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........... llilli:~~--~· .. -" ........ ,.. ..... IIILIW ... ILI.MG ... IIIIrr-.-"ft -~·--,_· and nearly all Bone Gnawers arc impoverished. This is actually largely due to a fundamental difference in philosophy. The Glass Walkers have found ways to study and co-exist with the Weaver, while Bone Gnawers consider her an enemy. Walkers are fascinated by human culture and eagerly emulate it; Gnawers typically drop out ofhuman society to follow their ideals. While their reputation as "tainted" sometimes encourages them co work together aga1nst their common enemies, their philosophies about the Weaver, attitudes toward human culture, and above all else, sense of pride, separate them. One of the rabble might compromise for a warm meal, but a hero upholds her ideals. A*'f#tm· 111Jr/A#df¢r'~ Some Garou join a tribe because of their lineage, making the same choices their parents and grandparents did. Elders who find young cubs often insist that "blood follows blood," indoctrinating them with reasons why they must obviously follow the same path as their ancestors. When a legacy ofGarou makes the same choice for generations, you can tell it in the appearance of their descendants - that's what being "pure bred" really means. Bone Gnawers are keenly aware that a cub can petition a tribe that has nothing to do with his ancestry, asking to be adopted into an entirely different family. It's not easy to do, but sometimes, it succeeds. Not every Get of Fenris is Anglo-Saxon, German or Scandinavian, for example; a few are accepted after passing the tribe's Rite of Passage because they excel in the ways of war. While adoption has been a rare practice among most of the other tribes-until the last few decades, at leastthe Bone Gnawer tribe has always actively recruited outcasts. Not all of them are the children of Bone Gnawers, or are even aware of who their parents really are. Just as they scavenge food and salvage what they find, they feel that anyone who has Garou blood coursing through his veins can be salvaged as well with enough work, no matter what his or her past may be. Admittedly, few Garou want to forsake their heritage for the sake of joining the Bone Gnawers. Instead, the tribe takes in a lot of cubs that don't make the cut anywhere else. Maybe a Get doesn't turn into a great warrior. If he makes a tragic mistake on his Rite of Passage, he may become so infamous that only Rat's brood will take him in. Perhaps a foolish young cub has forsaken all tribes for a long time, choosing to live life as a Ronin. If so, the Bone Gnawers are more likely to forgive him and take him in than another tribe. The tribe's tolerance has mixed results, of course, resulting in many would-be heroes who spend more time hunting their next meal than the spawn of the Wyrm. Nonetheless, they still bolster the tribe's ranks. The tribe, like their tribal totem, believes in strength in numbers. Some petitioners join the tribe because the tire of the restrictions imposed by other Garou, or perhaps the questions they insist on asking. On numerous occasions, a merciful tribal elder has taken in a strange Garou without asking too many questions ... and then finds out about his prot~gcfs dark past. The elder may face mistrust or even social ostracism from other tribes, but the Bone Gnawers are remarkably used to such disdain. More elite tribes accuse the Bone Gnawers of" diluting the purity of their blood," or at least revile them for lowering the standards of the Rite of Passage. Bone Gnawer elders endure such charges stoically. They have their own reasons for their policies of acceptance. Their strength lies in numbers. Maybe some of their claws are a bit duller, or their ranks are swelled with too many slackers and dropouts. Nonetheless, when the time is right, they swarm, skulking out of their hiding places co attack en masse. Many elders have made the mistake of misjudging the number of Bone Gnawers in their city. The tribe often sees itself as the last line of defense - because they value survival as one of their highest ideals, they expect to be around when all of the other tribes have failed or fallen. tlrMn 4~tM.t One common misconception about Bone Gnawers is that they all live in urh;m c~Pms. If rhis w«>r«> true, then the number Every society has its own laws and culture, of course, and the Bone Gnawers are no different. The tribe values deeds, not ancestry. Anyone can join, but proving yourself is another matter. Slackers who rarely work for the tribe are content to linger in the ranks of the rabble. They aren't condemned; just left alone. In their own way, they bide their time until the tribe needs them. In times of war, tribal elders may stir up as much of the rabble as they can find, gathering swarms of warriors from unexpected places. ln rural septs, rabble may have their own private homes or lives miles away from a caem-mustering them can take days or even weeks. Rabble aren't completely antisocial, however; they often waste time in temporary packs, whether they're setting up tents under an underpass or just hanging out on streetcorners. Without some kind of pack to support them, antisocial Garou may lapse into the deep depression of Harano, succumb to slowly mounting Rage, or become so feral that they disconnect from the world around them. Outcasts who abandon all pretense of civility may become deranged mystics, madmen, or monsters. Rabble who stray tend to drift away in twos and threes, eventually attracting packs of humans in extended families and getting caught up in "street life." The lupine instincts within them prevent them from ever truly becoming lone wolves. Despite the risks, some stray from caems for months or years at a time, possibly venturing into other cities nearby or the rural countryside surrounding a sept. A Garou can only live this life for so long before he feels the need to return to his own kind. Packs with Bone Gnawers may also attempt to take advantage of this tendency. Some Garou m the tribe use the tribal Gift: Tagalong to petition totems and caem spirits. Sometimes it's used to petiuon pack totems as well. If one of the rabble really needs a favor from the tribe or a Bone Gnawer sept, he may agree to temporarily work with a pack for a limited time and "tagalong" with the pack's totem spirit. In this way, the tribe is more than just a family. For the desperate, it offers a way to find brothers and sisters in times of trouble. For