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⚖️ Court Dispatches

Letters received at the Court. Six people, six centuries — five asking for a dog, one for a wolf.

Received & Filed

A note from the Archivist

The Court keeps every letter it receives. These are the six still being answered.

Each dispatch is written in the voice of the person who sent it — which means each one believes things that were true to them, and not always true in fact. Below each letter is a note in plain language: what is real history, and what the writer got wrong. There is also a short gloss of the older words, in case you want them.

Archivist's note
The letters are fiction. The history underneath them is not. Where a writer is mistaken — and one of them is badly mistaken — the note says so.
Malta · c. 1500s
From the hand of Her Grace, the Queen of Malta

👑 "Small enough to carry"

To the Master of the Court. We are given to understand that your Court can find a dog for any purpose. Ours is a simple one: we wish to own a creature small enough to sit in the crook of our arm, and quiet enough that it does not interrupt a Council meeting.

It must be gentle. It must be curious — a dull dog is a piece of furniture. And it must have a nose, for we are forever losing our rings in the garden, and we would rather the dog found them than the servants.

Our court painter has attempted the portrait three times, and the nose is wrong every time. We are beginning to suspect the dog. Do send something with a better nose.

We remain your sovereign, and expect a dog.

What's actually true Small companion dogs were genuinely kept by European nobility, and the Maltese is one of the oldest of them — often called "Ye Ancient Dogge of Malta." They were bred down to lap size over centuries and carried in sleeves and baskets. Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I both kept them. The portrait problem is invented; the tiny lapdog is not.
Words from the period We / our — the royal plural, used by a monarch about herself. Given to understand — a formal way of saying "we have been told." Do send — the emphatic "do," common in the period's letters.

🎯 What she has in mind — the three lapdogs she keeps returning to:

Maltese Toy · Lv 4
Pomeranian Toy · Lv 5
Shih Tzu Toy · Lv 6
In the game: Toy lineage, Lv 4+, personality Curious / Gentle / Playful, trait Keen Nose or Show Charm. Pays 400🪙 plus style.
Available breeds: Maltese (Lv 4) · Pomeranian (Lv 5) · Shih Tzu (Lv 6) · Papillon (Lv 7) · Bichon Frise (Lv 8).
The Scottish Borders · c. 1800s
From a shepherd in the Scottish Highlands

🐑 "It lies down at a whistle"

I have forty sheep and one bad knee, and the fog comes down the valley like a wet curtain most mornings. I need a dog that will go out, find the flock, and bring them in without scattering them across three counties.

Clever, mind. Not clever at stealing. Clever at thinking. Brave enough to face a ram that's decided it's in charge. And loyal enough to come back, for I have buried two good dogs this year and I would rather not bury a third.

If it lies down at a whistle and stares at the sheep until they move, I'll pay what you ask. I do not want a dog that barks. The sheep don't respect barking.

What's actually true Border Collies were shaped on the Anglo-Scottish border, exactly as the letter says — the name refers to the border, not to one country. The "eye" — that intense stare that moves sheep without barking — is a real herding trait, and the reason the breed dominates sheepdog trials, which began at Bala in Wales in 1873. The word "collie" itself is still debated; nobody knows for certain where it comes from.
Words from the period Mind — an intensifier, meaning "mark my words." Very Scots. For — used to mean "because," as in "for I have buried two dogs." I'll pay what you ask — plain and direct, as a working man would write.

🎯 What he has in mind — the herders he's heard of:

Corgi Herding · Lv 4
Border Collie Herding · Lv 5
German Shepherd Herding · Lv 6
In the game: Herding lineage, Lv 4+, personality Brave / Clever / Loyal, trait Herding Instinct or Swift Paws. Pays 400🪙 plus style.
Available breeds: Corgi (Lv 4) · Border Collie (Lv 5) · German Shepherd (Lv 6) · Australian Shepherd (Lv 7) · Belgian Malinois (Lv 8).
France · c. 1400s
From the Royal Huntsman, to the Master of the Hounds

🏹 "A nose that does not lie"

The hart went into the water at dawn and came out somewhere I cannot find, and the King is now standing in a field asking me questions I do not have answers to.

I require a hound with a nose. Not a keen nose. A perfect one. One that can take a cold scent three days old and follow it through a river and out the other side. I have heard of lymers that can do this. I have not owned one.

It should be gentle enough to live in the kennels without eating the kennel boys, and stubborn enough to ignore me when I am wrong. A hound that agrees with its master is no hound at all.

I pray you, send word by the bearer.

What's actually true Bloodhounds descend from the St Hubert hound, bred at the monastery of St Hubert in the Ardennes and brought to England by William the Conqueror. They really are extraordinary at cold trails — the breed's whole history is tracking. But the name does not mean "blood-scented": a "blooded hound" was a purebred one, as opposed to a cross. The letter's mistake is a common one, and it stuck.
Words from the period Hart — a mature male red deer. The correct medieval term. Cold scent — a trail that has gone stale. Needs a superlative nose. Lymer — a tracking hound worked on a leash, from lyme (a leash). I pray you — the standard formal request of the era.

