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remained on the mainland, from this point on the tribe’s focus would be Hong Kong. rn&Z/&#& dhfldhzY The Industrial Revolution and Stannum’s rampage had shattered London’s Garou. The strongest caern in London had been destroyed, and a bunch of rich, arrogant Americans called themselves the leaders despite having no one to lead. It was a depressing time for the tribe in that area. Adam Sutton, a London Ragabash, took to wandering the city for days at a time.

According to his diary (now kept as a tribal treasure by the London sept), he heard a rapping in the alleyways and began following it in 1882. This took place over weeks until he finally worked out to step sideways and follow it in the Umbra.

Eventually, he found the source of the rapping. A long, spindly umbrella rapping against walls, held by a tall man wearing a plaid waistcoat, a brass pocket watch with Roman numerals in the pocket and an “anarchy” pin on his lapel. Adam Sutton had just discovered the London City Father, the first one ever discovered. Glass Walkers today tend to forget that we just didn’t even know City Fathers and Mothers existed until a little over a century ago. &.. Bctr @&kflazo?.m/q Prnf@&>P&Ph LUG’ Numerous details about this story could be wrong. For one, Natalia’s reliance on written history leaves her blind to details in the oral history, like when the first City Mother or Father might really have been discovered. Also, the City Father has always been an elusive, tricky spirit. Even in the modem setting game you can count the number of City Fathers and Mothers formally known to the tribe on your fingers. It’s perfectly reasonable to believe more City Fathers and Mothers are out there in other cities, and that they may have adopted packs quietly in older times. They just never sparked off the revolution that Sutton’s discovery of the London City Father did. City Fathers and Mothers sort of exist timelessly, and thus tend to be wildly anachronistic; London’s Father might look in Roman times exactly like he does today. As such, setting your game in earlier eras could make for some great visual clashes and fun play.

Or, in brief: Feel free to ignore this and whack the City Father into whatever era or place you want. Have fun!

But once we knew about that first one, it was like wildfire. City Fathers started to be found everywhere.

Perhaps it was a trick from London’s Father, who’s a trickster spirit at heart - deadly serious until you realize the trick, whereupon he bursts into laughter.

And in classic trickster fashion, the City Fathers and Mothers had been right in front of us the whole time, only we never knew what to look for. After the news of Sutton’s find swept through the tribe, City Mothers and Fathers were found in New York and Philadelphia within the month, and Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago were all found within that year. W h y American cities seemed to fare so much better is still unknown, althoughToronto was found in the 1950s, and both Paris and Melbourne were found late last century. (The City Mother in Paris only ever appears to foreigners, appropriately enough. That city has always been at its most beautiful in the imaginations of its admirers.) During this time, the Iron Riders had been falling apart. Individual members of the camp were still very wealthy and powerful, more so than ever, but they had less and less to do with each other. The completion of the Northern Pacific railroad in 1883 highlighted how successful they’d been, but also suggested that they’d really completed their purpose. As such, the camp faded in power and the loosest camp in tribal history managed to change the name of the tribe. Since this new camp, held together only by their devotion to the various City Fathers, spent most of the time in the Umbra, their name reflected - Backup-Circuit, deadpan: Stop it. You’re killingme. this. You needed a reflective surface to step sideways into the Umbra, and the most common reflective surface in the city was glass. Glass Steppers sounded silly, and so pretty soon the Glass Walkers had displaced the Iron Riders and Tetrasomians.

Of course, it didn’t last. The Glass Walkers were just too disorganized, with no real leadership or agenda beyond finding more City Fathers. It’s a credit to how powerful the City Father was that they lasted as long as they did, but ironically, it was perhaps their lack of longevity that ensured their immortality in the tribe.

By the time the Warders, Tetrasomians and Iron Riders had run their course, the entire tribe was sick of them and wanted to forget about them as quickly as possible. They’d just been around for too long.

