Hoo okay I think this might be one of the last ideas I have for the Rudolfverse for a while

While Santa Claus is an immortal being in my universe, the Avios deer are not, so he’s actually gone through multiple sets of reindeer both before and after the iconic team of nine.

So here is one of the pre-Rudolf teams that Aldrick (Rudolf’s grandpa, Donner and Blitzen’s father) was a part of when he was younger. Poinsettia was his wife, and you may recognize they’re wearing the familiar green and red harnesses that they would eventually hand down to their sons Donner and Blitzen after they retired. Poinsettia unfortunately passed away due to illness before Rudolf was born, hence why she doesn’t appear in the story. Also Sprinter is Dasher’s dad.

I also have it so that Santa originally started off with fewer reindeer in teams of four or six before he added more later. It also explains the inconsistency where Santa is sometimes depicted with with six reindeer instead of eight.