Walking On Our Webs - Friends and Enemies of Ananasa

Walking On Our Webs - Friends and Enemies of Ananasa

and the others have no desire to understand the Great Web.

They’re all too busy trying to make it work for them in the ways they wish. Virtually every creature in existence wants to make the universe serve his or her goals; even we are guilty of this.

The difference is that our goals are not dictated by us, they are given to us by Ananasa. What we as individuals might desire is secondary. That makes us a bit different from the rest.

Oh, the others might pay lip service to the ideals of their gods, but they seldom follow them with the dedication we show. If the

Garou actually listened to the Wyld and Gaia, the Wyrm would not be as powerful as it is today. They’re far too busy trying to decide who’s doing things the right way to actually perform their tasks properly. They hold glory and honor as special icons, personal goals that must be achieved in an effort to assure themselves some modicum of immortality in their own legends. The result is chaos as great as that the Wyld creates. Chaos unchecked is a bad thing, a fact that the werewolves still haven’t figured out. With most of the other Ovid, they’ve been hurt too severely by the Wars of Rage to be effective. The Garou destroyed the Great Web’s symmetry while inadvertently working for the very foe they claim they want destroyed. Fools that they are, few of them realize the truth of that statement. If they did we wouldn’t have to work quietly. Even in this, the damned wolves have hindered us.

But there us no choice in this matter. If we worked openly, the Garou would once again decide we’d become more than we should, and do everything they could to “put us in our place.”

We cannot afford the time it would take to obliterate them properly. They are a nuisance that must be tolerated. For now.

Now, back to the main subject of my little speech. We fight in the same way that spiders fight. We hunt when we must, and we manipulate whenever possible. Manipulation is more fruitful, and takes less effort. It is, in short, efficient. Why would we willingly fight a foe to the death when we could instead make that foe accomplish our goals for us? The Great Web is here, ready for us to employ and reweave; the rub is knowing which strands to pull and which to simply remove. Fortunately, we were designed to understand the patterns of the Web. It is second nature to us.

To that end, we remain secretive. It’s far harder to use a pawn properly when the pawn is aware of who is behind its actions. Better to let the pawn feel it moves of its own free will.

Allow me to give you a simple example. Let’s say there is a man in office, who we feel should be discredited, to assure that he not have the chance to gain even more power. This man might be a president of a nation, popular with the masses, and manipulative in his own right. How would we go about removing him from power? Well, we could simply arrange for his death, but that often brings about a counterproductive sympathy for the man and his ideals. Though the actual man is eliminated, many others, who feel they could honor his memory by continuing his crusade, then pick up his goals. Where there was only one to eliminate before, there are now dozens or even hundreds. It’s a ploy that doesn’t always achieve the desired effect. So instead, we arrange for his embarrassment. His ideals might be for the best, but most every individual has weaknesses. The catch is knowing how to exploit them. Find his vice, feed that vice and then arrange for him to be found out in a public manner. True, he is still in power in most cases, but by the time you’re done, that power is severely weakened. Many of his supporters suddenly find the idea of working for or with that man not only embarrassing, but also potentially destructive to their own agendas.

How can anyone align themselves with someone they now know is victim to his own uncontrolled lusts? More often than not, the end result is a loss of favor not only for the individual, but also for the ideals he held as important. In a few cases there might be sympathy for such a fool, but not often. Especially not if that vice goes against the moral fabric of the nation in which the leader has been caught with his pants down. Oh, the nation might not see what he did as wrong, but they will act as if what he did was a sin, because it’s expected of them.