By contrast, the Glass Walkers were a popular group, just not as powerful or effective as might have been hoped. When the Wise Guys managed to gain the sort of power in the tribe that other dominant camps had, the rest of the tribe didn’t stop calling themselves Glass Walkers. Maybe someday, if a camp gets a solid enough g for a few centuries ag name, but that seem where four camps really held the spotlight Somehow we negotiated the horrors of t Wars, a depression, and disco.

But it is the most recent events of the of greatest worry, and I’m not the one to Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Cjenereder breathes in de recent developments in the cri achievement of a pack named They were also fnghteningly Weave forming a whole camp around them, moots when Gaian spirits time. I just happened to be the lucky one that found a lead that got me to a contact that led me to another contact, and he chain an ally that found me the information eded and dreaded to hear.

Instead, it sparked violence. The day after my , three packs of Glass Walkers marched into c m and demanded that certain Cyber n the story broke out, there civil war within the tribe. even some of America. liath is the recognition I today. I could be a lot “The future is an inherently good thing. ”

-Warren Ellis If you’re not a Glass Walker, you don’t fully understand the first forty-eight hours. Those first two days since it happened. If you’re not homid, then you just don’t understand, period. You didn’t get the luxury of a First Change right in the middle of a crowd of people, most of whom you know by face and name and maybe even by personality. And you’re among that crowd of people when something little, and it’s always the most stupid little thing, sets you off. Contrary to cliche, you don’t “see red.” You see people, and faces, and your own claws. You know full well whom you killed.

It just doesn’t seem to matter at the time, is all.

Killing them seems right.

And once you realize what’s happened, and you’re wet with blood and naked and frozen with terror, you slink into the corner and look at them all and wonder what’s wrong with you. And then, monsters show up, grab you, and you’re screaming as you wait to die.

A whole lot of you who had human parents know this, I know. But most of you don’t understand the next bit. For those of you from wilderness tribes, this scene is followed by being jammed into a truck and driven out of town. It’s harrowing, I’ll bet, but it’s quickly over.

Chcipfer Two: de+orkity For us, though, you get a blanket thrown over you and you get shoved into a car’s back seat as the monsters turn into people, and tell you to stay quiet. (Back when the Wise Guys were at their peak, they tossed you into the trunk.) Then, you drive nice and slow up the main road, and you turn into a parking lot and walk into an elevator, and you go up forty floors. You’re scared witless. You want to scream. But you don’t, because you saw what these things were before, and you want to live.

So you shut up as they herd you out of the elevator and toward a shower. If you’ve got good eyes, you’ll notice the shower room has no mirror, and no sharp objects available. Assuming they’re on the ball, the Glass Walkers rarely lose a cub to suicide. Can’t afford to.

Given clothes (one size-fits all outfits), you’re given over to a counselor who explains, very patiently, that you’re not insane, but that yes, you are a monster. It isn’t very reassuring, but it’s still the best procedure we have yet.

Meanwhile, all around you are people on phones. And you slowly realize every single one is talking about you.

Think about it for a second. How hard is it to cover up mass murder? It depends on where you are, of course. This whole sequence is mostly true for First World nations. Poorer countries get a slimmed-down version since for the most part the enemy (that is, the police and media) are either not as well equipped or less concerned with protecting the population than with controlling them. And werewolves flipping in poorer districts of places like America (I’m talking about Bone Gnawers, here) get the advantage that, in general, the police don’t care as much. It’s hideous cynicism to believe that if mass murder’s going to happen, it should happen to those in crap housing, but that perception works to their advantage.

But if you’re from reasonably wealthy areas, like a large percentage of Glass Walkers, you don’t get that advantage. Stopping a police and media investigation of anywhere from six to two dozen murders in one brutal spree is a fiendish process requiring bribes, threats, blackmail and every other edge we can hold over key individuals. Usually, a scapegoat is needed. We do our best to pin the murder on someone serving the Wyrm’s needs, but they aren’t always conveniently available. It’s not pretty, but like I said before, these aren’t pretty times.

