Werewolf the Apocalypse

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who they believe us to be.

We walk between worlds.

The worlds of humankind

and our Mother Earth.

The worlds of flesh and spirit.

The worlds of rage and reason.

our brothers and sisters

have fought with fang,

claw and spirit to protect Gaia -

This is Her final hour -

This is your legend.

The Legend of the Garou

Thousands of years ago, before humans used language to describe the events of the past, the Earth Mother created three supernatural forces - the Weaver, the Wyrm and the Wyld - to maintain the universe. She guided all nature's creatures with a feral claw.

It was the Earth Mother, they say, who first taught us to change our shape. And it was at Her command that we fostered the fledgling human race. Many were the shapeshifting kinds, but we were the most powerful, the most feared - the Garou, the werewolves. Together, we kept the human herds in check. A conclave of our tribes ruled our kind, and we were the Earth's dominant species.

We reveled in our dominance, and we sought to command all shapeshifters. When not all would bow to our might, we claimed our kin to be a threat to Gaia's human children. In retaliation for their defiance, we waged a savage battle against our changing kind. We never expected that those we sought to protect would be the next to dissent.

The violence was so terrible that humankind turned its back on us all. While we carved out a path in blood, humans relegated us to myth and legend and began their own story. So much did humankind deny our existence that, to this day, humans who see a Garou retreat in madness and forget what they have seen.

Today, we Garou live under the Veil, concealing ourselves from the humans who are now dominant among Gaia's offspring. But still, be it in the world of flesh or spirit, we fight to prevent the Apocalypse. As humans pollute the world and cities grow, strangling the wild places, so too do the Wyrm and the Weaver fight each other in a conflict that can only destroy the world.

We Garou stand in their way. Our struggle today is more dire than ever, for indeed, we are the last generation of warriors.

Among the Garou, twelve tribes

battle for the fate of Gaia.

In a tribe composed exclusively of women, the Furies act as defenders of the Goddess and protectors of her most sacred places. Originating in Ancient Greece, the tribe has since inspired great legends of female heroes.

This urban tribe is tied instinctually to life on the street. Long ago, they began as scavengers in India and Northern Africa. Now they stalk wherever the homeless and desperate struggle to survive.

Children of Gaia

As gentle mediators, the Children favor healing and understanding over bloodshed. No other tribe is as committed to helping humanity.

Exclusively of Celtic descent, the Fianna are known for their wild passions and artistic insight. They are famous for their skilled bards, great warriors and mystical ties to the Fae.

Surviving the harsh lands of Northern Europe, the Feneris have developed a savage, bloodthirsty and fatalistic view of life. As one of the most martial tribes of werewolves, they are also unparalleled at dealing in death.

For thousands of years, the Walkers hid in human cities, living as wolves among sheep. Other werewolves typically mistrust them, not only for their proficiency with high technology, but also for their love of human cities and culture.

Composed entirely of lupus Garou, this tribe is well known for its fierce hatred of humans. Talons thrive whenever they can commune with the mysteries of the wild.

Ruthless, devious and ambitious - the Lords value political power over all else, and they are fascinated by the politics of Garou society. By struggling against their rivals in Eastern Europe for millennia, they have become masters of diplomacy and Machiavellian intrigue.

Once they dwelt in the fabled lands of Khem in Ancient Egypt, but no longer. Now they roam the Earth, following an insatiable wanderlust. Striders typically join packs that love to travel, often communing with gypsies, wanderers and the restless spirits of the dead along the way.

Once the unquestioned rulers of Garou society, the Fangs are descended from some of the greatest werewolves in history. Lineage and ancestry is critical to them. Since their glorious days in their Russian homelands, they have fallen prey to tragic flaws, often spiraling into despair and madness.

Animistic peoples from every corner of the Earth have contributed to this eclectic and mysterious tribe. Ethnically diverse and intensely curious, they hoard knowledge of magic from all over the world as well as a deep understanding of the occult that they dare not share with outsiders.

This tribe is descended from Native American Garou. Their strongest septs are in the northernmost portions of North America, where they endure some of the harshest conditions on Earth.

Garou are born of the Earth Mother,

but her sister Luna, the Moon, is their guide.

Born under the New Moon...

... Born to stalk the shadows.

You slip beneath notice

to strike Gaia's enemies unaware.

