Six Pages of Shinny Character Development, for you Tor- er, Enjoyment
My brother is so screwed. He left home at 5, said he was going to go out to eat dinner with some freinds at a restaurant, a didn't call home until 9. Why? He forgot, or thought we woundn't notice he was gone, or something. And he missed a trumpet lesson whichh we (hello?) pay for. Dad's pissed, I don't think the boy is going to be leaving the house soon. Well, it was pretty funny to year Mom yell at him "Boy, you are /so/ GROUNDED!" sounded like right out of a Disney movie they way she said it.
School has given us a four day weekend, which I am readily using to do nothing productive with. Alright, by aquarium will be all set up by the end of it, and hopefully my Biology labs will be done, but overall I'm sitting on the computer playing GarouMUSH.
Speaking of which, I've been enjoying playing on the MUSH so much, I've decided to app a second character. A nice, crazy Russian wolf who by her auspice is required to make important decisions that may drastically change people's lives. Her name is Blackriver. She's very pretty.
I'd like to note that this is a rough draft and thus, not spell checked, nor is it written very well, although you can physically hear the writting getting better at the end as I finally gain the ability to slide in character. Proceed at your own risk.
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Name: Blackriver
Or: (*takes a breath*) Swims-the-Black River, half-moon of the alpha tribe, from the sept of the Snow-Born-Moon, daughter of warrior Fire-Claws, granddaughter or Seeks-Wolf-Bird, alpha judge and beta from the sept of Crescent Moon, both now returned to the earth.
Age: 5
Rank: Cliath(1)
Tribe: Silver Fang
Auspice: Philodox
House: Crescent Moon
Wolf-Years
The cold spring wind ripped across the tundra the night two wolf pups were born. Wolfmother felt a nip on her paw as the first pup tried to find the place to nurse, she called him Sharp Tooth. As she licked the second one clean the moonlight shone in the den, lighting up the pup's fur, she was called Moon's Fur.
The small litter allowed both wolves to grow strong and healthy. It helped that Wolfmother was no normal wolf. She thought things normal wolves didn't think, and was clever in the hunt. All in all it was a good year to be born, and a good pack to be born into.
As the year pasted and the two wolves grew up, Moon's Fur learned many things about the world. She learned to follow the reindeer herds to their warm and cold homes, she learned to hide when the whine of a plane filled the air, for more often then not it meant the plane was hunting wolves, she learned that grass grew in the spring, that voles were good to eat, and how to hunt rabbits and mice. Many things she learned, and it was good to learn, because the more one knew, the less one had to fear from. Still, there was no questioning from this wolf, no wondering why things were as they were, no stirring of higher thoughts. The world was all wolf and tundra, there was nothing else beyond the horizon.
She was a strong wolf, a healthy wolf, dominant among the cubs and even among some of the yearlings. Wolfmother gave her favor, when it was time to be fed Moon's Fur got the largest portion, when she began to hunt with the back she got the choicest bits after Wolfmother and the other alpha. There were some... oddities however, Moon's Fur saw things no one else did. She would imagine the scent of reindeer on the wind, or think she heard a plane overhead and hide. Nothing serious, but enough to unnerve the other wolves.
At two years of age Moon's Fur was a large, sleek, healthy wolf, not content to be a Beta in Wolfmother's pack. Striking out to find her own mate and pack, she followed the setting sun to find her own way. Little did she know that soon after she left the pack Wolfmother left it as well,to return to her home sept of the Snow-Born-Moon, confident that her daughter's kinfetch would one day bring the two together again.
Moon's Fur traveled for months, living off whatever she could catch and scavenge. For the most part she avoided other wolf packs, living between territories. As time pasted, a change came over her. She became more intelligent, not only because she was forced to live on her own, but as though something deep inside of her was waking. She began to have strange urges, to howl as the sun set, to feel in ways she'd never felt before. It scared her, this unknown, but with it came good things. She learned, for instance, to follow ravens to a recent kill, and to wait patiently for owl mothers to leave their nest so she could feast on their young.
As the wolf meandered south she began to encounter strange scents on the air. They scarred her, but she was unwilling to return the way she came, and so continued onward. Soon, she reached a strange path of dead trees and a substance she had never seen before. Keeping the unknown thing far away from her, she continued to walk, the smell growing stronger day by day. In was in the early morning when she first met the creature to whom the smell belonged to. First she heard only a loud bang and hid, fearfull of what might have been, but as she hid she saw a strange creature walk past her, carrying with him the scent of meat. The wolf’s stomouch got the better of her then, although she did not attack the new animal she followed his trail back to see if this new predator had left any of his kill. Indeed, when she traced back his steps she came upon part of a reindeer carcess, and, happy at her cleverness, Moon’s Fur began to eat her full.