So for the first 24 hours, this poor little teenager is alternately trying to kill everyone in the building, crying her eyes out, and generally being hidden. And for the second 24 hours, she’s slowly watching people she’s never even laid eyes on before sacrifice their time, money and effort in the pursuit of protecting her. And as they do it, they all have huge grins on their faces; they slap each other’s backs and hands and laugh every so often. They’re rejoicing, because a cub has been found.

If you can get past how horrifying it is, it’s absurdly funny.

In a way, those 48 hours are your real Rite of Passage.

You don’t know this at the time, of course, but you’re being monitored from the moment you arrive at the caern. (For the curious, that high rise I mentioned earlier is the caem. I’m not just referring to just my First Change, either; a lot of caems are in high-rises. More on that, later.) If you’re up to the task, they’ll even try to get you involved in the last stages, with some assistance. A particular favorite is getting you to edit your own police record, and if you have any experience with computers, they’ll likely get you to do that. For those who are getting flashbacks to Men in Black, we don’t erase all our records.

Those records represent a wealth of contacts and useful services available to us. Why get rid of them?

If you’re less computer-inclined, it can be things like making phone calls to find yourself a new home, or if you’re too young to live alone then to find yourself a tutor. Schooling does not end when you Change; if it did, we’d be at a tremendous disadvantage.

Z@P&R& This is, of course, only true for the homid members of the tribe, who comprise as much as 90-95% of the tribe, with the majority of the remainder being metis. These breeds have to be introduced into the tribe differently.

Metis Metis tend to have afar better lot in the Glass Walkers than they’d receive in most tribes once they have their First Change, but before that they have lives that would make even a Fianna metis cub wince. Since a metis cub being seen by humans would be a very efficient way to destroy the veil, they’re kept under lock and key, usually by one of the Kin. (Theoretically, Gaia’s warriors have better things to do than raise children, especially ones requiring such intensive care.) After they have their First Change, metis are suddenly allowed to join the caern and have some social and physical skills taught to them in a hurry before their Rite of Passage. Ironically, whilst metis don’t suffer the same stigma they do in other tribes, they still suffer greatly early on. Many metis born into the tribe are introverts and lack fighting instincts. However, metis are considered the equals of all other Garou, at least in theory.

Lupus The number of lupus Garou in the tribe is so tiny that there are few generalities that can be made. Each case is unique, however; lupus tend to be prized by the tribe precisely because of their rarity. Often they’re kept as “prize pets” of either relatives or the leader of the sept, and are takenout to hunt and learn the skills of their wildernessborn cousins. Unfortunately, this often creates lupus that are very used to taking orders and less used to taking initiative.

Since homids are so clearly the majority, they tend to be seen as the default of the tribe in most septs. This doesn’t mean they’re the “preferred)) breed in any sense; in fact, sometimes it can work the other way and the lupus gets favored for high profile tasks by virtue of standing out more. However, the tribe can forget the needs of its lupus and metis members from time to time as a result of their minority status.

Many septs attempt to combat this in the same way that many Western political bodies have, by ensuring token members of the breeds are represented at all levels of leadership. At least one major position of responsibility will be given to a metis or lupus. The most common choice is Gatekeeper, for two major reasons.

Since metis and lupus usually have more Gnosis than homids, they’re often a better choice for the job. The second reason is that even if they’re not the best choice for the job, the same logic behind the first reason can be explained to any homid that feels (perhaps rightfully) slighted in the name of breed politics.

Ofcourse, this is all modem-age custom. In the old days, things were a little more balanced between wolf and human - but that was then. This is now.

