Garou

The Garou symbol for themselves. Literally a wolf inside a human.

Garou is a term used by the werewolves breed to identify their race and culture. The term is used nearly interchangeably with Garou Nation. 5th edition frequently uses the term to distinguish the eleven tribes who are still willing to work with one another from other werewolves such as the Cult of Fenris and Black Spiral Dancers, who have forsaken the title of Garou by turning their back on the Nation prior to its fall.

In the Middle Kingdom, the corresponding term is Langren (Wolf People) or Ookami Senshi (Wolf Soldiers).

Overview

According to their own mythology, the Garou were designed to be Gaia's fangs and claws and they are quite adept at this. Today, after the War of Rage, they are among the most numerous Changing Breeds that still exist.

Garou Forms

Five forms of the Garou.

Garou have access to five forms:

• Homid: Indistinguishable from a normal human (except for the Curse).
• Glabro: Roughly resembles a human, but has too many bestial features to be one.
• Crinos: The "War-Form", a terrifying hybrid of human and wolf with superior strength. Resembles the typical "Hollywood werewolf".
• Hispo: A prehistoric dire wolf.
• Lupus: Indistinguishable from a normal wolf, but with superior speed.

Auspices

Main article: Auspice

Garou Breeding

Werewolves cannot breed among themselves to preserve their lineage; their blood is too potent, and the result is always a deformed Metis. To continue their bloodlines, werewolves must mate with humans and wolves.

However, the chance that any children or cubs that result from such a pairing will breed true is small. In most cases, the spirit half of the werewolf may or may not be passed on and the offspring is either a normal human, or a werewolf. However, some, called Kinfolk, inherit a spark of their parents' spirit and may develop minor supernatural abilities.

Werewolves born to human families are initially indistinguishable from their mortal siblings. There is no detectable "Garou gene" and DNA testing does not reveal anything amiss. Newborn werewolves simply appear to be normal humans or wolves in almost every respect. Only a very few are even told by their parents that werewolves exist at all. However, young werewolves are prone to strange dreams and fits of temper that alienate them from their relatives or friends.

Kin

First Edition-20th Anniversary Edition

Main article: Kinfolk

(...)

Fifth Edition

5th Edition version of the Garou glyph. Equivalent to "Gaia inside a person" rather than "wolf inside a human".

Main article: Kin (W5)

In Werewolf 5th edition, Garou cannot increase their number through breeding: With the exception of a small number of Garou-prone lineages, which are maintained by mystical means beyond pure breeding, the child produced by a Garou and a human or wolf, or even two Garou, is not (discernibly) more or less likely to gain the potential for the First Change than anyone else of their kind.

Instead, new Garou emerge through Kin, otherwise ordinary humans or wolves with virtually no way to be made aware of their true nature until it makes itself obvious, often violently. The majority of Kin emerge from their respective populations seemingly at random, and their exact cause is the topic of much debate among Garou scholars and mystics.

Garou Society

Garou adhere to the Litany, a code which depicts the laws of the Garou Nation. The place of each individual Garou is dictated by the moon phase under which he or she is born. There are five Auspices that mandate a Garou's function within werewolf society.

Garou are divided into different Tribes since the Impergium. Werewolves are not bound to a tribe for ancestral or hereditary purposes and causes but personal philosophies instead and they usually have to pass a Rite of Passage to fully adhere a tribe in which Totems are crucial.

12 out of 14 existent tribes form the alliance called Garou Nation while the tribe of Stargazers and some of the Hakken tribe are part of the Asian Beast Courts which are cross-species alliances of shapeshifters and the Black Spiral Dancers tribe are servants of the Wyrm.

History

Main article: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Timeline

Prehistory

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Dark Ages

Main article: Vampire: The Dark Ages and Dark Ages: Werewolf

Renaissance

Main article: Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade

Although the Renaissance is a time of sweeping change for human society, Garou culture remains much as it has always been. Most Garou care little for the Inquisitions or witch-hunts sweeping the land and intervene only when their precious Kinfolk are threatened. Furthermore, it's not a time of great communication between septs; apart from a concolation every five years or so, the vast majority of Garou are content to tend solely to their own territories.

The Pure Ones of the Americas remain all but untouched at this time, and play no major role in the Garou Nation as European werewolves know it. Similarly, the Stargazers as a tribe remain withdrawn and introspective, a legend even to the Akashics, with only the rarest wanderer of the tribe leaving Asia to walk among his distant cousins. The Bunyip, hidden in a land no one has "discovered," are nothing more than an evening's curious tale to European shapeshifters.

Of the tribes that remain, the Bone Gnawers, Silent Striders, Children of Gaia, Red Talons and Warders (the tribe that eventually calls itself the Glass Walks) are fairly evenly distributed across the continent. The rest have yet to be driven from their ancestral territories, although may septs feel pressure from the Gabrielite campaigns.

Northern Europe is held by the Get, who claim territory even into Germany. The Silver Fangs reside mostly in Russia, but have established a sprinkling of caerns near the capitals of France, England and Spain. The Shadow Lords haunt the forests, peaks and valleys of eastern Europe. The Fianna have yet to venture beyond the British Isles. Perhaps the most aggressive tribe of the time is the Black Furies. The Furies ferociously defend their ancestral lands along the Mediterranean Sea from Turkish invaders, but many also venture beyond, stalking Inquisitors and opposing the Burning Times. Regrettably, they have little success - their tribe is spread too thin and their haughty demeanor wins them few allies in foreign territories. Although the Furies' Kinfolk form a continental organization called the Sisterhood (used to ferry accused witches into hiding), each fight with witch-hunters weakens the tribe a little more.

There are few intertribal packs at this time; the handful that exist are often collections of Warders, Black Furies and Children of Gaia who refuse to ignore the atrocities of the age. These humanitarian groups are often harried by more conservative Garou, who see no need to interfere in human affairs other than to protect their own territories and Kin. Worse, some septs of Shadow lords and Red Talons point to the turmoil as a sign that humanity has perhaps developed too much hubris for its own good - and that something must be done.

See also: Tetrasomians

Wild West/Victorian Age

Main article: Werewolf: The Wild West and Victorian Age: Vampire

Modern Age

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Trivia

• The word "Garou" comes from the Old French garoul, meaning "werewolf", which in turn likely comes from the Frankish "wer-wulf", meaning "man-wolf". Alternatively, the word can stem from the Japanese word "餓狼" (garō), meaning "hungry wolf".
• Some of the concepts of the Garou may be inspired by the novella, "Skin Trade" by George R.R. Martin from 1988. And the secret history/society aspect from "Darker Than You Think" by Jack Williamson from 1948.
• In the first Vampire Hunter: D novel, there is a werewolf antagonist called Garou. Though whether this naming convention is intentional or coincidental is difficult to say.

Gallery

A garou, as depicted at the front cover of Werewolf Players Guide. Art by Matt Wagner.

References

• WTA: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Rulebook
• WTA: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Second Edition
• WTA: Werewolf: The Wild West Rulebook
• DAW: Werewolf: The Dark Ages
• WTA: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Revised Edition
• DAW: Dark Ages: Werewolf Rulebook
• WTA: Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 69
• MTSC: Crusade Lore: The Storytellers Screen and Book, p. 57