The android from O'Hare's duty free

And I kinda love it! The idea of what a world where the Wyrm is in decline looks like, how the Garou might be different (it pitches the idea of Neanderthal Kinfolk 'helping to produce a new breed of Garou') as well as potentially entire new breeds of Fera

And I'm just a sucker for a good What If question honestly

but in turn I think those themes can be explored culturally with the Garou Nation. If the world is dense with wilderness, like the entire planet has filled itself with only invasive species, I think it stands to reason that travel has gotten harder. The Weaver's logistical outreach in the form of roads, maps, and trade routes don't take easily.

So to me the Garou culture I think expands (mutates, branches) into sub-Nations. Regional Silver Fang Monarchs who command areas with no centralised authority, and these places developing their own traditions, doctrines, and even spirit pacts (I'd never mechanicise this probably, that sounds like a LOT of work for very little gain!)

In turn there were some interesting bits of Garou ethnography that I think could be expanded from pre-W5 canon (which is where I'm sort of imagining all this anyway) - namely the idea that the many tribes of Stag never united under the Fianna, the many camps of Roach's tribe being a focus for exploration (in turn of course they wouldn't be called Glass Walkers, but more on them another time), and maybe even exploring the original idea of the Hakken Garou being an entirely separate tribe of wolves following Thunder, rather than the stranger (to me) explanation of them coming from a Shadow Lord branch.

The danger of Wyrm madness in living unbalanced still remains of course, in the way the Weaver and Wyld could still get a Garou's soul in normal W20 canon - but you'd have to fight harder!

In this world, where the wilderness is absolutely clogged with plants and hyperdangerous apex predators, those who build walls, those who empower the stone spirits in roads and bridges to resist, are very much on Humanity's side here. Plus the Garou are trying to keep the mutating wilderness down, which is an act of Weaver-ish stabilisation.

The Glass Walkers here I'm calling the Stone Dens, with their dominant Camp philosophy being about those very things. The various Silver Fang warlords rule their kingdoms of Caerns, but its the Stone Dens that see to the spiritual defenses of their realms and transport routes. It is them who privately take ownership of the sanctuaries they build whilst falling into the same thematic traps as their Glass Walker counterparts about Agrarian Societies being a superior one to the many nomadic kin-groups who roam this dangerous land. But Roach is a survivor, and his Garou do not leave their lives to chance like many of their fellow Wolves.

Caerns serve as places of healing and rebalancing of the natural world, with them serving as checkpoints in a hostile wilderness or hubs of activity in the bustling centers of the Wall Builder cultures. Without them though the wilderness (wylderness?) soaks into the spiritual nature of the Garou like a sponge. Without regular purges of this arcane build up the malleable form of the Garou begins to shift and mutate with far more readiness than other flesh, their Umbral-touched minds far more easily distortable than that of even a Human.

Those lost to the wilds become Bloom Hides, members of a Garou Tribe dedicated to the mad spirit Termite, queen of the Archgorgons. The only blessed truth about them is that they fail to coordinate at the tribal level, with sometimes packs not even becoming associated with a tribal Caern of their own.

And I kinda love it! The idea of what a world where the Wyrm is in decline looks like, how the Garou might be different (it pitches the idea of Neanderthal Kinfolk 'helping to produce a new breed of Garou') as well as potentially entire new breeds of Fera

And I'm just a sucker for a good What If question honestly

but in turn I think those themes can be explored culturally with the Garou Nation. If the world is dense with wilderness, like the entire planet has filled itself with only invasive species, I think it stands to reason that travel has gotten harder. The Weaver's logistical outreach in the form of roads, maps, and trade routes don't take easily.

So to me the Garou culture I think expands (mutates, branches) into sub-Nations. Regional Silver Fang Monarchs who command areas with no centralised authority, and these places developing their own traditions, doctrines, and even spirit pacts (I'd never mechanicise this probably, that sounds like a LOT of work for very little gain!)

In turn there were some interesting bits of Garou ethnography that I think could be expanded from pre-W5 canon (which is where I'm sort of imagining all this anyway) - namely the idea that the many tribes of Stag never united under the Fianna, the many camps of Roach's tribe being a focus for exploration (in turn of course they wouldn't be called Glass Walkers, but more on them another time), and maybe even exploring the original idea of the Hakken Garou being an entirely separate tribe of wolves following Thunder, rather than the stranger (to me) explanation of them coming from a Shadow Lord branch.

The danger of Wyrm madness in living unbalanced still remains of course, in the way the Weaver and Wyld could still get a Garou's soul in normal W20 canon - but you'd have to fight harder!

In this world, where the wilderness is absolutely clogged with plants and hyperdangerous apex predators, those who build walls, those who empower the stone spirits in roads and bridges to resist, are very much on Humanity's side here. Plus the Garou are trying to keep the mutating wilderness down, which is an act of Weaver-ish stabilisation.

