Kin are those who are born with the capacity to experience a First Change and become a Garou, cropping up around the world largely at random from the perspective of other Garou. The term typically is used to refer specifically to individuals who are not yet aware of their Garou nature and have not yet had a First Change of their own.
Kin in Werewolf 5th edition replace Kinfolk from older editions.
Origins[]
Not everyone’s a werewolf. Not everyone can become a werewolf. As near as the Garou figure it, exactly who’s going to emerge as Garou is already decided by the time they’re born. The finding-out part is where it gets complicated.
Although the prevailing Garou understanding of what they are converges around a general acceptance of Gaia as a natural, spiritual force, there’s less consensus regarding where they actually come from. No one knows. Everyone has an idea. As with so much else among the Garou, contention becomes conflict, and conflict risks violence. Since before recorded history, much debate has occurred, with some arguing heredity, some arguing spiritual intercession, and some trusting in a gnostic process that werewolves themselves simply cannot understand. Curiously, some werewolves have human origins, and others have wolf origins, which is to say one might have been born human or born wolf, but one’s true werewolf nature eventually makes itself known.
Common theories include: Being personally chosen by Gaia, being manipulated by spirits prior to one's birth, being part of a lineage stretching back to before the Impergium, and being reincarnated to serve Gaia after performing especially heinous deeds against her in a previous life.
Garou lineages[]
One notable trait among a small number of Kin is that their family lineages contain a preponderance of other Kin, whether human or wolf. Philodoxes, galliards, and theurges all have various takes on what this means, whether Gaia’s original Garou in the epoch of legend have created generations-spanning lineages of their own, or whether there’s more to the superstitious “seventh son of a seventh son” and similar observations of past eras. The Silver Fangs are noted to be especially likely to come from such families, for whatever reason, reinforcing their common sensibilities of heredity and legacy.[1]
Whatever the case, few argue with proof of their own pasts and those of others — but at the same time, it’s almost impossible to forecast who might become werewolves in the future. Even families with a rich legacy of Kin produce a Garou rarely enough that most members outside of the Garou themselves are unaware of such a quality: An extended family with the gift might bear witness to a First Change once or twice, maybe thrice in a generation, with a slightly larger number of ordinary human members who have been let in on the hidden world of werewolves. How common are Kin in these families who simply never find out about their true nature, nobody can know.[1]
Known Lineages[]
First Change[]
Main article: First Change (WTA)
Probably for the majority of Kin, realizing what they are comes after the traumatic First Change — when a previously “normal” person, having transformed into the ravening war-form, comes to their senses amid the aftermath of atrocity, one they gradually realize that they committed. It's an example more common than many Garou like to acknowledge. Many werewolves experience their First Change and immediately succumb to frenzy in that moment of fear, rending friend and foe alike, until eventually the Rage subsides and they find themselves draped in the tatters of whoever witnessed the fateful transformation. Lovers torn asunder; bitter vendettas instantly resolved; life horrifyingly dimming in the eyes of children, siblings, partners, lovers, parents, innocent onlookers. In the bloodiest way possible, the secret keeps itself.
Once a Kin has revealed their true nature, it is the duty of Kinseekers to track them down before their uncontrollable state leads them to an ignominious end at the hands of the authorities, Hunters, or other groups more in the know. Worse, if not found in time, a newly-changed Garou might become lost in the Umbra, whether by losing contact with a spiritual guide who brought them there, or somehow crossing the Gauntlet themselves and being unable to make their way back. Such cases typically result in the Garou becoming a starving remnant.
Alternatively, some caerns may actively draw Kin to them, possibly even before the First Change occurs. This can occur through Kin being inexplicably drawn to the site, being told about them by Garou or similarly knowledgeable family members, or even being reached out to by the caern’s guardian spirit in some capacity.
Gallery[]
References[]
- WTA: Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition, p. 41-43, 194