Garou / Lycans / Werewolves :)

" The Garou are ancient beings, created by Gaia as her children, so they say. Others say different, look at them different, call them different. To their faces or not, I do not know, but what I do know, is that you wouldn't want to poke one with a stick and annoy it. "

The story teller smiled and crooked grin as he began his tale of the old kin of the forest. Some teeth happened to be missing, which gave him a slightly comical look. None the less, he was a serious man. His old, worn hand ran through the air gently as he then proceeded to lean back and continue his telling.

" As I was saying, the Garou, as they call themselves are folk who are part human and part beast. Wolf, to be specific. They come in all different shapes and sizes, colours and breeds! They can even change into different forms of both wolf and man! " The teller lent forward slightly, trying to give his tale a slight horror feel before continuing.

" In their tradition, the Garou-folk have very strict laws by which alot of them abide by, but a rogue few stray from the path. In their race, it aint all rainbows and earth loving, no sir-ee! They can and are vicious warriors, as well as shamans, bards, assassins, judges and all that sort! its like they have their own economy within their own species! " He grinned, leaning back and stroking his silvery hair.

" Each Garou born is of a different type, there are a few different types, which they call Auspices. Sometimes, depending on the moon, sacred births are done which have the Auspice fore-told. For ever moon, there is a different Auspice. The Ahroun, the warriors, are under the full moon. The Theurge, the shamans and such are under the Cresent - The Ragabash, tricksters and rogues, they are born from the New moon. The Philodox Auspice, the judges and that, they are born under the half moon, and lastly the Galliard. Bards, musicians and more are born from under the Gibbous moon. "
The teller smiled his crooked smile to the gathered audience - women and children looking a mix of amazed and appalled. The men were a mix of anger and acceptance. A few in the crowd wore hoods, hiding their faces. The teller just smiled and continued.

" As I began, earlier " he started once more, " There is both good and bad to this race. They have both a loving side, and a murderous one. I will not go into tales of murder or heroics, and I will not mention the names that haunt Garou and humans alike, like that of Krae and such. " The man gazed around his audience, a sternness drawn across his chiselled, old face. " Within this race there is forgiveness, and there is corruption. Some influnce by powers of another world, a world of chaos and serenity where Gaia, the Wyvern, the Weavern and the dreadded Wyrm dwell. The Garou are as human as you and I. You do not want to hear the tales of what these supernatural deity's can do.. " His gaze swam over the audience, all were silent in anticipation.

A smile came over his face as he clapped his hands together "We will not dwell on that topic though, and I will tell you of the rules of these people;
1, Garou shall not mate with Garou; instead they must mate with humans or wolf species to stop imbreeding and deformity in their ranks. Those born from Garou with Garou are known as Metis. Born horribly deformed and detested by most of Garou society.
2, Combat the Wyrm wherever it dwells and lives, to stop the destruction of man and beast kind.
3, Respect the territory of another, this age-old tradition has changed some as humans and Garou integrated to one anothers territory. It is now that when a Garou crosses to anothers territory, he or she must howl the right of introduction, speak their name, lineage and totem before being allowed access.
4, Accept an honourable surrender; an age-old tribe has recently introduced this rule to the litany in order to save the numbers in their species and honour the threee virtues.
5, Submission of those of a higher status, in other words, it is like us, we must obey what the king asks us. But in their way, they have a king of every tribe.
6, Keep what you kill basically, except in the ways of the Garou, the higher rankings get the plunder before the killer. Same as with the spoils of war. God knows, if the whole Garou nation went to war we'd be damned. " Another crooked smile as he continued.
" 7, No eating the flesh of the humans. You would think as they are such law loving people, they would not do this because we are their kin. Wrong, they do not do this because we are impure in alot of whats through what we eat, how we live and so on...
8, Respct all, as everyone is of Gaia - a Religious law, on their behalf.
9, Do not break the veil, they are not supposed to show themselves, as alot are hunted through grudges and hatred for their species..
10, Do not suffer thy people, to tend thy sickness, as a direct quote. Those Garou too old or sick used to be killed to soften the population and not cause outbreaks of disease and illnesses. Those Garou old enough to be killed but still fine to handle themselves are often allowed to live to teach the new generations of Garou. Now though, it is considered more honourbale to allow the ill, wounded or elderly end their own lives.
11, The leader may be challenged any time during peace.
12, The leader may not be challenged during wartime.
13, No action is to be undertaken that threatens a Caern - a highly religious sect ground where main clad groups of a clan live. There is many Caerns for every clan, spread all around Runiam. Some harder to find than others. All Garou hold to this law, and upto yet there is no true recorded history of a Caern being violated... " the mans eyes scanned his audience wairily, knowing what he was saying may get him in trouble. Especially if the wrong people were around. He stood slowly, smiling to the audience as his fingers fumbled with his shabby cloaks hood. It found his head quickly as the first few drops of rain began to fall. The crowd dispersed as it began to tubmle down, the teller was gone.