The Ice Knife Pack

     Totem: The Winter Manitous

Alpha:  Cry of Winds
           Lupus Wendigo Galliard
           Rank 4     Master of the Howl

"It is true that many of my Pack have given their lives in defense of this Caern.  But, what else could be more important to die for?"

    Cry of Winds was born to the wolf Kinfolk that live in the Caern lands.  He has continued Frostrunner's tradition of keeping the pack a stay-at-home defense group.  He is very, very curious about humans, but will not allow his curiosity, or anything else, distract him from what he perceives as his pack's real task:  protecting the Caern.
    Cry of Winds was recently confirmed in the role of Master of the Howl, a post he had informally filled for some time.
 

Beta:  Hunts the Tundra (Linda Crowfeather)
         Homid Wendigo Ahroun
         Rank 3

"Why is it that my Tribe seems to be full of vengeful warriors, you ask?  Perhaps because my Tribe has had so little peace."

    Hunts the Tundra  has eschewed her human name since her Rite of Passage.  She was attracted to the Ice Knife when Frostrunner first formed the pack so she could become a better warrior.  She has since become one of the sept's more potent fighters.
    Hunts recently lost a challenge of riddles for the leadership of the pack, however the nature of the riddle convinced her that she isn't ready for the political pressures Cry of Winds is under.
 

Gamma:  Michael Runs to Water
             Homid Child of Gaia Philodox
             Rank 2

"Sure we don't get out much, but then no one we don't want gets in much..."

    Mike provides the calming influence for the Ice Knife, keeping them from flying off the handle. While this is not an easy or popular job in a pack dominated by Ahrouns, he has prevent them from doing things that would have been...embarassing.
    He is currently trying to convince Cry of Winds to seek out a Theurge (shaman) for the Pack.
 

Omega:  Rends Stone
           Lupus Red Talon Ahroun
           Rank 2

"I have seen drawings where the Wyrm turns and eats its own tail. But, we have learned this trick, it seems."

    Rends Stone was born to wild wolves and found himself drawn to the spiritual power of the Caern of Gaia's Strength.  He was one of the unattached Garou Trask assembled to form the Shining Host.  Rends Stone immediately challenged for the leadership of the Pack and was soundly defeated by Trask.  Rends followed Trask without question from that point on.
    After Trask's demise, Rends Stone fell into Harano. Derrick and the Cry of Winds worked to bring him back.  Although not fully recovered, Rends Stone has become a member of Ice Knife.

Frostrunner--deceased
Tears at the Night--deceased

  As Walks' Tribemate and fellow lupus, Cry of Winds is often approached by Walks for information after the Children of the Sun return from their quests.  In return, she gives the Galliard details of their adventures to make into stories and songs.  The following is an account of their conversation after the attack on the Sept of Gaia's Strength.

    Cry of Winds is found in his pack's "turf" in the caern.  Walks immediately notices the long, ragged scars running from just behind his foreleg all the way past his rear hip on the right side.  Hunts the Tundra lies  sleeping in homid (her breed) form nearby under a blanket.  She has scars on the right side of her face, you can't see any other injuries for the blanket.

Cry of Winds:     *Looks up* "Sister, Walks!!  I regret that I do not leap to meet you, but take comfort knowing my heart soars at you return."

Walks:  "My heart is eased, my Brother, to see that you are still among us.  How went the battle for you and your Pack?"

Cry of Winds:    "Not how.  Rather, how long.  That battle raged until the Moon took its place back from the Sun.  Hunts the Tundra was hurt badly, but remains in this world.  The others have nearly recovered from their wounds and hunt for us tonight.  My wounds mark me and pain me, but have not killed me, so I can still keep watch over Hunts while she sleeps.
    "I am always sad to see Winter end, but I think it is fortunate that it does now; it will make our healing easier."

