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few of these we was easy to find suitable he spirits. But I will speak of that another include non-American Indians as Kin forward now, but I’m hard-pressed to think issue in that time. The Floridian Uktena favored imlusion, while many of the western elders were opposed to mixing our blood. Others argued that between attrition by disease and the removals that were already happening in the north, there would be no natives left to mate with east of the Great River.

Within septs and even packs there were divisions between what we today would call “traditionalists” and “progressives.”

The Council raged for weeks before it broke up and everyone went back to their own lands.

“After thinking about it over the winter the Uktena gathered again. More now thought as the progressives, but many were still against the idea. Two of the most influential Uktena at the council were a Gibbous-Moon traditionalist called Yellow Fur, and a Half-Moon progressive named Spearcatcher. Knowing Yellow Fur’s rousing words were keeping his camp together, Spearcatcher challenged Yellow Fur. Yellow Fur did not wish to fight at first, so he demanded that Great Uktena should send them a sign. They built a sacred fire, and followed its smoke into the spirit world, and watched to see which way the smoke would go. But then they argued about the significance of the direction, because the seers read different meanings in way the smoke traveled, so that nothing could be decided.

“In frustration, Yellow Fur cried out for combat, and soon the two were circling each other. The Songkeeper had seen more battles than the Half-Moon, but his Rage burned m&h b& “NOW I will tell you about one of the great debates of our people. The tribe was in jeopardy. Many of our human Kinfolk were dead from warfare and disease. Most of our eastern four-legged Kin had been killed by the Wyrmbringers or taken as spoils by the Wyrmcomers. Our desperation grew, for the powers of Grandfather Serpent and the strength of the Wyrmcomers grew daily, while our own numbers dwindled.

“In the scrub and swamplands of Florida, bands of Creeks, Yuchis and Yamassees movedsouth and joined with the remnant bands that survived Spanish occupation. In time they were called Seminole, a corruption of the Spanish word for “wild” or “runaway.” For among their number they aways recalled tales of their dist ChapferO w : Smoke Talk hotter. Spearcatcher made no telling blows, but danced just beyond Yellow Fur’s claws while taunting his opponent.

Finally, the four-legs fell into fury and leaped upon Spearcatcher, rending him almost to death. But for frenzying he had lost the challenge, and was cast from the debate.

“Without the good words of Yellow Fur, the traditionlost groundThey not accept as Kin the Europeans who killed our people with gun and cross and sickness. But we would share the strength of our blood with those whose life and lands the Wyrmbringers also savaged. At the time, this was primarily the people brought in chains from across the sea, the Africans.

“Younger Brother did not care for this at all. The for a compromise* We in hailing from the deserts of the Middle and.”

“The Intruders didn’t like to see any Indian. They wanted our Kin out of sight, over the next ridge, across the next river. Then they would be satisfied until more Wyrmcomers came and wanted new land. I suppose killing every last one of the native peoples would have been too difficult or too distasteful to them, so instead they signed treaties with members of the tribes and “bought” the land.

Our people did not truly understand how one could buy land. The Intruders did not understand how a nation could claim territory without individual ownership. The Intruders made a series of “final” treaties, which they broke as soon as enough new Intruders arrived. Often the treaties were made in threat, sometimes by bribing individuals who didn’t truly speak for their nation. But once signed, the Europeans enforced them until they were ready to break them. Eventually, the greedy Intruders decided that the best thing to do would be to move all the Indians westward.

“The Five Civilized Tribes - Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and especially the Cherokee -had made efforts to integrate their tribal ways with those of the Intruders, farming plantations, educating themselves and even (in the case of the Cherokee) creating an alphabet for their newspapers and legal documents. But though the Intruders claimed to want to “civilize” the natives, they really just wanted them gone and the land cleared for white settlement, timbering, and mining. So by force or by cunning the lands were taken, one by one. The Cherokee used the Intruder’s laws against them, but though the high court declared in their favor, we know paper means nothing against the sword.

The Seminole defended themselves the only way that mattered to the Intruders - by spilling the blood of those who would remove them from their lands. In the end, the nations were driven from their ancestral homes and forced to march to the grasslands of the west. Many died from malnutrition, exposure and disease. Their bodies lay in unmarked graves beside the road - when they were allowed burial at all. More died at their new “home”. The rest were forced more and more to rely on the government for rotten meat where once they provided for themselves.

“Some few of our close Kin we hid near our caerns until the danger was past. Some Uktena followed their Kin westward, still protecting them, though they were yet in the territory our tribe claimed. Eventually, the Intruders demanded part of this already cramped space. They carved up the reservations, giving each Indian a small part, which he could then sell. Many did, still not understanding how one could own land and bar others from so much as walking on it.

“In time, most tribes were corralled on reservations.

