Melonii Family

From Wolf Roleplay Wiki

The lore and religion of the Meloniis are heavily based on the Elder Scrolls mythos and lore. Please refer to the links below for more info, but feel free to explore more and incorporate them into your characters and plots!

The Meloniis are a multi-generational and widespread family distinguished by their raven-black fur and eye color ranging from purple to indigo. The Meloniis have been a part of various groups, including witches' covens, the Dark Brotherhood, and Morag Tong for generations, producing spies, assassins, mercenaries, priests, and witches of renowned ability. Among those who worship Sithis and/or Mephala, the name Melonii is well respected and feared.

Besides their long devotion to the Dark Brotherhood’s tenets and the gods Sithis and Mephala, the Meloniis are notable for their inbreeding. Over six generations of brother-sister and 1st cousins mating has produced several genetic diseases within the Meloniis such as insanity (which often makes itself known later in life), sickness, and complications during birth that either leads to the death of the mother or to a large majority of the pups born - this can occur in the womb or soon after birth. Recently, physical and mental deformities such as dwarfism and schizophrenia have begun to appear in the Melonii line, seen especially in those born in Teekon Wilds. Attraction to family members regardless of sex seems to be hereditary as well.

The Melonii family is spread out through the Northwestern and Central United States as well as Southwestern and Central Canada. The line of Meloniis who have appeared in Teekon Wilds are descended from or a part of the Meloniis of Darkwater Crossing (which is located somewhere in the Colorado/Montana area). The siblings Malsa and Maenlorn, the great-grandparents of Meldresi and her siblings, were the first to join the Dark Brotherhood sect in Darkwater Crossing. The Meloniis are far from the only wolves occupying the Crossing, but are a mainstay in the sect with several members occupying the Hand, the leading Council of the Dark Brotherhood. The current Listener of Darkwater Crossing and the nearby Dark Brotherhood sects is M’aiq Melonii, a younger sibling of Meldresi who ascended to the title after the death of the previous Listener (who was not a Melonii).

Meldresi Melonii is the matriarch of the Meloniis of Teekon Wilds. All of the Meloniis born in-game are descendants of her (we're currently at great-grandchildren!). She was notable in her willingness to mate outside of the Dark Brotherhood (and her familial line) as she recognized the negative effects of inbreeding on her family. Despite her best efforts, the lack of genetic variation in her ancestry has caused some physical and mental deformities in her descendants. However, physical appearances (fur color, height, build) have diversified in the Teekon area, with white/silver and orange eye colors and heterochromia becoming common among the Melonii of the Teekon Wilds.

Traditions

Much of Melonii tradition is based on the rules and tenets of the Dark Brotherhood as most if not all of those with Melonii blood serve Sithis and/or Mephala.

Children

Children often have first names starting with the letter M. If they have a middle name, it is often of a Daedric God or of a famous person of notable magical, spying, or assassination ability.

Occupations and Life

As most Meloniis have been followers of Mephala, those who belong to a Melonii-dominated pack will find that jobs and ranks are divided into three main groups: assassins, priests, and spies. These are in accordance with Mephala’s three main spheres: murder, sex, and secrets (it is obvious that assassins align with murder, but whether priests align with sex and spies with secrets, or vice versa depends on the sect; one interpretation is that spies align with sex, as in manipulation and seduction, while priests align with secrets, as in the theological and magical kind).

Magic

The belief in magic largely stems from their beliefs in the Daedra. How magic is practiced varies widely from group to group. Overall, Meloniis can be seen as a superstitious lot, with many of their members claiming to have a heightened sense of the supernatural.

Organizations

Teekon Wilds

Several packs/groups have been formed with Melonii leadership.

Mephala Cults

There are many groups that worship either Mephala, Sithis, and/or the Night Mother. In all of these groups, Meloniis are often seen. They have all been influential in shaping Melonii traditions and beliefs.

  • Morag Tong One of the major cults that worship Mephala through the assassination of others. They are led by a Grandmaster, who facilitates assassination contracts, or ‘writs’.
  • The Dark Brotherhood An offshoot and now rival entity of the Morag Tong. More spiritual in their beliefs and command structure, they are led by a Listener, a wolf granted the ability to speak directly to the Night Mother, an aspect of Mephala. They also believe that the Night Mother is a consort of Sithis, the god of the Void, and actively worship him as well.
  • The Cult of the Spider / The Spider Cult a cult that worships Mephala in her less violent aspects, namely sex, seduction, lies, and manipulation.
  • The Deathweavers a militant arm of the Cult of the Spider, focused on the protection of sacred places, its priests, and visitors.
Witches’ Covens

Independent groups focused on learning herbalism, medicine, astrology, naturalism, and magic. While less focused on specific religious elements than other organizations, they often draw in Meloniis thanks to their 'inherent' magical ability. Often priests of Mephala spend time in these institutions to gain vital experience and knowledge.

