tinue to search to this day The Uktena brought back many P

tinue to search, to this day. The Uktena brought back many P

and could withstand wind and water. We told them to do what they wished to those in their territory, and leave our peoples alone. We told them to hunt the monsters as our Mother wished us to do, and not waste time killing humans.

For that would put fear into the hearts of the humans, rather than teaching them love for the Mother. But the strangers would not listen. They said they would return and make sure we did as they demanded.

“We would not do as the strangers said. And so we prepared to defend our territory. Yet the Great Mother sent Older Brother a dream of a vast island where game was plentiful. No other Wolf-people lived there, but there were many monsters that needed to be destroyed. ‘HOW will we get to this island?’ Older Brother asked in the dream. ‘We have no boats!’ And Great Mother told him that for the brave the sea was made dry, but soon the sea would swallow the land again so that no one could reach the island.

“Older Brother did not want to risk his siblings, for though the dream seemed to come from the Mother, evil spirits may sometimes send pretty visions. So he traveled many moons, running along the edge of the ice wall until he came to the place between the ice and the sea. Crossing over he scented game, open plains and deep forest. Older Brother returned and told the others of this place. Younger Brother wanted to stay and fight, while Middle Brother couldn’t decide. Finally Older Brother convinced him it was the Mother’s will, and Younger Brother didn’t want to be left behind. So they left their old hunting grounds, taking their favored wolves and human Kin, and they crossed the land between the ice and the sea. And after the last of the tribe crossed, the sea covered up the land bridge so that no one could follow them into their new homeland.”

CAM@+&M&M f l ! P M “The brothers continued their journey, beyond the snow, through great forests. They walked across Turtle Island from the shifting ice to the steaming jungles, from cliffs to long beaches. Younger Brother did not go far before he grew angry at the sun for standing too close. To him the howl of the hungry wind was music, a call to join the dance of death once more. So he left his siblings and returned to the snow. Middle Brother was fond of green growing things, and chose to make his home in the fertile valleys and forests of the East. Older Brother chose the desert, the clean dryness where the shadows stand out sharply in the white burning sun, where the game requires more searching than the plains that groaned under the hooves of the buffalo. He traveled the secret passes of the great mountains, and spoke with the eagles and the cougars. He walked among the wooden giants, silent as the morning sea mist. He plumbed the depths of lakes far below the surface of the earth. ‘Though the Brothers occasionally met, they always returned to the land they loved best. But in their wanderings they found many evil spirits. Together and alone, they fought many battles, some with spirits you may yet face, young one; others with monsters not faced since before the A N o*y Lib Land-Rises-Up whispers: Many of my brothers have bought into the Wyrmbringer’s lie, that our people crossed a land bridge from their lands to these. We didn’t cross no bridge. The Wolf-people of the Turtle Island didn’t come from somewhere else. We’ve always been here. I will tell you the story that my Grandfather told me. In the ancient days, people lived on this land. But the Wyrm was there too, and it moved across land and sea and corrupted everything it touched. The Great Mother knew She needed warriors strong enough to fight the monsters before they covered up the world. So She sang a song of beauty and all the winds carried the song in all directions.

And from the deserts and the forests and the plains and the swamps, seven wolves answered Her song and came to Her, and seven humans heard the song and followed it also. They all followed Her into a cave deep inside the sacred mountain at the center of the world.

And in the light of the sacred fire the people and the wolves danced to the rhythm of the sacred song. They joined together and their spirits mixed. Now Great Mother wished Her new wolf-people to go out into the world. But they did not wish to go, for the sacred fire was bright and the song was beautiful. So Great Mother asked Her sister to call to them. She did, and the wolfpeople saw her silver light shining down into the cave, which drew them out into the world. But they were happy, because each one carried the song and the fire within them so they would never lose them. And they set out to fight the monsters as they were made to do, and Great Mother was pleased. That is my story. days of our grandfathers. There was the great Bane, whom we call Ash-Breath; he could suck all the water-”

“That,” interjected Tide-Borne, “is not a good story for today.”

