Tribes

The 13 Tribes

Werewolves are divided in 13 tribes which are part of the Garou nation. This nation covers most of the western hemisphere. That includes, Western Europe, North America, and most but not all of Australia. Also, some of South America, and Africa (though admittedly not much.)

A Tribe is the family of werewolves to which your character belongs.

Tribes are social groups of werewolves bound by ancestry, ideals and spirit. They are made up of different ties that bind. Some focus on blood purity, and some focus on ideals. Bone Gnawers, Glass Walkers, Red Tallons, and Black Furies, are Tribes that focus on ideals rather than ancestral decent to determine their members. The Get of Fenris, Fianna, Wendigo, and Silver Fangs are all very conscious of their Tribes familial connections and their ancestral heritage. The Star Gazers and the Children of Gaia are Tribes bound together by a Totem Spirit which guides that Tribe of Garou, they both accept converts freely to their Tribes, though this rarely happens.

A werewolf may change his Tribe if accepted by that new Tribe, that new family, freely and with no constraints. This almost never happens. When a lost werewolf cub is found his Tribe if not readily apparent, is determined by communing with the spirits.

You would no more leave your Tribe, than you would walk out on your human family, or werewolf pack to go live with the neighbors. But it can happen, rarely.

There is one instance of Tribe changing that is common, and that is a male werewolf born to a Black Furry being given to the Children of Gaia to raise. Black Furies will keep some male kinfolk for breeding stock, but they traditionally will not keep a male cub. The Black Furies used to kill any males born to them, but in this time of troubles the Children managed to convince the female Tribe as a whole to spare the males and simply give them away. The exception is the metis Black Furry cub. A Black Furry will not shirk her duty to raise this pitiful creature even if it is a male.

A short description of the Tribes:

Bone Gnawers: Live in cities and in the country. They are closer to dogs then wolves and are not well regarded by any of the other Tribes. They are poor humans, and mongrel looking dogs.

Black Furies: Black Furies are an almost entirely female tribe of werewolves that have their ancestry in ancient Greek culture. They once killed any male werewolves born to the Tribe, but now give all of their male cubs to other Tribes to raise. A if a Black Furry male who is raised by the Children of Gaia has a child, and she is a werewolf, then she will be of the Black Furry Tribe, if the Black Furries find out, but if they don’, if it is kept from them she will be Child of Gaia.

Children of Gaia: These are the kindest and gentlest of the werewolves. Though they still fight in the name of the mother Earth, they try do it in much more peaceful ways. They support environmental movements and animal rites agencies.

Fianna: This Tribe has a long history and is associated with the Celts of Western Europe, and most often considered an Irish Tribe, though it has members off all the Celtic race ancestries, like the French, Welsh, English, Scottish, Dutch, and even some German Celts. They are known for their love of mead and music.

Get of Fenris: The Get are the more physically impressive Tribe of werewolves. Their human kin ancestry hails from Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Ice Land. They follow old customs and ways similar to those of the Vikings. They value physical prowess and can be very intolerant of anything they see as weak.

Glass Walkers: Are the city wolves. They live in the concrete jungle and hearken to its. Call. They are closely connected to the Weaver, and anything technical. Though not every Glass Walker is a hacker/computer programmer, most are familiar with the spirits of machinery and modern cities. They are found in most large cities, at their finical technical centers.

Red Talons: Red Talons are the only Lupus Tribe. All Red Talons are born to wolf parents. They are known for their ferocity, and bestial actions. They a very wolf like, even when taking homid form. Their ancestry are the true wolves of Russia, North America and other Great Wildernesses that wolves call home.

Shadow Lords: Considered to be manipulative and plotting these dark souls embody political maneuverings, wrapped in a dangerous package. They originally hail from the area now called Eastern Europe.

Silent Striders: Scouts, lone wolfs, gypsies, heralds, they travel the world seeking knowledge and the unknown, especially arcane knowledge. Their roots lie in Africa and the Middle East.

Silver Fangs: The proud, noble leaders of werewolf society. At least that is what some think, others find them to be the antiquated inbreed remnants of a time long gone. They are descended from the kings and emperors of European and Asian cultures.

Star Gazers: The tiny Tribe called Star Gazers has left the Garou Nation and are no longer counted among the Tribes. They as a Tribe have returned to their homelands in Southern Asia and the few who remain in the West are held by ties of pack and Blood.

Uketena: A muti-cultural Tribe that contains the many dispossessed peoples of the world. It was once one of the largest Tibes in the Garou Nation, unfortunately due to the expansion of Western Civilization the kinfolk of this tribe, both wolves and Native Peoples of both the Northern and Southern Americas have been decimated. The Tribe now struggles to maintain it’s numbers and its occult knowledge in the face of the wyrms ever present threat of complete desolation.

Windego: Proud and bitter, they are a deeply traditional and spiritual Tribe who believe that they are the true Pure Ones. The untainted people of the Pure Lands of North America. They strive to protect what is left of their once vast territories from the Wrym and the Wyrm bringers, (werewolves of the Western Civilization) who have stolen their lands and decimated their cultures. They breed strictly with pure Native American and Native wild wolf stock.

Ronin: Though not a true Tribe, Ronin describe one who has chosen or has perhaps been forced to leave the sanctuary of their Tribe, and walk alone. They are outside of Garou society and are considered “lone wolfs”. They are mistrusted by the Tribes, but occasionally they will work with members of the Garou Nation to right some wrong, or fight mutual enemy.

Anruth: Is a werewolf who is bound to no caern, but instead travels from caern to caern. An Anruth can sometimes describe a werewolf with no known Tribe. Perhaps they were lost or orphaned as a child, or changed without ever being discovered by other werewolves in any case they generally walk alone.