Anchorhead:
A spirit gate between the Near and Deep Umbra (See Membrane.)
Anthelios: The portentous Red Start hat has recently appeared
in the Umbral heavens; largely seen as an omen of doom. Also called "the
Eye of the Wyrm."
Apocalypse: The age of destruction, the final cycle, the
birth of death, the everlasting corruption, the end of Gaia. A word used in
Garou mythology to describe the time of the final battle with the Wyrm. Many
consider this time to be the present.
Auspice: The phase of the moon under which a particular Garou
was born, which is thought commonly to dtermine personality and tendencies.
The auspices include: Ragabash (New Moon: Trickster), Theurge (Crescent
Moon: Seer), Philodox (Half Moon: Judge), Galliard (Gibbous Moon: Moon Dancer),
Ahround (Full Moon: Warrior).
Bane: Evil spirits that follow the Wyrm. Many different kinds
of Banes exist, including Scrags, Kali, Psychomachiae and more.
Bawn: A boundary area around a caern, patrolled and monitored
carefully.
Blight: Any corrupted area in either the spirit world or
physical reality.
Breed: The ancestry of a Garou, be it world, human or other
Garou.
Caern: A sacred place; a meeting spot where the Garou can
contact the spirit world.
Celestine: The greatest spirits; the closest things the Garou
have to Gods. Examples are Luna (the Moon) and Helio (the Sun).
Concolation: A great moot, wherein many tribes gather to
discuss matters that concern the Nation of Garou.
Concord, The: The agreement all the tribes reached nearly
9,000 years ago, after which the Impergium ended. The traditions thereof are
still obeyed today.
Corruption: The act of destroying, devolving or debasing
life; also, the often overwhelming effects of the Wyrm's actions. In the present
age, it often refers specifically to the ecological ruin huamsn wreak upon
the environment.
Crinos: The half-wolf, half-human war form of the Garou.
Deep Umbra: The aspects of the Umbra that lie outside the
Membrane. Reality becomes more and more fragmentary the farther one travels
from the Realm.
Delirium: The madness and memory-loss suffered by humans
who look upon a Garou in Crinos form.
Domain: A mini-Realm in the Umbra, usually connected to a
larger Realm in the Deep Umbra.
Fera: Garou term for shapeshifters other than werewolves;
most are presumed extinct.
Feral: Slang term for lupus.
Fomori (singular "fomor"): Humans who
have turned to the Wyrm and who draw their power from it. Common enemies of
the Garou.
Gaffling: A simple spirit servant of a Jaggling, Incarna
or Celestine. Gafflings are rarely sentient.
Gaia: The Earth and related Realms, in both a physical and
spiritual sense; the Mother Goddess.
Garou: The term werewolves use for themselves.
Gauntlet: The barrier between the physical world of Earth
and the spirit world of the Umbra. It is strongest around technological (Weaver)
places and weakest around caerns.
Glabro: The near-man form of the Garou.
Harano: Inexplicable gloom, inexpressible longing for unnamable
things, weeping for that which is not yet lost. Some say it is depression
caused by contemplation of Gaia's suffering.
Hispo: The near-wolf form of the Garou.
Homid: A Garou of human ancestry. Occasionally used disdainfully
by ferals (e.g., "That boy fights like a homid."). Also the human
form of the Garou.
Impergium: The 3,000 years immediately following the birth
of agriculture, during which strict population quotas were maintained on all
human villages.
Incarna: A class of spirits; weaker than the Celestines,
but still greater spirits by any measure.
Jaggling: A spirit servant of an Incarna or Celestine.
Kenning: The empathic calling some Garou perform when howling.
Kinfolk: Those humans and wolves who are related to the Garou
and are not prone to Delirium, but who are not actual werewolves.
Klaive: A fetish dagger or sword, usually of great spiritual
potency and nearly always made of silver.
Litany: The code of laws kept by the Garou.
Luna: The Incarna of the Moon; powerful spirit patron to
all shapechangers.
Lupus: A Garou of wolf origin. Also the wolf form of the
Garou.
Membrane, The: The barrier between the Near
and Deep Umbra. To breah it, an Anchorhead must be found. Alternatively, the
Garou can travel through the Dream Zone.
Metis: The sterile and often deformed offspring of two Garou.
Generally reviled by Garou society.
Moon Bridge: A gate between two caerns; it most often appears
during moots.
Moot: A sept or tribal conclave that takes place at a caern.
Mule: Slang for metis.
Near Umbra: The spirit world surrounding the Gaia Realm.
Pack: A small group of Garou bound to each other by ties
of friendship and mission as opposed to culture.
Prenumbra: "Earth's Shadow"; the spirit world directly
surrounding the physical world. Many, but not all, terrain features have reflections
here.
Protectorate: The territory claimed and patrolled by a pack
of sept.
Reaching: Traveling into the spirit world.
Realms: The worlds of "solid" reality within the
Tellurian. Earth is referred to as the Realm.
Ronin: A Garou who has chosen or been forced to leave Garou
society. It is a harsh fate to become a "lone wolf."
Sept: The group of Garou who live near and tend an individual
caern.
Stepping Sideways: Entering the spirit world. Many elders
consider this term flippant and disrespectful.
Tellurian: The whole of reality.
Totem: A spirit joined to a pack or tribe and respresentative
of its inner nature. A tribal totem is an Incarna, while a pack totem is an
Incarna avatar (a Jaggling equivalent).
Triat, The: The Weaver, The Wyld, and the Wyrm. The trinity
of primal cosmic forces.
Tribe: The larger community of Garou. Tribe members are often
bound by similar totems and lifestyles.
Umbra: The spirit world.
Veil, The: A poetic term for the false assumption that the
supernatural does not exist, which the Delirium reinforces.
Ways, The: The traditions of the Garou.
Weaver, The: Manifestation and symbol of order and pattern.
Computers, science, logic and mathematics are examples of the Weaver's influence
on the material plane.
Wyld, The: Manifestation and symbol of pure change. The chaos
of transmutation and elemental force.
Wyrm, The: Manifestation and symbol of evil, entropy and
decay in Garou belief. Vampires are often manifestations of the Wyrm, as are
toxic waste and pollution.
Wyrmhole: A place that has been spiritually defiled by the
Wyrm; invariably a location of great corruption.