After a moment getting his derailed story back on track, Cows-the-Gator continued. “But the servants of the Wyrm are many and strong. To die fighting the Wyrm is what we do for the Mother, what we have always done. Yet such sacrifices weaken the tribe. When several packs must die to bring down some Wyrm-spirit, the next spirit will face fewer defenders. Younger Brother accepted this, for he trusts only the way he knows - tear into a foe until it dies. But Older and Middle Brothers knew there had to be a better way. If humans attack a bear, many will fall to the animal’s claws.

But if the bear is trapped in a pit, it can hurt no one. And so it was that we set out to learn the secrets of trapping Banes.

“Uktena and Croatan searched for many turns of the seasons, asking questions of spirits, sometimes hiding in the tainted dens of Banes themselves to watch them. We continue to search, to this day. The Uktena brought back many P “Witches did great evil. People did their bidding out of fear, for those who tried to run or fight were cooked and eaten in their turn, or pinned to canyon walls to die in the sun and hang until the wind and sand had worn them away. Grandfather Serpent delighted in their evils and gave them still more power. The witches drew evil spirits to them to bring sickness and drought in order to punish resistance or to spread fear. But at last the Uktena returned to check on their Kin in the canyons, and found this atrocity. Many packs descended on the desert strongholds and slew the Banes and the witches.

Then, under the guidance of our loyal Kinfolk, the people abandoned the cliff-cities for smaller villages in the south, and temperament, those who intrigued us. But we seldom lived learned to live in harmony with the land again.” among the nations we chose from; instead we were always apart from them, pursuing our own ways while keeping a things: songs of power and the secret names of great Banes, which gave us power over them. Many of these we shared with the Croatan, and together we lured the greatest evils to places where we could bind them. Some we sang to sleep; others we wrapped in cords of energy drawn from the very earth. And over each one we set guardians to stand vigil. So while the lesser evils were born and grew and in their turn were slain, the great evils stayed locked away, unable to harm anyone.” me+ “Unlike what some Wendigo might say, humans reached these lands before us. We took as Kin those who suited our and Her creation. evil wherever it took hold we had think, is a mistake. Watching and st quires constant vigilance, and even in our strength the Wolf-People were never that numerous. Even in the heart of our homeland, darkness could creep in. For many, many seasons our Kinfolk guided the peoples in the desert canyons, living in harmony, in beauty with the earth. Seldom would we visit, for the people feared us as all do who aren’t of our blood. But eventually our absences grew too long.

There were those who would not follow the path of beauty, but believedonly in power. They made the people live in larger and larger towns, spreading their crops beyond their need so the people would grow and prosper. These wicked people turned the hearts of our Kinfolk, or killed them, and raided their neighbors constantly. And to become even more powerful, they turned to evil workers of magic. These witches killed with a look, and ate people aspart of their rituals, to gain strength and set themselves apart from the harmony of the world. The leaders relied more and more on witches for knowledge of their enemies and the power to fight them.

After a time, the witches were more powerful than the leaders, and often as not ate them to gain their strength.”

He paused and shifted into a more comfortable position. But Erishka saw his eyes gleam under his dark brows, touching on each of the stone-still elders before settling a moment on her. n each tenet. This rohibition. In the uch more), and their primary targets ches who served Grandfather Serpent - weaknesses of our Soon, their menu grew to include foes, allies, and even Kinfolk. Some Kin took up the bloody practice themselves, though they gained no benefits apart from the good will of the Heart-Eaters. Thoroughly corrupted, the Heart-Eaters used whole pueblos as bait to lure in powerful Banes, which were then bound into terrible fetishes. In time, other Wolf-People discovered the heinous acts, and several packs hunted down and destroyed every last Tainted Uktena. They hope.

“Though many of our Kinfolk suffered for the lapse, we learned from it. We learned the names of new evil spirits, and gained insights into the weaknesses and needs of human minds and hearts. We were stronger for it, and hunted the Wyrm with even more diligence.

“Here is adifference between Older Brother and his two siblings. We knew subtle evils continued to grow, even after we destroyed or bound them. W h y should it not be so?

Burned black by a wildfire, does not the forest grow green again in a following season?

“But our brother tribes believed otherwise. Of course, small Banes were often to be found if one looked hard enough, spreading illness or madness among the unwary.

But they believed the great evils were bound forever as if evil is finite and fixed. To them, all was a taintless paradise. We told the Children of Wendigo to watch for the evil, but they would not listen. They spent their strength against the bitter north winds and each other, and called us fools. Even when they fought the Wyrm’s children, they blamed dark but untainted spirits. Little Brother closed his eyes and covered his ears, and would know nothing but what he believed.

