Garou

Garou is a term used by the werewolves breed to identify their race and culture. The term is used nearly interchangeably with Garou Nation. Kindred, often refer to them as lupine.

There are three clans of Garou within World of Darkness 13 at the moment. The Wendigo, Glasswalker, and Black Spiral Dancer Tribes are all available for play and begin nearby their respective totems.

What follows is all the collective understanding we have on the lupine, and all their powers and traits after many years of study.

Basics:

Every clan of Garou shares some fundamental concepts. They are, at their base, the same species, after all, though such a statement may anger some.

Rage:

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Rage dial, with gnosis on the outer edge.

Rage is a mystical wellspring of primal anger granted to the Garou by Luna, the spirit of the moon. It allows them to move at great speed, shrug off mighty wounds, and change forms quickly. It can also power some Gifts. If Children of Caine derive their power from the ability to channel lifeforce, taken from others; Garou can channel the power of their own bountiful lifeforce, in the form of rage.

It is shown inside of the dial shown to the right. The red inner circle will fill to indicate your rage remaining. Unlike Vitae, it is not easily quantifiable and therefore there is no way to see exactly the rage within you.

It is a useful tool, that can power many of a Garou's Gifts, but is, at its base, a primordial anger. A Garou that succumbs to it, will find themselves in a uncontrollable fury. Unlike a Kindreds fury, this rage has no cunning predatorial instincts guiding it. Just fury. This has the side effect of making it difficult for mental disciplines to effect a Garou that has succumbed to the rage, but the Garou will attack all near it.

It is gained in many ways:

Being outside your breed form, will make you gain rage passively at a considerable rate. Your breed form, is the form which your Garou was born into. Its "True" form, if you will.

For Homid, this is Homid, your human form.

Lupine: Lupus, your wolf form.

Metis, have no native form, so will rapidly gain rage regardless of form. This can be hard to control, and thus they are treated with some disdain by most Garou.

Like all good werewolf movies: You can also howl at the moon to gain rage. While standing somewhere the sky is visible, you can click the red text above the rage dial, to howl at the moon, revealing its phase, and gaining rage.

It is used in only one way: Gifts, such as rage healing, this is an almost limitless version of the vampiric blood heal, but not as effective as a low generation vampires blood heal.

Gnosis:

Gnosis is similar to the Polynesian concept of mana or the Eastern concept of chi. While all creatures have some spiritual component, Garou can consciously control and use it. Garou are quite literally half-spirit already, and Gnosis reflects how connected they are to that ephemeral other half.

It is used to power strong gifts, that have significant effects, similar to kindred disciplines being more expensive to use at higher levels. It is much harder to refill than rage: A place of spiritual importance, a Caern, must be visited to refill it. Each Caern has a totem to the clan it belongs to, that radiates Gnosis. You cannot glean Gnosis from a totem that is not yours.

While rage will keep you fighting, and endurance is often enough to beat neonate kindred, Gnosis powers are often the key to winning against highly experienced kindred, or lower generations with expertise in their disciplines.

Forms:

The Garou are Shapeshifters of great ability, far more versatile than the werewolves of myth or film. They are far more than "humans who can turn into wolves" – these beasts are designed to shift easily from wolf to human, with a range of forms in between.

Here are the five different forms a werewolf can assume:

• The Homid form is virtually indistinguishable from that of an ordinary human being; in this form, the werewolf can travel through cities and crowds without being discovered.

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  This is the button you need to hit while in Homid to turn into Glabro.

  The Glabro form is akin to the Mr Hyde of a Garou, it can still pass for human perhaps, at a passing glance, but has more of a werewolves full might available. Stronger, faster and more resilient than Homid, the Glabro form is still just a shadow of the werewolf's true killing power. It is however useful for when Crinos would be a veil breach. It is accessed through a transformation while in Homid form. Hitting the button on the right.

• The Crinos form is the true battle form of the Garou, the form they take when no solution save violence will do. A hybrid of human and wolf, infused with the superhuman strength of this warrior race, the Crinos Garou is one of the most efficient killing machines in the world. The popular media depiction of werewolves: Humans suffer such terrifying ancestral memories when witnessing an angry Crinos that they often break down into hysterics, forcing themselves to forget that such a monster exists.

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  The button you need to hit while in Lupus to turn into Hispo

  The Hispo is the massive wolf of nightmare, a throwback to prehistoric days when the dire wolves were the size of ponies. It is a form designed to hunt – and to kill. It is accessed through a transformation while in Lupus form. Hitting the button on the right. It has variable night vision toggled via the detached eyes icon.

• The Lupus form is the true "wolf" form of the Garou, allowing werewolves to hunt and live among wolf packs, or to call on the speed and superior senses of the wolf. Many a hunter has come to a horrible end after wounding a werewolf that he mistook for an ordinary animal – or the mate of a Garou who has chosen to live as a wolf for a time. It also has variable night vision.

The Litany:

Much like the Kindreds traditions: Garou all follow the Litany: The Litany is a set of rules, made for the safety and prosperity of Garou. There is one notable exception: Those that have turned their back on all the Garou stand for and danced the spiral....

The Tennets of the litany are as follows:

• Garou Shall Not Mate With Garou (Such would produce Metis. Garou are encouraged to mate with Humans or wolves.)
• Combat the Wyrm Wherever it Dwells and Whenever it Breeds
• Respect the Territory of Another
• Accept an Honorable Surrender
• Submission to Those of Higher Station
• Respect Those of Lower Station, for all are of Gaia.
• The First Share of the Kill for Greatest in Station
• Ye Shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans
• The Veil Shall Not Be Lifted
• Do Not Suffer Thy People to Tend Thy Sickness
• The Leader May Be Challenged At Any Time During Peace
• The Leader May Not Be Challenged During Wartime
• Ye Shall Take No Action That Causes a Caern to Be Violated (exceptions are granted to Wyrm tainted Caerns.)

The Veil:

Much like kindreds masquerade, or the mages consensus, werewolves live in fear of what public knowledge of their existence could do to them, with humanities advancements. They therefore swear themselves to secrecy.

Unlike kindred though, they benefit from the delirium. Due to past Garou hunting humans: All but the strongest willed humans are reduced to blubbering wrecks when confronted with the war form of the Garou, and forget the ordeal after: Though, not all. Part of the danger of breaking the veil is that a small amount will instead be filled with a strong hatred, or passion to end the beast. This persists, and such people often become hunters after exposure.

Kindred, are immune to the effects, a side effect of the stronger will and spirit that they naturally possess, and the might granted by their potent vitae. Those with the reassurance of a true faith in something greater than them are likewise unaffected, such as priests with true faith.

The most concerning, by far: Organised armies, or similarly disciplined and trained humans are immune. This means, an army of Humans could reasonably attack a war form as a larger whole, with all their wits.

Gifts:

TBA. The chantry has not yet documented these...