Some, like the Navajo, were lucky enough to have their homeland called a reservation, but many others were forced from the land where their ancestors dwelt, where their strength lay. And even reservation land was only inviolate if the Intruders had no other use for it.” 7ZG q5Hi? m3momfl “The many tribes of Wyrmcomers streamed in to find land to take. Many said they were coming to defend Turtle Island from Grandfather Serpent, but they could not protect their o m land from him! No, they were hungry for new territory, less crowded, less tainted. We were in the way. We had our own ways and customs created over thousands of years, and they had theirs. When they came they expected us to follow their ways! Others called us weak and demanded we give up our caerns to the stronger tribes! I will grant, as many will not, that many of the foreign Wolf-People added their numbers to our defenders when we would let them, rather than claim our holy places outright. Often, though, we refused, and they grew angry and demanded the caerns.

In truth, we weren’t as strong as we once were. We were spread too thin, keeping alive our old caerns as well as those we inherited from Middle Brother. It had been enough, until the invaders brought more evil to our shores.

“Holding on to what was ours grew harder year by year.

Our Kin were killed in warfare or by disease, and fighting the growing number of mockeries and evil spirits took its toll. We had no choice but to share caerns, though too often sharing wasn’t what the Wyrmcomers had in mind. Other caerns we sealed and hid, frustrating the Intruder Garou. But the greatest reason we fought our own kind to keep the caerns was the great Banes that slumbered in the ground. We were sure no Ukfenc; CMPmfi$i?4 P&fifYPH Calls-the-Spirit-Back speaks: We have always tried to teach our Kin how to live in harmony with the Mother. Sometimes, when a Kinfolk‘s spirit burns bright as flame, we tell them more so that he can become a prophet for his people. One such man was Tavibo of the Numu, or Northern Paiute. He could cure the illnesses the Intruders loosed upon the peoples, and spirits showed him visions. He found one of our sacred places and asked our Spirit Talkers to explain a vision he had, a vision ofwar beyond all reckoning, and the desecration of the Mother. The Crescent Moons all agreed that it was a vision of the Apocalypse. What was interesting was that Tavibo saw that after the destruction came a renewed world, where land was lush and game was plentiful. The Uktena taught him a dancing rite to bring to his people. Tavibo soon joined with another holy man, Wodziwob, who gained a following among many surrounding tribes. His teachings founded what the Europeans called the Ghost Dance, because after the destruction of all things all the people would come back from the dead.

Eventually, the followers grew restless. When the promised apocalypse did not come, they left him.

Tavibo‘s son, Wovoka, who also had a burning spirit, listened to his father’s teachings. When the moon ate the sun, he too had a vision. He said the Great Spirit told him to tell all the peoples to lay down their weapons and live in peace with each other and with the Intruders. They should also forsake the white’s evil habits - lying, drinking - then they would rejoin their loved ones in a place where death could not follow. Wovoka did as the vision told him, and soon people came from 30 nations to learn about this new Ghost Dance. Some among the Uktena and even the Wendigo came to hear what he had to say. Unfortunately, the stories the people brought back to their nations were often different from what the prophet himself spoke. They said that Wovoka would drive away the Intruders and bring back the buffalo. They told of the destruction and rebirth of the world where all the dead would live again and the whites would no longer trouble the pure lands. These stories were especially popular among the Wendigo, who fell over one another trying to find the spirits who gave such foresight.

But whatever the truth of the visions, the Intruder feared they meant renewed uprisings. So they brutally suppressed the dances, the prayers, or any sign of the Dance.

But eventhe Massacre at WoundedKneecouldnot stop the belief entirely, though many lost heart. Wovoka continued quietly speaking to believers until his death, but the Ghost Dance Movement did not rise again. The fighting spirit of the peoples was leashed, and most lost hope. The buffalo were gone, the medicine was gone, and lines drawn on a map caged all the nations. The government declared there was no more frontier, for there was no place the Intruders did not live. The Indian Wars had ended in defeat. whenever we told any ofwhat we knew to the others (almost heroes to ‘ak‘ his Place at the rite, a fine Wyrmcomer would know the rituals to keep the evil bound, and most wouldn’t care - like Younger Brother, they believed Banes were to be destroyed, not bound.

“But with Intruder encroachment, evilspiritsandaggressive werewolves challenging us at every turn, we still had another threat to face, anold threat the Wyrmcomersbrought.