“Turtle’s followers likewise believed the lie, but unlike the Wendigo they could be shown the truth. Unfortunately, they did not react well to being proven wrong. Theirs was the fury of vengeance. For instance, among their Kinfolk was a prosperous nation in a fertile valley. They grew numerous and built high mounds and great cities. Yesterday as today, where many people gather, there you can find Grandfather Serpent.

Yet Middle Brother would not see the corruption that grew in his own lands. In the end, it was our own tribe that saw the signs and showed them to the Croatan. In anger and humiliation they set to crushing the mound builders. The fallen ones were slain, by claw or by spirit-wrought misfortune. Yet the Croatan did not stop there - they harassed the nation and caused the crops to wither and the warriors to flee battle. The people fled or were captured by other nations or died of hunger. Even their own Kinfolk felt their anger. Many died, and the rest lost their lands and freedom to neighbor nations - nations who eventually were touched by Grandfather Serpent as well. We blamed ourselves for causing the destruction of so many for so little gain.

“Little Brother ignored us. Middle Brother overreacted.

It should not surprise you, then, that Older Brother stopped speaking of Grandfather Serpent, and kept his own council as he fought the enemy in his own fashion. We sought out the evil in a place, tracking it to its source, and if we were in another’s territory, we just did our work more quietly so as not to trouble our brothers with the truth.

“Eventually the other tribes noticed how we chose our words, or used misdirection, or simply said nothing at all. They started to distrust us, saying we gathered secrets like maize, yet shared nothing. And so we did. When all around us were things our brothers would not believe or must not learn, we learned to keep our secrets. We learned that lesson well.”

“These were in the days of our strength, the time the Wyrmbringers presumptuously call prehistory. They have no history of their own, so they must rely on turkey-scratchings to tell them their past. We do not need paper and ink to know things. We knew of their coming long before they did.”

“The Intruders, the Wyrmbringers, brought death to our Kinfolk and sickened the creatures, the air, the very land of Turtle Island. Perhaps our ancestors would have done things differently had they known. Perhaps not. Omens are too often understood only after the events take place. So it was with our foreknowledge of the Intruders.” %&%59 “Many years before the Wyrmbringers washed over our lands, a few came to visit. Some came fromacross the eastern sea, some from the west. They never lasted long. They died of sickness or were killed or driven off. Sometimes, their Wolf-People protectors would come to aid their Kin. They say the Get of Fenris came after their treacherous Kin died.

The land was the Wendigo’s, but the delegation to meet the Intruders included a Croatan and an Uktena. They refused to listen toreason, demanding blood vengeance. But in their fury they were stupid, and between our strength and cunning, they were easily defeated and returned to their home.”

He paused and looked toward Three-Dart, who had shifted in his seat, and waited respectfully for a question.

“Where did you hear this story?’) Three-Dart asked.

“From Smoke Rises, Three+Dart-rhya. And she heard it from.. . )) He thought a moment, “Sharp-Tongue. SmokeRises gave me the right to tell the full story, which would take an hour in itself.”

“I have heard of her. The name is true, for it always does.” He nodded. “Very well, go on.”

“Even after they left, our seers were troubled. The prophets saw strange visions, which, as is often the case, no one truly understood until it was too late. One such prophet, SnowyBrush, saw a swarm of ants spreading from the shore, covering everything. They chewed away all the trees and grass and herbs, and built for themselves great hollow mounds like the termites in Africa do. And when they came to a rabbit, they swarmed it and bit it until it died. And the deer tried to run, but it wasn’t fast enough. Every creature, from the grasshopper to the elk, and even the wolf, died and was chewed to nothing.

But then a great blacksnake slithered into their midst, but no ants touched it. Instead, it fed on the ants, and grew bigger and fatter. The venom that dripped from its mouth blackened the earth. The great snake slithered into one of the mounds. Soon all was a desert and nothing moved but ants. So said SnowyBrush, a legend of our people, from whose line Fought-in-theMarsh-rhya descends.” The gray wolf shook herself, her tail thumping the wooden floor once in acknowledgement of the compliment. Erishka thought, What a suck-up.

