Garou Nation
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The Garou Nation is an alliance of twelve fictional Garou tribes in the old World of Darkness setting, as depicted in the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Though the Garou Nation has its own goals and laws, such as vowing to protect Gaia, each of its member tribes also have their own agendas and philosophies, which can lead to fierce inter-tribal conflicts.
Membership in a particular tribe is partly derived from upbringing, often by a parent or near relative, but also drawn in part from spiritual influences. There is an implication in the background of the game that Garou souls are reborn into new bodies (players can choose to give their character the ability to tap knowledge of previous lives) and thus the soul may have a default tribe to which they belong. The tribal totem is the ultimate judge of whether a particular garou will be accepted into the tribe, although it is a rare and shameful thing to be rejected. Very rarely garou find that their native tribe is not suited to their philosophy, and may either reject the tribes utterly, or attempt to join another tribe. The Children of Gaia and Bone Gnawers are the two tribes most open to garou that have left their original tribe.
Over the centuries, three tribes of the Garou Nation have either been wiped out or fallen to the Wyrm. Such tribes include the Bunyip of Australia, the Croatan of North America, and the White Howlers, who became the Black Spiral Dancers. A fourth tribe, the Stargazers, remains loyal to Gaia but have withdrawn from the Garou Nation.
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[edit] Black Furies
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Pegasus | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
Black Furies are a tribe of avenging and war-like (usually) female werewolves who are generally described as Amazons. The tribe originated in Greece, but modern Furies come from all over the world. Their totem is Pegasus and also Panther. While childbirth is considered a sacred act among the tribe, only females and male metis descendants of Furies are accepted. Fertile sons and most metis females are sent off to be adopted by other tribes (usually the Children of Gaia).
Furies are strongly connected to the Wyld and shun the Wyrm and the Weaver's work, including pharmaceutical care and test-tube babies. In other words, creations of Man that mess with Mother Nature. In their defense of Gaia, most Furies seek out violators of the land and females, in general. Very few are adamant man-haters. The tribe is a fierce rival of the Get of Fenris, whom they view as nothing but a bunch of male chauvinists.
Tribal Camps:
- The Amazons of Diana - A camp which skews young in comparison to the others. Members of this camp live to battle fiercely, and have a reputation of choosing a warrior lifestyle over that of an avenger.
- The Bacchantes - Also called Maenads. This camp is the most fierce defender of the Mother, hunting down and destroying the most severe violator of Gaia's laws in overwhelmingly violent acts which are often depicted as natural disasters. Violators include physical abusers, rapists, vast polluters, etc...
- The Freebooters - Maintains a vigilent search for new Wyld places, and/or previously holy places which can be reconsecrated to serve as caerns. Members of this camp also manage to "obtain" misused fetishes to cleanse for holy use or destroy outright.
- The Moon-Daughters - Seeking to preserve Gaia through the changing times, this camp keeps closely to the modern world, embracing a New Age mentality.
- The Order of Our Merciful Mother - Oft derided by other groups, this camp centers on a balance between worshipping Gaia and loyalty to the Catholic Church. Originally created to subvert the patriachal religion, the camp now seeks to work within humanity using the tools that are available to them.
- The Sisterhood - The network of the tribe, this camp maintains a wide range of contacts and information similar to Glass Walkers or Bone Gnawers. The camp served as a pre-Underground Railroad for Garou (and Kinfolk) during the Inquisition.
- The Temple of Artemis - A camp which skews older in comparison to the others. Made up of the most elderly and respectful Furies, this camp is also the most conservative in its doctrinal view. They are staunch allies of the Bacchantes camp, providing wisdom to the existing rage.
[edit] Bone Gnawers
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Rat | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
The Bone Gnawers, the Children of the Totem Rat, are the lowest of the Werewolf along the World of Darkness and the History. Their origins are uncertain, perhaps they descend from a "scavenger sept" of the prehistoric North Africa or perhaps they have been a collection of the desperate throughout the history of the Garou Nation. Bone Gnawers are often despised as honorless cowards; while this is true of some of the tribe some of the time, Bone Gnawers in general are devoted to the protection of the weak (the homeless, the mad, the exploited) from the corruption of the Wyrm, fighting in the core of the city with all the vicious strength of a cornered rat.
