Day 11 part 1: An Apocalyptic Diversion
I realised that my plan for the #CharacterCreationChallenge involved a small miscalculation on my part and I need an extra 5-6 characters. So… I will take a break from Shadowrun and do a pack of Werewolf: the Apocalypse (20th Anniversary Edition) characters.There will be one of each auspice, and then a writeup of the pack and totem spirit as a whole that I will count as a “character” of sorts.
To make it a little more interesting, I will randomise Tribe and Breed. For those not familiar with Werewolf, characters are defined by three groupings of sorts - the Tribe, which is part social club, part ethnicity and part religious affiliation, the Auspice which is part D&D-style class and part social role, and the Breed which is determined by parentage and determines what a Werewolves’ native form is. In the setting, Werewolves (Garou as they call themselves) are warriors of the earth spirit Gaia, fighting anything that endangers her, in particular the corrupting force of the Wyrm.
Before I get into the randomisation method I will be using, here is a list of all of those options. It should be noted that Werewolf is very much a game of the early 90s and, while the authors generally meant well, some of the names given to in-game concepts do not meet modern expectations of cultural or other sensitivity. The latest version, 5th edition, has changed a lot of this, but has its own… problems. I am using the 20th anniversary setting as is, but am very much aware that some of it is problematic:
Breed
The three breeds are:
Homid: A werewolf whose mother is either human or Homid herself is normally Homid, meaning they are born in human form, and will revert to human form if losing consciousness or dying.
Lupus: A werewolf whose mother is either a wolf or Lupus is normally Lupus. They are born as a wolf, and will revert to wolf form if losing consciousness or dying.
Metis: The exception to the above, any werewolf whose parents are both werewolves is Metis, which means they are born in the hybrid Crinos form and only learn to take on other forms at around age 8; they also revert to Crinos form if they lose consciousness or die. Also, every Metis has a deformity which can be a physical or rarely mental disability or something weirder like horns or a third eye.
Auspice
Auspice is determined by the phase of the moon a werewolf is born under and determines their general social role and expectations. It is possible, albeit rare and sometimes frowned upon, to undergo a ritual that lets a werewolf change their auspice.
Ragabash: Born under the New Moon, Ragabash are tricksters, scouts and questioners. They excel at stealth and misdirection.
Theurge: Born under the Crescent Moon, Theurges are mystics, ritualists and healers. They are adept at dealing with spirits and the spirit world.
Philodox: Born under the Half Moon, Philodox are judges, investigators and diplomats. They can see both sides of an issue (although some struggle with shades of grey) and are often leaders in times of peace.
Galliard: Born under the Gibbous Moon, Galliard are storytellers, historians and entertainers. They are often passionate, have great memory, and excel at communication across language and other barriers.
Ahroun: Born under the Full Moon, Ahroun are warriors and leaders. They excel at fighting and commanding others in battle.
Tribe
Tribes are social groupings - most werewolves join the tribe of their ancestors, but this is not a necessity. Many tribes have a connection with specific human ethnicities, and most have some ethical or ideological background in common. Each tribe also shares a totem spirit. In alphabetical order, the current thirteen tribes are:
Black Furies: Following the Pegasus totem, the Black Furies are an almost all-female tribe originating in ancient Greece. Some are advocates of equality and a modern view of feminism, while others have more of a spiritual view of feminine mystery and power.
Bone Gnawers: Following Rat, the Bone Gnawers are the eternal underdogs, with many of them cast out or simply not fitting into their original tribes. They may not have the resources of other tribes, but they make up for it with numbers and sheer tenacity.
Children of Gaia: The Garou are warriors, but the Children of Gaia and their totem Unicorn promote peace and cooperation. This is not a contradiction - they are quite capable of fighting when necessary, they just try all other means first. They are also strong proponents of unity between the tribes, all the better to fight the real enemy.
Fianna: The mostly Celtic followers of Stag are all about passion and tradition.
Get of Fenris: The norse followers of Fenris are all about strength and courage - not always, but often, in direct physical combat.
Glass Walkers: The followers of Cockroach are perhaps unique among the Garou in that they embrace their human side, including technology and business.
Red Talons: The counterpart to the Glass Walkers, the followers of Griffin reject humanity and consider humans to be a pest to be eradicated (or at least significantly reduced in population). They accept no Homid members in their tribe.
Shadow Lords: Originally from Eastern Europe, the followers of Grandfather Thunder are all about power and using it effectively. They have a strong “the ends justify the means” attitude and are traditionally rivals of the Silver Fangs.
Silent Striders: Originally from Egypt, the followers of Owl have been driven from their homeland by a vampiric curse, and are nomadic wanderers and couriers now.
Silver Fangs: Traditionally the rules of the Garou, the followers of Falcon maintain the purity of their bloodline with incredible zeal - some say the lack of fresh blood may be affecting their judgement.
Stargazers: Mystics following Chimera, the Stargazers make their home around the Himalayas and aim to achieve Balance above everything.
Uktena: One of the two surviving Native American tribes, the Uktena (whose tribal totem shares their name) pursue mystic power in an attempt to bind and control the Wyrm - and to get their lands back. They have accepted members from other marginalised groups around the world.
Wendigo: The other surviving Native American tribe are the Wendigo (again following a totem sharing their name). Their homeland is the frozen North of the United States and Canada (with a handful in Eastern Russia), and they distrust the other tribes (except the Uktena) that have taken their lands and killed their kin.
So, how does this go?
There will be one character of each Auspice, created in order from Ragabash to Ahroun. For each character, I will create two random numbers between 1 and 10 through random.org.
The first number will determine the Tribe, in the order shown above but skipping the Black Furies, Fianna and Stargazers who I don’t really get.
The second number will determine the Breed. For most tribes, the result will be interpreted as:
1-4: Homid
5-7: Metis
8-10 Lupus
The sole exception will be the Red Talons who have no Homid members - for them it will be
1-5: Lupus
6-10: Metis
The characters will all be for a hypothetical Story set in the western Great Lakes area of the United States, with the pack expected to range from urban centres like Chicago and Milwaukee to the forests and lakes of northern Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota and southern Ontario. In other words, a mix that should allow most character concepts to bring something to the table. Once all the characters have been created, I will also design a pack totem and a background for the pack including a story explaining why they have joined together (the classic is some ancient evil awakening or some corrupted company trying to destroy one of the sacred Caerns of the Garou, but we shall see).
Published at NZDT