Breed

Homid
You were born to a two-legged mother, who may or may not have been a werewolf or Kinfolk. You grew up among humans and learned how to live in their society. Yet something always set you apart. Other kids found you weird, and your feisty temper brought on heaps of trouble more than once.

 

As you inched toward puberty, haunting dreams pestered your nights. Maybe you'd wake up craving raw meat or drowning in a cold sweat. Chances are, someone, perhaps a distant relative, watched you from afar and whisked you away before your Change, which ended whatever life you may have led. Now you know the realities about yourself and your true people. Even if you really wanted to go back, it would be too hard. You couldn't possibly explain to your human family what really happened.

 

Homid characters have no limits on what Abilities they may have. They're skilled with all kinds of modern machinery, like cars and computers, and they often have a knack for understanding both abstractions and concrete reasoning in subjects such as economics or algebra. In their breed form, homids can also handle silver with no Gnosis penalty. But being born human has some downsides, though. 

 

Homid characters are generally less intuitive and perceptive than lupus or metis. They're likely to rely on what they see and hear, rather than what they feel. Moreover, their innate connections to Gaia are weaker, as represented by their low starting Gnosis. Humanity has simply grown apart from the spirit world. Finally, the other breeds have some understandable concern that homids outnumber all other werewolves. The lupus fear especially that homids will prove dominant and desert their wolf cousins. This concern makes for some definite tension when the two groups tangle unexpectedly.

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Initial Gnosis: 1

Possible Beginning Gifts: Master of Fire, Persuasion, Smell of Man

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Lupus

Gaia's passion runs deep within your soul, for you were born in the wild as a wolf. You rose through the natural hierarchy of the pack instinctively, perhaps becoming the alpha, even though you sensed that you were somehow different front the others.

 

Then you learned the truth: You weren't an ordinary wolf? You were a shapeshifter; a werewolf. Now you run with a werewolf pack, and you try to see the world through new eyes. The human part of you is often difficult to understand; speech, for example, is layered with more nonsense than is necessary. And those strange manners!

 

To you, every creature has a rank and place, and society is no more complicated than that. Those who rank highest eat first and expect greeting and respect from those who rank lower. Yet the homids have complex rituals for everything, from greetings to meals, and they speak of strange concepts like equality. To you, they seem to ignore the wolf in them overmuch. That's sad, because one thing you do understand is that the number of lupus werewolves lessens with each passing year. And every pup is precious. 

While you have a number of advantages, including a strong body and keen senses, you also have some limitations in that you know little about technology. Likewise, you don't follow human logic and reasoning. You rely instead on the powerful instincts Gaia has given you, which is reflected in your high Gnosis. However, beginning lupus characters have restrictions on purchasing certain Abilities, since they lack knowledge about human ways of life.

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Initial Gnosis: 5

Beginning Gifts: Hare's Leap, Heightened Senses, Sense Prey

Restricted Abilities: Beginning lupus characters cannot take the following Skills and Knowledge. You may, however, use freebie points to purchase them, perhaps as a result of your character's prelude. Similarly, you can use experience points to add these Abilities as a result of "training" in the course of the chronicle.
Skills: Crafts, Drive, Etiquette, Firearms

Knowledge: Computer, Law, Linguistics, Politics, Science

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Metis

Metis rank in the lowest echelons of Garou society, for they are the offspring of lawbreakers who disobeyed the Litany and mated. It's a hard, thankless life that's made no better by the fact that all metis bear some kind of obvious deformity. Most werewolves point to this setback as a mark of Gaia's displeasure; others call it evidence of corruption. A few argue that too much werewolf blood is a bad thing — no flesh can contain such pure blood without developing a flaw. Whatever the case, you've survived from a hard birth, through years of living only in your Crinos body ( the natural form of a metis), to finally undergo your First Change.

 

Whether your parents raised you — as an outcast among the sept — or long-suffering but devoted Kinfolk did, you're now ready to take your place in the sept. Unlike homids, you have a lot of knowledge about werewolf society already — the good, the bad and the very, very ugly. Your birthright has toughened your body, your heart and your spirit. Only time will tell if you maintain your dignity and honor or let your dire Rage consume you utterly.

 

Metis characters have no restrictions on Abilities. Like homids, they can understand various theoretical concepts that puzzle the lupus. But like their wolf relatives, the metis also have cunning instincts. While most lupus and homid werewolves would never admit it, the metis have many of the best parts of being wolf and human. The downside, though, is the mark of deformity that all metis bear. While a few who can do so may try to hide their defect, others reject the sham as dishonorable. They have to bear it, and so should everyone who sees them. Another flaw of this breed is that all metis are sterile; none can sire or bear children. In a race of beings that is dwindling, this flaw is ironic, especially since the number of metis has grown in recent years.

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Initial Gnosis: 3 

Beginning Gifts: Create Element, Primal Anger, Sense Wyrm

Deformities: Every metis character must have one deformity, chosen during character creation. And while some deformities may have minor benefits, the bad should always outweigh the good. Storytellers should encourage players to choose defects that complement their character concept.