🎯 What he has in mind — the hounds worth trying:

Beagle Hound · Lv 4
Greyhound Hound · Lv 5
Bloodhound Hound · Lv 6
In the game: Hound lineage, Lv 4+, personality Gentle / Stubborn / Brave, trait Hunting Nose or Keen Nose. Pays 400🪙 plus style.
Available breeds: Beagle (Lv 4) · Greyhound (Lv 5) · Bloodhound (Lv 6) · Saluki (Lv 7) · Afghan Hound (Lv 8).
The Swiss Alps · c. 1700s
From a monk at the hospice on the Great St Bernard Pass

⛪ "The pass is closed and the snow is deep"

To our dear brother in the world. We are eight thousand feet up and the road below us is gone until spring. Every winter, travellers attempt the pass anyway, and every winter some of them do not arrive.

We need a dog that is large, loyal, and gentle — gentle above all, for it will find a man half-frozen and frightened, and a frightened man does not want a fierce dog standing over him. It should be able to dig. It should be able to lie down beside someone in the snow and keep them warm until we get there.

A strong jaw helps, for the ice. A good nose helps, for finding them at all. We will name it after whichever saint is listening.

Commending you to God, we remain your servants in Christ.

What's actually true The Great St Bernard Hospice was founded around 1049 by Bernard of Menthon, and the monks there really did breed large dogs for avalanche rescue — for centuries. The most famous, Barry, is credited in the hospice's own records with saving around forty people between 1800 and 1814. The breed nearly died out in the 1800s and was revived by Swiss breeders, which is why the modern Saint Bernard is heavier and droopier than the dogs the monks kept.
Words from the period Our dear brother in the world — a formal address to someone outside the monastery. Commending you to God — a standard pious closing in monastic letters. Servants in Christ — the humility formula monks signed with.

🎯 What he has in mind — the dogs built for the work:

Boxer Working · Lv 4
Rottweiler Working · Lv 5
Saint Bernard Working · Lv 6
In the game: Working lineage, Lv 4+, personality Loyal / Gentle / Brave, trait Strong Jaw or Keen Nose. Pays 400🪙 plus style.
Available breeds: Boxer (Lv 4) · Rottweiler (Lv 5) · Saint Bernard (Lv 6) · Chocolate Labrador (Lv 7) · Mastiff (Lv 8).
England · c. 1850s
From a tenant farmer in the West Country

🌾 "Rats in the barn and foxes in the field"

I have rats in the barn, foxes in the field, and a parson down the road who keeps better dogs than I do, which I find difficult.

I want a small terrier. White, so I can see it against a hedge. Clever enough to go to ground and come back out again. Brave enough to face something with teeth. And stubborn enough that when I say "leave it," it thinks about it first.

I am told the parson has a bitch called Trump and will sell a pup for a guinea. I am also told the pup will not be a proper terrier because the parson is a gentleman and not a working man. I should like to see that proved false.

What's actually true The Reverend John Russell really did buy a white terrier bitch with tan markings — named Trump — from a milkman in 1819, and the line he bred became the Jack Russell. He was a hunting parson, and the dog was a working fox terrier long before it was a show breed. "Parson Russell Terrier" is now the recognized breed name. The farmer's suspicion that a parson's dog can't work is the joke of the letter, and it did not survive contact with the facts.
Words from the period Bitch — the correct word for a female dog. Not a vulgarity. Guinea — one pound and one shilling. Still used in country speech for fees and horse trades. Go to ground — follow a fox into its earth. A working terrier's whole job.

🎯 What he has in mind — the terriers worth a guinea:

Jack Russell Terrier · Lv 4
Bull Terrier Terrier · Lv 5
Airedale Terrier · Lv 6
In the game: Terrier lineage, Lv 4+, personality Clever / Brave / Stubborn, trait Strong Jaw or Hunting Nose. Pays 400🪙 plus style.
Available breeds: Jack Russell (Lv 4) · Bull Terrier (Lv 5) · Airedale (Lv 6) · Mini Schnauzer (Lv 7) · Wheaten Terrier (Lv 8).
The Northern Wilds · c. 900s
From the Wolfkeeper, sent south by a trader's hand

🐺 "I am short a pack"

To the Master of the Court, from a woman who has not seen a proper wall in twelve winters. I am told your Court can find a dog for any purpose. I do not want a dog. I want a wolf.

I keep a pack at the edge of the pine forest, and I am short a few. The villagers chased off my last three with pitchforks, which I do not blame them for — I would chase myself off with a pitchfork, if I met myself in the wood at night. But I need more wolves, and I need them tame enough to come when I call, and wild enough to remember what they are.

