The Cnb Times interference from the Garou. We had pledged to curtail the growthofhumancivilization, and the Wolves ensured that we would . , never be able to do it. “In establishing the Concord, the werewolves betrayed Gaia’s world. We were supposed to share Her creation, but instead, the Garou relegated all of the Changing Breeds to the shadows. They established the Veil, a pledge that they, like all shapeshifters, would remain hidden from human society. Gaia responded by gifting them with the Delirium, sheltering humanity from the atrocities the werewolves committed. Of course, it fed upon the horror that the Garou had visited upon the human race for three thousand years. The era of the Changing Breeds came to an end, and the Age of Man began. “Somewhere, undoubtedly, the minions of the Mad Weaver rejoiced. The humans, of course, continued to evolve. Taking up the Weaver’s ways, they built their first human cities thousands of years ago. The art of agriculture gathered them together in towns and villages. The Sixteen Tribes continued to spread throughout the world, watching over their Kinfolk, but they learned to act through secrecy. “And the force of the Weaver grew stronger in the world. The Wolves began to lose touch with their Wyld nature, becoming more Man than Beast. And, sadly, Mother upheld the decisions of Her favored children. As the humans and Wolves swarmed over the world, we hid in the walls of reality, desperately trying to repopulate our race.. . and cursing our Mother for abandoning us. We had loved Gaia, but She had no love left for us. We had no choice but to quietly pray to other gods for succor. The Garou had driven us from the world, and we have been patiently waiting ever since. The Cnb Times “Others will tell you of human history, but this is the only epic that really matters, the one that explains the tortured world that surrounds you - the civilization that left you to die. For thousands of years, the werewolves have lived in a world of humans. They’ve lived with them, they’ve bred extensively with them. Now, they’re more men than wolves. Our scouts have confirmed what’s happened to the real wolves in the world: They’re dying out. Most of our race, on the other hand, vanished from the world a long, long time ago. For thousands of years, we have watched and waited, for we knew that the Garou would fail. And we knew that one day, we would have to take up the task that Gaia had assigned us: to thrive where the Wolves failed. “When a litter ofour children gather around their mother, she’ll whisper to them of the world we knew long ago. Back before the War of Rage. Back in the days of the Impergium. The Wolves do not remember, but we do. Every Beast that can wear the shape of Man, every Changing Breed, each of us that they hunted and harried and terrified, they remembered. Not surprisingly, the Garou remember themselves as the heroes, “We remember differently. Our blood sings a different song of what happened. And the visions you have undergone, child, the Birthing Plague that infects your veins, that will be a part of you forever. That sickness in you right now.. . it isn’t Chapter One: Ratkin Legends the end of your life. It’s the beginning of a new one. It’s your call to battle. “The humans, and their werewolf guardians, have had five thousand years to throw the world even further out of balance. And why do we need to survive? Mother abandoned us, but She knew She’d need us someday. The world the werewolves tried to create failed; they are an anachronism, a shadow of the horrors they once were. The world the humans have tried to create is failing. Soon, it’ll be little more than rubble. 1 don’t know.. . how.. . it’s going to happen exactly, but all this around you? All of the cities of men will be laid low. Earthquake, plagues, meteors, nuclear wars - the End could be just about anything. It could come tomorrow, or we may need to wait for decades, but anyway you look at it, the End Times are here. No matter what it is, we’ll survive it. That’s what our children do. We must survive, by any means necessary. “The werewolves deny the real events of the Impergium almost as much as the humans do. W h y do you think humans have done so much to poison the world? They rebel against their racial memories. The werewolves’ slaves are still rebelling, crowding out and despoiling the Garou’s most sacred sites. As Gaia grows weaker, the Veil She uses to obscure the memories of humans grows weaker as well. By the End Times, it will be gossamer-thin, barely obscuring the horror that festers and breeds in the shadows of the world. The Lie will be cast aside.. . and mankind’s horror will begin. But we.. . we will never forget. We will remember. “The world you see around you now, child, is the result of five thousand years of lies. The humans lie to themselves, claiming to have built up everything of consequence in the world. That’s not surprising; Mother has thankfully hidden all their memories of how the world began. The Wolves lie to themselves, telling themselves that they are