Born under the Crescent Moon...

... Born to channel nature's fury.

You wield the power of

the Earth itself against her foes.

Born under the Half Moon...

... Born to dispense justice.

You bring sentence against

those who threaten Gaia.

Born under the Gibbous Moon...

... Born to forge the legend.

You break the foes of Gaia

with songs of rage and glory.

Born under the Full Moon...

You are the true warrior of Gaia,

and nothing will withstand your rage.

Age of the Apocalypse

There is no more time to spare.

No tomorrows to which our battles may be delayed.

The Red Star is here, my sister.

Long ago the Wyrm was driven mad,

and for long days, we sought to free ourselves of its horrors.

But we did not know that the Weaver

who entangled the Wyrm was also our enemy.

Listen my sister, the Apocalypse is here.

We are the last generation.

I said the word “supernatural” before. It’s an interesting word for what we are. It means “beyond nature,” right? Well, that's sort of accurate. We aren't really literally beyond nature, of course. It’s just that humans have a limited perception of what nature is. All they see is the physical side of things. Oh, sure, they keep trying to reach for some greater cosmological truth ---- just look at those New Age types, all convinced they're reincarnations of Ramses and Cleopatra. Or look at the churchgoers who are convinced that if they do exactly what the priest says, they'll go directly to Heaven where they can look down on all the people they hate in Hell and laugh. But they're not looking in the right place. Humanity wants the quick fix. They suspect there's something bigger than them in the world, but they want to be told exactly the right words to say and the right things to wear so that they can get instant gratification or enlightenment. And the more they look for the quick and easy way to something sublime, the farther they get from actually touching it.

We're a little luckier then they are. We're born with a portion of the world's soul in our bodies. That's where our power comes from ---- we are nature. We're spirits made flesh. We're creatures of the two worlds ---- man and beast, flesh and spirit.

It’s this way from birth. You weren't born human, even though no doctor, no blood or DNA test could tell the difference. There's no gene to express what makes us what we are. For all anyone could tell, we're normal human children. Or wolf cubs, for that matter. That's an important thing. We Garou can't mate with each other ---- well, we can, but it's like incest. Our blood’s too potent, too powerful to produce healthy children if we mate with each other. We have to dilute it with the blood of humans and wolves if we want healthy generations of cubs. We can't just bite somebody and make them one of us ---- and it's for the best that way. Because we need humans and wolves to pass on our line, we have to protect humanity and wolves alike for our won good as will as theirs. And believe me, if it weren't for that, humanity might have died out long ago. There are too many of us who see humans as the enemy.

Now, the way I've been talking, you might assume that all of our power comes from some sort of invisible supernatural gene. It doesn't work that way. Like I dais, we're tied into the entire world, both physical and spiritual, and those connections take a lot of forms. We draw some of our power from our birthright, sure. But it's not always who you're born to. Sometimes it's when you're born that makes a difference.

You know the legends about the full moon ---- that's when werewolves change, right? Well, there's a full moon tonight. I can feel it pulling on my blood; you can feel the same things, can't you? The full moon's a warrior's moon. As the moon waxes and wanes, so does our Rage.

That connection to the moon's with us from birth. Luna ---- the spirit of the moon ---- kisses each one of us as we're born and gives us our anger. The more of her light in the sky on the night of your birth, the more Rage you carry within you. Forget astrological signs and planetary influences. The phase of the moon is what marks our destiny. I was born under a half moon: the judges moon. I was born half in light, half in shadow, so it's my task to keep the laws, to see both sides of every problem.

The didn't get a chance to tell me what your moon affinity is before I left. Maybe you're a Full Moon child. That would be lucky, on a night like tonight.

Who are “they”? “They” are the werewolves who guard this portion of the land. They're your relatives, your godparents: your tribe.

A Higher Reality:

You made it. Congratulations.

Oh, sorry ---- I guess that's a little much to take in all at once. Go ahead, take a long look.

This is the Umbra ---- the spirit world. This is the other side of reality, the immaterial counterpart to the physical world. The spirits that fuel the world live here. Change something here, and you might change it in the physical world, too. Chop down the spirit of a giant tree, and the tree's physical body will die. That's why it's so important that we're the wolves that walk between the worlds, as my great-grandfather put it. Our war is raging in both the physical world and the Umbra; we have to be able to fight on both battlefronts.