Called the Black Spiral Dancers, they are a tribe of WolfPeople who have utterly forsaken the Mother. Once they were a fierce tribe who decided to take the fight to Grandfather Serpent’s very den. They sacrificed themselves for glory’s sake, not for honor as did Middle Brother. I believe the Black rose. Tide-Borne ra “You would be well this hall,” he rumble say it even here. I understand The elder paused a mo northern brothers are drive& hatred for those who respons undo them. But there is h Brother, more than in many too much bloodlust and dark becoming the Spirals, and littl equally chastened, Tide-Borne nodd Cows-the-Gator shook his them at once. They can’t hide Never, ever would we let the Wyrmspawn near our caems. we destroyed the wyrmridden fools in due time, but now we knew about the Wyrmls chosen than those who had fought them for Over a thousand years! mcourse, always out of necessity for the situation, but sometimes in exchanges of information), their suspicion of us deepened.

Not that we trusted them. Even if we overlooked the fact that the Wyrmcomers had tried to take our caerns, we couldn’t overlook that they needed only the slimmest of reasons to justify trying again.” rn/&rn&P “Still, we lost ground, just as all the Mother’s warriors still do. But the other tribes soon learned why we can’t be thrown aside so lightly. As they had when the Aztecs fell, the Wyrmcomers awoke sleeping Banes with their stumbling around. Sometimes, they did destroy the monsters, but at the cost of several packs. If they were lucky, an Uktena who knew the proper ritual could be found to sing the evil to sleep or wrap it tightly in a cocoon of power. More often, the beast escaped into the Umbra, and we would eventually have to hunt it down ourselves. The other tribes actually blamed us for leaving these “traps” for them to find! It is a hard thing to be vilified by those whom you protect, and protect those who seek to harm you! We expect such treatment from Younger Brother, for it is the way of broth- “But as I was saying, the great Banes would stir now and ore than what it was. Its Bane awakened when a some of which possessed anyone to find a rite of binding for it took even more effort to yrmcomers to trust each other Brother. Our greatest hero of that Wendigo council of Middle Brother’s honorable sacrifice; surely, the Croatan would not shirk their duties because of mistrust? He spoke with conviction and passion and knew how to melt their frozen hearts. In the end one of their own pack of Wendigo died to draw the Storm Eater to the site where it was bound. And Silent-Storm and the other twelve heroes died to bind the beast again.

“But we must remember that this Weaver-Bane was only one of many Banes that are imprisoned. We cannot forget the many Uktena who have died before and since to bring down the great evils, and all those whose vigilance keeps us safe. The other tribes may distrust us, may slander us, but it is because they don’t know - and should never know -what horrors we keep locked away.”

“As I said, once we began taking Kinfolk born beyond our shores, we heard their tales ofdistant homelands. So we began visiting these lands to learn more. In some, we were welcomed, but in most we were not, for the Wyrmcomers that came before us left the local Changers with a poor impression of Wolf-People. The Cat-People of Africa, the strange folk of the Far East, all were distrustful and proud. But even when they meant to tell us nothing, we could learn much. We also found Kinfolk in these places - just a few here and there - but they taught us much of their own cultures.

For example, we learned that the Ainu, the dwindling natives of northern Japan, revered the bear as a teacher, provider and intermediary to the spirit world. Looking deeper into distorted legends and rituals held in the fading memories of the elders, we gained insights into the ways of the longextinct band of Bear-People that guided the ancestors of the Ainu in prehistoric times. We discovered people in the highlands of Southeast Asia who felt the touch of their ancestor’s spirits more surely than most, and those who saw the spirit world most clearly shared their ways, and their blood, with us.

These and others we met, and they give us their own strength in the war we fight against Grandfather Serpent.”

Ddq6&& D r e M d f l “Word reached us, some time before the time of the Wyrmbringer’s War Between the States, that a new tribe had been discovered by Wyrmcomers following their Kin to uncharted parts of the world. The first report was actually relayed by an Uktena who overheard a Silver Fang complaining that their plans for a new protectorate was blocked by an unknown native tribe. A Great Council was held to decide what should be done, and a pack was formed to meet this tribe that caused the Wyrmcomers such trouble. Unknown to them, a Theurge called Sings-With-The-Moon was already on his way from the moment he heard of the Bunyip; he couldn’t wait to learn who they were.

“What he found were Garou, as the Wyrmcomers call us all, but nothing like Sings had ever seen. For one thing, their four-foot Kin were not wolves at all, but strange striped beasts that carried their young in pouches! Their dances, their dealings with spirits, their traditions, were just similar enough to be recognizable to the Uktena. The land they still held against the invaders was as pure as our own land had once been - maybe more so. And what fired Sings’ mind most of all was their totem: a giant water snake called the Rainbow Serpent. Could this be an aspect of Great Uktena?

Could this alien tribe be lost brothers to the Pure Ones?

You can imagine Sings-With-The-Moon’s excitement and driving curiosity. He treated the strange tribe members with respect, and although their customs were different they recognized that this Garou was different from the Europeans. Still, they probably saw the thousand questions that burned behind his eyes, his greed for knowledge. While they treated him politely, they did not reveal their secrets, holding him gently at arms’ length.

