Random Lore The Wendigo Pt. 2

Courtship & Marriage

Wendigo are more solitary than humans and while they can and do form lifelong partnership, friendships, and relationships they are capable of going years without social interaction with little or no psychological harm. While modern wendigo live in communities and cities they are known to be more reserved and introspective as they age. This is also reflected in how they choose partners and what relationship wendigo have with their husbands and wives.

Wendigo do not date in the manner that humans do; they instead follow the social rules of courtship. Once a female wendigo fully grows out their first pair of antlers she will place natural accessories on them. Natural and delicate accessories include ribbons, feathers and flowers. The more delicate yet well kept and beautiful the ornament, the more feminine she appears. It is expected that feminine females will be able to take care of the ornaments despite how delicate they are and are seen as more attractive.

Once a female is of the proper age she will remove the ornaments on her antlers if a prospective male wishes to court her he will present her with an ornament. If she accepts he will place the new ornament on her antlers if she rejects him then other males can present her with their ornaments. In the case of arranged marriages, the father will present their sons to her family along with a white ribbon or white feathers.

The main purpose of courtship is to determine the compatibility for marriage. During courtship the male and female must remain exclusive with their partner. They will go on dates with one another and spend time with each other's families. They are not permitted to have sex with one another during this time as that is frowned upon and seen largely as prostitution. 

If during courtship either party decides that the other is not the right match the male will ask for the ornament back and/or the female will return the ornament. If they decide to get married the male will return to the female's family and present them with a dowry for their blessing. If the family accepts he will give his fiancee a white ornament for her antlers.

Wendigo marry for life although their relationship may change over the course of their long lives. Typically married pairs will usually start a family early into their marriage and stay together through the first few decades to raise their children and grow their household. Once their children are grown some couples will pursue other goals together or apart for decades at a time. Once their parents become elderly the married couple will come back together to take care of them and potentially have more children.

It is rare for a married couple to want to live with their husband or wife their entire lives. While they will remain exclusive sexually they usually spend time pursuing other interests and goals. Marriage allows for the family to grow monetarily and socially as well as provide for their children and their aging parents. Many wendigo see marriage as transactional to secure the best possible futures for themselves and their family. 

Sex / Mating and Reproduction

Wendigo reproduce sextually through the act of coitus and requires both a male and female. After puberty wendigo females can control ovulation to increase the chances of pregnancy. Wendigo are one of the few humanoid races that copulate only for reproduction and not for pleasure. Which means that outside of attempting to have children and family rearing wendigo are usually sexually abstinent.

Wendigo can have offspring with both nature's wrath (greater wendigo) and skinwalkers (lesser wendigo) although the latter will be infertile and nonconsensual. The crossbreed between a greater and normal wendigo will always be a normal wendigo. Skinwalkers… well they are not a natural occurrence and their children will be impotent and unable to conceive.

Interracial Dating

While rare wendigo have dated and married outside of their race. These couples are incapable of having biological children with one another. They do lead to interesting dynamics and family structures. 

A socially acceptable but rare interracial couple is the wendigo--human pairing. The discrepancy in world view and life span typically lead these to be short lived relationships. Wendigo are seen as cold and transactional in their relationships and humans are overly passionate, shortsighted and horny.

A more common pairing is wendigo and elf or goblin. While Wendigo are on the shorter end of life span in this case they share many of the same stances on the passage of time and life goals. Wendigo that choose either partner are usually happy with their choice.

Humanoid demons such as the rakshasa and cambion have also made good partners for a few wendigo over the years. They have a similar enough life span with rakshasa living only a decade longer on average. Some demons have even conceived children from this pairing although the child will always be the race of the mother. 

Wendigo--druid pairs are outlawed in all of Yuhia and those that are found out are likely to be hunted and killed. 

Fun Fact:

• Wendigo do not kiss and find it weird when they see other species do it. They have filiform papillae on their tongues making them extremely rough. Instead of kissing they will nuzzle each other which has a similar meaning.

• Wendigo teeth are so sharp and their bite force so strong they can bite through hardened leather with ease. Some of them can even bite into unenchanted steel. 

• Wendigo will always regrow lost or damaged teeth. They can also regrow their tongue if they bite it off. 

• A female that wears metal in her antlers instead of natural and delicate things are seen as masculine. 

• Since male and female wendigo are equal in strength relative to size both sexes can be drafted into war.