It kind of makes your skin crawl a little, doesn't it? Yeah, that's why most of our kind don't like to come into the cities unless they have to. The webs coating everything ---- that's what the world's coming to. Those Pattern Spiders ---- the metallic spider-spirits all over the place, the ones big as St. Bernard's ---- they're the ones spinning the spirit webs, but they draw all their power from humans.

That webbing is in the heart of every city and every town on the face of the planet. It’s the mark of the Weaver. The Weaver is ---- well, she's one of the most immense spirits you can imagine. She's conformity, order, progress ---- she's repetition and organization. She's reason, science, dogma ---- she's the demon at every human being's heart that demands that the world be safe, and that it above all make sense. She's trying to bind the whole world in her webs, crazy old thing. Everything wild and primal and disorderly ---- she wants it locked down, curbed, tamed. But she's got so much power that it just might happen.

And down that way ---- down toward that industrial plant. You see those greenish fires billowing our of those smoke stacks? The ones that look practically radioactive? We'll come back to those; that's something particularly important.

This is what we're up against, though. The Weaver's webs are out of control ---- the

Enemy ........... well, they're here, too. It’s damn near impossible to even hold our ground against these odds, but we do have allies. The spirits of nature, of animals and plants and elements are on our side. That doesn't mean they're friendly, now ---- you can't exactly expect the spirit of a hurricane to genuinely have your well-being foremost in it's mind ---- but they're on our side. If we need to, we can call, and if we prove our good intentions to them, they'll help.

Here's the proof. You asked before about these spears, and I'll admit it seems stupid to bring a spear to a gunfight. Pretty useless in the 21st century, right? If they were just wood and metal and flint, I’d agree with you ---- but they're something more. Here ---- take this one.

You can feel it, can't you? Something ......... alive inside the wood, right? That's because there is something in there ---- a spirit. A Garou warrior made this spear, crafted it from the finest wood and forged its head from the finest metal. And then he called on a spirit of the storm, using ancient rites and soft speech to propitiate it. He offered it tobacco and praise and song. In return, it agreed to live inside that spear, life a genie in a bottle, and lend it's strength to him ---- or to any Garou who promised to use the spear well in defense of the Mother.

That spear will tell you more than ten thousand words could about the friendship between us and the spirits, about the sacrifices that we're all willing to make to defend the Mother Her creations against the Wyrm.

The End of the War

Okay. Now it's time. You've learned what you are, you've seen the spirit world. It’s time to learn why you've been chosen.

Werewolves are monsters ---- I'm not going to argue the point. We are. We are also necessary. As I've said before, everything we are, we are because that's how the Mother made us. When I say Mother, I mean Mother Earth, Mother Nature ---- we call her Gaia. She's the entire universe. We can't tell for sure. All we know is that She's huger than we can measure. And yet, She's in very real danger. One of the three most powerful forces in ...... of the universe is gnawing at Her from the inside.

That force ....... That's what I'm talking about when I say the Wyrm.

The Wyrm ---- where did I start? The Wyrm used to be Balance, the dividing line between the Weaver's Order and the chaos of a force we call the Wyld. While all three were in harmony, the universe was in balance. But the balance was shifted ---- corrupted. Somehow, the Weaver went mad, and in the process she drove the Wyrm mad as well.

But the Weaver is still the Weaver, still the force of order. The Wyrm ---- the Wyrm became something else. It was devoured by its own pain and anger, and in constant agony. Each horrible thought it has ---- each urge for revenge, each maddened desire to kill or seduce or destroy ---- each one becomes a spirit of corruption and is loosed on the universe. And these spirits feed on the evils they find in the world, and get stronger. Every murder, every rape, every beating ---- it all feeds the Wyrm children.

So, like any other entity, they try to make their food source thrive. They encourage humanity ---- and even us ---- to destroy and defile, because it strengthens them. It’s hard for us to resist the urge to kill without a second thought, but we have to ---- otherwise we feed those spirits. As they get stronger, so does their father ---- until it'll finally be strong enough to break free and take his insane revenge out on Creation itself.

Yes, it's real. Real as gravity or sunlight or thunder. I've never seen it myself, and I've never heard of anyone who has ---- but we know.

