Brave New World by Feral_Hedgehog -- Fur Affinity [dot] net

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Mar 8th, 2026 - International Women’s Day (G)

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Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy

Species Canine (Other)

Size 1500 x 750

File Size 1.91 MB

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noxeri feral_hedgehog anthro canine hybrid varmaor varg eabha finn norse vikings landscape trees flowers water waterfall male female

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Lore Characters - Eabha

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Brave New World

By Feral_Hedgehog,
posted 8 months ago Sojourner



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The sea was no stranger to Finn, sailing was a way of life for every Varg regardless of which clan they hailed from. From the temperate waters of the far south to the north where the sea turned to ice as often as water, the Varg all scraped out a living on the water. Longships were the cornerstone upon which their entire society was built. Whether it be for fishing, trade, or reaving and raiding, the survival of their entire people depending on them. Finn had been born to be a shipwright, he had apprenticed under his father from the time he could tie a rigging. He had plied his craft for just over two decades now. Two decades of life spent in ships; either building them or sailing them. He had never in his life been so grateful to be out of the hull of a ship as now.

The sea was no stranger to him, nor he to the sea, but he had grown sorely tired of it’s companionship over the past two weeks. The weather had seemed to conspire against their voyage; dark, ominous clouds that threatened rain or worse had loomed ever present along their journey beyond the known world. The heavy cloud cover made navigation a constant challenge. Navigating beyond the scope of their maps was never going to be without challenge, but with no land in sight and without the sun and the stars to guide them the chances of sailing endlessly in circles until they died of thirst or starvation was unnervingly high. Fortunately the heavens routinely opening to pour down rain on them saw that they would not die of dehydration. It however did little for their morale as they sat shivering, their clothing and fur utterly drenched, gnawing on hardtack that threatened to break their teeth.

But through all the hardship, desperation, the uncertainty, a glimmer of hope remained burning in their hearts. Eabha was no veteran sailor, she lacked the meaningful experience he and many of her clansmen possessed. She had never reaved or raided, she was no fisherman, and while she sailed to the other isles for trade and diplomacy, as the king’s daughter she had never needed to man an oar or a sail. And yet the Varg had put their lives in her hands, following her across the endless ocean to a land no one had ever laid eyes on before. Finn had followed her, put his life in her hands, the hands of a girl who knew little about the craft of sailing and even less about where they were going. And yet he had followed her, her clansmen had followed her. To her credit she learned quickly. She was the first to volunteer to hoist the sail, and a song was never far from her lips when she rowed. As the days ticked by and their home seemed more and more like a forgotten dream, as the storms raged on and the waves crashed against their hull, she never lost hope; she refused to let the Varg succumb to despair. He believed in her. She was the spark of hope that smoldered in his heart, in all of their hearts.

When the storms finally broke and the skies cleared on the twelfth day of their voyage, her faith felt like providence. Their spirits were lifted with the rising of the sun. To his immense satisfaction, all four of their longships had survived the treacherous conditions with minimal damage; a testament to his craftsmanship and a source of pride despite himself. Four longships, each manned by 40 Varg and carrying additional a handful of the young, elderly and infirm who were not able to hold an oar. Less than 200 souls. The sobering reality that that pitiful number represented all that was left of Eabha’s clan, all that was left of their hope, replaced the swell of pride with gratitude instead. Every life aboard his ships was precious; now more than ever. Each loss now would be an unmitigated tragedy that he could not abide. The survival of her people quite literally rested in Eabha’s hands, and in his ships.

He had awoken on the thirteenth day to the triumphant roar of some two dozen Varg just before first light. Before long the cry was taken up by every Varg aboard his vessel. It was only after the cry began to die down that he heard what it had been obscuring; the distant call of gulls. They saw the first bird overheard not some 15 minutes later which brought with it another round of cathartic screams that was joined by the other ships. The sun rose into view soon after, its rays spilling out across the ocean, the jagged peaks of mountains suddenly appearing on the horizon as the light touched them. It was a rare moment that day that a song did not echo across the vast but quickly shrinking sea.

It had taken all their collective willpower not to run all the ships aground in their haste to reach the shores of this new land. Eabha had decided that they would bring their ship into the shallows so that they might drop anchor for a shore team to scout ahead. Finn had volunteered without hesitation to accompany Eabha and the shore team. The irony of the shipwright being all too ready to escape his own ships was not lost on him.

This new land was not what he had expected. He did not know what he had expected other than it was not this. He had never seen so much color in one place in his entire life. The isles of ice that he called home was a stark contrast to this new land. The pink blooms of spring were everywhere, and dune grass quickly gave way to vibrant and lush foliage that lined the brackish streams and ponds that filtered into the sea, fed by waterfalls that trickled down the cliff faces. Mountains stretched up towards the sky in the distance, stepping down to sweeping foothills. The grass beneath his feet felt soft and welcoming as flower petals danced before him as they were borne on a gentle breeze. Eabha’s smile as she walked through this new land was infectious. Looking at her face, one might almost forget the tragedy that had forced her to this land. A flash of anger blazed in his core. Anger at what had been taken from Eabha, what had been done to her people. Anger at what those actions had cost the Varg. Her father had been the first king in hundreds of years. The Varg had respected him, but they would have loved her. Finn did not know why he suddenly had this feeling, but it was welling up from somewhere deep within him. That was why he had followed her to this brave new world. He believed in her. Plus, if they ever meant to return to the Broken Coast in numbers, they were going to need more ships.

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Artist:

Noxeri
Characters:

Finn and Eabha



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