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done something right. The Earth Mother eventually showed her approval by gifting us with the Delirium-if you can call ita giftand we've been hiding behind the Veil ever since. ~t#Mh The idea that humans shouldn't be treated like sheep was rather novel, but we still had a responsibility to Gaia, a duty to watch over mankind. Back then,someofusstill felt an obligation to protect the human race, and we knew the only way to really do that was to live among them. Long ago, the human race was worth protecting. Now, I'm not so sure. Anyway, two tribes took to that idea far more than any other. The Glass Walkers, or whatever the hell they called themselves back then before there was any such thing as glass, didn't have much trouble getting recognized as a tribe. They could recite their lineage, took credit for a hell of a lot, and properly approached the high mucketymucks with their smooth-talking, pure-bred Philodox emissaries. Their carefully crafted gifts weren't too shabby, either.

The way I heard it, there was this other group that didn't care much for the Concord either, largely because it screwed them over. They had discovered how much easier it was to avoid starving to death by living among the humans, or actually working with them, feeding off what they fanned and slaughtered. These skulking, scraping, cowering scavengers pledged to uphold the Litany and preserve the Veil and all that, but they weren't about to leave the cities. They wanted tO stay involved, if only to fill their own bellies. Many of them were dependent on the humans for survival, but more importantly, they actually gave a damn about them. You know who I'm talking about: us.

The idea didn't go over that well. Because we lived so close tO human cities, we were considered tainted by themthat's how we became "urrah." The greatest in station reviled us. The Silver Fang nobles who had just spent Goddess knows how long proving how superior they were threatened us with exile. The Shadow Lords actually kept them ftomdoing it, but I think it was only because it pissed off the Fangs so much.

By that time, anyone who held with this idea was shamed, or more precisely, "tainted," because of their insistence of siding with the rebellious humans. As the tale goes, there were enough of these dropouts to form their own tribe. The same lowly Garou who swarmed with them in battle stood beside them at the Concord. And these mavericks, the lowest in station, the bastards who actually stood up to the grand high mucketymucks, were so reviled that they were shamed forever. We became an entire tribe of Bone Gnawers right then and there.

Cool story, huh? Is it true? Who cares? It's ancient history. And it's long enough for us to finish another one of these lovely bottles off. Someone fetch me another one, okay? And recycle the goddamn bottle this time, all right?

Don't look at me that way. That's the story as it was told to me-some of us believe it, and some of us don't. When you get to be my age, you can make up your own damn story.

AMknrHit/P~ So there we were, stalking through mankind's thriving little villages. Humans got civilized, and we reaped the benefits. They built shelters, and we often slept in them.

They farmed and gathered their food in safe places, and we raided them. Most of the time, we were just content to live among them, marveling at their industry.

And while this went on, we saw stranger things around their cities in the spirit world: the spirits of the Weaver in numbers we had never seen before. A certain other tribe got pretty fascinated by them, but Rat got a bit nervous whenever so many of the Weaver's Gafflings got together. Humans started accumulating stuff, setting schedules, making things they needed and collecting trinkets they didn't. And the Weaver's webs started gathering around him.

As far as we can tell, as far back as you can trace cities, you'll find Bone Gnawers. You'll find Glass Walkers too, of course, in one form or another, whether you call them WardersofMen or Iron Riders, or whatever. It never changes.

They trust the Weaver enough to benefit from her creations.

Rat's children keep fighting tO make sure they aren't trapped in them. They live near the top of society, drawn to wealth and power; we live near the bottom. Their kind has always loved human culture, but we never really took to it. Something wild within us could never be tamed. For some reason, other Garou seem to speak of our two tribes in the same sentence, but just as the Walkers have always loved the Weaver, we've hated her with just as much passion.

Amf#,;/~1¢ Our views on the Concord didn't change, so in places where the other tribes were strongest, we still skulked in shame.

Take Egypt, for example: the homeland of the Silent Striders.

They were awfully protective of their homelands. That was before they started wandering the world, back when they were really tight with their Kinfolk. The way I heard it, they had some strange and powerful alliesmummies or suchand we didn't care much for that kind of alliance. The Striders tend to keep real quiet about the whole thing, probably to cover the fact that they don't really understand their past.

Some folks will tell you our tribe also had Kinfolk nearby, in our glorious lost homeland. Let me tell you, when someone offers to feed you for a good story, you'll say just about anything. The same legends talk about a great curse that forced the Garou to leave that part of the world.

No one passed through Northern Africa without the Striders knowing about it. But if you underwent the First Change there, and your blood wasn't pure enough to become one of Khem's finest, then the protectorate didn't want you. Oddly enough, we recruited a lot of brothers and sisters from the Garou who fled. That leads to the story of how an Egyptian pharaoh forced the first great Exodus ....

