World of Wolves - Part Four

🌺 Ilio Hihiu 🌺

Ilio Hihiu is Hawaiian for 'wolf' or 'wild dog,' and is the proud name of a small pack located on the small island of Ni'ihau - also called the Forbidden Island. Hiding in plain sight, the Ilio Hihiu pack is hidden from the human populations, helped to stay hidden through agreements with the SUA and human governments. The island is called the Forbidden Island, as there are only about 130 known occupants, and outsiders are not allowed on the island in order to preserve the spiritual, cultural, and ecological elements of Hawaiian culture. Ilio Hahai is known to the human settlers, who also keep their pack secret.

Ilio Hihiu, sometimes called Ilio ('dog') or Lupo ('wolf'), is a small pack of only about 100 members. A deeply spiritual pack, they are deeply intwined with nature and the world around them. Often in their wolf forms, this pack is full of natural swimmers. Over time, some of the pack member's wolf forms have evolved with webbed paws. Their wolf forms are naturally sleek, adapted to the heat and aquatic space of the pack. Smaller and leaner than many wolf forms on the Mainland, they are more easily hidden and faster than the majority of those wolves. Also known for their lung capacity, these wolves - both in human and wolf form - can stay underwater far longer than what is natural. Able to stay underwater for anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes (for context, the world record for humans is 24 minutes 37.76 seconds). Hunters, they mainly hunt fish, leaving most of the animals on the island alone. Also with a heavy vegetarian diet, they are really more pescatarian than anything else.

Around long before anyone settled the Mainland, their inception - in pack lore and history - dates back to Creation itself. They derive from the Moon Goddess herself, who created their Great Ancestors. Those two were Hā (Breath/Life), Make (Death, pronounced Mahkay), and 'Uhane (Spirit). Both Hā and Make are treated as agender by the pack, with Make usually taking on a more feminine connotation and Hā taking on a more masculine one - though, perhaps confusingly, the exception is that Hā is often referred to in maternal terms and Make in paternal terms. 'Uhane is treated as genderfluid, though is not spoken of in such labels. The leaders of the pack are referred to as Hā and Make, in honor of their ancestors. Their leaders are always a mated pair, and one of them must be of the Akua (Divine) line, and unless extenuating circumstances prevent this, the leaders must be 33 years or older. 'Uhane is not represented in their leadership, except in specific circumstances which will be addressed later.

A long-standing custom in the pack pertains to their AFAB members. Their AFAB members are allowed to go on what they call the Hele Malihini (the Pilgrimage), which is their rite of conception. These folk go to the populated Hawai'i islands, and in rare cases the Mainland or other Polynesian communities, in order to fall pregnant. Though it perhaps seems like an archaic custom, it spawned from the near extinction of their pack nearly 200 years ago. A plague wiped all but 12 pack members out, taking their numbers down from about 300. They have never gotten back to that status. The remaining 12 wolves were numbered at 10 AFAB folk and 2 AMAB folk, but with the complication of all but three of the remaining pack members being related, they needed to build up their numbers somehow. Praying, they were blessed with the knowledge of the Hele Malihini, and slowly built their numbers from there. Those born of the Hele Mahilini rite are given the title Makamae (Precious One) and are born as full-blooded werewolves, so long as they are born in the highly sacred Moon Pool, hidden even from those who know of their existence. AFAB folk who struggle with infertility also go on the Hele Malihini as a last attempt to conceive, even if mated, and can be blessed with child that way. Those going on the rite are allowed to leave for only one year at a time, though if they fall pregnant they are meant to return home as soon as they find out.

Children are sacred to this pack, and highly protected. Due to their history with the plague, and the very slow rise in numbers, they do everything they can to make sure their children survive into adulthood. Their children are raised communally, with everyone in the pack raising them in addition to their biological parents.