The Earliest Days - Ananasa's Web

The Earliest Days - Ananasa's Web Weaver. The Mokolé, for all their strength and wisdom, were not the proper soldiers to fight against the Insects. They were too large, too slow to do battle with the armies that assaulted them. The Rokea were not capable of straying from the water for long, and they too were not prepared for the battle ahead. But we were designed for just such a task. Have you noticed the differences in your mind since you first Changed? You are not as warm as you might have been. The flowers do not hold the same beauty for you as they did, and likely your families are no longer as important as they were. This too is Ananasa’s doing. We are cold and merciless because we must be. We are hunters, destroyers and builders. All of these tasks require a certain… distance from the objects we must work with. The Insect Races were much the same way, but they were far more single-minded than we are. The war was swift and merciless. The Insects fought hard, hurting many of our kind, but they could not win the battle. For all their ferocity, they lacked imagination. For all their numbers, they lacked independence of thought and action. Though many had wings, none of the enemies had webs. We did not stop the war even when they were prepared to surrender. Insects have long memories, and they were far too prolific for us to let them survive. Well before the Garou’s War of Rage, we fought and annihilated the Insect Races. They could not be trusted and they could not accept change. We did this because Queen Ananasa demanded it of us. We were glad to aid her, and we feasted as we have seldom feasted since. We did not destroy the spirits of the insects. Those we captured and made our own, reweaving their forms until they were no longer capable of being joined with flesh, never a part of the Changing Breeds. This too, was the order of Ananasa. All that remains of the great Insect Races is our memories, and the Gifts they’ve taught us over the centuries. The War in the Heavens was not finished, and by the time it was over, the Wyld had created more of the Changing Breeds. They were young, and we left them in peace for they were not a part of our world, and because Ananasa wanted them left alone. At last, Weaver finished binding Wyrm in her webs. When she was done, she looked upon Gaia and roared her outrage to the world. Her precious Insects were gone, and mammals stood where there had been none before. Though she was angry, she dared not violate the rules again, for even then she feared the Wyld’s rage. Instead she did what she was best at, and began weaving the Great Web. The Earliest Days: Ananasa’s Web As a colony in one land, we thrived and grew together. As a colony that spread across many lands, we encountered new problems. Some of those problems were foreseen, while others came from very surprising sources. From within, we found that our connection with each other was something more than just a link of ideas and concepts. We discovered that Ananasa has a role for each of us, and that we are to accept those roles, no matter how painful the realization. The first discovery came from the brothers that traveled with the lands to the south, in the land that would one day become known as Antarctica. As the land moved south, the native creatures began to die out, leaving our brethren little food. The reason for their deaths soon took effect on the Ananasi, as the cold proved to be the first great enemy. When Ananasa brought us to live in this world, it was a lush, green paradise. The cold was a rare thing, and it only lasted a short time. We were made to live in this warm climate, with creatures that lived in this climate, and the changes in the planet brought about the first lesson from Ananasa: we are not indestructible. Many of the Ananasi died in learning this, and in honor of those that have taught us from the past, Antarctica remains a land free from our kind. As a result of our first lesson, we took steps to see that we would not suffer in the same way, and in doing so learned our second lesson. As the world aged, a new species rose up to join us as the intelligence of the planet: humans. The human was more adaptable to the climate, though not as sturdy a life form in other ways. Ananasa saw the wisdom of this new species, and brought us together for the first time to create the identity that you now know as the modern Ananasi. Once again, Ananasa struck through her strongest, first hold on this world, in the land that we now call Africa. At once, we relished in our new bodies. There were sensations and forms that we had never encountered before, and in some ways this was intoxicating. We began to seek out the humans as companions, and even went so far as to take on the role of gods in their eyes. They worshipped us for our power, and we used them for their forms and for their blood. This proved to be our second lesson. It is important to remember that our greatest enemy on this world is not another of the shapechangers, but the form that they assume. Mankind has proven to be a formidable foe; they do not look upon gods with favor forever, and when you drop from the highest of places, you fall to the pits of their hatred. We were an arrogant race, feeding on them with wanton abandon, demanding sacrifice for our knowledge. For a time, this inspired fear, and fear inspired devout obedience. But fear can also create