As she ate a howl went up from nearby. Sacred, but too hungry to flee the newly announced wolf pack's territory, Moon's Fur continued to gorge herself, choking down as much food as possible.
Soon a group of six wolves appeared over the horizon. They did not greet Moon's Fur, but instead ran at her, trying to chase the strange wolf from their territory. But Moon's Fur was hesitant to leave her first sight of food in some time, and that moments wait was all the time the other wolves needed to leap on her and attack. The stress of the attack induced Moon's Fur's first change, and she killed one wolf and badly hurt another before the pack got a chance to run away. Scared and confused, Moon's Fur stumbled threw the rocky tundra until the Rage finally wore off and she shifted back into her native form.
Cub Years
It took a week for the new Garou's kinfetch to find a nearby Silver Fang and lead him to Moon's Fur. When Crawls-Out-of-Holes, a fostern Ragabash of the sept of the Snow-Born-Moon followed the falcon spirit, he found a hungry and tired wolf, confused by the strange thoughts that suddenly plagued her mind. Her brought her to the sept, where she began to learn about being Garou. Her lineage was discovered, and her grandfather (not that Moon's Fur understood the relationship at the time) Seeks-Raven, a Adren Philodox, became her mentor.
Learning was hard. First Moon's Fur learned things like the Litany, the shapes, the auspices, the tribes, easy things for the young Garou. Then came the human things. The Wyld, Weaver, and Wyrm, the way of the Silver Fangs, concepts it was hard for her mind to grasp. The other cubs couldn't help, they were all human born and were instead struggling with wolf ways. The only other lupus cub at the sept was a Red Talon, Sniffs-Leaves, and the two became companions. As time went on, Seeks-Raven and Crawls-out-of-Howls helped Moon's Fur balance the wolf and human side, and she began to be less wolf and more Garou.
As Moon's Fur grew more in Garou ways, her hallucinations became worse. She began to believe people had said things they hadn't said, or done things they hadn't done. It wasn't enough to be /dangerous/ per se, but it was enough for the others to notice.
One day, Crawls-out-of-Holes gave Moon's Fur a lesson in using her human body. He taught her how to walk, how to use her hands, and gave her human fur. "You must know a little of human way." he said, "It may save your life if you get stuck in a human den." Moon's Fur didn't know what to think of humans. Since she had come to the sept she had always smelled the faint stench of the humans off to the south, Crawls-rhya said it was a ~town,~ a den where humans lived and raised their young. The Red Talons said it was a blight on the face of Gaia that must be destroyed. The Red Talons confused Moon's Fur, she did not see why they hated humans. Humans were, just like hunger and sickness were. Seeks-Raven said the Talons were good wolves, but not always good Garou.
Crawls-out-of-Holes took Moon's Fur to a human den on night, and let her watch the humans live. They were afraid of her, the young ones ran away, the old ones stares at her. When she returned to the sept, Crawls-rhya taught her how to greet people in human speech, and made her stay in human form for a little while "It is part of balance." Seeks-Raven said, "Learn how to use your human mind, and become a better Philodox." When she was allowed to be a wolf again, the Red Talons took Moon's Fur out to hunt some humans at the edge of their den. They shot at them with sticks that burned, but once the wolves changed shape the humans didn't even have time to scream.
After some time it was time to rite. Seeks-Raven came to Moon's Fur and Sniff's Leaves, and said they would rite together with a third cub, Broken Mane, a no-moon of the Red Talons from another sept to the south. The three of them were to walk north until they found a place that stank, and killed the Wyrm creatures there. Their rite took them to an abandoned oil refinery on the Eastern coast of Russia, which had been taken over by Wyrm creatures. They killed the creatures inside, earning Sniff's Leaves the name of Runs-threw-Fire (Firerunner) and Moon's Fur the name Swims-the-Black-River (Blackriver). Broken Mane did not survive to pass on to adulthood. From earning her deedname, Blackriver still has a scar, a patch of fur on her shoulder which will not grow back. It took her many weeks to recover from being drenched in the thick black water, but her Rite was passed, she was an adult.
