The Pack’s precise origins are almost as mysterious to its own members as to anyone, and for reasons to be later discussed there have been few clues left over the centuries. It is believed the wolves referenced by the groups very name associate The Pack with ancient Scandinavia, likely a response by peasants and small militia forces to the violent raids of the Viking. It is whispered among some scholars of heroic history that ancient Norse gods were responsible for the group’s inception and who in our world of magical beings, alien technologies and super powered heroes can dismiss such a claim as mere superstition and hearsay? Nevertheless, the simple known history from that period indicates two important understandings of the group; firstly is its motto, “The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law,” a mantra upheld by the group to this very day. This mantra has been the driving force behind the group’s fighting motivation through many dark hours and remains key to their identity today. Another important understanding that cannot be underestimated is the unmistakable shadow of tragedy that has followed the group since its inception, which some argue lends credibility to theories of the group’s divine origin, leaving them strengthened yet cursed by powers of magnitude illegal in the mortal realm.
It is clear that the Pack of ancient times were eventually defeated and all but eradicated by the Vikings, barely one man escaping. This man is known to have lived as a hermit for almost ten years, hiding himself from the world and keeping the knowledge of the Pack alive so that it may one day be born again. Before his death, this surviving Wolf passed the power, the knowledge and the mantra of the Pack to a young man, who became the new keeper of its history, and he in turn passed it to another keeper years later. After several generations, a Keeper appeared who vowed to rebuild the Pack to exceed its former glory, only for the group to be eventually culled again some years later.
It isn’t clear how many times the Pack has been recreated by one with the conviction to do so – or how many times it has been subsequently destroyed – but it is clear that despite its culture of heroic action and terrible villainous retribution, those remain to carry on the legacy and take up the fight. It is believed that the Pack has been involved fighting the forces of evil in most major conflicts across the last half-millennium, and some scholars believe it’s origins may even stretch beyond the facts determined in Scandinavia, to the Crusades and perhaps beyond all recorded history.
In the 1800’s, knowledge of the Pack fell to a young man with extraordinary powers. Known as The Crucible by the people of his native Russia, this powerful man was all but impossible to kill, and used his powers in the fight to free his country from tyranny. Crucible re-formed the Pack to revolt against the Czar, but true to the organization’s history he was unceremoniously defeated after a time, and his allies murdered to the last. Again the sole remaining Wolf, and feeling impotent in the face of his shattering defeat beneath the Czar’s power, Crucible would serve only as the custodian of the Pack’s mantra for over half a century. Afraid of further retribution from Rasputin and his murderous allies, Crucible burned his cape and mask, disappearing into the European wild. He knew that the personal price of his solitude was irrelevant; his capture would not only mean the end of everything his comrades had fought for, but the destruction of the Pack and its legacy.
He traveled widely and inconspicuously, helping the needy when he could, but never to any extreme that would draw undue attention to his whereabouts. He knew the rabid servants of the Czar would not rest until the last of the Pack’s number were long forgotten. Eventually, Crucible’s travels brought him to the United States, and he arrived in Paragon City during the 1920’s. Feeling free of the dark shadows that had followed him for decades, Crucible sought out powerful young men and women to join him in rebuilding the Pack so that its legacy might live on.
However, the emotional wounds left by his failure to protect his former allies in Russia had left Crucible with no desire to lead the new group. This was a task he appointed to the first of three recruits he found, a strong soul with lightning reflexes and a faster trigger finger who Crucible named Red Six. Brash and charismatic, often ignorant and always self-righteous, Red Six was everything Crucible himself had once been. Alongside his other new recruits; the beautiful street fighter Orchid and noble swordsman Parzival, Crucible attempted to guide his new group of heroes to maturity and an understanding of what it meant to be a true member of the Pack.
It was during the Second World War that the Pack finally exercised its real power, serving with honor in engagements across the European front, lead in to battle every time by the gallant Red Six. He was deployed to most major battles with Orchid, Parzival and Crucible at his side, and the four side-stepped the hand of fate by surviving the war, eventually introducing new super-powered soldiers to the unit, and the Pack had swelled to over thirty members by the war’s end. It was over two centuries since Crucible had become a part of the Pack’s history, and finally his confidence had started to grown with the group’s wartime successes. Following the allied victory, the group settled easily into crime fighting activity in Paragon City. Red Six and Orchid were married with a child, and the Pack’s supposedly cursed history was the furthest thing from Crucible’s mind.
However, fate finally caught up with the Pack at the outbreak of the Rikti War. The group’s ranks were devastated by the vicious battles across Paragon City, and Crucible was forced to watch Red Six and Orchid, the last two remaining Pack members, perish before his eyes as he used every tactic he could to protect them from wave after wave of explosive charges. With every member of the group killed in battle or murdered by opportunistic criminals, Crucible was, for the third time in his life, the last surviving member of the Pack. The old giant passed all of his knowledge of The Pack on to Orchid’s young daughter before joining Hero 1’s portal team to the Rikti homeworld. The indestructible Crucible is believed killed in action during the battle, along with the rest of Hero1’s noble unit.
Meanwhile, the close of the Rikti War saw a need for new heroes to stand up and fight for good in the vacuum left by the heroes lost during the war. Although she lacked powers of her own, Orchid’s daughter assisted by rallying heroes to aid Paragon city. It is understood that during this period of rebuilding she met a hero named Royal Isis, and saw in her the potential for her parents’ noble legacy to be born again. Isis understood her duty as the new custodian of the Pack’s lore, and sought to rebuild the organization, as always the tradition with greater conviction and strength than before. Over the recent years Isis has moved on, leaving the group in the hands of new generation of heroes; Shadow Rouge, Supremo, Chitterling, Sikisha, Nymira, Offline, Nick Nova, Furybelle, Lady-Frost, Charblast, Devvil Dog, Blk Diamond and their allies and friends. They have seen the Pack swell to over sixty heroes, but remain ever-wary of the knowledge that a moment of weakness, any unforeseen catastrophe could again mean the end of this valiant group.
“The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law"