Walks:  "Perhaps it shall make all of our healing easier.  What has happened to our Sept worries me, and not just the battle, though that seems to be the beginning of it.  It casts a long shadow over our future.  Will you tell me what happened, Brother, that I will be better prepared for the shadowed times ahead?"

Cry of Winds:     "A pack of bane-spirits attacked one night while my pack guarded.  We fought them off, and harried them from the bawn.  While we were pushing them out, a group of larger banes, accompanied by fomori attacked from another direction.  They were met by the packs of Madonna and Trask.  We returned to the Caern to see more wyrmlings coming from the second direction and, as we joined the battle, their numbers seemed to increase.  They came in waves, giving each other a chance to rest between fighting us.
    "Soon there were hundreds of banes and a score of fomori in the bawn.  The spirits of the Caern fought, too, but over the next several hours we were pushed back and back.  A mighty bane-leader led a strong group of spirits past, or through, Madonna's pack, nearly killing the one whose claws spark, toward the Center.  I think it meant to defeat East Wind itself.  Stands Last met them at the brink of the center and fought them. Her klaive flashed in the night, felling banes who screamed in agony on the ground long after they should have merely disappeared.
    "But, as the bane-leader's life ran from it's ragged wounds, it lashed out a final time with it's talons and tore at Stands Last's heart.  Maria died, her strength draining away as the few banes who she hadn't destroyed fled at the sight of their leader's demise.  Fled before the sight of Stands Last at the Center of the Caern.  As they retreated into the jaws of Pack of Backhand, Stands Last's heart finally stopped and only then did she sink to the ground.
    "Howling in anguish, the Pack of Backhand surged out into the Wyrmspawn, quickly lost among their swirling, oozing ranks.
    "With the numbers so few and the need so dire, Bite of Frost called to Zephyr to open a Moon Bridge and pray to Gaia for help.  Those prayers were swiftly answered by a flash of silvery light and the arrival of the Hunters of Doom and Fate's Hand.  With their help, the tide turned and the invasion was repulsed.
    "The Glass Walkers came later, and stood guard as we licked our wounds, cleansed our caern and mourned our dead."

    When Frostrunner (the original Alpha of the Ice Knife) died, it was a shock to the Children of the Sun.  Walks, in particular, was devastated by the loss.  In addition to being a fellow Wendigo, Frostrunner was the first "human" that Walks ever liked.  In the time before her Rite of Passage, Walks learned a great deal from Frostrunner about being a Garou.  Granted, she also learned a great deal about Rage by nearly sending him into a Frenzy, but Frostrunner is the one who started Walks on the road to accepting her human side and her place as one of Gaia's Chosen.  As a player, I was more than a little angry that Bill had killed off an NPC who was working so well with my character.  All Bill would tell me was that Frostrunner was definitely going to die, and that there was nothing Walks or I could have done about it.
    About two years later, I finally learned the truth about Frostrunner.  The truth is (and Bill's a bit miffed at me for telling you this), Frostrunner was never meant to be--he was an accident that Bill had to fix.
    Frostrunner was introduced during a play-by-email session.  Bill was at work, trying to come up with someone to find Walks after she took off for a little soul-searching.  He didn't have the "Big Book o' Names" with him, but he thought he remembered that there was a pack with a cold-named Wendigo
Ahroun in charge.  It wasn't until that night, when he checked through his notes, that he discovered Cry of Winds was the Galliard in charge of the Ice Knife and Bite of Frost was the Caern Warder.  Frostrunner was an accidental hybrid of the two.
    Now, our play-by-email sessions move pretty quick.  Frostrunner was firmly in place in our minds, but Bill needed to dump him.  The Caern was getting too full and an extra Wendigo Ahroun was one Rage-machine too many.  So, without ever mentioning this, he arranged to send Frostrunner back to the Wendigo Home Realm.  Cry of Winds took over Alpha-ship and all moved smoothly along.  In retrospect, Frostrunner's death introduced a number of plot points which helped the Pack unite and make some friends (and enemies) within the Sept.  Not bad for an accident.