Did I have anyone in particular in mind when I made that example? Well, let’s just leave it as an example. The less known, the less chance that the details could be revealed as manipulation. That is the final reason for secrecy, children. Once a scheme is discovered, once humans or others can see the strands of the Great Web that have been tweaked to accomplish a goal, you risk them seeing your mark on other strands of the Web and following those changes back to you. Manipulating others is delicate work. Discovery can lead to not only revealing the truth behind one action, but behind many others as well. Just as with a house of cards, should one of your careful alterations be discovered and removed, the rest might fall into shreds around you, leaving you vulnerable and exposed. Once discovered you might well find that all you have achieved is quickly uncovered and destroyed. We are builders, very little bothers us more than having our machinations ruined. The destruction of our webs means the destruction of a fraction of the Great Web, and that in turn adds to the loss of symmetry that we are already working to repair. Don’t make matters worse for yourself and for your brethren by being boastful or sloppy. Ananasa and Ananasi alike frown on stupidity. You cannot make worse enemies than the Mother-Queen and her children.

Walking On Our Webs: The Friends and Enemies of Ananasa

To discuss the relations that we have with the others of this world, it becomes a bit of a misnomer to classify them as friends and enemies. The Ananasi do not have friends or enemies. The others that we deal with can be beneficial to our cause, or they can hinder our efforts. We do not judge them, we just deal with them accordingly. We have classified several beings by their tendencies in relationship to our actions, which can only be used as a guideline. You must observe all beings by their actions.

There is, of course, an exception to this rule. One of our most dangerous enemies comes from within.

The Padrone There is much debate over the origin and transmission of what the Elder Crawlers have come to call the Padrone.

The things that are agreed upon are the facts that it is spread like a disease — though through unknown means — and that it changes our relationship with the Wyrm.

The Padrone enter our tales shortly after the War of Rage.

Our kind and the rest of the Changing Breeds were at our weakest, brought down by the raging Garou. We had sulked back to our caves and hidden dens, hiding from the wolves that had so viciously turned upon us. Our Sylies had turned into our safest havens, taking us from the world and giving us access to the wisdom of Ananasa; but we cannot force wisdom from

Ananasa, and our confusion left us vulnerable to outside influence. That is when they came into our homes.

The legends tell of Ananasi dying in their Sylie without visible sign of trouble or struggle. They entered through unknown means, into our most secret places, and took the life of the Ananasi without explanation or reason. The corpses were left desiccated, empty of the ichor that kept them alive and cast aside as so much rubbish. We only knew of one creature that was capable of such an action.

The Padrone are the Ananasi. They are the Children of

Ananasa turned against themselves. Not in the simple matter of warring through ideology, but hunting us down in our own personal havens. The Ananasi have four forms that most attain: Homid, Pithus, Lilian, and Crawlerling. Perhaps the Padrone is the fifth form of an Ananasi, and one that has but one goal, destroying others of their kind.

The Padrone form most closely resembles the Pithus — that of a large spider on the prowl — but horribly mutated to a terrible new shape. The Padrone has the eight legs of a spider, along with two vestigial legs that it uses to disorient its prey and keep it at a distance. The Padrone are not limited to that one form, but they assume this form once they have lured their prey to their doom. The speed of this form is astonishing, much quicker than any normal Ananasi.

It is believed that the Padrone need the essence of the

Ananasi to keep themselves alive, much in the same way that we need the essence of others. The Padrone have a strange sense that draws them to a Sylie, letting them discover the most carefully hidden refuge no matter where it might be located.

Once they have found the Sylie, they gain access using any number of means. It is almost as though they understand their foe and are able to use their weakest point to gain access; whether through force or deceit, they are able to feed upon their prey in their own home. Once in the lair, they assume the Padrone form and attack, rendering the Ananasi powerless.

There are many of the wise crawlers who insist that this is nothing more than spiritual corruption taken to the highest level — that these creatures have fallen to the Destroyer and have become an agent of annihilation. Others insist that this cannot be the truth, as our kind already has links to the Wyrm, and the balance of the Weaver and the Wyld prevent this decay. Others still argue that the corruption would not explain the creation of a new form. There are many that think that this might be the result of a mad mage whose fear of spiders might prove to be disaster for us all. We do not know the answer, we know only questions. The biggest question is the role that Ananasa will choose for us in this challenge, as she has yet to tell us her opinion of her Children turned killer.

