Werewolf: The Apocalypse

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{{Infobox RPG |title= Werewolf: The Apocalypse |image= Image:Werewolf - The Apocalypse cover.jpg |caption= Werewolf: The Apocalypse (Revised edition) cover |designer= Mark Rein·Hagen |publisher= White Wolf |date= 1992 (1st edition)
1994 (2nd edition)
2000 (Revised edition) |genre= Savage Horror |system= Storyteller System |footnotes= }} Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a role-playing game from the World of Darkness line by White Wolf. In this game, players take the role of werewolves known as Garou (as well as other lycanthropes), warriors who are locked in a two-front war against (on the one hand) the spiritual desolation of urban civilization and (on the other) supernatural forces of corruption that seek to bring about the Apocalypse. Their supporters call them champions of Gaia, while opposition labels them modern primitive ecoterrorists.

Along with the other titles in the original World of Darkness, Werewolf was retired in 2004. Its successor title, Werewolf: The Forsaken, was released on March 14, 2005.

1 Garou
2 Spirituality
3 The Creation Myth of Werewolf: The Apocalypse
4 History
5 The Fera
6 List of Books
7 References

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Garou

The Garou are beings of both physical strength and spiritual depth. Created by (and in most cases fighting on the side of) a force known as Gaia, Garou are shapeshifters capable of changing their physical form at will to appear as humans (a form they call homid), wolves (lupus), or several intermediary mixed forms. There are: glabro; physically strong and brutish humans, crinos; the traditional wolf-man, and hispo; wolves of unnatural size and strength. Unlike werewolves in most traditional folklore, Garou in Werewolf: The Apocalypse are neither mindless predators nor lunatics. Instead, they are depicted as defenders of Mother Earth and its Umbra (or spirit world).

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Breeds

In the World of Darkness, lycanthropy is not a disease but a heritable trait. As dual beings (being both wolves and men), Garou can (and do) interbreed with both species. A Garou's extended non-shapechanging family is called its Kinfolk. Most often, Garou are born to one human and one Garou parent but in families (both wolf and human) where Garou blood is especially strong, Homid or Lupus Garou sometimes are born from non-shapeshifting parents.

The circumstances of their parentage determines their breed. A half-human Garou are called a homid, and is born in homid form. A half-wolf Garou is called a lupus, and is born as a wolf. A Garou born from two Garou parents is called a Metis and is invariably deformed as a result of this inbreeding, as well as completely sterile; however, Metis have Gifts and advantages exclusive to their breed, including the ability to regenerate in all their various forms. Once pariahs in Garou society, trying times have led to the partial reintegration of the Metis breed into the ranks of the Garou. A werewolf's breed determines (to some extent) their Gnosis, or spiritual awareness (Lupus Garou being more in tune with the primal spirit world than Homids, and Metis Garou being in between).

In general, while most Garou leave their native societies to live among their shapechanging kin (engaging in a modern primitive lifestyle), they retain healthy contact with their Kinfolk to ensure their protection as family and the overall health and vitality of the Garou line.

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Society

Garou are not solitary creatures. They live in packs like wolves do and organise themselves into septs (groups of packs) and tribes. Garou tribes resemble human tribes in that they are a community of members sharing common lineage, traditions, rites and values. Unlike most human tribes, however, the tribes of the Garou span the globe, with its members spread thinly over large areas of influence. The Garou tribes each claim descent from the human peoples of particular geographic areas or demographic subset of human/wolf society. There were once sixteen tribes, but only thirteen remain servants of Gaia in the modern age. Twelve of these tribes form a great alliance known as the Garou Nation. They are:

Three tribes have been lost to Gaia: The Bunyip of Australia (destroyed in the War of Tears), the Croatan of North America (who sacrificed themselves to protect their homeland), and the White Howlers of Scotland, who were corrupted by the Wyrm and became the Black Spiral Dancers. A fourth tribe (the Stargazers) remains loyal to Gaia but have withdrawn from the Garou Nation.

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Seventh Generation

The Seventh Generation is a corrupt conspiracy composed of five separate castes; the Business Caste, the Government Caste, the Snatchers Caste, the Medical Caste and the Warrior Caste. This fictional organization works in total secrecy to destroy the world by means of corruption. They worship the various incarnations of the Defiler Wyrm and their main modus operandi (in instigating corruption) is sexual abuse of women and children, the pollution of the environment and all other actions that betray trust and instill pathological relations between humans. In the game King Albrecht, the Silver Fang tribal leader, destroys the Seventh Generation in 1999.

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Auspices

Garou society is divided into five auspices, or spiritual life-paths that a Garou is born with. They are tied to the phases of the Moon and considered gifts from Gaia's sister Luna. These auspices determine (to some extent) a Garou's Rage, or violent predatory instinct. The auspice system is one of pillars of Garou society as it helps to describe social caste, predispositions, and calling. The auspices are:

Ragabash: Auspice of the new moon, the Trickster.
Theurge: Auspice of the crescent moon, the Seer and Shaman.
Philodox: Auspice of the half moon, the Judge.
Galliard: Auspice of the gibbous moon, the Bard.
Ahroun: Auspice of the full moon, the Warrior.