[edit] Children of Gaia
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| Totem: | Unicorn | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
The Children of Gaia are primarily interested in joining together all of the tribes as one, despite the glaring hatred some have for each other, like the Get of Fenris and the Black Furies. Many consider them as well-meaning but naive tree-huggers who talk too much and do too little, but of cource that's not how the Children of Gaia percieve themselves and their duty. One of their practices is, to teach humans better behavior to shield them against the Wyrm's corruption. Their reputation as being 'soft' is a result of this. This image of the tribe is the one thing that hinders the tribe most. But besides their reputation, the Children are just as potent fighters as all the other garou. Their access to a unique self-healing power especially makes them dangerous opponents. And while they fight hard battles against the Wyrm's minions they also use subtle ways of combat. In addition most Children of Gaia don't see fighting duels as a suitable way to solve disputes with other garou, so their hesitation might be percieved as cowardly, if a Child of Gais is challenged to a duel.
Other tribes therefore see the Children of Gaia with mixed feelings. Their achievements as mediators are overshadowed by their willingness to include the cast-offs from other tribes into their ranks. They indeed are the only tribe to actively seek out metis and reformed Black Spiral Dancers to join them.
The Children of Gaia's totem is the unicorn, which represents innocence and purity, but also stands for healing, unity and chivalry.
[edit] Fianna
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Stag | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
Hailing from Celtic descent, the Fianna are a passionate tribe of Garou. Widely known for their storytellers, bards, musicians, poets and other artistic types, the Fianna are true madmen whose love for parties, alcohol and company can easily turn into fierce hatred, bloodlust and feral rage. The Fianna claim that the first Galliard was a Fianna and they're known for their ties to the fairy-folk (see Changeling: The Dreaming).
Every Fianna has a story to tell, their bold tales are only matched by the Silent Striders. Fianna's lust for a good fight is matched by the Black Furies, whom they tend to hit on at grand moots, and Get of Fenris. Even though they share a common ancestry with the Gets, they are on bitter grounds with each other due to several conflicts the two tribes have had. The Fianna have warm relationships with the Children Of Gaia and Bone Gnawers and (mostly) obey the reign of the Silver Fangs.
[edit] Get of Fenris
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Fenris | |
| Notable Aliases: | Fenrir | |
The Get of Fenris (also known as the Fenrir) traces its roots to Germanic tribes and wolf packs of Germania and Scandinavia. They are known as fierce and unforgiving warriors. They constantly train in battle, duel, engage in survival activities to hone their warrior skills. Cult of strength and endurance is so prevailing that they prize every battle-scar and sometimes engage in ritual (self)mutilation to prove themselves.
They are infamous for the constant "testing" the other tribes of Garou for being fit for being true defenders of Gaia. In practice they challenge other tribes to duels and take over their caerns if they are unable to defend them. It was for this reason (or pretext) that they have been engaged in a series of battles with the Fianna tribe and were a primary force in war with the Uktena and Wendigo tribes and their Native-American kinfolk.
They are also notorious for being unable to compromise and prone to rage - the reason they are derided by other tribes. Also, more manipulative tribes (like the Shadow Lords) tend to think of Fenrir as of cannon fodder.
[edit] Glass Walkers
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Cockroach | |
| Notable Aliases: | Warder of Apes (Drak Ages) Iron Raiders (Wild West) |
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- Main article: Glass Walkers
The Glass Walkers are the wolves of the cities, sharing that realm with the Bone Gnawers. Whereas the latter tribe holds the streets and slums as its domain, the Glass Walkers are in the thick of the financial and technological flow, fighting their battles as often with guns, computers, and bank accounts as with fang and claw. Taking the unusual totem Cockroach as their spiritual patron, the Glass Walkers find themselves semi-pariahs among their brethren for their love for the city (and, to a lesser extent, for their affinity for humanity and its technology, which some other tribes proclaim as evidence of their corruption by the Weaver), but continue marching to the sound of their sythesized drums, confident that their chosen lifestyle holds the key to preserving Gaia.
[edit] Red Talons
| Tribal Glyph: | ||
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| Totem: | Griffon | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
Red Talons are the most separatist of the Garou tribes, camping in the far wilderness far from humanity, whom they despise. Red Talon beliefs hold that man, including all human kinfolk, is a "cancer" upon the earth completely corrupted by the Wyrm, For that reason along with the belief that humans have no instincts, the tribe only allows lupus members, products of Garou/wolf breeding.
Red Talons were instrumental in the Impergium, the forceful control of human populations through violence, some elders known as the winter council are trying to reestablish the Impergium. Though no one out side the Red Talons know about the winter council.
As stated in the Red Talon Tribe book there are three camps main camps within talon society.
°The Lodge of the predator Kings: wish to go even further today, wiping out humanity altogether.
°The Warders of the land: belive they can not kill all humans and seek to maintain the status quo. That is keeping humans out of the wild places and killing those that enter and befoul it.