A wolf is not a dog. This is the thing I keep having to explain. You can breed a wolf until it looks like a dog, but the wolf is still inside it, looking out. It will love you, but it will love you the way the winter loves the hill: without asking permission.

Send me any wolf you find. Any temper. Any talent. I will pay what you ask, and I will pay you again if it does not bite me. The cold is coming, and I am short a pack.

Signed with a wolf's tooth, which is all I have to sign with.

What's actually true Wolves and dogs share a common ancestor — an extinct Pleistocene wolf — and split somewhere between twenty and forty thousand years ago, depending on whose paper you believe. They are now classified as the same species: Canis lupus familiaris for the dog, Canis lupus for the wolf. Wolf-dog crosses are real and difficult to keep, precisely because of the "wild-inside" problem the Wolfkeeper describes. Wolves were driven extinct in England around 1500 and in Scotland around 1700, so her northern wilds are the last good habitat in Europe. The name "wolf" appears in half the personal names of the early medieval north — Ulf, Wulf, Lupus — which is a strange way to honour an animal you are afraid of.
Words from the period Warg — the Old English word for wolf, later meaning outlaw. Related to Old Norse vargr. Fenrir — the great wolf of Norse myth, bound by the gods and destined to break free at the end of the world. Short a pack — a herding and hunting expression: to be fewer than you need.

🎯 What she has in mind — the wolves she has heard of:

Timber Wolf Wolf · Lv 3
Arctic Wolf Wolf · Lv 4
Alpha Wolf Wolf · Lv 5
In the game: Wolf lineage — any level works, but the Wolfkeeper's demands rise with each delivery. No personality or trait requirements. Wolves cannot be tamed, bathed, or dressed.
Available breeds: Timber Wolf (Lv 3) · Arctic Wolf (Lv 4) · Alpha Wolf (Lv 5) · Dire Wolf (Lv 6) · Frostfang (Lv 7) · Moonhowl (Lv 8).
Wolfkeeper rewards: Lv 3+ (650🪙) → Lv 3+ (700🪙) → Lv 4+ (750🪙) → Lv 4+ (850🪙) → Lv 5+ (950🪙) → Lv 6+ (1,100🪙).
Wolf behaviour on the meadow: agitates neighbouring dogs, which then lash out — Lv 2+ wolves that get attacked drop a level, Lv 1 wolves that get attacked are driven off the meadow entirely. Store wolves in the Kennel at any level to protect them.

🏛️ After the delivery: Favor, returns, and follow-ups

The Court is not a one-off transaction. Three things happen after every successful delivery, and they change how you want to play the tab.

🏛️ Court Favor

Every delivery raises your Court Favor by 1. Favor is shown as a banner at the top of the Court tab in the game, and it drifts through five states:

😠 Disgraced (−5 or lower) · 😒 Displeased (−1 to −4) · ⚖️ Neutral (0) · 😊 Pleased (+1 to +4) · 👑 Honoured (+5 or higher)

Favor rises and falls only on Court events:

+1 per delivery · +1 per fulfilled follow-up · +0 when you refund a complaint (the delivery's +1 is kept) · −2 when you deny a complaint (you lose the delivery's +1 and another point)

The Wolfkeeper does not count. Deliveries to the Wolfkeeper neither raise nor lower Court Favor, and they never trigger returns or follow-ups. He is a separate, repeatable transaction. The five historical clients are the only ones that move the Favor bar.

📬 Returns: the 20% complaint

About 1 in 5 deliveries comes back with a complaint two minutes later. The client names a problem — the dog ran away, bit a bishop, forgot its training — and demands half the delivery price back.

You have two options:

If you can't afford the refund, denying is your only option — so don't spend every coin the moment it lands. Budget for a possible refund.

✉️ Follow-ups: the 25% return visit

Separately from complaints, about 1 in 4 deliveries triggers a follow-up request 2–3 minutes later. There are two kinds:

Both requests may also specify a trait. The matching dog must be 100% tamed and 100% bathed, just like a Market sale — Court clients are fussy. You don't get a second chance: if you dismiss the request, the client won't ask again.

Follow-ups are the best payouts in the Court. A 1.75× satisfaction request on a 400🪙 client is 700🪙 plus style. Keep a spare same-lineage dog of each sex at each level if you want to catch them consistently.
The easiest delivery in the game: the Wolfkeeper.
The Wolfkeeper wants any wolf — no personality, no trait, no style, no grooming. The first wolf Lv 3+ pays 650🪙. Each delivery after that raises both his demand and his payment: Lv 3+ for 700🪙 → Lv 4+ for 750🪙 → Lv 4+ for 850🪙 → Lv 5+ for 950🪙 → Lv 6+ for 1,100🪙, and it stays at Lv 6+ / 1,100🪙 for all further deliveries. He has no Favor, no returns, no follow-ups. Treat him as a shop.