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Oren's Forge PG 323 (Epilogue/Vol 2 End)

Some of you were getting close, wondering if the wolves had begun domesticating bison but… perhaps you just had it backwards.

I think domestication is a super fascinating (and still not a very well understood) phenomenon in nature. Some animals can, some simply can’t be domesticated (if every animal could be domesticated, fancy people would be riding zebras as much as we ride horses.)

I especially love the (very) fringe anthropological theory that our long-ago pre-sapien ancestors self-domesticated.

In an anthro world, I really wanted to play with the idea of wolves self-domesticating. And so with that--finally--we have unlocked the blue-eye achievement for characters. (Blue eyes do not occur in the wild outside of infancy, but frequently pop up in animals with domestication syndrome.)

So there you have it! The Zenith was right, world is indeed changing, and wolves can (must?) change with it.

--

Upcoming Schedule

July - Honestly, it’ll be pretty quiet here in July. I’m going to be spending most of my time finishing the prep to send Volume Two and Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf to the printer. I really appreciate if you want to stick around, of course, no worries if not! I hope to see you back for when the comic resumes!

August - I’ll start posting the new short side comic. This is one I’ve had in the back of my mind since I started work on the very first pages of Oren’s Forge. It’ll shed some light on a character I don’t think anyone’s given a second thought to. However, maybe now in the back of your mind, you’re wondering… Why was there a lone injured bison running around for Swift’s pack to take down, all the way back on page 5?

Part 3 will pick up sometime after that short comic (which should be about 6-8 pages.) If you don’t feel like hanging around here until then, I will definitely post about it on all my socials, etc, when we get going again.

Thank you guys again! Outside of a few side projects here and there, this Patreon is how I’m able to buy groceries, pay bills and have the space to write and work on this story. I feel like a broken record sometimes, thanking you guys, but you’ll have to put up with it. Without your patronage, Oren’s Forge would have died on the vine. I’m grateful it was allowed to flourish, to be read, enjoyed and even printed, which is a precious kind of literary survival. So thank you! Until the next!

Oren's Forge PG 323 (Epilogue/Vol 2 End) Oren's Forge PG 323 (Epilogue/Vol 2 End)

Comments

OH. I did not expect this twist at all. I love it.

Selena Hatfield

Oh-- maybe! I was planning on having the wolves of the Zenith's pack show a bit more spitz/dog adjacent markings overall, so piebald might not be too much of a stretch. I'll have to read about since I don't actually know much about how/when it occurs.

Teagan Gavet

Ooh will piebaldism also surface?

Heather Curry

The zenith pair seems to have a real equal to equal bond. It's fascinating... Though not as much as the fact there's a literal political divide each spread among different groups. In terms of societal development it's a massive jump forward just as much as forging... And foreshadows the massive conflict about to rock the Forge's world.

Reseen Dalls

It turns out that the wolf from the zenith pair will evolutionarily be a new species of wolf (as I wrote in the previous comment about evolution). In the case of human evolution in the self-domestication theory, there were several species of humans.

Krzysztof K

seeing the self domestication thing, Scree's line about having to bend her nature makes a lot more sense. The Zenith wolves haven't turned into dogs, but they are different than the "wild" wolves. Now thinking about it, her story seems very familiar to a case of someone taking in a wild animal and treating it like a domestic one. Free food, no worries about having to compete with other dangerous animals, but completely unnatural for an animal that was designed to live in a wild world. Part of what makes keeping a wild animal as a pet is there is always a chance of them snapping one day

RandomDragon2.0

Hi Teagan, I'm wondering why the zenith pair wanted to kill puppies from another wolf pack, since according to the self-domestication theory, individuals with less tendency to aggression should dominate, so they should also be inclined to take care of older and young individuals (puppies). I am very curious how the zenith pair will behave towards other herbivores living in the hollow. I also wonder what the relationship between the Swift family and the animals from the hollow will be like. I hope that in the third volume it will be explained to us what rules and principles prevail between bisons and wolves (how their alliance works)

Krzysztof K

The world is getting bigger it seems. The bison know of and are concerned about metal tools spreading.

Tirosu

My mind has been blown by this all day.

Karly Gay

Interesting that it's the bison of all people who seems immediately threatened by the predator killing device, hinting even further to me that the zenith's bond is a genuine one, and they actively dislike things meant to kill their wolf fellows

Givemeyourmilk

chilllllllls

Gale Tazzin

I love this twist! Absolutely didn’t see the self-domestication angle coming and it’s so much more interesting than the bison-domestication line I had been thinking down

Sarah

Holy cow, this comic never fails to blow me away! The layers of thought you’ve put in to the world building really shows. I didn’t expect the twist of the bison and this pack working together and was already excited about that detail; the blue eye + (self) domestication of the wolves is such a neat nuance.

Sebasxian10 (Amanda)

That ending foreshadows a really strong conflict in the next volume. Will the forge be under siege at some point? Who knows. But I begin to see why Ramble might play imporant role in next volume and why having Swift in the Forge might be crucial for the surviva of the animals living there. Thank you for making this amazing comic, looking foward to the side story. You got me intrigued about that unfortunate bison, I guess they were outcasted? I like reading about the characters from the far background, so having a story like this which is a part of the canon is an interesting concept for me.

Pantera

I want to point out in case it is a mistake, that Blue eye's claws are white in the second panel, and grey in the third

RandomDragon2.0

Is the wolf zenith male or female?

Microgrampup

I'm instantly in love with this new wolf! I'm a huge sucker for heterochromia eyes!

Kenny Rosser

Aah I was going to comment on the blue eye, but you've already said it xD

Looweezah

This is incredibly cool. Kudos on such great world building!

Grey

Good question, Singer did present the others with a bison leg.

Dhaka Yeena

So now Im curious...what do these wolves eat?

Liyoht

Woah! Ok this wolf is awesome! I am so excited to see what happens next!

Dhaka Yeena

Aaaaaah!!!!!! I can’t believe it’s the end of Volume 2!

Sivle Fredrickson


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