The Glass Walkers here I'm calling the Stone Dens, with their dominant Camp philosophy being about those very things. The various Silver Fang warlords rule their kingdoms of Caerns, but its the Stone Dens that see to the spiritual defenses of their realms and transport routes. It is them who privately take ownership of the sanctuaries they build whilst falling into the same thematic traps as their Glass Walker counterparts about Agrarian Societies being a superior one to the many nomadic kin-groups who roam this dangerous land. But Roach is a survivor, and his Garou do not leave their lives to chance like many of their fellow Wolves.

Tenskwatawa taught that Americans were created by a different god from Native people. This malevolent spirit had shaped white people from the foam of the great ocean, where an enormous and apocalyptic crab hid beneath the waves to carry out its evil designs. Only by living in love with one another, living in the old ways, could Native people drive back the land-hungry Americans and restore peace to the world. Not since the days of Pontiac and Neolin had such a reformation been so profoundly preached and so widely accepted. Within a year, word about the new prophet was spreading from Florida to the Great Lakes. Tenskwatawa's apocalyptic vision was attracting scores of followers from many Native nations throughout the border regions with the United States[...].

--

It was during this time of burgeoning growth that the territorial governor, the Prophet's nemesis, William Henry Harrison, sought to discredit him once and for all. "If he is really a prophet," Harrison wrote in an open letter to Native people, "ask him to cause the sun to stand still--the moon to alter its course--the rivers to cease to flow--or the dead to rise from their graves. If he does these things then believe that he has been sent from God." Much to Harrison's surprise, Tenskwatawa accepted his challenge. He invited all his followers at a small village in June of that year so they could see the miracle for themselves. The faithful gathered on that date, and while the Prophet remained within his lodge, they suddenly witnessed a "black sun": a total eclipse. Just at the darkest moment of the eclipse the Prophet emerged, to the acclaim of his followers. What actually happened that day--whether it was an apocalyptic sign or just a natural event--is open to interpretation, but the fact remains that the Prophet stole his accused thunder. Perhaps Tenskwatawa was better versed in the scientific literature of his day and knew of the impending eclipse when the governor did not. We will never know.

And I kinda love it! The idea of what a world where the Wyrm is in decline looks like, how the Garou might be different (it pitches the idea of Neanderthal Kinfolk 'helping to produce a new breed of Garou') as well as potentially entire new breeds of Fera

And I'm just a sucker for a good What If question honestly

but in turn I think those themes can be explored culturally with the Garou Nation. If the world is dense with wilderness, like the entire planet has filled itself with only invasive species, I think it stands to reason that travel has gotten harder. The Weaver's logistical outreach in the form of roads, maps, and trade routes don't take easily.

So to me the Garou culture I think expands (mutates, branches) into sub-Nations. Regional Silver Fang Monarchs who command areas with no centralised authority, and these places developing their own traditions, doctrines, and even spirit pacts (I'd never mechanicise this probably, that sounds like a LOT of work for very little gain!)

In turn there were some interesting bits of Garou ethnography that I think could be expanded from pre-W5 canon (which is where I'm sort of imagining all this anyway) - namely the idea that the many tribes of Stag never united under the Fianna, the many camps of Roach's tribe being a focus for exploration (in turn of course they wouldn't be called Glass Walkers, but more on them another time), and maybe even exploring the original idea of the Hakken Garou being an entirely separate tribe of wolves following Thunder, rather than the stranger (to me) explanation of them coming from a Shadow Lord branch.

The danger of Wyrm madness in living unbalanced still remains of course, in the way the Weaver and Wyld could still get a Garou's soul in normal W20 canon - but you'd have to fight harder!

And I kinda love it! The idea of what a world where the Wyrm is in decline looks like, how the Garou might be different (it pitches the idea of Neanderthal Kinfolk 'helping to produce a new breed of Garou') as well as potentially entire new breeds of Fera

And I'm just a sucker for a good What If question honestly

but in turn I think those themes can be explored culturally with the Garou Nation. If the world is dense with wilderness, like the entire planet has filled itself with only invasive species, I think it stands to reason that travel has gotten harder. The Weaver's logistical outreach in the form of roads, maps, and trade routes don't take easily.

So to me the Garou culture I think expands (mutates, branches) into sub-Nations. Regional Silver Fang Monarchs who command areas with no centralised authority, and these places developing their own traditions, doctrines, and even spirit pacts (I'd never mechanicise this probably, that sounds like a LOT of work for very little gain!)

In turn there were some interesting bits of Garou ethnography that I think could be expanded from pre-W5 canon (which is where I'm sort of imagining all this anyway) - namely the idea that the many tribes of Stag never united under the Fianna, the many camps of Roach's tribe being a focus for exploration (in turn of course they wouldn't be called Glass Walkers, but more on them another time), and maybe even exploring the original idea of the Hakken Garou being an entirely separate tribe of wolves following Thunder, rather than the stranger (to me) explanation of them coming from a Shadow Lord branch.

Moko! My beloved @the-art-block talked about a beach episode with all of them so I'm slooowly drawing the team on a much needed Space-Beach vacay... I'm a bit selfish and drew my girl first. I'm sorry. T_T Next is @thesixthplaneteer's Ringar the Hobgoblin and Daz's Georgie the Giff!