We wait, but we are wary of all that come near.

The Changing Breeds While they count us among their own, there are truly few similarities between the Ananasi and the others that have come to be known collectively as the Changing Breeds. There are many times when we find ourselves coming into contact with these creatures, as they, too, will travel the Umbra and at times deal with Grandmother Spider and even Ananasa herself. Do not assume that they are your friends or your enemies. Listen to the words we grant you here, for we have experience on our side, but never, under any circumstances, assume that any of us has the wisdom of Ananasa. Follow her dictates in all things. Should she tell you to befriend the ones we have just told you are your enemies, do so. Do not question her, for she knows what she is doing.

Bastet Cats are playful creatures, and seem to lack the discipline to make worthwhile allies. There are times, however, when our mutual desire for solitude can work to the advantage of both, particularly in the deep wild. In the past, they have suffered as much as we have, but they are distressingly irrational and undisciplined. Keep them at arm’s length, and never let them get too close.

There are eight, I believe, tribes of Bastet. They tend to fight among themselves as much as we do, but there seems no purpose to their fighting, no reason for their struggles against each other, save to finish the job the Garou started.

Like the Garou, they claim to serve the Wyld, but manage to walk the path of the Wyrm too often for their own good.

Corax If we have a true enemy among the Changing Breeds, it is the Ravens. The birds have long feasted on us, and old racial fears do not die quickly; though ravens themselves rarely view spiders as food, it is the avian nature of the Corax that puts us at odds. They also have no respect for secrecy, seeking to discover and unravel all of the secrets of the world; we have no place for any creature that seeks to spy on us constantly.

The Corax are never to be trusted, and barely to be tolerated.

A simple rule to remember: Should you find the birds getting too close to your secrets, distract them. Throw them off balance with trinkets and treasures. They love anything that glitters, gems and precious metals best of all. Barring that, start rumors of juicier secrets and spread them to the ones you know to speak with the damnable avians.

Garou They are killers and barbarians. Some of them play at civilization, but they are only beginning to understand what that word means. We do not hold grudges, but we do not forgive past indiscretions. Even in their twilight, they are too numerous to avoid completely, but too violent to associate with on a regular basis. Some of them show signs that they may yet grow beyond their endless aggression. The Children of Gaia have done what they can to bring peace among the tribes, but what they’ve managed in the millennia since they formed is remarkably little. The Glass Walkers have turned to the Weaver in an effort to suppress their more wild tendencies, but all they’ve managed to accomplish so far is reaching beyond their limited perceptions into realms of the universe that they simply cannot understand. They seek to unleash new ways of dealing with the Wyrm by seeing with the Weaver’s eyes. They fail to understand that the Wyrm is a thrall to the Weaver. By the time they fully comprehend what they are doing, they will likely be as much slaves to Grandmother Spider as the Corrupter is.

Allow me if you will to discuss a little something about each separate tribe of the werewolves. They are politically confused, and need a bit of defining.

Black Furies The Furies believe in a matriarchal society, and are among those who’ve spread rumors that we do the same.

True, as often as not it is the females among us who lead in the rare occasions when we gather in numbers, but there is no truth to the notion that only the females can take command. The only female guaranteed a position of power over any of us is Ananasa herself. Still, if they want to believe incorrectly that we are their kindred spirits in philosophy, I see no reason to disillusion them.

Black Spiral Dancers Would you like to see the reasons we do not follow the

Triat as the Garou do? Take a look at the wolves who idolize the Wyrm. They are mentally diseased, and as often as not physically blighted as well. They’ve fallen to the corruptive influences of a cosmic power gone mad. If you feel you can do so, feel free to use them to your advantage. Otherwise, I’d suggest avoiding the Black Spiral Dancers.

