Update: August 19th, 2002

The faintest sound of a Howl of Mourning is carried on the evening breeze.

The summer's heat has been pounding relentlessly on the city streets for weeks now. The asphalt has been absorbing the sun's rays and holds the heat close to the ground, making the smell of tar, garbage, and the stale scent of humans burn the eyes of every garou unfortunate enough to be bound to the city during the summer months. The sun filters through the high trees overhead in the forests, causing the damp earth beneath to steam and saturating the fur of the lupus that tread slowly on the forest floor.

The night has been still, the humid air clinging to the inside of your lungs, and you lie there wishing for a way to escape the incessant heat. Your eyes sit heavy and your breathing slows down as you start to sink into sleep.

Your ears twitch and a shiver runs down to the base of your spine. Your eyes open sharply as you hear the mournful howl of a garou, carried across thousands of miles, carrying the voices of a thousand years. You lift your head, listening intently for a hint of familiarity to the voice that wafts hauntingly through the night.

Then... a breeze.

The faintest breath of air ruffles your hair and fills your nostrils. Swiftly it grows, a sharp gust of wind against your face. It moves faster, rushing in your ears, stinging your eyes, its icy blast burning the soft flesh around your nose.

And then it is gone, as quickly as it had come. The howl has stopped and the heat of the summer night has returned. You notice that you are breathing quickly and your shoulders are clenched, as if ready to strike. You force yourself to relax and after a long time you lay down to try to sleep again.

But the night no longer seems as still as it once did.

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This is an introduction to the national plotline that will be the focal point of the National game, and will be concluded at ICC 2003 in Vancouver.

It is not mandatory for STs to use this piece of setting, although I strongly encourage it and hope that you will be just as excited about this as I am.

You can see the first completed part of this plotline online at: http://www.geocities.com/frailbridges/garou/intro.html Two of these links do not work yet, but that is because I want to be able to talk to you about this before writing any conclusive decisions.

I will offer a brief summary of the plotline, although this is subject to changes if the STs have ideas. Remember, this plotline is for you and I will do anything I can to make this fun for your game. This is also only the preliminary framework and more details of the northern caern will be added over the next few months.

I look forward to hearing any feedback at all from VSTs, CSTs, and DSTs who would like to take part in this plotline.

Since the time long before the Europeans landed on the shores of the New World, there was a rich and strong native history, particularly on the ice-covered lands to the north. The Inuit had lived in harmony with the land for thousands of years, taking only what they needed and thanking the spirits for their generosity. The balance was maintained and life was good.

However, spirits can be just as volatile and petty as humans or garou, and the spirit of the Hungry Winter, Kaaktuq Ukiuq, grew jealous of the humans. His hunger grew into lust for a human companion and he tried to take one for his wife, trapping her into an icy prison. She escaped, but her life was lost. Kaaktuq Ukiuq raged at her death and began killing the food that the people hunted. The land grew barren and the people began to starve. A call for help was sent, and the most mythic warriors of the land gathered together to form a great ritual, binding this immensely powerful spirit into his own prison. (Please see the legend for the detailed story).

The spirit continued to rage and the garou had a choice to make. It had taken many of them, thirteen in all, and all of their strength to bind him. He was strong and if they hoped to keep him bound, they would have to remain here to maintain the ritual. Thirteen in all, they were most of the leaders of the Garou Nation to the north. If they remained, they would no longer be able to serve the nation, being leaders for those beneath them and helping to maintain the balance of the Triat. But if they left, the angry spirit would escape and their people would starve. Sadly, they remained behind, in this place of power in the northern most reaches of the world, trapped in an icy prison of their own.

Over the hundreds years that have passed, 13 have always remained, needing the strength of the elders to spend days in meditation for this ritual. As elders have died, others have taken their place. But in modern times it has become more difficult. The dangers are greater and fewer garou live to become and elder of the nation. The danger remains. what if one day an elder is needed and none is there to take its place?

This is where we pick up. The council of elders there are aging at an alarming rate. None have died in 20 years, but none have come to replace them either. The elders grow old and they realize the need to have others to take their place when their day comes. This fear has become reality. One of them has died. The howl of mourning is sent out across the nation, marking his death. Another lies on the brink of death, using much of her strength to keep herself alive. Kaaktuq Ukiuq sees the weakness in the ritual that keeps him bound and a thin tendril of his rage slips through, seeking to blindly strike at any garou. The Elders see this, but are powerless to stop it, leaving them with the need to replace the garou who has died and the fear for their land if another one of them should die.

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So, how does this affect your game and how can you use this? In a few different ways:

First, the national plotline.

This part is really up to you. What do you think would be the most dramatically appropriate way for a Wendigo cannibal/wind spirit to affect your game? An example is the way I plan to implement this in the Halifax game. The first signs were hailstorms during the heat wave in Nova Scotia. Unnatural winds, hail stones, torrential rains battered the garou. The timing was so that they suspect it has something to do with another plotline that is going on. A bit misleading to the players and it will take them a bit to make the connection. We also have a Wendigo here, and he has a group that he has converted to his ways. When he climbed a mountainous peak to call to the North Wind, it battered and bruised him, eventually ripping his arm from the socket. Modifying as you'd like to suit your venue.

Have the legend leaked to your sept. This way is also up to you. You can have it as a story told through a galliard passing through, a character can remember through one of their past lives, or a spirit can tell it to them such a pack totem or a wind spirit if subdued. Whatever you think will work best for you.

Have it come up in your game. Dealing with wind spirits, winter spirits, or Wendigo will be a violent and disturbing experience. Have the storms come at inopportune times. Have a storm trailing one of the garou. Anything that you feel would be fun for your players. At this point they should begin to suspect why this is happening and will know of the elders to the north.

The resolution for this plotline is planned for ICC 2003 in Vancouver. It looks like the Garou game will be limited to a game during one afternoon, which means the plot will have to be concise, dramatic, and memorable. The crisis will peak when another elder dies. Wendigo will escape its prison and begin wreaking havoc on the land. A call will be made from the elder caern, pleading for help from the nation to summon this immensely powerful spirit and bind it. Plans are already being made to make this ritual of several hundred players fun, entertaining, and dramatic. The power of the ritual will be enough to bind the spirit back into the caern, but no one is sure for how long.

Next, role-playing with elders. One of the greatest problems in Canada is the imbalance in the rank. Canada is a massive country, sizably larger than the US, and the only elders to be found are a few NPCs in BC's game. With only 4 games in Canada and the average rank being fostern and adren, it is difficult to be able to interact with higher rank garou. It is also difficult for STs to create these as NPCs because it will raise questions such as: Where did these elders come from? What sept are they from? This will provide a limited amount of interaction with elders, for the purposes of dispute resolutions, rituals, advice, and stories. I will be overseeing the creation of 11 well-rounded elder NPCs of various breeds, auspices, and ranks. These can be directly controlled by STs across the country, allowing the storyteller to have direct control over the amount of knowledge the elders share with septs and the decisions that will be made if there are any disputes brought to them. We all know from experience that dealing with PC Elders from other countries is a bit of a wild card. Through proxies and online role-play, we remain subjected to the whims of players, which can be disruptive to our local games. This will offer the regulation that is often needed, as well as allowing us a bit of independence from the US players.

The details for using the elders will be detailed on the Dramatis Personae page.

I look forward to hearing feedback from Garou STs on this plotline. This is not in effect until after I have heard from the STs across the country. I would like your comments and criticisms so we can fine-tune this to suit your needs. Any STs comments are welcome, although I need in particular to hear from Vancouver, Fredericton and Saint John.

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For more information on how to use this setting information in your venue, please contact: [email protected]