He's beautiful! Must try

▪ Username: Tarra
▪ Whelkon Name: Alberion
▪ Gender: male
▪ History or art:
I was not young when the humans first came, and I recall more than those who were too small to recall that time. I've lost more too perhaps, if such loss as the whelkon have felt can ever be quantified. I know how far we have fallen; I know how much we have lost.
I remember when the forests were young and pure, innocent of fear, true in the balance of life and death that is the nature of all things alive under the sun. I recall that time with passion, with a little joy. And not even knowing what would come after can dampen my memory of those times: the days when the whelkon ran free and full through the forests, guardians of the balance as was our wont and heritage. Free spirits as we had been through countless generations, from the very beginning of time.
Like all the whelkon, I have lost friends and family to the humans; like those who have survived as long as I, I also lost the freedom of mind and soul that had been mine before the humans came. Now every movement is considered carefully, every shadow watched with subtle caution, every second thought tuned to how my paths might be hidden and my hoof falls left undetectable. I bear my own scars as testament - twice have I fallen into hunter's snares, thrice have I been shot at, and once I stood helpless as a herd of whelkon were driven, terrified, into the human's traps. I have loved; and I have lost. Gone are the days when we wandered openly in the world; forsaken are the roads we once walked with carefree abandon, our laughter and song filling the forests with joy.
Our young no longer know such a time. They were born into the fear and turmoil of our present age, caught up in the ceaseless struggle of a dying race. The dwindling scatters of a remnant, hidden and hiding, slowly being lost to time. Our ancient wisdom and strength, so legendary through the ages, spent by the simple lore that decrees we shall not kill without need. Our children now know only the wariness of needing secrecy; and the cunning born from being hunted.
Yet we who remain have found a way to live, shorn few and pitiful though we have become. Our children live in fear, but they live nonetheless. It is my hope that someday we will grow in number, and eventually emerge from the shadows to call the forests our own again. I am unlikely to live to see that day, but I can hope nonetheless, and watch and pray.
That's really all any one of us can do now.