Silent Striders

Name:	Silent Strider
Plural:	Silent Striders
Pronunciation:	seye'-lunt striy'-durz
Nicknames:
Totem:	Owl
Faction:	Garou Nation

The Silent Striders are one of the tribes found in Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Nomadic, introspective, and highly spiritual, the Silent Striders have plumbed the depths of the Umbra, perhaps more deeply than any other tribe of Garou.

History

Early History

The Silent Striders appear to have roots in Africa and the Middle East. Many seem to believe their tribal origins to be in Egypt, and that they were chased out by the vampire followers of the dark god Sutekh. This invasion led to the scattering of the Silent Striders to the four corners of the earth, as Sutekh wove a curse to forever banish them from their homeland and ancestors.

Organization

The Silent Striders have little in the way of formal organization. As the tribe is almost completely made up of wanderers and exiles, a formal hierarchy is of little practical use to the Striders. They communicate with one another mainly by leaving Garou glyphs, graffiti hieroglyphs or similarly cryptic signs behind; a Silent Strider can sometimes learn where the local vampires' hunting grounds are just by scanning the walls of a subway station.

Striders congregate only when chance brings them together, save for the occasional grand moot, which all members of the tribe try to attend. The location of this moot changes with every occurrence, though such events are usually held on a desolate stretch of untraveled road. No outsider could say which Striders decide that a moot is necessary, nor is it known exactly how word gets passed from Garou to Garou. It simply happens, and the details of how are a tribal secret.

Among all the tribes, the Striders hold the smallest number of caerns. Few of these werewolves have any lasting love for a place (apart from those tales of his ancestral homeland a Strider might preserve), and most are born with a wanderlust deep in their blood. When a Silent Strider finally chooses a home to call his own, he intends to die there.

Camps

Harbingers:

These were the first Garou to take the Prophecy of the Phoenix seriously, or so some say. They spilt up and wandered the world looking for Wyrmsign and brought the word back. They are still not done telling the Garou of all the Wyrmsign they found. Most importantly they bring hope. They are among the wisest of the Garou, so you better jump when they tell you to.

Seekers:

Most of us are a Seeker in some form or another. Seekers wander from place to place looking for information they haven't yet learned. Seekers tend to be clever, resourceful, inquisitive and stubborn as all hell. If you want to know something ask a Seeker. If they don't know the answer, they will point you in the right direction. Seekers know what has happened and what is happening now.

The Dispossessed:

One can't help to worry about the Dispossessed. They try nothing harder than to settle down somewhere. Something always prevents them from settling down. It is no wonder that they are so bitter. They study about the Apocalypse and are the most morbid among us. They watch for portents of the coming Apocalypse and tell their warnings to those who will listen. There are even rumors that they try to help bring about the Apocalypse. They believe that they will have a home after the Apocalypse.

Wayfarers:

Perhaps the ones that really make the rest of us angry. These Striders sell their services to the highest bidder. They are talented though. If one says he will get your message through, it will go through. Just because we have talents that make us good messengers, we shouldn't be selling them to the highest bidder.

Eaters of The Dead:

When we were exiled we stopped eating the brains of humans due to possible Wyrm taint. Some of our tribe did not stop. The Eaters of the Dead still practice the Rite of Dormant Wisdom in secrecy. Sure they know a lot, but at what cost? Some say they have begun to perform the rite on immobilized Leeches while they are still conscious.

The Bitter Hex:

These Striders are so ill-natured and spiteful at this point that they've taken it upon themselves to avenge all the slights the Striders have suffered over time. They aren't violent like some camps in the Fianna. They use the evil-eye, the curse, the bad mojo, the Amria. Be careful not to cross them or you'll find yourself on the receiving end of a curse. Your guts will be twisted into knots and leave you puking and feeble as a cub for a week.

Tribal Culture

Striders are rarely found in the company of other Striders, perhaps occasionally pairing up with another for a difficult journey. More often than not, a Strider in a group is found in a pack composed of many tribes. Otherwise, they tend to remain loners, never settling down.

One of the reasons for their frequent wandering is to find and destroy the influence of the Wyrm. To meet these ends, the Striders have pierced into the Umbra and into the realms of the dead. They are the only tribe to have mastered this art, and for this reason they have an unsettling air about them that tends to disturb other Garou.

With the usual exception of Banes and Black Spiral Dancers, the Striders hold their greatest hatred for vampires. Tribal legend holds that the Striders fought an army of vampires led by a dark undead godling called Sutekh. Sutekh supposedly cast a great curse on the tribe that drove them from Egypt, scattered them to the winds, and worst of all, severed their bonds with their ancestors. Since then, many Striders take Egyptian names as a link to their past, and search the Umbra in vain for some sign of their forbears. The Silent Striders do have a relationship with the Restless Dead. The origin of the relationship is unknown, but Striders tend to attract ghosts' attention when passing through the Gauntlet into or out of the Umbra. Rare is the Silent Strider who doesn' have at least one wraith tagging along as he travels. Out of a sense of respect and politeness, the Striders will generally avoid mentioning such ghosts in front of strangers.

Political Culture

Perhaps no other tribe is as adept at gathering and spreading information than the Striders. As much as many of them talk, telling stories and bearing messages, they are also, on the whole, excellent listeners, and will pick up subtle details in a conversation others might miss.

Religious Culture

Because they are wanderers, the Silent Striders have the fewest caerns of any tribe, and the few that exist tend to be along roads or popular points of travel. It is often the guardians of these caerns that prove to be the rare example of a Silent Strider who actually stays put.

References

• WTA: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Revised Edition, p. 84 -85

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