AMkn/ 1Ph~AMkn/IVt!j(l "SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT.

You're teUingitaUwrong. We hadourown land, and our Kinfolk, too. No wonder we're dying out, with so many of us being damn ignorant. Uke you, you old fool. Give me that bottk of rotgut!"

With one fluid motion, the old man's challenger grabs the A ..%-tr..6r/J tJi# tJ/hNf/tJIJ~~/f! lxmleandtossesitacross the parking lot. Glass explodes, spraying Brothers and sisters, aher the Concord, we had some intoxicating liquid across a pile of rubble. A few listeners flinch· powerful neighbors to the east: the Silem Sttiders. They may The young man turns. No one dares tO meet his gaze· No one sees have looked down on us, since we fed on the dead to sutvive, the look on his face, the color of his skin. or the anger in his eyes· but we got along well enough. Our cousins to the east had their /It The pack IS of one mind now. own pantheon of totems,lncamae tied to the Egyptian gods.

The new alpha raises his arms. The wind is biting cold, but If you talk to a really religious Strider, he'Ll confirm it.

Teeth-of-the-Jackal stands before the fire in aT-shirt and a worn They'll tell you the old stories about Anubis, Horus, and even pair of jeans. It's freevng outside, but he's burning with rage· No crusty old reptilian Sebek. 1 t was an age of gods, and men who one dares tO stare too closely at his sores-his deformities are the walkedasgods.l'm talk in' about the two immortals who waLked reason he can shake off such brutal cold so quickly· He's me tis • among them. Set and Osiris. Bloodsuckers. Freaks. Leeches. and he's not afraid tO show it. In Homid form, he heals the pain Pale-skinned, niglu-stalking, blood-draining vampires. of the cold again and again, but the pain in his eyes won't fade.

The Striders had <ln all-out holy war against Set. See, he Some of the other Garou say the Bone Gnawer ttibe came laid claim to all of Northern Egypt, and as part of it, he sired together out of convenience. That's crap. Some wolves will a whole "bloodline" of undead minions to help him keep it. treat you like shit because it's supposed to be your place in life, And then there was his daddy, Apophis, the Corrupter, who or because we don't have their breeding. That's bullshit. The stank of the Wyrm, and left the Serpent's stench wherever he big difference between them and us is that we're more openhelped Set in his unholy crusade. The whole kingdom reeked minded. Whattheotherwolvescastout, we take in. That's why of the Wyrm's corruption, so the Sttiders kept hunting Set's we're so spread out and the Silver Fangs are so inbredwe children again and again. You might be wondering what this believeinwideningthegenepooi.Neverthoughtofusthatway has to do with us, so I'll cut to the chase. Whenever the before, did you? We're not cursed. We're blessed.

Sttiders got their asses kicked, they were desperate enough to More importantly, we're Garou. We're supposed to be come to us for help. They'd send one of their swih messengers on the same side, but all of the tribes are bickering over crap: with a re<llly polite invitation to help them fight the Wyrm. politics and breeding and ancestry, like that shit about the Back when we lived in the wild, the Bone Gnawers also Concord I keep hearing over and over. Who gives a fuck? followed <lncient gods and ancient waysways that have The world's dying. The other tribes keep the Bone Gnawers been forgotten, and ways that are returning. The scavenger shut out because we're homeless, because it seems like our totems ted us to carrion, watched over us, and protected us. whole tribe never had a home. Screw it. It's a lie.

We left our sacrifices of bone and meat to their guardian Our tribe came from all over the world, but before the spirits. In Africa, jackal held power. In any ttibal cacm, you Concord, our tribe had a home. Since the dawn of time, the could be fairly sure that the sept leader would follow Jackal, largest gathering of Bone Gnawers was in Northern Africa. while the elders would bow their heads, giving benedictions Maybe those Garou weren't formally a ttibe yet, but that pan to Crow. The Ragabash made their pacts with Hyena, and of the world had dozens of Bone Gnawer septs, long before the rabble that gathered only to feed followed the ways of Khem or Carthage, or the fucking Concord. And that was long Rat. After all, Rat is worshipped everywhere. before anyone could revile us as a tribe of scavenging losers.