As a Garou performs deeds fitting with their auspice, they rise in rank in Garou society. While Garou can renounce their auspice and select another more suited to their true calling, this is a grave action, done only in cases where a Garou's auspice truly does not fit their destiny.

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Spirituality

Garou are spiritual creatures. It is said that they once were animistic spirits themselves, and upon entering flesh they retained their spiritual affinities and pacts. The culture of the Garou nation is centered around venerating various spirits (every pack, sept, and tribe has its patron spirit or totem) that can help them in their war against the enemies of Gaia. While it is Theurges who deal with spirits most often, every werewolf has to deal with spirits, in order to gain favors and knowledge, and to learn Gifts, the quasi-magical powers of Garou.

The thematic conflicts of Werewolf: The Apocalypse is largely driven by a spiritual war being waged by the Triat, incarnations of the three aspects of reality:

Wyld is the force of primal creation and chaos
Weaver is the force of stability and stasis
Wyrm is the force of corruption, decay, and destruction.

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The Creation Myth of Werewolf: The Apocalypse

According to Garou mythology created as backstory for the game:

In the beginning there were the three members of the Triat: the Wyld, the Weaver, and the Wyrm. They were balanced with one another in the beginning. Creation began with the Wyld. The Wyld is chaos and the vast endless of possibility, constantly swirling with change, shifting forms endlessly. From the Wyld's heedless creation came growth. Gaia sprang from the Wyld.

The Weaver, the embodiment of order, selected portions of creation from the Wyld and gave them structure; kept them from dissolving back into chaos at the moment of their birth. In doing so, the Weaver began to create the fabric of the universe - the Pattern Web.

The Wyrm was once the restorer of balance. Residing between the Pattern Web and the chaos of the Wyld, it ensuring that neither the order of the Weaver nor the chaos of the Wyld prevailed throughout reality, removing all that was not harmonious.

According to Garou myth, this was the true cosmological cycle of chaos, creation, and destruction. It lasted an eternity, but was ultimately shattered when the Weaver gained consciousness. The Garou disagree on exactly how this happened.

Regardless, the Weaver subsequently tried to spin the entire Wyld into full, patterned existence. The futility of such an impossible task drove the Weaver insane. In its desperation, the Weaver ensnared the Wyrm within the Pattern Web in its pursuit of the Wyld, in turn, driving the Wyrm insane as well.

Now the balance of pattern and chaos has been replaced by stagnation and decay, as the Weaver madly weaves it's patterns unchecked or balanced, while the Wyrm, trapped within the Pattern Web, works to devour Gaia and destroy all of creation from the inside out. Template:Ref

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History

According to Garou oral history, it was always their duty to keep the balance in nature on behalf of Gaia. They did so by culling overgrown populaces, hunting too powerful predators that otherwise would rampage unchecked and fending off otherwordly spirits that overstepped their stance.

The formation of nations and cities was the first radical change wrought on the Garou by humanity. The Garou prevented it declaring the Impergium. During this period, Garou are credited with destroying large human cities and retarding the technological and scientific progress of the human race. Though the Impergium dates back to the Mythic Age before recorded history, humanity has retained an inborn fear of the Garou. Humans seeing Garou in their hybrid (Crinos) form may be struck with a condition known as Delirium, a state of panic and denial that has been largely responsible for modern humanity's disbelief of the existence of the Garou.

The Garou maintained an active role in the direction of humanity until the Industrial Revolution. This overwhelming societal transformation weakened Gaia and pushed the Umbra away from terrestrial reality, giving it less influence over the world. This period was marked by the withdrawal and extinction of many spirit varieties, but also heralded the birth of new "urban" spirits (such as glass and electricity elementals). These changes were visible in the Umbral landscape, as sites associated with Gaia became fewer and weaker, while the Pattern Web of the Weaver and the corrupt influence of the Wyrm became more prominent.

As the defense of Gaia becomes more difficult, the Garou have found their tasks increasingly harder to perform. Once able to act as silent warriors and guides, many have been reduced to guerrilla tactics and monkeywrenching. These ill omens have led to a general consensus that an Apocalypse is nigh, in which a final desperate battle will be wages by all sides. In addition to discrete threats such as the Wyrm and its minions, Garou find themselves opposed to the faceless foe of general disinterest in Gaia. Environmental disasters and modern warfare have done considerable damage to Gaia in recent decades. This callousness is sometimes spead by the Wyrm itself (as best exemplified by the Pentex corporation, a global conglomerate dedicated to spreading the Wyrm's influence).

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The Fera

Though the most widespread, Garou are not the only shapeshifters in the World of Darkness. The Fera (also called the Changing Breeds) is a term used by Garou to refer to other shapechangers. The affiliation of these other beings is not necessarily to Gaia, but by and large this is the case.

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