Cliath-Years
It was not long after she passed that Crawls-Out-of-Howls and his packmates came to Blackriver and offered her a place in their pack. Eager to be part of a pack once more, Blackriver jumped at the chance and for the last three year's she has packed under Osprey as part of the pack Frozen River. Osprey's ban sent them on many quest to protect the ocean and rivers around the caern, and as a pack they grew strong together. Crawls-rhya made a good alpha, he managed to deal with both the humans who wanted to use the waters and also to fight any Wyrm creatures that bred there. The pack was its self was motley crew, it had three members besides Blackriver and Crawls-Out-Of-Holes: Narrow Jaw, a Cliath Philodox of the Red Talons, Howls-Dreams, a Cliath Theurge of the Silverfangs, and Looses-His-Way, Fostern Galliard of the Children of Gaia. Bith Looses-His-Way and Narrow Jaw were lupus, much to Blackriver's delight, and it felt good to run with a pack that knew the wolf so well.
Having such a close bond with so many lupus made Blackriver homesick in a way. She missed being with a wolf pack, where everything was instinctual and she didn't have to use her human mind. One day, tired of this longing, she began to walk north. She walked and walked and walked until she ran into a pack. She howled to greet them and they ran to her, investigating the stranger. She soon dominated the pack and became the Alpha female. As time passed, however, Blackriver felt something gnawing away at her, like wanting being wolf had felt when she was Garou. This feeling soon enveloped her and one night she found herself howling, howling at the full moon filled with a something she'd never felt before. Her human mind would not let her live as a wolf, it always pushed harder, always asked for something more. Her brethren were simple now to her, they did not now about Gaia, or the Wyrm, or humans, and what they did know they did not care about. It wasn't long until Blackriver realized she'd have to leave, that the wolves were not her family anymore.
When she returned, her pack welcomed her back, Seeks-Raven welcomed her back. The homids asked her why she had left so suddenly, why she had gone to live with wolves, but the lupus knew, they knew what she felt, they knew why she went and why she came back left. Understanding her lot in life much better now, Blackriver began to act in the role of her auspice much more. She was a good judge, although a simple on, but her grandfather Seeks-Raven was well respected, so the sept tended to give her the benefit of the doubt when she judged. Nothing she did was very earth shattering, but that suited Blackriver just fine, she had a place in life, and that was to be a Philodox and to fight for Gaia, and there was no need for honor, glory, wisdom, or other human concepts to adorn her. She did not need them to define her, she knew what she was.
Much time passed like this. Battles came and went, Garou were born and Garou died. Then, one summer, Seeks-Raven went to visit his home sept of Cresent Moon. He did not return. A Galliard from the sept came to tell the story of his honorable and brave death during battle. Blackriver did not care about honor or bravery. She howled her sadness to him, and then went to sleep for the night. She should have forgotten him, he should have faded to the back of her mind like the deaths of the other Garou at the sept had. Life should have gone on. But, Blackriver found herself thinking of him, she found herself feeling a strange feeling when she thought of him. It was the same feeling she had when she had lived with the wolf pack. There was a hole in her, and for the first time she wondered whether Crawls-Out-Of-Howls was named because he crawled out of holes in the earth, or holes in the mind.
She left again, but this time she did not run away. This time she went to Cresent Moon, to learn about her ancestor, to speak to the other Philodox there. She spent some time there, and then, satisfied that she had covered the hole in her mind, she went back to Snow-Born-Moon.
It was a cold autumn evening as she ran threw the tundra, ignoring the calls of the native wolves as she went along. The wind ripped threw her fur, and snow began to fall, but she did not worry, she knew Gaia now. When the snow and the wind became to much for her, she found a bank and made a small den before curling up and sleeping. The blizzard raged for a long time, long enough that Blackriver realized she'd have to brave the storm or starve, so she woke and went forwards for... for forever it seemed. When the wind finally stopped blowing and the snow stayed on the ground, Blackriver was very tired, hungry, and lost. She lifted her muzzle up and howled to the night, but she heard only the calls of strange wolves. Turning to the East and the smell of the ocean Blackriver began to walk home.
Home it seemed was a long ways away. The Philodox tried to sustain herself on voles and rabbits, but as the winter approached it was harder to find food. One day, Blackriver happened upon the scent of human, and followed it, in hopes of finding food. She found something strange then, a Weaver machine that smelled of man. She circled it carefully, afraid to go near it, but beneath the smell of Weaver was the smell of food, and Blackriver was very hungry. After she determined that despite the smell there was no human nearby, she approached the strange thing, and found in it a bag lots of strange tasting food. Happily, the lupus curled up next to her "cache" not wanting to abandon it and too tired to move it all. She would move later, and if the Weaver think was dangerous, well, she was Garou, she would kill it.