the ruthless, it's a resource. of werewolves in the tribe would be severely limited. Large urban caemsare useful, but they're also rather rare. A caern is more than just a place that werewolves gather-it's built on a site sacred to the Earth Mother. Most cities bury Gaian energies under layers of Weaver-webs and Wyrm·taint within their boundaries, or pervert them into something feral and desperate. Gaia still exists at the heart of the City, but rarely is she strong there. Openmg a caern requ1res more than a public park and a few homeless Garou. Even when werewolves discover a s1te that's spiritually pure in the heart of a city, performing the proper ntes to open a caern surrounded by millions of humans ts a challenge, to say the least. it may be possible to work around this limitatiOn by holdmg all the sept's rites in the Umbra, but a Master of the R1te who rehes too much on the spirit world eventually loses touch w1th the real world locations he's alleg· edly proteccmg.lf a City has a major caern, however, Garou are willing to fight and d1e for 1t. The largest urban caerns are actually so old that cit1es have grown around them. Defending such a place for centunes is an epic task. Noteverymajormetropolishassacredgroundwhereacaern can be formed, but the largest urban caerns that exist are famous throughout the Garou Nation. Bone Gnawers dream of pilgrim· ages to the greatest ones. Sometimes a pack of fostern is sene on a JOUrney or quest through a network of urban caems, presumably to learn the d1fferem ways they cope with different cities. They'll have to hurry, though. Like the Garou themselves, the number of urban caerns m the world L~ steadily dwindling. fii~IV t/""'J4H.f.l T'hl Stptofrk <men m New York's Central Park is one of the most prommcnt urban caems. It has only stayed alive because, in a sense, the City was b\ulc around the heart of the caern. At any gtven ume, over fifty Bone Gnawers live on the island of Manhattan, only occas1onally appearing at moots at the local sept. Mother Lamsa, the sept leader, lS one of the few Bone Gnawers co hold onto such a h1ghly esteemed position. She's remained therefor almost ten years, but it's a tenuous hold at best. Her willingness to welcome almost any guest within the bawn of the caern-and someumes offer them protection-has earned her enmity from several of New York's Shadow Lords and Fenrir. In the Sept of the Awakening in Washington, D.C., the local Bone Gnawers dominate a very different urban sept. The bawn of the caern is spiritually strong because of the local werewolves' belief in democracy and American ideals. Tradi· tiona! Garou consider this belief to be a sign of either mania or madness. Of course, the multitribal caern welcomes all Garou, particularly Black Funes and Children of Gaia. The local Bone Gnawers are unashamed in the1r d1splay of patriotism, much to the amusement of European VISitors. Desp1te prolonged banles with the local Leeches, the sept welcomes any traveler who's willing to listen co the1r preachmg about the values of truth, Justice, and the Amencan way. TilL &pt of rk Peopk' s W1U m Moscow hes at the other end of the pohncal spectrum. ThLS urban caern lS sull strugghng to recover from Its wholesale embrace of Communism and cold war ideology. It holds an mfamous place m Garou htstory: In 1917, the local Russian Bone Gnawers conspued to murder the1r S1lver Fang sept leader. The recnbut1on was so extreme '7hd 1?,~ fVd Uncill917, most of the sept leaders at the Sept of the People's W11l were S1lver Fangs. Times have changed. Through most of the year 2000, a disgraced Shadow Lord named Gyorg1 Stormraven served as the nommal sept leader, much to the amusement of his tribal rivals. A local cabal ofS1lver Fang elders appointed him to the position both as a reward for his accomplishments and a punish· menrfor his cnmes. Wh1le even the Shadow Lordsconsid· ered h1m a laughmg stock, Gyorgi bore the title as best he could, tyrannically enforcmg his authority over Bone Gnawers who d1dn't respect it. In February of 2001, Gyorgi's dead body was found mutilated in Red Square, a sign that the Russian Bone Gnawers had rejeclcd even the pretense of his authority. Since then, the Bone Gnawers have not elected another sept leader, and have formally refused todoso. The local tribalists have formally threatened to kill anyone who assumes the position, proclaiming the sept a sovereign protectorate of their tribe. Although the local Silver Fangs have been cautiously silent about the event, tribal elders throughout Europe are hornfied. T nbal cliath throughout North and SouthAmencahavestartedtowhisperofwhatsuchrebeUion may mean ... or who may be behmd lt. A few have even begun to pnvately talk about the ments of such ambition. that the leader of the rebell1on was k1lled outright. For over e1ghty years, the caem's sept leaders served as little more than figureheads. Dunng that ume, the local Bone Gnawers have tried to run the sept as much hke a communal caem as possible. W1thm Its bawn, no Garou may pull rank on another. Their quamt politics were once tolerated as amusing, but recent events have changed the caern's 1mage in other pans of Europe. ~l?hr/' t41!h.U The Bone Gnawer lribe has also spread its Kin throughout the rural countryside. Despite their image as an urban tribe, many of Rat's children prefer the freedom of small towns and villages. Contrary to urban werewolves who struggle to remain a part of human society, these rural Garou have an innate aversion to it. Fleeing the corruption of the cities, they bear their children far from the madness of steel and concrete jungles. Most have pnvate protectorates far from the bawn of the nearest sept, but for the sake of their surv1val, they remem· ber where the nearest rural caerns are h1dden. Rural Bone Gnawers follow far older traditions than their urban relat1ons.lbey s1ng the same folk songs the1r Km have sung for generauons, l1vtng on the same land, and followmg the same careers. Some rural caerrLScenteron a local familyofBoneGnawer Kin. While mens werewolves patrOl the bawn of the nearest caern, Kmfolk famil1es keep watch for m1les and m1les around.lf another mbe dominates the caem, a few Bone Gnawers m the sept keep in touch with theu relanoru for m1les around, mcludingGarou who are hes1tant to approach the cacm. Rural rabble are even more hesitant to meet the scom of other Garou in a moot, but far more eager to help out when someone in the tribe needs assistance.