The specifics don’t matter, anyway. The point isn’t to show off how knowledgeable or tough you are, it’s to show how you deal with high-pressure situations. Cubs who manage the first 48 hours well have proven themselves before the Rite of Passage and get what teaching we provide as soon as possible. Even before you’re officially “Garou,” you’re being led into the Umbra and are being instructed on the finer points of your auspice. This isn’t just the basic 41 1 that all cubs get; this is a serious in-depth training that most of the time you don’t receive until after your Rite of Passage. We tend to nickname it “the fast track.” Cubs on the fast track barely get a Rite of Passage at all: A Theurge might just need to negotiate with a friendly spirit and get it to do something specific for them, or an Ahroun might be asked to “discourage” someone from harassing one of our Kinfolk. All that’s really required in this case is to show basic competence, such cubs have already demonstrated the nerve and willpower it takes to be a Garou in the Glass Walkers. Such Garou are often the best we have, and it makes no sense to endanger them with a rough Rite of Passage.

Most, though, don’t get such an easy time. If you, like myself incidentally, spend your entire first 48 hours curled in a ball and pleading with everyone to go away, then you get the standard deal. Teaching from elders is minimal: Such cubs haven’t shown their ability to deal with pressure and are therefore security risks, hence they are only told what they need to know and what we don’t mind giving away.

The sharper of you here will have observed a problem with the system: Only the homid members of the tribe endure the first 48 hours in such a way that it can become such a testing grounds. This means that lupus and metis are never considered on the fast track, and it’s a point of some tension in some caems, I’mcertain. How it will be fixed is not certain.

Rites of Passage for these cubs is done in groups whenever possible. (In truth, we’ddo the same for cubs on the fast track, but how often do you think we get enough fast track cubs at the same time to do that?) They’re also based entirely upon what the caem needs done at the time. There’s a lot of debate that flies around how challenging these Rites of Passage should be. On the one hand, we want our soldiers to be of a certain standard. This is a war, not a kindergarten class, and making a Rite of Passage easy for a hopeless case can, actually will, be costly later. On the other hand, any Garou is better than none and throwing a group of cubs to the - erm - wolves is a waste of resources. Even the most incompetent, loathsome screw-up can breed, if nothing else. ///Am----- The general compromise reached is that every Rite of Passage is given a rate of difficulty based upon our intelligence of the situation, ranked from one to ten.

Anything above a six gets a supervisor who won’t interfere except to yank the cub‘s chestnuts from the fire (and immediately declare the testing a failure, though if they survive the cubs can try again.) The higher the rating is above six, the more supervisors we employ. Iffor some ungodly reason the cubs were sent on a rank ten Rite of Passage, they’d merit an entire pack of supervisors. FYI, the very moment we hear that a werewolf might be among the cubs’ opposition, the ranking is considered at least seven. Rank eight requires at least half as many werewolf opponents (or beings of equal destructive capacity) as the cubs and nine is invoked when there’s at least one enemy for each cub. Rank ten would require the cubs to be outnumbered two to one by werewolf opponents, so we’re frankly discussing situations such as “making a full-scale raid on a Black Spiral hive.” Any elder who sets such a Rite of Passage is going to face a lot of challenges for the decision.

Most, of course, are nowhere near so heinous. In fact, the general ranking of Rites of Passage tends to hover around six and are designed to test the cubs’ ability to work as a team, their self-control, willpower, nerves and ability to operate quietly. My pack was sent to acquire the details of the members and capabilities of a small Wyrm cult so that we could begin a purge. The Rite of Passage required us to use public and private computer databases, an Umbral search of their meeting grounds, and some good old-fashioned sidewalk pounding, with special attention paid to our ability to not draw police attention. It also should have been ranked level seven after we learned that four members of the cult were fomori, but that’s another story.

Odd development: Among some young Glass Walkers, the ranking of your Rite of Passage is becoming a status symbol. If you “passed” a rank eight Rite of Passage, you have bragging rights over someone who only needed rank three. It baffles me, since the really good Glass Walkers, the ones who began on the fast track, uniformly get rank one rites. Go figure.