And so, Blackriver, half-moon of the Silver Fangs slept in the luggage compartment of a bush plane, and Trevor Williams, a young energetic pilot, returned from radioing his location to the nearby city of Vladivostock to enter his plane. He didn't check the baggage compartment, after all why would he? When he landed the plane to check his equipment before he departed across the Pacific everything had been fine, why would it have changed while he went to a nearby ridge to get a good radio signal? He had limited time, he had bet his brother a fortune he'd fly around the world, in a bush plane, in two weeks, and technical difficulties had stalled him for several days in Kazakhstan. Making several loops across the tundra snow, he took off over the ocean, next stop to refuel: St. Clair Washington.
OOC Notes:
* Human-things - Blackriver has learned to use her human mind. That doesn't mean she knows anything about humans, nor does it mean she thinks like a human. But she knows that the human-mind is superior for reasoning, and as a Philodox she often must use reason. Culturally, Blackriver knows humans must wear "clothes", she knows they like it when you "smile" (although her "smile" would scare a grown man), she knows some basic words in Russian: "I'm hungry." "Hello." "Wolf." "Katya" (Katya being the human name Crawls-Out-Of-Holes gave her.) "Like?" "Go away!" and such like things. She understands a bit more.
Mentally, she understands the concepts of honor, and glory, and respect, and other things inherent in the Garou culture per se, as in she can explain what they are to people, but she doesn't really follow them, or understand why they are so important to the homids. Of course, she respects her elders and tends to be honorable and whatnot, but more because she was raised that way, not because someone told her to be honorable.
* Seeks-Raven was Blackriver's grandfather and a respected Philodox of borht the Sept-of-The-Snow-Born-Moon and Crescent Moon, /the/ Silver Fang sept in the Urals, which I have Nikolai's permission to use. Seeks-Raven was old for a lupus when he died, almost 20, and as the elder Philodox of the both the septs of Crescent Moon and Snow-Born-Moon (at different times of course) he taught Blackriver the art of her auspice.
* The Sept of The Snow-Born-Moon is a medium sized sept near the East coast of Russia. Out of about 50 members, 15 are lupus, giving the sept one of the highest lupus percentages in Russia. The sept is composed of mostly Silver Fangs and Red Talons, with a few Children of Gaia and Shadow Lords as well. It's positioned near a several small Siberian towns, but for the most part is in the wilderness, the frigid tundra keeping most humans away. The Red Talons making sure the more curious two-leggers never reach the caern.
* Blackriver knows many rites, which she will probably teach for chiminage. Most importantly, she knows the Rite of Defiance, which she learned from her friend the Red Talon Galliard Firerunner, and the Rite of The Honorable Oath, which every good Silver Fang Philodox should know.
*Fireclaws was Blackriver's mother, an Ahroun of the sept of the Snow-Born-Moon. She died in battle before Blackriver was inducted into the tribe.
* I'm thinking Blackriver's derangement, quirk, or whatever you want to call it is fairly mild at the present. If she were more stressed, and as she grows older, it will probably worsen. Right now I see it as her occasionally seeing things that well, just aren't there. Thinking she saw a flash of silver in someone's hands when she didn't, hearing someone insult her lineage when they in fact complimented it. This usually happens when she's stressed, like when she's meeting new Garou, being approached by humans and not able to get out, in short her "imagination" if you'd call it that, gets the better of her. It's kind of a twisted form of paranoia. If you don't like this derangement, I could probably think of another one, although it'd change her as a character a bit.
* Blackriver fits the stereotypes of her breed, auspice, and tribe, fairly nicely. For lupus, she a fairly complex thinker, but only when her auspice demands it of her. As both a lupus and a Silver Fang she has a bit of hubris, she sincerely believes that she was born to a not superior exactly, but "special" breed and tribe. Gaia needs the lupus. She is lupus. Gaia needs leaders. She is of the alpha tribe. She knows her place, it's fighting for Gaia and leading the other Garou by example, an example of what a lupus and a Silver Fang should be.
In lupus form, Blackriver is a Eurasian Tundra wolf, one of the largest wolf species in the world. She is healthy and robust, and signs of her pure breeding are evident. Her fur is a mix of grey and and white hair, giving it the appearance of silver over all her pelt. Her eyes are a milky amber. She has several battle scars, the tip of one ear is gone from a close encounter with a fomori holding a butcher knife, and a patch of fur is missing from her left shoulder from when she swam threw a river of oil, earning her deed name.
The other day while browsing the internet I found a picture that a pretty good fit for Blackriver, it's here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/Riukii/Blackriver.jpg
In homid, Blackriver does have a set of clothes dedicated to her, cheap jeans, a t-shirt, and a faded brown jacket. She also has a necklace with a coin on it from Crawls-Out-of-Holes, to be used in the Rite of The Honorable Oath. On it is engraved a howling wolf on one side, and a falcon on the other. In this form Blackriver almost constantly has a confused, blank, look on her face, and is obviously something inhuman, or at least a child raised by wolves.
