Card：
Effect：
Beasts near the town are stirring. Send Strength-2 troops to clear them. If cleared, gain +1 Stability and draw 1 extra Diplomacy card next Round; otherwise lose 2 Stability.
Describe：
From A Cultural History of the Western Continent, Volume II
The Wolf is among the most widely recognized folk ballads of the Western Continent. Although numerous regional versions exist, all surviving variants share a common theme: the pursuit of a single wolf that repeatedly escapes increasingly determined hunters.
The song is generally believed to have originated during the period known as the Great Wolf Years.
Prior to the expansion of modern agriculture and organized frontier settlements, wolves were a persistent threat throughout much of the continent. Contemporary records from Koranville, Marianna, Skykor, and several smaller kingdoms describe frequent attacks on livestock, particularly sheep and cattle. In sparsely populated frontier regions, isolated incidents involving attacks on travelers were also recorded.
In response, many governments sponsored organized wolf hunts.
Over time these campaigns developed into annual communal events. Mounted hunters, accompanied by large packs of hounds, would ride into forests and highland valleys in pursuit of wolves. Success was traditionally measured by the size of the animal and the quality of its teeth, which were often displayed as trophies.
By the 4th Millennium A.C., wolf populations had declined substantially across much of the Western Continent. Nevertheless, the hunts survived as cultural traditions long after their original purpose had disappeared.
It was within this context that The Wolf emerged.
Unlike most hunting songs of the period, which celebrated the hunters, The Wolf adopts a notably different perspective. The central figure is not a hunter but a remarkably cunning wolf who repeatedly deceives, outwits, and humiliates those pursuing him.
In most versions of the song, the wolf leads hunting parties into swamps, doubles back across streams, or deliberately crosses the paths of rival packs of hounds. The hunters invariably return exhausted and empty-handed while the wolf escapes unharmed.
Scholars have proposed several interpretations.
Some regard the song as a humorous inversion of traditional hunting ballads. Others argue that it reflects popular sympathy for the wilderness at a time when large predators were disappearing from the landscape. A minority of historians have even suggested that the wolf served as a symbolic representation of outlaws, rebels, or frontier communities resisting central authority.
No consensus has been reached.
Regardless of its original meaning, The Wolf remains one of the most enduring folk songs associated with the old hunting traditions of the Western Continent.
Ironically, while the historical wolf hunts were intended to celebrate the triumph of man over nature, the song itself ensured that it was the wolf—not the hunters—who would be remembered.