BackupCircuittakes theopposingvkwdees, there’s a really easy reason why those who get the tough Rites of Passage get respect straight offthey’ve proven themselves, man! Being on me end of a telephune and holding your wits is not the same as facing down a pack of psychotic werewolves, and way too many “jbst trackers” break down in their first fight. I’Utake thehardenedrank~overtheuntestedteacher’s pet any day of the week, thankyouvqmuch.

After the testing, the actual rite takes place before the entire caem and combines aspects of the Catholic Mass (blame the Wise Guys), a college graduation (blame the Corporate Wolves) and a knighthood. (Goddess only knows where that came from.) The cub or cubs kneel before the ritemaster and are given ceremonial robes before the duties of your auspice are recited to you. You are asked to recite the Litany back to the ritemaster before he makes the mark of Gaia on your chest, then your auspice glyph on top of it, the tribal glyph above that, and lastly the symbol for the caem’s totem. Finally pure spring water is poured over your head. (Evian works.) This calls forth the caern’s totem to recognize the cubs as Garou, and the rite is completed as the ritemaster calls for the caern to recognize the Garou as a comrade and a Glass Walker.

Certaindetails arenegotiable.Traditional1yredpaint is used to mark the glyphs, but tattoos have been used by more street-level caems and if times are tough and such ritesneedtobeworkedfast, magicmarkerswilldothe job.

Like everything in the tribe, our rituals evolve, so it will be intriguing to see how the increasing power of the Random Interrupts in the tribe will influence the rite.

When the ritemaster goes over the auspice duties, they use fairly traditional language, and it sounds appropriately archaic so as to be impressive. Galliards like myself are told, “You are to honor those that serve Gaia, and to decry those that would spoil Her radiant beauty. You will ensure those who become martyrs before our eyes will be remembered, nor will you let us forget our mistakes. You are the tale-keeper, you are Galliard.” But really, Glass Walker society is often very lenient in interpreting auspice roles. Taking your cues from a Western human society that for the last two centuries devoted itself to allowing social mobility will do that for you. But we’re also not quite as easy-going toward it as you might think; we’re still Garou. When we walk into the night air and see Luna displaying the symbol of our birth, we still feel that surge of pride and Rage that all Garou do. And it’s a wonderful reminder that auspices aren’t just something that the people around you set up: They’re the mandates of a goddess.

However, we figure that she trusts us and that it’s better to have someone enthusiastically working on something a little tangential to his role than someone half-heartedly pursuing the straight and narrow of his auspice. And perhaps appropriately, the way we view auspices is somewhat cyclic, just like Luna.

R&dw The stereotypical Ragabash is a computer hacker, gleefully ripping into the computer systems of Wyrm controlled companies and creating chaos. The stereotype isn’t too far off, either; it’s good for Ragabash to be technically-minded, since they can produce a lot of creative stuff that way. Still, there’s a lot more diversity in the auspice than a group of illiterate techno-wankers.

Back when the Corporate Wolves were at their peak, the fashionable thing for Ragabash to be was a “consultant” nemies or helping us cover o ng as well as the how is one o innovation. And we love i ” everyone talks about i t the end-all and be-all in the tribe. Culture jamming is an idea so perfectly Ragabash that you can’t help but wonder if a few members of the auspice weren’t there to help its inception. Other members of the auspice seem to delight in walking through gaping holes in our defenses while in disguise, and then making the whole caern sit through the security video replay of how she did it. One classic case saw 20 lbs. of staples lugged through three checkpoints, all equipped withmetaldetectors. Lazy operators and loose shift changes allowed her to negotiate every last one. Of course, when she got here she rubbed it in, quipping, “Office supplies?” Everyone’s a comedian.