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Did I mentioned I'll be LARPing with the group tomorrow at Como? That should be fun.
School has given us a four day weekend, which I am readily using to do nothing productive with. Alright, by aquarium will be all set up by the end of it, and hopefully my Biology labs will be done, but overall I'm sitting on the computer playing GarouMUSH.
Speaking of which, I've been enjoying playing on the MUSH so much, I've decided to app a second character. A nice, crazy Russian wolf who by her auspice is required to make important decisions that may drastically change people's lives. Her name is Blackriver. She's very pretty.
I'd like to note that this is a rough draft and thus, not spell checked, nor is it written very well, although you can physically hear the writting getting better at the end as I finally gain the ability to slide in character. Proceed at your own risk.
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Name: Blackriver
Or: (*takes a breath*) Swims-the-Black River, half-moon of the alpha tribe, from the sept of the Snow-Born-Moon, daughter of warrior Fire-Claws, granddaughter or Seeks-Wolf-Bird, alpha judge and beta from the sept of Crescent Moon, both now returned to the earth.
Age: 5
Rank: Cliath(1)
Tribe: Silver Fang
Auspice: Philodox
House: Crescent Moon
Wolf-Years
The cold spring wind ripped across the tundra the night two wolf pups were born. Wolfmother felt a nip on her paw as the first pup tried to find the place to nurse, she called him Sharp Tooth. As she licked the second one clean the moonlight shone in the den, lighting up the pup's fur, she was called Moon's Fur.
The small litter allowed both wolves to grow strong and healthy. It helped that Wolfmother was no normal wolf. She thought things normal wolves didn't think, and was clever in the hunt. All in all it was a good year to be born, and a good pack to be born into.
As the year pasted and the two wolves grew up, Moon's Fur learned many things about the world. She learned to follow the reindeer herds to their warm and cold homes, she learned to hide when the whine of a plane filled the air, for more often then not it meant the plane was hunting wolves, she learned that grass grew in the spring, that voles were good to eat, and how to hunt rabbits and mice. Many things she learned, and it was good to learn, because the more one knew, the less one had to fear from. Still, there was no questioning from this wolf, no wondering why things were as they were, no stirring of higher thoughts. The world was all wolf and tundra, there was nothing else beyond the horizon.
She was a strong wolf, a healthy wolf, dominant among the cubs and even among some of the yearlings. Wolfmother gave her favor, when it was time to be fed Moon's Fur got the largest portion, when she began to hunt with the back she got the choicest bits after Wolfmother and the other alpha. There were some... oddities however, Moon's Fur saw things no one else did. She would imagine the scent of reindeer on the wind, or think she heard a plane overhead and hide. Nothing serious, but enough to unnerve the other wolves.
At two years of age Moon's Fur was a large, sleek, healthy wolf, not content to be a Beta in Wolfmother's pack. Striking out to find her own mate and pack, she followed the setting sun to find her own way. Little did she know that soon after she left the pack Wolfmother left it as well,to return to her home sept of the Snow-Born-Moon, confident that her daughter's kinfetch would one day bring the two together again.
Moon's Fur traveled for months, living off whatever she could catch and scavenge. For the most part she avoided other wolf packs, living between territories. As time pasted, a change came over her. She became more intelligent, not only because she was forced to live on her own, but as though something deep inside of her was waking. She began to have strange urges, to howl as the sun set, to feel in ways she'd never felt before. It scared her, this unknown, but with it came good things. She learned, for instance, to follow ravens to a recent kill, and to wait patiently for owl mothers to leave their nest so she could feast on their young.
As the wolf meandered south she began to encounter strange scents on the air. They scarred her, but she was unwilling to return the way she came, and so continued onward. Soon, she reached a strange path of dead trees and a substance she had never seen before. Keeping the unknown thing far away from her, she continued to walk, the smell growing stronger day by day. In was in the early morning when she first met the creature to whom the smell belonged to. First she heard only a loud bang and hid, fearfull of what might have been, but as she hid she saw a strange creature walk past her, carrying with him the scent of meat. The wolf’s stomouch got the better of her then, although she did not attack the new animal she followed his trail back to see if this new predator had left any of his kill. Indeed, when she traced back his steps she came upon part of a reindeer carcess, and, happy at her cleverness, Moon’s Fur began to eat her full.
As she ate a howl went up from nearby. Sacred, but too hungry to flee the newly announced wolf pack's territory, Moon's Fur continued to gorge herself, choking down as much food as possible.
