The many questions I have heard...
1.WHAT ARE THE GAROU?
Ah a question I have heard many of times...well that depends on who you ask
my friend. Of all the tribes there are different tales of where we came from.
I will tell you of a few of the more likely ones then the far fetched ones that
the more liberal tribes try to pass off.
SILVER FANGS.
The Silver fangs tale of the origin of the wolf is a likely one indeed as
they have the longest tribal histories due to their obsession with their own past.
the tale begins as they all do....A long time ago before the dawning of time their lived our mother
She was beutiful and pure floating through the cosmos unaffected by the hardships that we face today.
The mother was alone and she felt the need to create for herself companions, first she mad her sister
the moon and they were happy but the mother wanted more as her sister could never touch her or get very colose to her.
The mother then set out to make companions who would live on her and keep her company. She first created the
spirits and then she created the totems as we know them today. these totems at the first dawn of time wer,
Stag, Falcon, Unicorn, and Thunder. the times were happy then. The mother took a name Gaia so her companions
could relate to her more easily and they were happy. No time existed and the totems and Gaia and Luna( her sister) flourished
through the ageless eons. One day amongst the dar recesses of the mother there came forth a dark forboding froth that coalesced
over the years. This dark heart was born of jealousy anger, and hate. This was the wyrm. The wyrm hate the mother as she stood
for all that was good and kind in the still babish universe. Gaia was unable to defeat this evil as she tried to understand and console it instaed
of utterly destroy it. The wrym wrapped around Gaia and began to destroy her in its spitefull wrath. Gaia was choking an could only
murmor cries for help. The totems all fled in cowardic except Falcon who with his keen eyes spotted something
approaching them. This was wolf. Wolf had came into being as gaia unconsciously created a defender.
Wolf spoke to falcon and falcon took wolf to luna. Luna gave wolf the way to find this beast as she lit his way to the heart of the wyrm
Wolf wrapped in rightoues fury bit the heart of the wrym. The wyrm thrashed violently and released Gai. Gais called to wolf to run away as she was
free but wolf bit harder knowing in his heart he had to destroyu this wyrm in order to protect the mother and all the others. The wyrm began to destroy
the wolf but he bit harder in the end the wrym was so weakened from this assault he fled to his own home in the pit of malfeas where Gaia could not reach.
Wolf was dead. Gaia then lifted up wolf's shattered body and embraced it singing its prases to the cowardly totems who had fled when danger had approached.
She then raised the wolf from the dead and pronounced it her official protector and inheritor to her love
She also praised luna and falcon whom she appointed as the most honorable in her service. GAia then made the wolf able to change forms in order to serve her mor effectively and
the garou were born.
Now her is where the Silver Fangs us the story to assert their leadership over the other Garou by stating the falcon( their pack totoem)
was honored above all others.
2.HOW DO WE TRANSFORM?
Another question which i hear often is this one. We are Garou both man and wolf but never truly excepted
by either. The wolves see us as too civilized and strange, Men see us as savage and beastlike. But truly we are the chosen people
The transformation is also called shifting. We connect to our primal sides and concetrate and we can frelly traverse the forms at any time and any day.
Hollywood would have us believe that the full moon turns us into snarling beast unable to control ouselves
but i assure you this is simply ignorant dogma. The moon does however effect us. Our birth times affect our
personalities and talents to a certain extent.
3.WHAT ARE THE FORMS AND WHY DO WE NEED THEM?
The forms of our selves are as follows.
a. Homid form- this is your run of the mill human form. Without this form we would be unable to interact with the world and seeing that oue enemy is often one
that fangs and teeth will not destroy this form is essential to utilize the technological and informational
advances man has made although a few of us believe it to be a horrendous and useless form. It has its strong points and weak points as do all of them
Its strong points are:Interaction with the world, thought processes(the umbra and spiritual things are easier to imagine for hominind)
and as dum as it sound thumbs.
b. Glabro form- This is the form as a step up from the basic homid form. It is an enhanced human is the simplest way to explain it. The musculature is at the maximum human limit
the senses are tighter allowing further awarness and the body is in perfect shape strong fast and more durable. The only draw basck is the slackening of social
skills and the cavemanish appearance which can lead to suspicion and mistruyst on the part of humans. Also if one is not careful clothes and articles
will begin to tear away as the bulk increases by about 90%. the height also increases six inches a noticible differenc if done in front of humans.
c.Crinos form- This is the form of battle our defen=sive and offensive capabilities are at their maximum effectivesness. We grow another two feet fur covers our bodies which adds to our
protection and we grow fangs and claws inorder to eradicate the oppositoin. Alos a tail is grown to add balance and our speed is as the lightning in this form.