Bone Gnawers The Bone Gnawers are the lowest of the low among the wolves, excluding only the Black Spiral Dancers. Though they are kind to the humans they watch over, generous to a fault and easy to work with, they are treated as dogs and half breeds. Use this to your advantage. Many of them resent the mistreatment, and a nugget or two of information that can raise their esteem in their siblings’ eyes goes a long way to winning you a useful pawn in the future. Just the same, they are werewolves, and should not be trusted not to betray you at a moment’s notice.

Children of Gaia Somewhere along the way, a few of the werewolves decided it was time to play nicely. I think it happened just after they’d finished trying to kill all the other Ovid. Perhaps a few of them have an overdeveloped sense of guilt, or maybe they just felt it was the best way to avoid getting torn limb from limb the next time they encountered a survivor or two. In either case, these are the kinder, gentler werewolves. That means they’ll smile and make you feel at home before they try to destroy you.

Play nicely with them, leave as quickly as you can. Perhaps a little good PR will come out of the entire sordid affair.

Fianna The Fianna are warriors, and more often than not, they are capable of remaining honorable. Do not annoy these Garou and then allow them to live, because they’ll remember it later. They are best avoided, at least when they’ve been drinking — which is, as I understand it, most of the time.

Get of Fenris There are homicidal maniacs, and then there are the

Get of Fenris. For some reason they feel it’s their sacred duty to beat everything they encounter to a bloody pulp. If they feel you are weak — and they feel most everything is weaker than they are — they will challenge you to combat. Sometimes they play fair and actually make a ceremonial affair of the entire ordeal, in which case you can expect them to do everything they can to kill you slowly. Other times they simply attack, in which case you can expect the violence to be swift and brutal. Do not trust them. Sooner or later, no matter how rough and ready you might behave, they’ll decide you’ve been weak and try to kill you.

Glass Walkers Some people aren’t satisfied if they aren’t trying something new. In the case of the Glass Walkers. they’ve decided the best way to help preserve the wild places in the world is to have some control of where the cities get built. They have walked away from the Wyld and into the lair of the Weaver. They are confused and disoriented by everything around them. More importantly, they are turning to the Weaver for guidance and will likely fall into Grandmother Spider’s web before too much more time has passed. They make nice pawns, but understand that they are truly, abysmally stupid before you deal with them.

Being as thick as they are means they are dangerous.

Red Talons The Glass Walkers have stumbled hard into the ways of the Weaver. The Red Talons are taking up their slack with the Wyld. They are irrational, in pain, losing their population at a dangerous pace, and just shy of rabid. Avoid them.

Shadow Lords One thing remains true of almost every sentient race: sooner or later, someone decides that being subtle is better than being straightforward. That’s a lesson we learned ages ago and a lesson the Shadow Lords are still learning. But they are very studious pupils, and closer to true skill at subterfuge than we would like. Never turn your back on a

Shadow Lord, and never reveal anything of significance to one of their ilk. They are as trustworthy as an agitated snake.

Silent Striders It’s unusual to find Garou who prefer to walk alone. The

Striders are contemplative and wise in their way. Sadly, they are still Garou, and that means they really can’t be trusted.

Silver Fangs The self-proclaimed rulers of the werewolves. The

Silver Fangs are the very creatures that decided once upon a time that all the other Ovid had a few marbles loose, and that, children, is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

They’re so inbred and paranoid that they can’t even trust their own reflections. Avoid them.

Stargazers The Stargazers seek the answers to life’s enigmas. Sadly, on the few occasions when they have found the answers, they’ve decided they must have asked the wrong questions. If you must associate with them, speak in riddles. It’s the best way to keep them too busy thinking for their claws to become a potential threat.

Uktena Well, the Uktena have their hearts in the right place, but they are not equipped to handle the tasks they’ve set before themselves.

They would see the Wyrm captured and suppressed, rather than cured and freed. Millennia have passed and they still haven’t figured out that they aren’t walking the right path to solving their problems. We will not show them the proper course, but we can still hope they manage to find their way in the course of time.