°Whelp's Compromise: See some redeaming value in humans, they see that some people are trying to help the world but Gaia help those who despiol the land near a Whelps Compromise Talon, they lash out with fury that would match any Predator King.
Movement between camps can happen as desribed in the tribe book one notable elder and a member of whleps compromise was quite the impasioned predator king in his youth even ginving his reason for changing camps was he realived it was not the humans fault it was the fault of the Banes(Wyrm spirits) influencing humanity.
The Red Talons claim to have invented the Garou runes when their leader clawed the Silver Fang leader during the inception of the tribes, saying that the mark would be their clan name.
To the Red Talons the life of one wolf is worth more than any number of human lives. The Talons do everything they can to protect all wolves. However, because they reject their human halves, they can not do much except kill interlopers.
[edit] Shadow Lords
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Grandfather Thunder | |
| Notable Aliases: | Hakken (japanese relatives to the tribe) | |
- Main article: Shadow Lords
The Shadow Lords are a tribe of manipulative Garou, originally of Slavic origins, but the tribe's main focus is on ability rather than race.
These black-pelted followers of Grandfather Thunder are masters of Machiavellian intrigue. The power-structure within the Shadow Lords tribe is a hierarchy where you can only climb higher through means of deceit and treachery. The Shadow Lords’ lives are a constant struggle for power. They have great insights into psychology of their enemies and scrupulously exploit anyone’s weak spots if needs be. Shadow Lords respect power and condemn weakness, any cub who’s not strong enough in their eyes is banished from the tribe.
The Shadow Lords’ goal is simple: to push the Silver Fangs off the throne and obtain power over the Garou Nation; the Shadow Lords and the Silver Fangs have been bitter rivals ever since the ending of the Impergium. None of the other tribes like them very much, or at all, but even the ones who hate them most don't question their ability to get things done.
[edit] Silent Striders
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Owl | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
The Silent Striders were exiled from their homeland of Egypt by the Followers of Set, and have been roaming the world ever since. They are involved in the world of Wraith: The Oblivion and Vampire: The Masquerade more than any other werewolf tribe.
Since their exile, they have traveled the world, and their kin are now the Gypsies, better known as the Roma. They are cursed to always travel, yet yearn for a home to call their own. Many serve as messengers and couriers, traveling from caern to caern as a global information network.
[edit] Silver Fangs
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Falcon | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
- Main article: Silver Fangs
The Silver Fangs are the traditional rulers of the Garou Nation, with literally millennia of selective breeding and heroic tradition behind them. While many of the Garou Nation's finest leaders and warriors have come from the ranks of the Silver Fangs, in recent centuries the tribe's stock has fallen dramatically among its ostensible citizenry. Centuries and centuries of inbreeding has caught up with the tribe, with madness and stubborn clinging to tradition becoming more and more common among its senior members. Also, the rise of democratic thought across the world has weakened the tribe's ability to use its royal heritage as an asset, and prompted disaffected tribes to be vocal about their disagreements and disapprovals. Still, the Silver Fangs are far from defunct, and the rise of dynamic young leaders like King Albrecht in North America and Queen Tamara Tvarivich in Russia, along with the continued patronage of its noble totem Falcon, may give the tribe a much-needed infusion of strength and purpose.
[edit] Uktena
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Uktena | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
main article: Uktena
Uktena are said to be comprised of animalistic peoples from all over the world. Most are of Native American heritage, though adopted werewolves are from a variety of backgrounds. The Uktena are a tribe of mystics, shamans and arcanists; because of their close ties to the magical and knowledge of the arcane many fear that there are those among them who may be turning to the Dark Arts, and their history of having their land gradually taken from them have made some of the Uktena very bitter indeed. Their main talent lies in the sealing of Banes, and as such they may have deeper knowledge of the Wyrm than the other tribes are comfortable with.
[edit] Wendigo
| Tribal Glyph: |  |
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| Totem: | Wendigo | |
| Notable Aliases: | (none) | |
main article:Wendigo (World of Darkness)
The Wendigo are a tribe of Garou with almost exclusively Amerindian kinfolk. They claim Canada and the northern United States as their homeland, and are locked in the almost hopeless struggle against the encroachment of Wasichu society and its effects. This same tribe follows the spirit of "The Great Wendigo", a mighty spirit of the winter and the wind who takes the form of a great white wolf and aids his people in their times of need. The spirit is known to be a cannibal spirit, and many garou of the wendigo tribe are likewise reputed by outsiders to have a temptation to eat human (or garou) flesh.