still the protectors of mankind and Gaia’s world. That’s not surprising, either - they’ve convinced themselves that the ‘Apocalypse’ will mean the end of everything. “But now, my little one, thousands and thousands of Rat’s children are returning to the world. We remember the truth. We remember the horror of the Impergium, the genocidal crusades of the War of Rage, and the terror of the Exodus. But now, the End Times are here, and we are prepared to reclaim Mother’s world. Once, She abandoned us, but now, we know we hold the last hope of cleansing Her world. All that has been built up will be tom down, but not through the foul corruption of the Wyrm. Look around you, and you will see that the limitless chaos of the Wyld is already cleansing Gaia’s world.” 0 . . Gregor listens patiently, but the disease is making hinfatigued. He succumbs to the age-old memuries in his blood, listening to the beating of his heart. For generations, his brothers and sisters have fallen asleep listening to their mothers tell wonderful stories. As the infection inside him s h l y ravages his body, Gregor descends into slumber.. . and prepares himself to awaken into his new life. Away from the glance of the wealthy and significant, another Child of Rat hears the call of his god. Away from the cold order of humansociety, anotherRatkinisredeetned. The BirthingPkzgt4eha.s claimed him, leading him into a rapturous wakingdream: a dream of a thousand rats. “Lis ten, 0 My Beloved Children, and I will tell you a story of a foolish man and his descendants. At the end of the First Age, Gaia the Earth Mother made the Ten Thousand Things of creation. She created the valleys and the mountains, the forests and the deserts, and the endless waters of the oceans. And in the midst of the Ten Thousand Things, she raised a sacred hill to watch over it all. “For reasons only She knows, the Earth Mother set women and men upon the Earth. Almost immediately, one foolish man ran to the top of the sacred hill and said, ‘This land is mine! It will be mine forever!’ Gaia wanted the man to respect what she had created, so she sent Wolf to watch over him. “Each day and night, Wolf hunted in the forests beside the sacred hill. From the woods, he howled, ‘Be cautious! Youmust respect this hill. If youdo not, my children willdevour you.’ The man did not listen - he fathered many children, taught them to build fires, and drove away the wolves that howled in the night. “By the dawn of the Third Age, a hundred men lived at the top of the sacred hill. ‘This land is ours!’ they said. ‘It will be ours forever!’ Gaia did not want so many men to live on the sacred hill, so she sent Tiger to them. “Tiger took the form of a human wam’or and walked among them. In the center of their village, he said, ‘You are still living on this hill, but you do not respect it. I will teach you honor, so that your children and mine may live on the hill together. ’ The men did not listen - they tore down the trees in the fores t , made weapons, and hunted the tigers. “By the dawn of the Fourth Age, a thousand men had built agreat city around the hill. ‘This land is ours!’ they said. ‘It will be ours forever!’ Gaia was getting very impatient, so she sent Raven to them. A Nezumi (tale Raven flew through the city in the night, stealing all the weapons and tools the men had made. Then he cried out, ‘You are still on the hill, but I will steal every tool that you make. You will have to leaveandbuildsomewhere else.’But themendidnot listen - each time Raven stole from them, they built new and better tools. “By the dawn of the Fifth Age, a hundred thousand men lived in the city by the sacred hill. ‘This land is ours!’ they said. ‘It will be ours forever!’ So Gaia sent Fox to them. “Fox poisoned their food and their water. From the bottom ofa well, she said, ‘This is what you have brought on yourselves! You have made the land fallow, and now nothing will grow here. You must leave the hill.’ But the men did not listen - they brought theirfoodfrom a distant place, and they cowered the hill with stones and tar. And the hill was sacred no more. “To this day, the men in the great city do not listen. And 0 My Many Beloved Children, at the dawn of the Sixth - Age, a hundred million men will live where the sacred hill once was. ‘This kandis ours!’ they willsay. ‘It will be ours forever!’ Then Gaia will send Rat to them. “Rat will look upon them and say, ‘Once this was a sacred hill. Wolf came, but you didnot listen. Tiger and Raven and Fox came, but you did not listen. I am the smallest of Gaia’s children, but now, you will hear me.’ And Rat will run through the city of ten million men, spreading a terrible disease that will kill them all in the night. “And a plague and a pestilence will sweep across the land, 0 My Many Belowed. The men will learn that they should have listened, for Rat will do what none of the others could do. You, My Many Beloved Children, will swarm over the millions of bodies dying on the hill. And the hill will be ours forever. And the hill will be sacred again. ”
