Silver Fangs:

 

The Silver Fangs are the proudest, most noble of the tribes. Tracing their lineage back to the Progenitor Wolf, they represent the best of the breed, embodying everything it means to be Garou: strength, nobility, perseverance, loyalty and magnificence. Through their heroic examples and awe-inspiring leadership, they unite the tribes against their enemies. 

 

That's one side of the story. A less flattering view is of the inbred rulers whose chief right of rulership is the memory of their great grandfathers' deeds as king. They are mired in strict adherence to traditions only they remember, whose original purpose may be lost to time. In the Fang's court, action has given way to procedural points. They are doddering, even senile kings whose authority among the tribes extends only as far as the doors of the royal court. 

 

Which view is true? Perhaps some of both. To be sure, the Silver Fangs lived up to their legends in the old days. In battle the Fangs were matchless, inspiring their followers by leading charges; in peace, they were just and fair, mediating disputes to keep the tribes from warring against each other... too frequently. They took as their own the best Kinfolk from nobility of many countries throughout Europe and Asia.

 

Things changed as centuries passed. Their power waned, in the human realm as well as the Garou. In recent years many Garou have noticed the Fangs becoming increasingly neurotic, manifesting minor quirks such as absentmindedness or an overdeveloped sense of vengeance. Their tendency to fall into Harano is explained readily as the price of the heavy burden of leadership in these trying times. As to the rest, well, the rich and powerful have always been eccentric, have they not? Some whisper, however, that centuries of breeding with exclusive bloodlines is beginning to take its toll. But Falcon's tribe insists that that exclusivity makes their blood run so pure in their veins. 

 

The Silver Fangs borrowed many traditions from their noble Kinfolk. Territory is divided up into "protectorates" ruled by a king (by tradition, always Ahroun) who presides over a court. The court is divided into the Lodge of the Sun and the Lodge of the Moon. The former deals with temporal matters such as business and commerce, while the latter presides over spiritual affairs as well as concerns of the lupus population. Courts and lesser moots are lengthy affairs, at which all interested parties haggle over points of contention. Formal moots take all night (reciting the King's introduction alone may take half an hour). If there is important business, the debates can last for days. 

Many Garou still look to the Fangs for leadership, showing the respect due by right of millennia of rule. Others see them as figureheads, little more than mascots. Not a few consider them worse than useless, for a bad decision costs precious lives in the Garou's most desperate hour. Lately, the murmurs of discontent have grown louder as voices are added. The Shadow Lords have wasted no time in fanning the unrest, but there has been no open rebellion thus far. There is still loyalty enough to keep the Fangs in power, but Falcon's tribe had better show initiative soon. 

 

One movement within the tribe; the Renewalist faction, has been particularly aggressive in its calls to rebuild before the tribe collapses. One of the Fangs' greatest strengths is personal charisma. A leader who meets often with other Garou can bind disparate factions together through sheer force of personality. Unfortunately, many choose to sit in their courts and make everyone come to them. Thus isolated, their effectiveness wanes. In these dark days, many Garou look to their own tribes for strength rather than shackling themselves to the mad ones who would drag them down into the Abyss. 

As Gaia's warriors are on the verge of being overwhelmed by the onslaught of Wyrm and Weaver, those who still believe in the divine right of the Silver Fangs see this time as their last chance to reward that trust.

 

Tribal Totem: Falcon

 

Initial Willpower: 3

 

Background Restrictions: Silver Fang characters must spend at least three Background points on Pure Breed.

 

Beginning Gifts: Falcon's Grasp, Lambent Flame, Sense Wyrm

 

Thoughts on other tribes:

 

Black Furies: How can so honorable and trustworthy a tribe be so confused?

 

Bone Gnawers: Pathetic creatures, they squabble in the street and then expect to be welcomed into our mansions! They are Garou... technically, but they are like a branch of the family that one would just as soon forget about.

 

Children of Gaia: Joyous lovers of peace, they lend us a sympathetic ear. Would that they were as quick to take our burdens from us as they are to heap more on. Still, they help keep the others in our cause.

 

Fianna: For their songs that soothe and hearten and remind us of old times, we are grateful. For their satires of our leadership, we are wary. For their drinking and shouting, we are long-suffering.

 

Get of Fenris: Complain all you wish about the Get's hunger for war, but you cannot call them honorless without proving yourself a liar.

 

Glass Walkers: Cities have made them soft. Urban life has made them strange.

 

Red Talons: They have embraced the Beast too closely, and they suffer for it. They never come to court and seldom do as we ask, but where I would see insubordination in other tribes I merely assume the Talons forgot what day the meeting was.

 

Shadow Lords: They have "that lean and hungry look." We will put them in their place as needed, in March or any other month.

 

Silent Striders: Mysterious travelers whom I prefer to see going rather than coming, for they seldom bring good news.

 

Uktena: Secret-keepers of the first rank, who list their true feelings for us among their secrets.

 

Wendigo: Wise and powerful, aloof and disdainful. I'm not sure if they are truly allies, but we both profit should they add their strength to our own.

 

Stargazers: They were wise councilors, if a bit too ethereal. A pity that they chose such an insubordinate path for themselves.