Wendigo Oh my. It seems the Wendigo have suffered greatly at the hands of their fellow werewolves. They lost a full tribe of their closer kin and then they got their homelands taken from them. Let me put that into perspective for you. They’re feeling pissy because they discovered that werewolves can be treacherous, deceitful and overly vindictive tyrants. As a result of getting the smallest taste of what the War of Rage did to the other Changing Breeds, they’ve become bitter and militant. Good thing for the Garou that the Gurahl and Bastet aren’t quite as blatant about their hurt feelings.

Gurahl These are creatures that are worthy of respect — to a point.

They have patience and understanding, something that we can understand, and can be entertaining companions. If you are in the deep wilds, and you find yourself in the company of one of these rare creatures, make the most of your time. Enjoy the experience, and remember the lessons that they will teach. Peaceful creatures can make for pleasant relations, and these are the epitome of peace — unless you anger them. It is nice to know that not all of the Changing Breeds feel the need to kill first and ask questions later.

Of course, they also have made quite a name for themselves as creatures that understand the better part of valor. After all, when was the last time that a Gurahl was seen as a threat? Such a waste.

Mokole ´ They are eldest of us all. They are primal, raw power, a force of nature that is beauty to behold. We do not associate with them often, but share their time on this world. There is an unspoken respect that we hold for them, though we fear for their future as their lands are disappearing too quickly for them to survive.

The Mokolé hold most of the universe’s memories inside them. When they are gone, all will suffer the loss, unless

Ananasa’s plans come to fruition before then. What is the purpose of existence when the time of childhood is not only gone but forgotten? Without their recollections, much of the beauty in the world will be ignored, more so than it already is.

Nuwisha They are light creatures that are close to the Garou, but without the rage that drives them to destruction. These laughing creatures are far more wise than they would like us to think, but they cannot deceive us in this way. We do not trust them, and we will avoid them if we can, and destroy them if we must. Like the Corax, they seek to know all of the secrets we might hold.

The difference is, they know how to keep a secret. Should you meet a Nuwisha, be pleasant and be helpful, but never tell them anything you would consider important. Knowledge is power, and just what they might do with true power is anyone’s guess.

Ratkin There are too many creatures that seek to know the secrets of others, and these lowly beasts are beneath it all. We pride ourselves on the strength to our size, but these creatures are pathetic. We cannot imagine having to live off of the waste of others. They are not to be trusted, and they are disgusting to behold. However, they are more numerous than you might imagine. Just as there are spiders everywhere, there are rats. Rats are survivors, they multiply and fester in the dark places beneath the cities. It is just possible that they too understand the power of the Weaver, and that they too fight against Grandmother Spider’s insane methods.

Rokea They are fish. Mammals we understand, but fish are not something that we deal with often. They are older than us, and understand things that we cannot comprehend, but their knowledge is in a different zone of life. You do not need to fear or avoid them, for you will never see them.

The Others Aside from the Changing Breeds, there are others in this world that may cross your path. It is best to be prepared for what they shall bring to you, and what they will expect from you. Remember still that they are not Ananasi, and therefore are not what you would expect.

Humans These are still your greatest enemy, and also your greatest ally. There are no other creatures that show such a range of emotion and possibility. Humans are necessary to our lives, and will always be around us while we are on this world. When our goals have been reached, the humans will be here on this world with us, providing what we need to continue our role in the Great Mother’s plan.

Mages They weave magic as though it were their own. They are beautiful to comprehend and terrible to behold, but make for the best of allies. If you dare to keep them near you, they will create wonders that will take you beyond the limits of this world. Nevertheless, they have the ability to change the world in ways that are drastic and dangerous. They are, for better or worse, unwilling servants of the Weaver. Should the need arise, destroy them, for they are, after all, only human.

Vampires There are no others that we understand as completely as the vampire. They know the thrill of blood, and the worthiness of patience. They are the perfect disguise and the ultimate tool.