The tales say it'll break its bonds and come into the world in physical form in the last battle --- the final battle of the Apocalypse. And the signs show that the final battle is at hand. Look, up there ---- you can't see it in the physical world yet, but you can see it here. The Red Star ---- Anthelios. Some call it the Eye of the Wyrm; others say it's the Anti-Sun. It appeared only a year or two ago. And I think it's getting brighter. It’s the harbinger of the final battle, of the end of it all.

If the Wyrm does break free ........ It must be the size of a continent. The human race ---- and yes, our kind ---- has certainly fed it enough over the millennia. The thing is so vast that ----

Sometimes in my dreams, even in my visions, I'm looking down on a colossal mountain, sometimes even from a mountain range, from far above. And as I'm watching, the mountain starts to move ---- it starts to slide up almost beyond my field of vision. I can see the great, dark, wet hollow beneath --- and then the light stars to reflect on that hollow. I start seeing color, this jaundiced yellow-green that's spread out wide across the underside of the mountain ---- and then I see it, right in the center of the color.

I'm not ashamed to say that I start trying to scream when I see that. But that's what were up against. That's the Wyrm ---- so huge, so invincible that there's just no point in trying to kill it. Teeth and claws just won't get the job done.

But we're not trying to kill it. We're trying to beat it. There's a difference.

Into the End Times

You see now, cousin? We've got an impossible task ahead of us. Some how we have to make enough of a difference to cut the Wyrm’s feet out from under it. Somehow we have to make the world strong enough to survive the Apocalypse. We might all die in more waiting for our children to fix the planet.

But there's the problem. I keep saying “us”, and I know that I can't in good conscience order you to follow me. You have to join in the war of your own free will, or you won't be able to do the world any good. There's nowhere left that you'll be truly safe, I'm afraid ---- but you might escape for a while.

I can't force you to follow me or to fight with your tribe. It’s up to you.

Well? What'll it be?

The Prophecy of the Phoenix

Carried me in his claws.

High above the world.

So that I could see beyond tomorrow.

I beheld the future.

I saw the decimation of our kin, Hunted beyond hunting, death beyond death, to the last one. There were no more children, or grandchildren, or fathers, or mothers. This was the first Sign Phoenix gave to me, that the children of the Weaver, the Humans, would give to us, the Garou.

I beheld the future.

I saw the Children of the Weaver birthing. A great tide of Humans, rising. I saw more and more, until Gaia groaned at having to carry them all. Their houses overrunning, their rakes raping, their hands clawing at the parched earth, trying to feed from Her. This was the second Sign of the last days, that Phoenix showed me, that the Humans would do.

I beheld the third Sign.

So many. So many children. So many Humans. And they fell against each other, one to one, and the Wyrm brought forth corruption and gave each a measure. And the strange Fire I saw, out of control, the great Plume rising over the wilderness, spreading death wherever it shone in that dark and cold land. And I heard the agony of the Sea as She keened, for some drunken fool had poured a lake of black death out upon her.

I turned my head away in disgust, but I could not help but look again.

I beheld, then, the fourth Sign.

The Wyrm grew powerful; its wings fanned the breezes of decay. It spread its diseases and they were horrible: The Herd became afflicted with diseases of the head and the blood. Children were born twisted. Animals fell sick and no one could cure them. In these final days, even the Warriors of Gaia could not escape the palsied talons of the sickness-bringing deathbird.

A tear in my eye, I looked again, and the Phoenix showed me the fifth Sign.

I saw other Plumes rising like death-spears toward the beautiful sky, piercing it, letting Father Sun burn and parch Gaia. The air grew hot; even in the darkness of Winter it was warm. The plants withered in the sun. A cry of pain and disease arose from the dying forests; as one the relations cried tears of mourning.

Then, as though a veil were torn, the sixth Sign showed itself to me.

In these last days, Gaia shakes in rage. Fire boils from the depths. Ash shrouds the sky. The Wyrm skulks in the shadows made by these ....... and rears to strike. The old ones are gone; the Guardians of the Pathways and the Crossroads are finished. In the Final days, the sixth Sign will make itself known in the Packs that form. Each Pack will have unto itself a Quest, a Sacred Journey it must perform. Such is the will of Gaia.

And I saw the sky turn black, and the moon was as blood.

And the seventh Sign I glimpsed, though I could not look on it in full. But its heat I could feel.