“This and many other visions came to us over the generations, but other than that our world went on as always. That would change.”

C?.rn/h$7qf%&& W!&H&& “A few scattered drops can herald the mightiest storms. So it was with the coming of the Intruders. They came in their ships and beheld our beautiful lands, lands that weren’t protected by forts and walls and cannon as they were in Europe. So they stepped on our shores and claimed the ownership of all they could see. Sometimes, they traded with the villages they found. Often, they raided them for food, slaves or treasures.

Their expeditions always lost many to illness or the hostility they fostered in the nations they met. Many times I have asked the elders why we did not drive them away.

Their answers were always different. We didn’t notice, being busy with fighting evil spirits. We were few and always stayed near our sacred places. We left the nations to look after themselves, so long as no Wolf-People were among the Intruders. One elder told me that his ancestor asked the spirits what would happen with these explorers - would they keep landing on the coast and causing trouble?No, the spirit replied, soon they would die and no longer raid our shores. So the Spirit-Talker did nothing. And the spirit spoke true, for in time the explorers stopped raiding the shore, for after the plagues ran through the villages and the colonists came, the Intruders owned the shores, they were no longer ours. Sometimes the spirits don’t tell the whole truth; that is why we must be clever and ask the right questions.” wH&yde “The first ofthe WolfPeople to follow their Kin toour shores were the Shadow Lords. That was unfortunate. If the Children of Gaia or even the Silent Striders had arrived first, I believe the meeting would not have had such tragic consequences.

“The Shadow Lords met with our tribe even as their Kin treated with Moctezuma. Their language was unknown, and even their Garou tongue was a little strange to us, being separated by thousands of years of speaking. We greeted them in the name of Uktena and the Great Mother. They guessed the latter was our name for Gaia, but they could not recognize our tribal totem. When we described Great Uktena I suppose it was all their leaders could do to keep the packs from attacking, for to them as to Younger Brother our totem sounded like the Wyrm incamate. Still, we did not smell tainted.

These Garou from the east were haughty, giving no gifts, sharing no smoke, only demanding that we report how we protected our people from the Wyrm. We were careful to reveal little to them until we understood them better, but our caution fuelled their mistrust. The ritual bloodletting the people practiced seemed to bother them greatly - these werewolves whose grandfathers spoke for the Impergium!

We assured them that our packs were always watchful for Banes, and that they would find no more taint than we felt from the Spanish. Needless to say, there was much tension between our tribes.

“Then it all went wrong. One of their packs went snooping around the great pyramids. They discovered the great Bane that slumbered there. We have since learned that the Wyrmcomers never learned how to bind Banes this way, so they mistook the prison for a haven. In a fit of rage they slew the Bane Tender and attacked the Wyrmspawn. Rather than killing it, they woke it and were slain or driven away.

The Bane touched both Aztec and Spaniard with bloodmadness. His own people stoned the Aztec king and there was a great slaughter on both sides.

“The surviving Shadow Lord packs accused us of being Wyrm filth and attacked us. We had no choice but to kill them all, for they had already done great evil to our land. Yet before they died, a messenger escaped into the spirit lands to bring word to their tribe of the great defeat. We were still dealing with the escaped Banes when many packs of Shadow Lords appeared out of the air and attacked. One of our Camazotz allies winged away in search of aid, but she died in a searing bolt of skyfire. We were forced from our caern in the crumbling Aztec Empire, driven into the jungles.

“Next, the slayers turned their attention to other peoples and other sacrificial cults, inadvertently freeing Banes that plague Mexico to this day. There they met the Balam and the Mokol6, and the Breeds immediately fell on each other.

In their rage, the Jaguar People and the Lizard People lashed out at any Garou they found, including the Uktena. The Kinfolk of the Balam fell from sword and disease, and eventually they retreated to their Den-Realms. The Mokol6 fell back to their wallows, killing any Wolf People who came near. But the Camazotz were not warriors. They could only run away, and they didn’t even do that. They flew from ally to ally, reporting how the war progressed.

“Soon all were embattled, and none could aid the others. Day by day, the native warriors either disappeared or were slain, and there was nothing more for the Bat People to do. Some stories say they fell into despair, and simply waited or milled about. One by one, they diedunder the claws of the Wyrmcomers, even as packs spread northward in search of more Fera. They say the last Camazotz faced a pack of Shadow Lords in the penumbral shadow of his cave, the haunted look of failure in his eyes. When the klaive pierced him, he shrieked the most horrible cry, as if all his Breed were crying together, echoing all of Gaia’s collective pain.