What better way to find someone to aid you than to convince someone that you are one of their own? The catch with the vampires is that they seek to be like us in too many ways. They understand the practice of moving pieces across a board, knowing that the smallest pawn can become a valuable ally in the right circumstances. They too are often cold, heartless beings. Do not trust them anymore than you would trust a rabid

Garou, but use them to their ultimate extent. Despite their best efforts, most will eventually turn and bite the hands that feed them. It is in their nature to betray one another. So, do not be the one that feeds them; instead show them the food and let them eat for themselves. Like the legendary gods of old, they’re known for killing their creators and stealing the strength of their progenitors for themselves. In light of their own cannibalistic methods — not so dissimilar to the ones we sometimes employ — we should be grateful that the vampires cannot feed from our blood. It is too alien for them to ingest.

The Dead Sometimes the Dead do not rest easily. Often they fail to find peace because of something done to them by the Ovid. Kill only when necessary or you might well discover that the Dead seek you out for revenge. The biggest problem with ghosts is simply that it’s very hard to kill a dead man the second time around.

On the other hand, they can often be useful for information. Sometimes the Dead can get to places beyond where even we can see.

The Laws of Ananasa “The Garou have a set of laws they live by,” said the lawyer who had taken over the instructions of the spiderlings. “They call these laws the Litany, and the rules they follow are as ancient as their own people.” He smiled thinly at the attentive students.

“That means they’re still fairly new in the grander scheme of things. What is most interesting about their Litany is that each separate tribe chooses to interpret these laws in a different way.

This is most likely a side effect of allowing their totems to dictate too much of how they should execute their duties as the Defenders of Gaia. They should be asking themselves a simple question before they take any actions: They should be asking themselves, “Is this what Gaia wants of me?”

He coughed into his hand and reached for the glass of water in front of him, sipped, and continued. “I suspect they might act differently if they took this simple step. I know the world would be a better place if they did.”

“We work by an entirely separate set of rules. We follow the

Laws of Ananasa, the Mother-Queen. She has expressed herself very clearly, and she punishes those who break away from her rules, for the benefit of us all. She is a wonderful, loving mother, but Ananasa can be harsh when the need arises…”

The rules are simple enough and my advice about them is even simpler: Obey. Do not pause to reinterpret what

Ananasa has commanded. Should she wish to change the rules, that is her place, not yours. Should she suddenly decide that we should all follow the Wyrm and forgo our aspects, that is her desire and we will do it. Know these rules, follow them. They are meant to guide us on the path that Ananasa has chosen for us, her first and favored children.

As I said before, the Laws of Ananasa are simple: Obey the Mother-Queen in All Things:

Her will is what has taken us this far in our sacred quest to restore the Triat. Her wisdom is what guides us in all matters. Do not feel that you, a mere stripling, have suddenly grown wiser. Do not question her will and do not try to bend her sacred laws to your own desires.

Defend Your Brethren from All Who Would Do Them Harm:

As we have said before, we are all family. We might meet again in the field of combat and destroy each other, but we must never allow others to do so without fearing for their very existence. In this there can be no mercy and no quarter.

If another of the Damhàn is attacked while you are present, even one whom you personally hate, you must defend him.

Even if the one who attacks him is your chosen mortal mate, you must obey. Failure to do so is met by the harshest of punishments. Do not think death is the worst thing that can happen to you. Rest assured there are far worse fates, and from time to time they’ve been experienced by our brethren who fell short on this most sacred law.

Follow the Aspect and Faction that Ananasa Chooses for You:

I don’t really give a damn if you like to hug trees in your spare time or think surfing the Internet is the coolest thing since the movie Arachnophobia. When you are told by Ananasa what aspect and faction you must follow, that’s the end of it.

If you’re meant to follow the way of the Chymos and would rather be hanging around with the Agere, that is an opinion you keep to yourself. Ananasa is wise, and she has a plan that we must carry out if she is ever to be freed and the natural order of the universe is ever to be restored. That means what I want, what you want and what your best friend in the whole world wants is secondary. You are given a sacred task, and you are chosen by Ananasa herself. Don’t play games.