The Apocalypse. The final days of the world. The Moon was swallowed by the Sun, and it burned in His belly. Unholy fires fell tot he ground, burning us all, twisting us and making us vomit blood. The Wyrm made itself manifest in the towers and the rivers and the air and the land, and everywhere its children ran rampant, devouring, destroying, calling down curses of every kind. And the Herd ran in fear. And the Dark Ones, children of the Wyrm, crawled from their caves and walked the streets in daylight.

I turned my head from the sight. Phoenix told me: “This is as it shall be, but not as it should.”

Phoenix left me then.

Now, I cannot dream. I can only remember the Signs, each one in perfect detail. These are the last days. May Gaia have mercy on us.

Two other extremes are crucial to a Werewolf's existence: rage and reason. Because werewolves are both beasts and men, they must balance instinct carefully with intellect. Packs can spend a lifetime hunting monsters in the physical world, but the violence, confrontation and the suffering of the “real world” fills them with uncontrollable and overwhelming anger as they spend more and more time away from the spirit world. If they are no careful, they eventually become as feral as the werewolves of legend.

By contrast, the mystical world encourages contemplation ---- it is a realm of enigmas and mystery. Werewolves who explore the spirit world gain insights into the physical world. By studying the realms of Umbra, they learn to understand great secrets, increasing their mystical understanding or Gnosis. However, werewolves who spend too much time away from the physical world loose touch with reality, forgetting responsibilities they have left behind. No place is safe; the werewolf is an outsider no matter where he travels.

Child of werewolf and human and lives as human before the first change.

Child of a werewolf and a wolf (or more rarely, two Kinfolk wolves).

Is neither belonging to human or lupine society; their parents are neither wolves nor humans. A metis is a child of two werewolves. Garou law forbids werewolves from breeding with each other, but such an act of “incest” do occur. Garou who commit these acts are usually ostracized, or sometimes killed outright, but not without reason: Their offspring, the victims of inbreeding and recessive genes, are always sterile and deformed.

The Weaver's Webs

Fanatical werewolves believe that their only duty in life is to defeat ---- or even kill ---- the Wyrm. It’s a very direct philosophy, but one with which some cubs and cliath just cannot agree. A heretical idea is spreading throughout the Western Concordiat: The Garou’s real enemy isn't the Wyrm, but the Weaver. After all, it is the Weaver that is responsible for the largest human cities. She was the primal force that first drove the Great Serpent insane, and she brings her won brand of suffering on the world as she continues her mad designs.

Most elders are horrified by this idea. Some refuse to send packs to investigate the mad Weaver's activities, and some even refuse to award renown for succeeding in such enterprises. Nonetheless, a new generation of cubs had dedicated itself to shredding the Weaver's webs, regardless of what their mangy, crusty old elders might believe.

The Lost and the Fallen

Once there were 16 tribes in the world, but only 12 remain in the Western Concordiat. One of the original 16, the Stargazers, has begun isolating its septs from the rest of the tribes. Three other tribes have fallen before the talons of the Wyrm. Each of their stories in a source of despair, grief and shame. Although many young cubs learn about their ancestor's mistakes, most elders are loath to speak too openly on these taboo subjects. After all, the fates of the Fallen reveal some of the deepest and most tragic flaws of the werewolf race.

The White Howlers

Caerns are critical to Garou culture. They act as sites of worship, meeting places and even burial grounds for fallen heroes. By tapping their power, werewolves become stronger.

Garou Shall Not Mate With Garou.

Combat the Wyrm Wherever It Dwells and Whenever It Breeds.

Respect the Territory of Another.

Accept an Honorable Surrender.

Submission to Those of Higher Station.

The First Share of the Kill for the Greatest in Station.

Ye shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans.

Respect Those Beneath Ye ---- All Are of Gaia.

The Veil Shall Not Be Lifted.

Do not Suffer Thy People to Tend Thy Sickness.

The Leader May Be Challenged at Any Time During Peace.

The Leader May Not Be Challenged During Wartime.

Ye Shall Take No Action That Causes a Caern to Be Violated.

The Others: (Changing breeds)

Ananasi (werespiders)

Bastet (werecats)

Corax (wereravens)

Gurahl (werebears)

Mokole (weredragons)

Nagah (weresnakes)

Nuwisha (werecoyotes)

Ratkin (wererats)

Rokea (weresharks)

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