Wulf Ericson
Preface to his (Secret) Journal
Who am I? You may call me "Wulf."
This name serves me well, for it names me accurately, and yet not completely, among my father's people.
Among my mother's people, one's name is usually chosen by one's pack. The pack-name I was given (as translated into the tongue of my father's people) is Dream Chaser. Thus, the most appropriate name for me among my father's people would actually be "Chase."
However, unlike the Pack, my father's people do not place much value upon themselves as a community-as-a-whole -- they do not place much value upon the Family -- and are given to gross extremes of selfishness. For this reason, I do not feel as much affection (and nothing near the trust) for them as I do for the Pack. And since names are a form of power, I use "Wulf" as my (public) name when amongst them. (I can name on one paw, with claws to spare, the number of my father's relatives with whom I would entrust my private name...)
When travelling within Shadows wherein a surname is useful, I prefer to use "Ericson" as my surname. Thus am I known as Wulf Ericson in the bards' retelling of my exploits.
As you have no doubt by now surmissed, I am of a unique and powerful heritage.
My mother was of the Weir. Among her people, she was Summer Moon of the Three Rivers Laughing pack. Among my father's people, she would have been known as Princess Diane of Weirheim.
She died late in my youth, fighting against Twisted Ones. I was no longer a cub, yet not quite fully a wolf. Since my father was keeping my existence secret from his relatives at that time, it fell to my Uncle Lupino, a Duke (as humans see these things) of the Weir, to take me in. He saw to it that I learned everything that anyone of the Weir would need to know.
Among the Weir, he is known as Bird Hunter, in praise of his skill and craftiness. Any wolf can hunt a deer, for if one spooks the deer, one can chase it down and kill it. But if one spooks a bird, one's prey escapes to the skies, and one goes hungry...
My father was Eric, son of Oberon, and the Prince-Regent of Amber -- (yes, I know: he did have himself crowned King; but remember, at that time, Oberon was truly believed lost, and Amber desperately needed a strong monarch securely in the reins of power) -- who valiantly died on the slopes of Kolvir, protecting his beloved homeland from the ravaging hordes of Twisted Ones.
Among my mother's people, my father was known as Fast Claw. This pack-name was awarded to him to honor his legendary prowess as a swordsman. I hope that, someday, I too shall be renowned (and feared) for the swiftness and skill of my blade.
I maintain that I am a Prince of Amber, equal in precedence to any of my father's brothers (save the current Lord Regent, my uncle Random), for my father was Amber's lawfully crowned monarch, and I am my father's lawfully acknowledged son. Further, I have undergone the requisite Ordeal, our familial Rite of Passage: I have walked the Pattern of Order 'neath Kolvir at Amber, and I survived.