TAm367 This is where things begin to get weird to other tribes. Theurges come in all shapes and sizes in the Glass Walkers, from the most traditional to the downright quirky. On the more familiar side of the equation, you get simple modernizers who perform traditional rites with convenient alternatives. A trip to the pet store provides the cotton-tailed sacrifice most Garou have to hunt down, before burning it and making a smell. They buy Yamaha Drum kits to make fetishes out of the skin and proceed to wake the neighbors greeting Helios every morning. They’re the worst neighbors you’ve ever had. For a reason.

Then you get religious wackos. For various reasons, Glass Walker society is often deeply religiously syncretic, and nowhere is this more evident than among Theurges. Whether it’s howling the Anthem of War over the symbol of St. Elizabeth of Portugal, or performing Misogi for a Rite of Purification, these Garou take the basic elements of Gaia worship and interpret it in the context of human religion.

And finally you have Technogaianists. By using LEDs to rouse limited consciousness in REM sleep and produce lucid dreaming (or just sitting in front of a computer screen for so long that they fade into unconsciousness), they manage to find the Goddess in the computer, and the VCR, and any household appliance you’d care to name. You can’t appreciate just how flexible Gaia is until you’ve seen a Glass Walker delete a 3D rendering of a cow they worked for days on as a “sacrifice,” and then you see it work.

Theurges aren’t just the official diplomats to the spirits in the Glass Walkers. They’re expected to be leaders in crisis situations and even military commanders in a caern’s defense, especially during assaults that have a spiritual element. In short, Theurges are considered our one-stop spirit-dealing shop with a knack for getting results. A lot of responsibility rests on their shoulders, but when you look at the biographies of great Glass Walker heroes, you’ll notice a lot of the crescent moons up there.

Bypass-Circuit, anoisy bastard, complains about his life: Man, we always get the short end of the stick.

Everyone in the tribe thinks we’re brandnew, and everyone outside the tribe thinks the whok tribe is like us. Fact: We’re not new, and we’re still a minority. Sort of.

Most people out there tend to think of Technoguianism as something very modern with the creation of the e mputer to see Gaia in technology; nology with moving parts. Even distinction; a klaive is technology. the basic principle with the times. and done, Technogaianism isn’t but others have found ways to summon them with a “Find Computer” or even just a “ping” command on a PC . Others just find ways to house spirits in their computers on a longterm basis, turning their own computers into fetishes. Doing so requires an actual “house” for the spirit, though how this house is created depends strongly on the personality of the Technogaianist. The stereotypical “punk hackers” offer war spirits homes made with first-person shooter kvel editors, whilst more urbane types use architectural software. One guy I know isgoingto experiment withplayer-created housing in MMORPGs with intent to “infect” other players’ computers with spirits. No &a how it’ll go.

Technogaiunism kind of happens in waves. Gets very popular, then dies off, then gets popular again. Since there are a lot of us in the Random Interrupts, I’d like to think we’re on the crest of a wave waiting to break. n such a way that our re we are if they start And of course, you’re looking at the basic preservation of the law. This would seem like a pretty simple job; after all, we Urrah must be pretty lax about keeping up with the rules, right? Well, not quite. Every sept has its own procedures, and there’s the spiritual mandates handed down by Cockroach and Gaia, and of course the laws of the Garou Nation to boot. A savvy Half-Moon had better be able to keep up with all that.

Many tend to take up other jobs as well. (If only, I suspect, to take their minds off everything that requires their attention at the caem.) This helps, since we’re kind of a non-profit organization and thus need every contribution we can get. Philodox often make sterling business managers, high-level accountants, system administrators and any other jobs with lots of variables to be juggled all at once. They get a lot of practice at it.

Once you’ve worked out how to take down a discontented Ahroun all the while already thinking of ways to deter investigations into the disturbance and where the money to replace broken equipment will come from, I guess everything else would seem a little tame.

Is this useful? You bet it gence” and when you’ve got pesky Ragabash trying to work out where to hit you, we’re the first line of defense.