Soon a group of six wolves appeared over the horizon. They did not greet Moon's Fur, but instead ran at her, trying to chase the strange wolf from their territory. But Moon's Fur was hesitant to leave her first sight of food in some time, and that moments wait was all the time the other wolves needed to leap on her and attack. The stress of the attack induced Moon's Fur's first change, and she killed one wolf and badly hurt another before the pack got a chance to run away. Scared and confused, Moon's Fur stumbled threw the rocky tundra until the Rage finally wore off and she shifted back into her native form.
Cub Years
It took a week for the new Garou's kinfetch to find a nearby Silver Fang and lead him to Moon's Fur. When Crawls-Out-of-Holes, a fostern Ragabash of the sept of the Snow-Born-Moon followed the falcon spirit, he found a hungry and tired wolf, confused by the strange thoughts that suddenly plagued her mind. Her brought her to the sept, where she began to learn about being Garou. Her lineage was discovered, and her grandfather (not that Moon's Fur understood the relationship at the time) Seeks-Raven, a Adren Philodox, became her mentor.
Learning was hard. First Moon's Fur learned things like the Litany, the shapes, the auspices, the tribes, easy things for the young Garou. Then came the human things. The Wyld, Weaver, and Wyrm, the way of the Silver Fangs, concepts it was hard for her mind to grasp. The other cubs couldn't help, they were all human born and were instead struggling with wolf ways. The only other lupus cub at the sept was a Red Talon, Sniffs-Leaves, and the two became companions. As time went on, Seeks-Raven and Crawls-out-of-Howls helped Moon's Fur balance the wolf and human side, and she began to be less wolf and more Garou.
As Moon's Fur grew more in Garou ways, her hallucinations became worse. She began to believe people had said things they hadn't said, or done things they hadn't done. It wasn't enough to be /dangerous/ per se, but it was enough for the others to notice.
One day, Crawls-out-of-Holes gave Moon's Fur a lesson in using her human body. He taught her how to walk, how to use her hands, and gave her human fur. "You must know a little of human way." he said, "It may save your life if you get stuck in a human den." Moon's Fur didn't know what to think of humans. Since she had come to the sept she had always smelled the faint stench of the humans off to the south, Crawls-rhya said it was a ~town,~ a den where humans lived and raised their young. The Red Talons said it was a blight on the face of Gaia that must be destroyed. The Red Talons confused Moon's Fur, she did not see why they hated humans. Humans were, just like hunger and sickness were. Seeks-Raven said the Talons were good wolves, but not always good Garou.
Crawls-out-of-Holes took Moon's Fur to a human den on night, and let her watch the humans live. They were afraid of her, the young ones ran away, the old ones stares at her. When she returned to the sept, Crawls-rhya taught her how to greet people in human speech, and made her stay in human form for a little while "It is part of balance." Seeks-Raven said, "Learn how to use your human mind, and become a better Philodox." When she was allowed to be a wolf again, the Red Talons took Moon's Fur out to hunt some humans at the edge of their den. They shot at them with sticks that burned, but once the wolves changed shape the humans didn't even have time to scream.
After some time it was time to rite. Seeks-Raven came to Moon's Fur and Sniff's Leaves, and said they would rite together with a third cub, Broken Mane, a no-moon of the Red Talons from another sept to the south. The three of them were to walk north until they found a place that stank, and killed the Wyrm creatures there. Their rite took them to an abandoned oil refinery on the Eastern coast of Russia, which had been taken over by Wyrm creatures. They killed the creatures inside, earning Sniff's Leaves the name of Runs-threw-Fire (Firerunner) and Moon's Fur the name Swims-the-Black-River (Blackriver). Broken Mane did not survive to pass on to adulthood. From earning her deedname, Blackriver still has a scar, a patch of fur on her shoulder which will not grow back. It took her many weeks to recover from being drenched in the thick black water, but her Rite was passed, she was an adult.
Cliath-Years
It was not long after she passed that Crawls-Out-of-Howls and his packmates came to Blackriver and offered her a place in their pack. Eager to be part of a pack once more, Blackriver jumped at the chance and for the last three year's she has packed under Osprey as part of the pack Frozen River. Osprey's ban sent them on many quest to protect the ocean and rivers around the caern, and as a pack they grew strong together. Crawls-rhya made a good alpha, he managed to deal with both the humans who wanted to use the waters and also to fight any Wyrm creatures that bred there. The pack was its self was motley crew, it had three members besides Blackriver and Crawls-Out-Of-Holes: Narrow Jaw, a Cliath Philodox of the Red Talons, Howls-Dreams, a Cliath Theurge of the Silverfangs, and Looses-His-Way, Fostern Galliard of the Children of Gaia. Bith Looses-His-Way and Narrow Jaw were lupus, much to Blackriver's delight, and it felt good to run with a pack that knew the wolf so well.