OUr rage is at its maximum setting us up for the isadvantage in this form. We are easily angere and loose control of ourselves flying
into rages which can cuase us to attack and devour our firends as well as enemies.
Also the site of our meatamorphise causes panic in humans and animals as well.
We are the avengeing angels who sometimes forget their purpose in this form.
d. Hispo- this is the promagnon wolf. Huge and menacing this form also triggers the delirium in people. OUr instincts begin to control our actions more as we revert towards of wolfen side.
The huge jaws and head make our bites terrible to reciev and the powerfull legs and fur give us added durability this is a powerful form indeed useful as a pack tactic.
e. lupus- this is our wofl form. It is in this form that we are most ruled by intstinct and chance. We are the most sensitive
in this form our sense at their peak. OUr durability is also high enabling us to long run( a high paced run usually around twenty miles a n hour that most of us can keep up for a four to five hours)
4.HOW DOES THE MOON EFFECT US?
The moon is our guiding light in our lives as garou. It is under the sign that the moon is in that we find direction to take in order to serve our mother to the fullest.
I will describe the different Auspices their function and the phases they corespind to.
THE RAGABASH
These are the Garou who some call tricksters, and others call teachers. They are born under the new moon when the sky is blackened
by the absense of Luna's face. They are normally rambucios and troublseome but they play an important part in the society as they teach us to
learn new things and to challenge established ideas. In fact it was a ragabash Child of Gaia that led to the ending of the slaughtering of humans, the culling to
keep their numbers down. The ragabash enjoyu the gifts of trickery and stealth in order to hide them form angry victims of their lastes
prank.
THE THEURGE
These are the "shamans" of the garou. They are the ones who talk to the spirits in supplication and sometimes in anger to bid their services for
the nation. They are often aloof and disconnected with the mundane world as they often dissapear for years at a time into the umbra on spiritual quest
and missions. They are very wise as they have spoken to beings older then ourselves. Remeber the theurge when a spirit is a problem.
THE PHILIDOXES
The keeper of the ways these are the judges and eambasadors of the garou.
They are the ones who lead us as they know and keep the ancieant ways and incorporate the new ones as they see fit. Usually
a philosophical ones they are the level headed garou as the coincide with the half moon phase. They are the sacred keeper of
the silver scrolls which have the the knowledge of the litany or laws of the garou that is passed down from elder to pupil.
THE GALLIARDS
The bards and singers of our people. these also represent the artist, dancer performer, they are also called the moondancers.
Often they are the leaders of the moot our gathering timeas as they sing the praise of notworthy garou and bring fame and honor to those of whom they speak.
They are the inspiration to us as we march into battles the comfort to our dying comrades and the peace bringer to angry hearts.
THE AHROUN
These are the warriors who concentrate on action and death to the wrym and all its followers. They follow the path of the full moon and honor and glory in battle is all they seek.
Their gifts are ones for battle allowing them to shrug of daeth and attack with renedwed
fury and justice.
5.WHAT IS THE DELIRIUM?
the delirium is the term we have tagged to the effect our crinos forms have upon mundane people and aanimals alike.
The fact that at one tim in history we were hunters of man as well as animal can allude to the fact that people hate us and fear us without even knowing why. The time was in the myst a long time ago when culling or ritualistic killing of peoples were carried out by all the garou in an effort to keep the Weaver and her creatures man from overrunning the earth and gaia. The cullings kept the number of man down until the age of agriculture which the weaver invented to give her creatures a better chance at thriving then before. The cullings were also stopped as we wisely saw the evil to it and how the more we culled the more corrupt we became. The culling of humans is our darkest time and one in which we are not proud of.
6.ARE WE THE ONLY TRANSFORMING PEOPLE?
No my children there are others as many as the stars in the heavens. They too were almost destroyed in the war of the changelings that we the garou in our prideful hatred declared back in time. the other races we know of are: The coyote people,
The felines and the werebears, and crow. Ther are others but they are mostly myth and legend. The Coyote the Kuwalki as i believe them to be called are the ones who taught us about traveling to the umbra, we value these tricksters for that so in the war we did not persecute them. In fact some of them actually run with some garou packs.
The Feline changelings were the most hard hit as we saw their private scheming and secrecy as a threat and obviously wyrm servants.How prideful and arrogant we were!
The werebears were also destroyed mostly due to there spiritual ties to totems we did not approve of and called wyrmservants.
The crows we could not catch if we wanted to anyway and they are harmless often serving as spies and informants. Who knows the crow that always sits on that lampost may be one of them.
Do you wish to return to the hall?Garou
© 1997 ndjackso@olympic.ctc.edu
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page