“When the Wyrmbringers sniffed around their sacred spots, the Bunyip sent them away with strange but shortlived madness, but when Sings did so he was simply asked to leave. The Bunyip remained polite but aloof when more of our tribe arrived, as well. It is a pity, for united we might have made a difference in the War of Tears.

“It seemed most of the Wyrmbringer tribes had some grievance against the Bunyip. The Silver Fangs wanted to be acknowledged as rulers, no matter how worthless the land was to them. Th h we were not their hunters, still we were e tribe died beneath claw and klaive, and the ile the Black Spirals howled in joy hives in the new land.

“We did as we had when Middle Brother died; we took our place at the empty caerns. But it was different, for the native spirits showed us only anger. It took many, many years to gain the trust of even a few. Now we have taken the native peoples of Australia as Kinfolk, and we have added their knowledge to our own.

“But make no mistake. Australia is cursed for our kind.

The ghosts of the lost tribe still haunt the spirit world, the native spirits refuse to share their Gifts, and the land itself has not forgotten the slaughter of its defenders. It is a land of pain for us.”

“The last century has seendespair and hope, but always we have been active. The rest of the world fought great wars in which our Kin were more involved than we. However, even in Europe we had tasks. For instance, the Nazis were searching for ancient books and objects ofoccult power, grasping for any edge they could find. We likewise searched. When we found something of genuine power, we would sometimes fashion a replica for them to find. Granted, we sometimes needed the support of the European tribes, but it was only right considering it was their pelts we were trying to save.

“Take our Indian Kinfolk. For over a century, they’ve been penned or spread out among the cities of the Intruders, away from the land where their blood lived. Their old ways, their culture and languages were forgotten as the Intruders tried to “assimilate” the Indian. Yet now a strange thing has happened. Pride has begun to return both the Indian’s dignity and the Intruders’ respect for the people they tried to destroy.

White folks proudly claim native blood in their veins, blood Chapfec. One: Smoke Talk their great-great-grandfathers spilled. Indian art and music, legends and worldview attract increasing numbers of Intruders. Just as importantly, more Indians are rediscovering the wisdom of the old ways, ofharmony with the earth. Many lost Kinfolk have been found in this way. And while our wolf Kin are still scarce, they are very slowly increasing. Though in many places they are still shot on sight, they are freer to run than they once were. We must still watch them closely, for the thinning of our wolf blood upsets the balance within us.’) ‘That sounds easy enough,” said Three-Dart wryly. “To think we were worried about our extinction two hundred years ago.”

Cows-the-Gator took the hint. “Past struggles seem easier to those who did not live in those times, Three-Dartrhya. But our Kindid suffer and fight to better their lot. They fought, sometimes with weapons, more often with words.

The Intruders did their best to take away the culture of the First Peoples. Likewise with our adopted Kin. The descendants of slaves, who long ago lost all ties to their ancestral cultures, had no voice and no power in the Wyrmbringers’ world. Likewise, the prospects of more recent immigrants have ever been uncertain; from the south and from the east the laws and the Intruders turn against them at the least provocation. For many it took decades of struggle to be recognized, and the struggle continues. Some among the Wyrmbringers fought, and fight, for the people of our Kin.

We recognize the justice of it, but we also are wary of the open hand of the outsider, for we know that good acts are not always backed by good intentions.

“Long ago, we watched over our Kin at a distance. Now, we don’t have that luxury. With humans everywhere, with the Spider and the Serpent so close, we need our Kin at our sides - and they need us more than ever, for our enemies are numerous and hunt those of our blood. Where before we cared little for human conflicts, now we aid our allies as best we can.

We guard the marchers, feed information to the activists, protect the leaders among them. Sometimes it is enough.”

“I say there is hope. There will always be hope, so long as one of us draws breath. But the Mother is threatened more than ever in our land. The cities spread like cancer, reaching out for each other. The air is fouled, as is the water. The Intruders no longer hear the earth breathe, no longer feel the soil beneath their feet, no longer see the rhythm of life in harmony. It sickens their souls as the chemicals they consume sicken their bodies. Our brave warriors have more enemies than ever and many of those enemies can’t be hurt by claw or arrow. Those who fight for the Mother bicker amongst themselves while She cries in pain. But we hear Her cries better than anyone else. Only we listen to Her.

Death approaches, but the People of Uktena do not flinch.

Here we are resolved to defend the Mother, whether alone as did Middle Brother, or with all the Garou at our side.

Either way, we shall protect Her, with courage in our hearts, skill in our hands, and wisdom in our minds. This is our legacy. This is our destiny. That is my story.” 0 . 0