Having such a close bond with so many lupus made Blackriver homesick in a way. She missed being with a wolf pack, where everything was instinctual and she didn't have to use her human mind. One day, tired of this longing, she began to walk north. She walked and walked and walked until she ran into a pack. She howled to greet them and they ran to her, investigating the stranger. She soon dominated the pack and became the Alpha female. As time passed, however, Blackriver felt something gnawing away at her, like wanting being wolf had felt when she was Garou. This feeling soon enveloped her and one night she found herself howling, howling at the full moon filled with a something she'd never felt before. Her human mind would not let her live as a wolf, it always pushed harder, always asked for something more. Her brethren were simple now to her, they did not now about Gaia, or the Wyrm, or humans, and what they did know they did not care about. It wasn't long until Blackriver realized she'd have to leave, that the wolves were not her family anymore.
When she returned, her pack welcomed her back, Seeks-Raven welcomed her back. The homids asked her why she had left so suddenly, why she had gone to live with wolves, but the lupus knew, they knew what she felt, they knew why she went and why she came back left. Understanding her lot in life much better now, Blackriver began to act in the role of her auspice much more. She was a good judge, although a simple on, but her grandfather Seeks-Raven was well respected, so the sept tended to give her the benefit of the doubt when she judged. Nothing she did was very earth shattering, but that suited Blackriver just fine, she had a place in life, and that was to be a Philodox and to fight for Gaia, and there was no need for honor, glory, wisdom, or other human concepts to adorn her. She did not need them to define her, she knew what she was.
Much time passed like this. Battles came and went, Garou were born and Garou died. Then, one summer, Seeks-Raven went to visit his home sept of Cresent Moon. He did not return. A Galliard from the sept came to tell the story of his honorable and brave death during battle. Blackriver did not care about honor or bravery. She howled her sadness to him, and then went to sleep for the night. She should have forgotten him, he should have faded to the back of her mind like the deaths of the other Garou at the sept had. Life should have gone on. But, Blackriver found herself thinking of him, she found herself feeling a strange feeling when she thought of him. It was the same feeling she had when she had lived with the wolf pack. There was a hole in her, and for the first time she wondered whether Crawls-Out-Of-Howls was named because he crawled out of holes in the earth, or holes in the mind.
She left again, but this time she did not run away. This time she went to Cresent Moon, to learn about her ancestor, to speak to the other Philodox there. She spent some time there, and then, satisfied that she had covered the hole in her mind, she went back to Snow-Born-Moon.
It was a cold autumn evening as she ran threw the tundra, ignoring the calls of the native wolves as she went along. The wind ripped threw her fur, and snow began to fall, but she did not worry, she knew Gaia now. When the snow and the wind became to much for her, she found a bank and made a small den before curling up and sleeping. The blizzard raged for a long time, long enough that Blackriver realized she'd have to brave the storm or starve, so she woke and went forwards for... for forever it seemed. When the wind finally stopped blowing and the snow stayed on the ground, Blackriver was very tired, hungry, and lost. She lifted her muzzle up and howled to the night, but she heard only the calls of strange wolves. Turning to the East and the smell of the ocean Blackriver began to walk home.
Home it seemed was a long ways away. The Philodox tried to sustain herself on voles and rabbits, but as the winter approached it was harder to find food. One day, Blackriver happened upon the scent of human, and followed it, in hopes of finding food. She found something strange then, a Weaver machine that smelled of man. She circled it carefully, afraid to go near it, but beneath the smell of Weaver was the smell of food, and Blackriver was very hungry. After she determined that despite the smell there was no human nearby, she approached the strange thing, and found in it a bag lots of strange tasting food. Happily, the lupus curled up next to her "cache" not wanting to abandon it and too tired to move it all. She would move later, and if the Weaver think was dangerous, well, she was Garou, she would kill it.
And so, Blackriver, half-moon of the Silver Fangs slept in the luggage compartment of a bush plane, and Trevor Williams, a young energetic pilot, returned from radioing his location to the nearby city of Vladivostock to enter his plane. He didn't check the baggage compartment, after all why would he? When he landed the plane to check his equipment before he departed across the Pacific everything had been fine, why would it have changed while he went to a nearby ridge to get a good radio signal? He had limited time, he had bet his brother a fortune he'd fly around the world, in a bush plane, in two weeks, and technical difficulties had stalled him for several days in Kazakhstan. Making several loops across the tundra snow, he took off over the ocean, next stop to refuel: St. Clair Washington.