As always, the more traditional duties of the auspice also get a good work out. Praising the hometown kid who done good is our job (as is cursing out the hometown bumbler who screwed up,) and the motto here comes straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan: Make the punishment fit the crime. There are times to be subtle and times to ram it home, times to be traditional and other times to be flamboyant. I’ve personally been more at home with subtlety, whispering in the right ears how so and so has been quietly and stoically taking on stuff that needs doing, and thus ensuring that he and his pack get a crack at some more high-profile stuff, a chance in the limelight.

What he did was honorable, and that’s how you recognize it. On the other hand, I knew one Galliard who put together a music video from stolen security camera footage of one Ahroun surgically taking apart an enormous fomori. She (the Ahroun, I mean) promptly forced our sept to watch it about fifty times over the next week. It was the perfect way to showcase her moment of glory, and I couldn’t have done it better myself.

Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, we’re the tribe’s historians. This extends from the largest events down to the smallest details. Kinfolk‘s place robbed? Write it down and file it properly. One of our packs massacred in a brutal ambush? Write it down, file it properly, and make sure you write a fitting obituary to them as well. One of our Theurges creates a powerful fetish? Write it down, file it properly, and construct proper praises for the Theurge’s wisdom.

It may sound cold and impersonal, but it’s not.

We’ve got as much pride in our written history as other tribes do in their oral history, and ours is much more detailed. We’re arc t least when not on a battlefield) toTheurges. At first glance, it appears that the only role left for an Ahroun is a grunt. Do you think they’re happy to accept that? No. And as a result you find agreat deal of diversity in the auspice, since Ahroun need to find their niche instead of just having it handed to them. Hence, you find computer hackers who are unparalleled in destroying enemy systems, or professional smear journalists who can wreck the career of any politician whose campaign we don’t like. I’ve personally met one Ahroun who devoted himself to learning the stock market and now spends all his time deliberately crashing the stock of companies we suspect are Wyrmtainted. The difference between the Ahroun and the Ragabash is simple: The Ahroun aren’t about trying to find weaknesses, they’re purely about trying to cause the greatest damage possible to our enemies. They are, as in every tribe, the shock troops in our army.

And it also worth mentioning that while on the sept level, the Ahroun tend to get lost amidst the other auspices, at the pack level they’re often the most capable leaders and frequently alphas. I think that ultimately, the way our tribe looks at the various auspices works for us when it comes to the Ahroun, because by forcing them to find their own niche we delay their headlong rush into bloodletting and force them to think a bit. Once that’s done and they’ve got some common sense in their heads, they’re often the best of the best in our tribe: Decisive, passionately devoted to Gaia and fiercely loyal to the pack mates who adopted them after the sept offered them nothing.

Don’t mess withour Ahroun. They know war-tech, they know Sun Tzu, they know corporate raiding and curbstomping and media campaigns and just about every tactic of persuasion known to the Mafia, Yakuza and Russian Mafiacombined. And they like to show off.

Speaking of adoption, let’s talk about Cockroach.

Other tribes will give you a cock and bull story about how the totem perfectly represents their tribe, and how the tribe and the totem are perfectly matched.

Well, here’s why I think Cockroach adopted our tribe: He liked us, and we didn’t have any say in the matter.

Think about our tribe, back when we were slowly emerging. We were pariahs from the start, so how many spirits do you think were looking favorably at us? Worse, we championed huma we were very popular roach.. . Cockroach is you think came first in the city, COC dare you to prove which. So that’s how it started, as I hear the story. We provided Cockroach with food, he provided us with spiritual legitimacy. It’s called symbiosis, or simply “a good deal.”

We still have a lot of respect for Cockroach, mind you. He’s an adaptable critter; have you ever seen some of the giant cockroaches in the rainforests? There are three and a half thousand different species of cockroaches out there and they’re all wildly different. Adaptation is acrucialpart ofprogress, so we admire that. He’s afaithful business partner, too, and if any of our tribe start to take him for granted, us Galliards hand their asses to them and remind them of what happened in the Wild