resentment, and from that bitter emotion arises danger. We went from being those that they worshipped, to those that they hunted and hated. They have passed knowledge of our kind from legend to legend, and we have been installed into their very beings as a creature of revile and hate. You must always remember that your true form is something that is the very essence of the human nightmare. Use this to your advantage, and hide it for your protection. With the rise of man, they did something that no other creature had before them: change the world around them. They formed communities, which grew into villages, and towns, and cities, and the vast metropolises that surround the world today. As man moved into the city, we moved with them, at least in part. Our human form may seem to be an inconvenience, clumsy and awkward in its shape, but there is a strength that can be gained by moving closest to your enemies. First, it keeps your other enemies at bay, lest they find themselves at odds with the humans as well. Secondly, as I’m sure you are well aware, humans are a necessity. In days of old, before we had our human shapes, we could survive on the blood of animals; now, to help us maintain our semblance of humanity, we must join with the blood of humans. The soft form of a human isn’t easy to maintain. It lacks the stability of our Queen’s body, and the shape in which she first made us on this world. We must constantly infuse the essence of the human into our colony. We accomplish this feat in two ways; through blood and through brood. Neither of these things came easily, but as we learned, both have their advantages. Their blood is power. If we drink deeply from the human we gain not only their lives, but also the strength of their souls. Ananasa has taught us to channel that blood into a number of tools. She furthers her cause by making us powerful. Blood can make us more than what we are born into, and more than the humans can comprehend. But the power that blood grants is dangerous. It is intoxicating. We wanted too much, and we wanted it in force, causing the blood to become the most important thing in our life. We, in our arrogance, thought that there was no greater gift than that of the blood — but it is the use of the brood that created Ananasi as we are today. As the world expanded, the humans grew into the dominant species, the Changing Breeds came into being around the world, and the Children of Ananasa took hold in all the corners of the Earth. Our exodus throughout the world starts in our beginning in Africa, in the Simyan Mountains, with the first Ananasi born of a human mother. This sacred event happened about 100,000 years ago. Ananasa chose this site for a simple reason: she foresaw the coming of the dominant species of man, and chose them as the host for her human-born warriors. This is one of the finest moments in history, as we moved from one form to another — yet again. Born of humans, raised as humans, and living among humans it became easier than ever before to gain the power of the blood that we so desperately needed. The Children in Africa thought that they had achieved our ultimate form on Earth, but Ananasa did not want one form… when many are better. In Europe, she began to breed humans of another form. More primitive, yet more powerful than the humans in Africa, these creatures had their own role, serving to pave the way for the species yet to come. Our kind had to be established with the humans all over the world, so that the future would let us exist as one colony. The first Ananasi of this Neanderthal race was born almost 70,000 years ago. So it went throughout the world, with the Ananasi joining the humans to create a new breed. Each part of the world growing its own unique creation, with its own strength and its own society, slowly working towards the goal that Ananasa foresaw from the day that she first combined her Children with the children of the Earth: unity. So it was that 30,000 years ago, a mere drop of time on the skein of our existence, that the weeding of mankind began. The world began to warm once again, and the less physical, more intellectual peoples of the world began to move throughout the lands. They established themselves as the superior species among the humans, and the Children of Ananasa knew that they must follow suit. So it was that the greatest tragedy in our history occurred. In the area that is now called Yugoslavia, in a city that was known as Krapina, the Neanderthal Ananasi gathered at the will of the Great Mother and destroyed all of the humans of the city in a feeding frenzy that lasted over five days. When the last of the humans died, they turned on themselves, and the Ananasi fed on Ananasi — not out of hunger, but out of necessity. All of the Children of Ananasa from that region died in a space of less than three days. This was the first great death, and it shall always be remembered. It is not remembered with pain; Ananasa took the human frailty of pain from us at this time, making us understand the will of the Mother is greater than the frailty of the Children. The death of the lesser Ananasi cleared the path for our second birth. All things in life are built on the triumvirate, and our first physical birth began the web, while the second birth began spinning the pattern. When the time is right, Ananasa will guide us to the completion of the web, and the third birth — the Great Birth itself — will lead us to our ultimate goal. With the Children that remained — the greater Ananasi — a link was forged. As they grew out of Africa, they left behind them a trail, each point connected to the last. Over a period of 10,000 years the Ananasi traveled in both human guise, and as the hunter that followed the prey, until they had encompassed the world. Our kind knew the workings of their brethren on the opposite end of the globe, and they know these actions to this very day. This link is called Ananasa’s Web. By keeping in connection with the Ananasi nearest you, you will always know what they are doing, and the next down the line will learn from them, and this will continue until the will of one is the will of all, and all serve the will of Ananasa. You may think of your own plans, and act on your own impulse, but all is under the guidance of the Great Mother. She is the force that keeps us all linked, and she is the will that keeps us all alive. Through this link we are all of one purpose; Ananasa’s Web is the ultimate extension of Ananasa’s wisdom, keeping her children organized despite themselves. We may fight, even to the point of war with ourselves and others, but it is all under the leadership of the Mother-Queen. One of our kind did not take the same path as we in this lesson. The colony that took to the lands of eastern Asia created a very different life for themselves, taking the human identity as only a guideline, and breaking from the strands of Ananasa’s Web. Our brethren there have decided to take the name of Kumo, and they now follow the way of the Wyrm. It is obvious that Ananasa has allowed them this action, giving them the free will to allow the corruption to enter their body, yet it is well known that they continue to serve our Queen in their actions. The path that Ananasa has set them upon is one that we do not understand, but who are we to question the will of our Creator? With hardly a thought for the consequences, Weaver started separating the spirit from the flesh in an effort to prevent Wyld ever creating another form of Changing Breed. Wyld tried to resist but could not. With Weaver bound to the imprisoned Wyrm, using Wyrm’s powers to a certain extent, Wyld was weakened. Symmetry was lost. The Great Web was spun, and the spirits that tried to break through the barrier often found themselves stuck in the Web. Even as the first strands of the Web fell in place, the damage was done to Gaia. In those days there was only one continent upon Gaia’s back, Pangæa. The great continent shattered, drifting across the waters and settling as several smaller places. Now there is not only one land, but multitudes of lands. That was not how Gaia was created, but that is how she stands now, fractured, injured but healing. The strands of the Great Web hold the continents in place, but barely. There are places where the continents shake and fracture, where the webs that pulled Pangæa apart are so strong that they cause the very land to crumble. Weaver would have worked faster, but the new order caused problems for her as well. The Wyrm continued to struggle, trying to break free and do his work, but it was not meant to be. All Wyrm managed to do was hurt himself, until eventually his mind broke. His balance was destroyed. The Triat was broken and the symmetry of the universe destroyed. Though it took centuries, possibly even millennia, Wyrm was eventually able to begin his work again, but his goals were distorted by the pain he endured. He no longer sought to devour or to Uncreate, but rather to Recreate in his own warped image. Wyld continued on, creating and changing. Weaver had no choice but to finish what Wyld started, and spent much of her time shaping the things created by Wyld. For that reason, the Great Web has never been completed — though of late, the task is getting closer to finished than is comfortable. You see, while each member of the Triat does its job to the best of its ability, the balance is gone. Weaver has grown more powerful, and Wyld grows ever weaker. Wyrm is distracted and cannot do what he must; his pain and madness eat at him constantly. The Great Web grows stronger, separating the Umbra from the Gaia Realm, crushing the Changing Breeds’ connections with their spiritual halves and making it more difficult for them to do what Gaia and the Wyld demanded of them. The Great Web has become a flawed, tangled mess, and no self-respecting spider can stand a messy web. Ananasa tried to stop Weaver from breaking the spirit and the flesh, but she was punished for her indiscretion. Weaver imprisoned Ananasa in an opal the likes of which had never existed before. It was a gem of pure stasis, flawless and complete, without the smallest weakness. She then threw Ananasa to the Wyrm, believing that Wyrm would devour her. She was wrong. Wyrm is insane, but he has not forgotten his love of Weaver. Weaver is not his to possess, but Ananasa is. So he holds Ananasa as a treasure, one that must be preserved and cherished. More importantly, and more unfortunately, for a time she was a tool by which he could control her Children, the Ananasi. The Time of Madness The woman rested a moment, stepping back from her students and allowing another to come forward. She was dark where the first speaker was light, but just as beautiful. Where her predecessor walked with calculated grace, she moved with deadly precision. Hers was the gait of a hunter.