Several of the Garou pack went mad; the murderer went deaf. But the cry echoed through the upper sky and all the worlds. It laid the Shadow Lords low, it is said, and for once they actually felt guilt for a wrong they had committed.

From that day, the Lords took no part in the struggles between the Garou and the Fera of Turtle Island.

“There were other battles as well. Every time the European Garou met other changers, they assumed the worse.

Perhaps they really believed Fera to be corrupt, but I suspect they believed the Changers would pay them back for the genocide the Garou committed in the War of Rage, and wanted to get in the first blow. Whatever the reason, when Fera were scented, European packs hunted them as hard as any Wyrmspawn. Some Fera managed to escape the worst of the persecution. The Nuwisha were clever enough to escape being caught, while the children of Grandmother Spider were adept at hiding in plain sight. But the Panther People suffered greatly whenever apack brought them to bay. The loss of their Kin to Wyrmbringer persecution only hastened their decline.

As for the Raven Folk, we weren’t about to let them suffer the same fate as the Camazotz. As hard as it is to surprise a Corm, we made sure it was impossible. Of all the Fera-hunters, the Fianna were probably the worst, but for some reason they left the Corm alone - even those who hate Stag’s tribe admit this. But they did their share of carnage, along with the Get of Fenris. I doubt any Intruder tribe is completely blameless, even the Children of Gaia. Someone in every tribe helped in the hunt, or at least did not hinder.

“Though we bear many grudges against each of the Wyrmcomer tribes, we reserve our bitterest hate for the Shadow Lords. They drew first blood against us, strengthening the Wyrm by their stupidity, and they drove to extinction a loyal Fera Breed so inoffensive not even a blind metis could claim Glory from the fight.”

Tide-Borne looked up at the storyteller. His tone was soothing, yet Erishka heard the sterner edge of command beneath. “I understand the reasons for your anger, perhaps better than you do yourself. But while we may remember and not forgive, while we may distrust, we must not fall into the trap of hate. Hatred has taken Younger Brother, and he no longer seeks the path of wisdom, only of revenge. Besides,” he added, glancing towards the glowering Three-Dart, “the Intruder’s blood mingled with our own, eventually. For all that they weakened the nations and Gaia’s cause, they also added their strength to our tribe.” He accepted his charge’s nod of acquiescence, and motioned for him to continue.

A a d P i & d P & “The old grandfathers say that the death cry of the BatPeople echoed throughout the spirit world. Some say the extinction of a Changing Breed called one of the greatest of all evil spirits, and it came. If that is so, it did not come immediately, hut then it had a long way to go. But come it did.

It was called Eater-of-Souls, and it was part of the Wyrm itself.

“The Uktena first heard of its coming. It arrived with the speed of the wind and the roar of a tornado. The lucky spirits got out of its path, but the rest were consumed by the spiritual firestorm of its primal hunger. The spirits warned us that it meant to break through the borders of the spirit lands and enter our world, where it would devour all. We gathered in hurried councils, trying to determine where it would enter our world and what to do when it got here. We sent runners to the other tribes in warning and a call for aid, for we would need to unite as never before. But the Wendigo were scattered far and wide, and time was needed to gather them.

Middle Brother did not answer our call.

“We do not know for sure what happened, for the spirits close enough to hear were destroyed. But some elders say the prophets of the Croatan learned where the Eater-of-Souls would appear: where the land met the eastern sea, the place the Wyrmhringers called North Carolina. Why there? No one knows. Some say there was no reason, it was simply a place. Others say it was drawn by the hunger of the starving Wyrmbringers who built their settlement there, or by a rite enacted by Black Spiral Dancers. Regardless, their greatest Spirit-Talkers devised a powerful rite, which would send the monster hack where it came from. They knew that it would take the lives of a great many Wolf-People, and that even if they succeeded none would survive. The Croatan decided that the Children of Turtle would hear this burden alone, sparing their brother tribes so that Turtle Island might still have protectors.

“The Uktena messengers, and those of us who lived among the Croatan in those days, tried to change their