion in the past. Hope it makes sense!



Antler Decorations
I’ve been asked hundreds of times what the little yellow charms hanging from the antlers of whelkon mean and if they have any significance, the answer is not really :3
It was a quick detail I added when creating the whelkon and it has stayed since. The only things they might represent are their grace, ‘royalty’ and ancient history. Though some people interpret them differently when writing stories, coming up with their own significance, which is always amazing to see.



Speech
There are three basic facts you need to know when it comes to whjelkon and human speech:
~ When writing stories and dialogues whelkon speak in the human language among themselves.
~ Whelkon cannot understand humans.
~ Humans cannot understand whelkon.

To humans, intense speech between whelkon sounds like whining, barking and grunting, while to whelkon the human speech is a low, irritating sound.
Of course, if you want to be mysterious and creative you can pretend whelkon and humans talk with each other, though the whelkon’s understanding of pitch, tone and body language is so developed, they barely need to understand the actual words said to know what was meant.



Protecting, guarding and ‘powers’
Often when talking about the whelkon it’s mentioned how they protect, guard and ‘heal’. This is not meant literally, but in a deeper, more fantasy kind of way. It simply means they keep watch, letting nature handle things on its own, but helping other creatures if they are in unnecessary danger caused by the human hand.

 

[Wind Song]

The End
Well, that’s it. Really hope everything made sense and wasn’t too boring ;B
Now you should really know the whelkon inside out and if you still have questions after this don’t hesitate to ask!
Also if there’s some other information you would like to know about just post it here and I’l try to include it in this thread, as long as it’s nothing too unreasonable that is.

Just remember to stay on topic, be nice and so on.

Also thank you so much for the continued support and interest, I can’t describe how much it means to me <3



▫ ▪ ▫References▪ ▫ ▪
Some websites used for extra research:
http://www.google.ie/imghp?hl=lt&tab=wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk
http://bozw00d.tripod.com/id64.htm

[Wind Song]

Posting Welcome!

[Temperance.]

Oh my gosh <3333
Read through everything as you were posting it :3
This is amazing Song!!! I feel so inspired to write more about them now, and it's like I have a deeper connection to them because I understand them better ^^

Thank you so much for doing this, the info is totally fantastic <33

[Wind Song]

Wow, Thank you so much <3333
That was fast o-o
Lol, it took me 4 days to write it all, now 1 day to re-write it and it takes people a half an hour to read :B
What a sad life I have v.v

Though it truly means so so much and makes it all worth it <3
Im really happy you feel that way, that's the best compliment I could get n.n

Phew!
Glad that's done with 8D