  • Hags' Fen a witch coven known to the Melonii of Darkwater Crossing
  • The Circle of the Moon Garden a witch coven north of Teekon Wilds. Ganondorf is the only Melonii who is a member at present.

Religion and Myths

The Melonii belong to a larger religious group that worships the Daedra (and very rarely the Aedra). The Daedra are a group of often malicious beings that are extremely powerful. The Daedric Princes are the most powerful of the Daedra and are worshipped as deities. Many of these Daedric Princes are indifferent to mortals, yet offer great power to their followers. The Melonii choose to worship the Daedric Prince Mephala, the primordial god Sithis, and the being known as The Night Mother as their primary deity, but in accordance with other Daedric and/or Aedric sects, they can be described as monolatrist (belief in the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity), henotheist (the worship of a single god while not denying the existence or possible existence of other deities), or kathenotheist (worshipping one god at a time). How foreign deities are interpreted depends on the wolf. They can be different faces of various Daedric Princes, lesser Daedra that managed to accumulate some followers, an Aedra, or a false deity altogether.

The power of other Daedric Princes is not seen as lesser in comparison to Mephala (though all Daedric Princes are insignificant in comparison to Sithis). Each Daedric Prince is strong within their own sphere.

Mephala
Alternative names: The Webspinner, The Spinner, The Spider, The Spider God, Teacher of the Secret Arts, Queen of the Eight Shadows of Murder, The Lady of Whispers, The Whispering Lady, the Night Mother

Principle to all Melonii groups is the worship of Mephala. Mephala is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is obscured to mortals. Her sphere seems to indicate a careful plan carried out through executions, each life a portion of a massive web and sees the affairs of mortals as a weave—pull but one thread and the whole thing unravels. Mephala is often associated with simple concepts such as lies, sex, murder, and interference in the affairs of mortals for amusement. To some, she is thought to be the ancestor that taught the mortals the skills they would need to evade their enemies and to kill them in secret.

Mephala appears as either male or female, but she is most often depicted and referred to as female.

Prayers to Mephala


Sithis
Alternate names: The Darkness, The Void, Padomay, Padhome, Fadomai, The Dread Father

Sithis is the representation of the primordial state of chaos and the Void, where the spirits of the dead go after their lives are over—at least in the beliefs of the worshipers of Mephala and her consort. He is also the patron of the Dark Brotherhood and is said to be the husband of the Night Mother and/or Mephala.

Mortals often represent Sithis as a skeletal being, signifying his relation to death. In truth, the Dread Lord is formless and as infinite as the Void. Sithis is described as the embodiment of everything evil but, at the same time, he is described as being nothing at all; a void. He is appeased by death—although he himself is not a God of death—and other acts of suffering and strife.

Prayers to Sithis

The Night Mother
Alternate names: The (Old) Lucky Lady, Mephala, Meldresi

The Night Mother is a nebulous figure in Melonii lore. To the Melonii of Teekon Wilds, the Night Mother is Meldresi, the founder of their sect. To other groups, the Night Mother is another name of Mephala or a leadership title or a mortal woman who wed Sithis and now exists as a conduit between the mortal realm and the Void; this is the interpretation largely followed by most of the Dark Brotherhood, and most Melonii. This final interpretation of the Night Mother is where the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood originates - they listen to the whispers of the Night Mother.

Prayers to the Night Mother

Languages

In addition to their native language, some Melonii, especially those who become priests, learn the Daedric tongue, which is replaced OOC with Valyrian.

Meloniis, their Descendants, and their Blood Relatives

Family Tree of the Meloniis of Darkwater Crossing and the Meloniis of Teekon Wilds
Active characters in Wolf-rpg
† = confirmed dead

Lineages bound to by blood

* = unborn

  • Borealem - through Keithen/Bane x Meldresi (Damien, Cicero, and Potema)
  • Rochester - through Burke x Meldresi (Pietro and Kendra)
  • Draconid - through Asterr x Damien (Airi, Kaori, and Shiori)
  • Loðbrok - through Kjalarr x Potema (Vaati and Kvasir)
  • Sveijarn - Tryphon/Larus x Potema (Ganondorf)
  • Ostrega - Charon x Potema (Koume and Kotake)
  • Apaata - through Nyx x Damien (Lumiya, Zannah, Revan, and Venamis)
  • Demonte - through Vuk/Relmyna x Cicero (Astara and Averna)
  • Svartell - through Cassiopeia x Vaati (Hela and Scylla)
  • Kesuk-DeMonte - through Salvatore x Kaori (Toshi and Kiyoshi)
  • Betsalel-Redleaf - through Merrick x Astara (Avicus and Aventus)
  • Redhawk - through Mou x Maegi (Hypnos and Miseria)
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