Glass Walkers

While the Bone Gnawers merely survive in the city, the Glass Walkers thrive there. They see the city as just another kind of wilderness: an ocean of concrete, a forest of skyscrapers or a coral reef of condominiums. They feel that the city has a kind of spirit and life all its own, and they seek to explore the diversity that this "new wilderness" provides.

The Glass Walkers originated in Mesopotamia, where they split with the Garou and came to live in the cities despite the proscriptions against doing so. They became enforcers and mercenaries for merchants in the Middle Ages and allied with guilds and the like. They were at the forefront of technological change during the Renaissance and later in the Industrial Revolution, learning that everything has spirits, even great steam engines and assembly lines.

The Glass Walkers developed Mafia ties as a result of their enforcer past, and in the '20s, Glass Walker gangs provided muscle to many Mob actions. With the advent of computers, the Glass Walkers learned about a new kind of spirit- the Net-Spiders, the computer spirits. Befriending these spirits, they found themselves in control of spirits that could alter and gather information from computers all over the world, and they discovered an entirely new world called the CyberRealm. The Glass Walkers believe it is their duty to guide the cities and technology of the world to a path allied with Gaia. Indeed, they see Gaia as a part of the city itself.

Totem:  Cockroach is an alien totem to most other Garou, but it's a perfect choice for Glass Walkers.  Its children have survived for 325 million years, they can adapt to almost any environment, they are virtually impossible to exterminate fully, and they are often plentiful in urban areas.

Initial Willpower:  3

Tribe Advantage:  Weaver's Children

The Glass Walkers begin the game with one additional Influence Trait. Furthermore, a Glass Walker can purchase more Influence with experience (which is some-thing other Garou cannot do). One Trait of Influence can be purchased for three experience points- subject to Storyteller approval, of course.

Tribe Drawback:  Touch of the Weaver

Glass Walkers are one bid down in all interactions with non-Weaver Spirits (they must bid two Traits to begin a challenge against one).

Backgrounds:  Glass Walkers stopped cultivating the Pure Breed Background ages ago, and they have lost touch with their anachronistic ancestors.  They also learn without the benefit of mentors.  Anything an elder can teach a cub is probably obsolete, and it must be reinvented or upgraded.

Beginning Gifts:  Control Simple Machine, Diagnostics, Trick Shot

Wolf Form:  Small-to-medium size wolves with mottled patterns in their fur (often with an "unnatural" tinge). Many of the cubs of this tribe indulge in Urban Primitivism, cutting their fur in strange shapes, piercing their bodies, submitting to silver brandings, accumulating strange tattoos and generally altering their bodies the way they want them to be.

Organization:  The Glass Walkers are generally organized in a very human way. They tend to think of themselves as a corporation, with directors, middle-management and employees. Their caerns are usually located within cities, often in places that shock and alarm other Garou (such as the tops of skyscrapers or in the middle of abandoned factories).

Many of the old-guard Glass Walkers are still very much allied with the Mafia and tend to rule their septs like Mafia families. Many young Glass Walker packs have very loose structures- Garou hackers and Computer Theurges care more for knowledge and skill than they do for Renown. Some Glass Walker packs merge with other Glass Walker packs into large, roaming "Urban Primitive" tribes.

The Glass Walkers were once allied with the Bone Gnawers, but since 1929 and the Great Depression, they have fought off and on. Still, because they both live in the city, they are usually friends, or at least allies against a common outside evil.

Many Glass Walkers have positive relations with Ventrue and Toreador vampires, despite the Litany's prohibition against dealing with the Kindred. These more civilized Kindred see the Glass Walkers as perhaps the last hope of making peace with the Garou, although competition in financial spheres has also caused conflict in the past.

Habitat:  The Glass Walkers live in the cities, period. They hate the wilderness for the most part, and need civilized comforts wherever they go. Some Glass Walkers are seeking to beautify the city by planting hardy trees and creating arboretums, but this is as close to the wild as the Glass Walkers want to get.

Protectorate:  The Glass Walkers watch over the city, but more specifically, in recent times, they have begun guarding and watching over the underworld of a city: the crime, drugs, prostitution and nightclubs. The younger Glass Walkers see it as their duty to watch over the worldwide computer Net- the Digital Web that stretches across the entire globe.

Outlook:  Glass Walkers see themselves as the next stage in Garou evolution. They believe that Gaia is leading them to be the rulers of a new world where the Weaver has woven her webs all over the Earth. They believe that they can help humanity and the Garou survive the coming Apocalypse by providing them with the technology and spiritual wisdom to survive. Because of this, they are somewhat arrogant. They are almost as subtle and crafty as their Shadow Lord cousins. Indeed, many conflicts between the Glass Walkers and the Shadow Lords are like great chess games using the other Garou as pieces. Their irreverence for tradition has earned them many enemies, especially among the Silver Fangs. Many tribes lust after their secret knowledge of city-spirits, especially the Uktena. The Stargazers find them interesting. They are hated severely by the Red Talons and the Get of Fenris, who have almost decided that they are of the Wyrm. The Bone Gnawers like them, but don't get too involved in their plots, if for no other reason than survival. Strangely enough, the Silent Striders and the Black Furies do not conflict with them as much as the other tribes.

Quote:  "Okay, I was cool when you asked me to leave the Gameboy behind. And I can understand not bringing along an electric generator- they're heavy. But now you're saying that I can't bring my CD player into the caern because it's upsetting the spirits? That's crap! What do they want to hear? John Denver?"
 
 

Source Material taken from Werewolf:  The Apocalypse Third Edition; Copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing and Gaming Studios, Incorporated.