OOC Notes:
* Human-things - Blackriver has learned to use her human mind. That doesn't mean she knows anything about humans, nor does it mean she thinks like a human. But she knows that the human-mind is superior for reasoning, and as a Philodox she often must use reason. Culturally, Blackriver knows humans must wear "clothes", she knows they like it when you "smile" (although her "smile" would scare a grown man), she knows some basic words in Russian: "I'm hungry." "Hello." "Wolf." "Katya" (Katya being the human name Crawls-Out-Of-Holes gave her.) "Like?" "Go away!" and such like things. She understands a bit more.
Mentally, she understands the concepts of honor, and glory, and respect, and other things inherent in the Garou culture per se, as in she can explain what they are to people, but she doesn't really follow them, or understand why they are so important to the homids. Of course, she respects her elders and tends to be honorable and whatnot, but more because she was raised that way, not because someone told her to be honorable.
* Seeks-Raven was Blackriver's grandfather and a respected Philodox of borht the Sept-of-The-Snow-Born-Moon and Crescent Moon, /the/ Silver Fang sept in the Urals, which I have Nikolai's permission to use. Seeks-Raven was old for a lupus when he died, almost 20, and as the elder Philodox of the both the septs of Crescent Moon and Snow-Born-Moon (at different times of course) he taught Blackriver the art of her auspice.
* The Sept of The Snow-Born-Moon is a medium sized sept near the East coast of Russia. Out of about 50 members, 15 are lupus, giving the sept one of the highest lupus percentages in Russia. The sept is composed of mostly Silver Fangs and Red Talons, with a few Children of Gaia and Shadow Lords as well. It's positioned near a several small Siberian towns, but for the most part is in the wilderness, the frigid tundra keeping most humans away. The Red Talons making sure the more curious two-leggers never reach the caern.
* Blackriver knows many rites, which she will probably teach for chiminage. Most importantly, she knows the Rite of Defiance, which she learned from her friend the Red Talon Galliard Firerunner, and the Rite of The Honorable Oath, which every good Silver Fang Philodox should know.
*Fireclaws was Blackriver's mother, an Ahroun of the sept of the Snow-Born-Moon. She died in battle before Blackriver was inducted into the tribe.
* I'm thinking Blackriver's derangement, quirk, or whatever you want to call it is fairly mild at the present. If she were more stressed, and as she grows older, it will probably worsen. Right now I see it as her occasionally seeing things that well, just aren't there. Thinking she saw a flash of silver in someone's hands when she didn't, hearing someone insult her lineage when they in fact complimented it. This usually happens when she's stressed, like when she's meeting new Garou, being approached by humans and not able to get out, in short her "imagination" if you'd call it that, gets the better of her. It's kind of a twisted form of paranoia. If you don't like this derangement, I could probably think of another one, although it'd change her as a character a bit.
* Blackriver fits the stereotypes of her breed, auspice, and tribe, fairly nicely. For lupus, she a fairly complex thinker, but only when her auspice demands it of her. As both a lupus and a Silver Fang she has a bit of hubris, she sincerely believes that she was born to a not superior exactly, but "special" breed and tribe. Gaia needs the lupus. She is lupus. Gaia needs leaders. She is of the alpha tribe. She knows her place, it's fighting for Gaia and leading the other Garou by example, an example of what a lupus and a Silver Fang should be.
In lupus form, Blackriver is a Eurasian Tundra wolf, one of the largest wolf species in the world. She is healthy and robust, and signs of her pure breeding are evident. Her fur is a mix of grey and and white hair, giving it the appearance of silver over all her pelt. Her eyes are a milky amber. She has several battle scars, the tip of one ear is gone from a close encounter with a fomori holding a butcher knife, and a patch of fur is missing from her left shoulder from when she swam threw a river of oil, earning her deed name.
The other day while browsing the internet I found a picture that a pretty good fit for Blackriver, it's here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/Riukii/Blackriver.jpg
In homid, Blackriver does have a set of clothes dedicated to her, cheap jeans, a t-shirt, and a faded brown jacket. She also has a necklace with a coin on it from Crawls-Out-of-Holes, to be used in the Rite of The Honorable Oath. On it is engraved a howling wolf on one side, and a falcon on the other. In this form Blackriver almost constantly has a confused, blank, look on her face, and is obviously something inhuman, or at least a child raised by wolves.
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Did I mentioned I'll be LARPing with the group tomorrow at Como? That should be fun.