When the Silent Striders were desperate enough to beg We had cui ture. We had pride. The one thing we didn't other Garou for help -or even worse, the Bone Gnawershave was enough wolves, so were a "homid" tribe. And just most responded just like you'd expect. Jackal'schildren were <'IS you'd expect, the other Garou hated us for that, too. Since delighted to benefit from a war with the Wyrm, as long as then, our Kinfolk have spread out across the world, spawnsomeone else struck the first blow and stood out in front. ing bastard children, but if we hadn't lost our heritage, we Crew's children were content to follow the leaders of the could trace it right back there, to our tribal homelands. You tribe, as long as it setved their needs. Hyena's children just want to know how we lost them? That's a hell of a story. laughed at the fate of the poor Striders. And Rat's brood?

How do I know? Okay, so maybe I wasn't there, but I Momma Rat's children stayed out of the whole damn mess. know the spirits were. I speak with them the same way my Even back then, we knew the score. People came to us ancestors did. Any good stteet shaman knows the ancient for help, and when they got it, they'd casually consider totems. Outcasts al\ overthe world know about Mother Rat, fucking us over. That's the story of our people. That's our and even during the lmpergium, there were plenty of Garou whole history, right there. We'll squabble among ourselves with an affinity to rats, the Rat Totem, and his feral when times get roughwhen you can't trust nobody but children, the Ratkin. But we've neglected the true totems. yourself_ but we've got good reasons to be skeptical of There was a time when we ran with other scavengers - anyone else. Stand by your tribe, and trust your alpha, and jackals, crows, and hyenas-sowe spoke with the scavenger you won't have to go through what Jackal's children did. totems for guidance. And mark my words: Now that the End So anyway, there we were. There's the Striders, bowing Times are here, the scavenger totems are coming back into effusively in front of our septs and asking for our aid. It was a the world, bringing the old StOries with them. Stories Mr. nice gesture, wanting the Bone Gnawers to sacrifice their Gaillard here don't know jack about. Now, where were we? l3o"'e G"'"-""ers I lives for the Striders' little crusade, but it had a few problems.

First, the Bone Gnawers weren't as organized as the other tribes - never have been, never will be. The tribe treated everyone as more or less equal, despite the differences over religion. Since we lived as scavengers, our protectorates were big enough where we could wander. The septs kept moving wherever food was up for grabs. So oddly enough, many of the Garou in a sept never stayed close to the heart of the nearest caem. Sound familiar? The tribe's the same way today.

And even if we could have called in all our kin to help right then and there, can you really blame the children of Rat for not answering the call? I mean, fighting the Wyrm is a noble cause, but we're talking about fighting a god. Set was one badass, immortal, tear-your-heart-out-and-sacrifice-it· to-the-lords-of-darkness motherfucker. So add on a second reason Rat'schildrendidn'rget involved: they weren't stupid.

Jackal's children saw things differently. Some of the Striders worshipped Jackal, too. They just knew him in a different aspect: jackal-headed Anubis. in our tribe, Jackal's kids were the sort who watched over our caems, so they at least listened long enough to hear the Strider's point of view.

Strider Galliards rold stories about Ptah bringing the force of the Wyld into the world, about the Modeler and Maar and their obsesssion with justice, and Apophis, the Corrupter, the tool of the Wynn. It rook a bit of work, but some of the Jackals were sold on the idea of their totem's role in all of this. More importantly, Jackal's ambitious children saw a way to gain respect again, so they fought beside the Striders.

CAe:.h.pf erOh.e: TAe l3e:.d O{d Oe:.ys \ . '"' And guess what? They lost. Bigtime.

The Striders weren't doing too well, and when they couldn't get help from enough Bone Gnawers, they lost. Set threw everything he had at the Striders, and the Silent Striders lost Khem forever. He spread his corruption as the kingdom of Egypt descended into darkness, and the Striders ran away with their tails between their legs. Lo and behold if they ain't been running ever since. Set cursed the whole damn tribe, cutting them off from their ancestors, their homelands, everything.

There's a lesson here. The way I see it, we can't afford to tum our backs completely on the other tribes. 'Cause once the forces of darkness consumed Khem, they started rolling across the northern coast of Africa. The Ajaba stayed behind, and looked what happened to them! Ajaba? Ever heard of them?

Shapechanging hyenas? Of course not. I'll move on.

As for the Bone Gnawers, Jackal's followers took it the worst. His children suffered from the same curse that hit the Striders. The way I heard it, it seems that jackal blood in our veins has plagued us ever since. Crow skulked off behind Jackal, knowing that his brother would need him ... and if Jackal suffered too much, Crow would benefit all the same.

Hyena's brood laughed at their brothers and sisters for making such foolish choices. And Rat? Rat's brood survived the whole mess, for Rat, above all else, survives.

I'll admit, our tribes get blamed fora lot of shit that isn't our fault. When we lost our own homeland, some cursed Rat's children for their cowardice, and some blamed Jackal's