ZakMack

Zak Yolcotl-Durradayne (IGN: ZakMack) is the current Vice Valar of the Vulperium. While usually being labelled as a different species, Zak heavily identifies as a blue Vulpur. He is married to his spouse Wicker and resides primarily within the towns of Aroforn and Oakendale.

Early Life in Eldham
The early life of ZakMack is lightly talked about as he has shown very little interest in discussing his childhood or teenage years. During his younger days, it is speculated that Zak spent the majority of his time only within Aroforn and towns nearby. The young Vul did not travel much and as a result, continuously learned and focused on the culture of his nation more than anything else. Nationalism and pride for the Vulperium quickly swept him up, causing himself to believe that his homeland was a gift from the Gods and should be protected at all costs.

Being born with blue fur, concern was raised about him as this was considered highly taboo. Most did not even see Zak as a Vul and considered the possibility of him being another species as a whole. This however never deterred the blue Vul away from his ambitions and only made him heavily insist on his national and cultural pride. It would not be until his adult days in which people would gradually accept this.

His First Home in Serrona
Finally being of adult age, the young Vul left home and began his journey towards what would become his new life. Initially, Zak set North to learn about the continent first before anything else. He quickly discovered the frozen lands above Aroforn and realized that the wilderness was not as nice as city life. After setting up a squatter camp near the fort of Adnan, he tried to hold out for a few days before catching a small fever and deciding to return home. Once home, he worked hard for a few years taking up jobs such as bartering, fishing and mining all while saving up money for himself. Once he finally had earned enough, he bought a house close to his friends in Tildivul and moved his personal belongings there. While working hard and saving up again, he had enough to take a tour of the Vulperium and absolutely adored every town located within it. This journey only bolstered his national pride even more than before and he vowed that he would do the best for his country no matter the cost.

Fruits of Labor
Zak spent the majority of his time at first laboring away and gathering wealth for himself. His house was almost immediately accommodated and outfitted to his personal needs to make living there feel great. Afterwards, the young Vul smartly invested his savings into more capable, durable tools and gear in order to increase his production. This decision overall earned him more and more money as his gold reserves began to noticeably take shape. Zak soon became nearly a millionaire as he saved up his money, not wishing to spend anything on unnecessary things.

New Friends and National Contributions
Though Zak loved earning wealth, at heart he was more prideful towards his community. A break was taken from his laboring as he began to give out some of his acquired resources, wealth and time to projects in need. Donations were sent to build projects that desperately needed them, a lending paw was reached to people that pleaded for another person to aid and his homeland overall became his focus. This strengthen his bond with everyone else as he began to focus on them before himself. Zak cared less and less for what he could earn as the friendships that those sacrifices created were worth it in the end.

Influence on Vulpinian culture
The fact that Zak's natural fur color was blue created a taboo element to him, one that he refused to shake out of. His fur was considered not normal and frowned upon, even being called a different species many times. Zak has openly refused this idea, even if he doesn't look the part of a typical Vul. He claims that he was born with this color and refuses to dye his fur like other Vuls because of it.

Over time, this was gradually accepted by the community and his local citizen as people began to see him more as a local Vul more than anything else. Some Vuls even began to dye their fur color as a result of this, becoming less common colors such as blue, pink, etc. to support their own identifies and what they wished to be. Only a few people begrudgingly hold out against this while some people question it but never do much about it.

The Town of Oakendale
Whilst working to gain as much wealth and resources for his nation as possible, ZakMack had a growing desire to help in a public build project that benefited the nation in a much greater way. He had gained enough equipment and supplies for himself in order to fund anything that came to his mind, but secretly he yearned to assist in even greater aspects.

A slightly different opportunity came to him when Burin Regulus, the former Head Architect of the Vulperium, asked the nation if someone was willing to contribute to the abandoned peninsula of Oakendale. Determined to begin on work, ZakMack would firstly connect the town's location to the main roads and highway network before beginning construction work. At the time of writing, Oakendale is set to become a peaceful and nature centered town. The ambitious Vul hopes that it will become a small yet calm place for a small batch of Vulperium citizens to settle down in and enjoy life as it happens. He also hopes that this will allow residents of Oakendale to prioritize sending resources to other parts of the nation in order to help in the bigger picture.

Relationship and Marriage
During a routine fishing trip within the walls of Aroforn, ZakMack met a neighboring resident named Wickerbeast. In his eyes, this was the most adorable and precious Vul he had either seen. The two began to fish together quite often and eventually felt feelings towards one another. One fishing trip together however, Wicker grabbed ZakMack's paw and proposed to him, making the blue Vul's heart melt inside. He said yes and the two happy hugged one another embracing each other's presence.

On June 19th 2022, both the blue Vul and gray Vul met within the beautiful church of St. Nuncio within Aroforn. After countless time spent and enjoyed together, the two were married with the help of Vulperium's priest Blackleaf and the support of all of their friends. Wicker fainted halfway through the ceremony due to anxiety but the ceremony continued and everyone in the end was happy. The wedding wrapped up with some thoughtful words, drinking and a cake pinata supplied by the town of Pastel.

Both ZakMack and Wicker currently reside within the town of Oakendale. Although the Vul makes regular trips to neighboring towns to help when needed as does the gray Vul when they travel back to the Republic of Falholt, they both care and support each other and vow to stay loyal to one another forevermore.