Garou Terms

Lexicon of Terminology: These words are the words all Garou use commonly.

Ahroun: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Ahroun is the Warrior, born under the Full Moon.

Anchorhead: A spirit gate between the Near and Deep Umbra. See "Membrane".

Apocalypse: The age of destruction, the final cycle, the birth of death, the everlasting corruption, the end of Gaia - a word used in Garou mythology to describe the time of the final battle with the Wyrm. Many consider this time to be the present, especially because of men nesting upon the moon.

Auspice: The phase of the moon under which a particular Garou was born; commonly thought to determine personality and tendencies. See "Ragabash", "Theurge", "Philodox", "Galliard" and "Ahroun".

Bane: Evil spirits that follow the Wyrm. There are many different kinds of Banes.

Bastet: The term the Garou use for the Werecats, they are infrequent civilians nowadays and are running dangerously close to extinction.

Bawn: A boundary area around a Caern, where mortals are closely watched. Patrolled and protected by Garou of the Sept affiliated to that Caern.

Blight: Any corrupted area, in either the spirit world or physical reality.

Breed: The ancestry of a Garou, be it wolf, human or other Garou.

Caern: A sacred place; a meeting spot where Garou can contact the spirit world.

Celestine: The greatest spirits; the closest things the Garou have to Gods. Examples include, Luna (The Moon) and Helios (The Sun).

Concolation: A great Moot, wherein many Tribes gather to discuss matters that concern the entire nation of Garou.

Concord: The agreement all the tribes reached nearly 9,000 years ago, after which the Impergium was ended. The Litany is one part of this and the traditions of the Concord are still obeyed today.

Corruption: The act of destroying, devolving or debasing life; also, the oftenoverwhelming effects of the Wyrm's actions. In the present age it often specifically refers to the ecological effects of the humans wreak upon the environment.

Crinos: The half-wolf, half-man war form of the Garou.

Deep Umbra: The aspects of the Umbra that lie outside the Membrane. Reality becomes more and more fragmentary the further one travels from The Realm.

Delirium: The madness suffered by Humans who look upon a Garou in Crinos form.

Developmental Neogenetics Amalgamated: An organisation which scoffs at theories of the supernatural and believes there are genetic reasons for special abilities such as those possessed by the Garou. They know of the Garou and are willing to do anything to learn more about them, although they are not specifically Wyrm tainted.

Domain: A mini-realm in the Umbra, usually connected to a larger Realm in the Deep Umbra.

Feral: Slang term for a Garou of Lupus ancestry.

Fetish: An item of great spiritual significance. Fetish's have many uses and always have a spirit bound into them.

Gaffling: A simple spirit servant of a Jaggling, Incarna or Celestine. Gafflings are rarely sentient.

Gaia: The Earth and related Realms, in both a phsical and spiritual sense; the Mother Goddess.

Galliard: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Galliard is the Moon Dancer, born under the Gibbous Moon.

Garou: The term Werewolves use for themselves.

Gauntlet, The: The barrier between the physical world of Earth and the spirit world of the Umbra. It is strongest around technological (Weaver) places and weakest around Caerns.

Glabro: The near-man form of the Garou.

Gurahl, The: The term Garou use for the Werebears, another creature that number's are faltering.

Hispo: The near-wolf form of the Garou.

Homid: A Garou of human ancestry. Occassionally used disdainfully by Ferals (eg, "You fight like a Homid").

Howls, The: Howls are the Werewolves most powerful and evocative means of expression. They are most often begun by a single Garou and other Garou then join in. When howling, harmony is disdained and cacophony is sought, Garou instinctively alter pitch to maintain discord in their howls, thus making the pack seem larger than it actually is.

The howls are:

  • Anthem of War: Moon Dancers raise this inspiring battle cry to muster their brethren for battle or to rally them if their spirits have fallen.
  • Call for Succour: Used to call a Garou's pack to his aid. Embarrassing but occasionally necessary. The howl sounds somewhat like the bark of a puppy for its mother.
  • Call to Hunt: A long, low ululation used to alert the pack to the position and type Of prey.
  • Chant of Challenge: Invented by the Fianna, the Chant is a systematic recital of one's name, pack, sept, lineage, tribe and deeds, followed by a creative insult of the challenged one's personal habits, ancestry and deeds. Obviously, this is used to initiate duels.
  • Curse of Ignominy: This snarling whine is used by the sept or tribe to dishonour and mock those who have fallen from favour.
  • Dirge for the Fallen: This is a somber, low-pitched, drawn-out howl. It is used as a requiem for the honoured dead; the volume and length depend upon the status of the deceased.
  • Snarl of Precedence: This is howled by a Garou who wishes to go one-on-one with a foe. The snarl does not have to be honoured by those of a higher renown, but generally is.
  • Song of Mockery: This is a particularly infiriating pitch that Ragabash add to any other howl. It is sure to enrage Ahroun, Shadow Lords, etc. It is an insulting gesture, the Garou equivalent of "the finger".
  • Symphony of the Abyss: A reverberating, mad whine used by the Black Spiral Dancers whilst hunting. The song is designed to terrify quarry and it does. This is often reffered to as sounding like the call of the Whippoorwill.
  • Wail of Foreboding: The wail is a general danger signal, often used to warn of natural disasters.
  • Warning of the Wyrm's Approach: A very sharply pitched howl, ernitted in a series of bief staccato bursts. This how1 is used only to announce the presence of the Wyrm's minions.

Impergium, The: The 3,000 years immediatly following the birth of agriculture, duing which strict population quotas were maintained, by the Garou, on all human setements.

Incarna Avatar: A type of lesser Incarna, a Jaggling equivalent, affiliated to a Pack of Garou and representing that Pack's links to a totem spirit, of which the Incarna Avatar is itself representative.

Incarna: A class of spirits; weaker than Celestines, but still greater spirits by any measure.

Jaggling: A spirit servant of an Incarna or Celestine.

Kenning: The empathic calling some Garou perform when howling.

Klaive/Grand Klaive: A Fetish dagger or sword, usually of great spiritual potency and nearly always made of silver.

Language, The: The language of the Garou which relies as much upon body language and tone as upon actual words.

Litany, The: The code of laws kept by the Garou. Part of the Concord.

Lost Cubs, The: Those who are Werewolves but who for some reason have never been collected by their tribes and instructed in the ways of the Garou. These individuals are often driven insane by the unexpressed Garou side of their nature, or they suffer from and die from severe depression.

Lupus: A Garou of wolf origin and ancestry.

Mages: Humans with special innate capabilities. Some are allied with the Garou, others do nothing but rape Garou Caerns of their power.

Membrane, The: The barrier between the Near and Deep Umbra's. To breach it, and Anchorhead must be found. Alternatively, the Garou can travel through the Dream Zone.

Metis: The sterile and often deformed offspring of two Garou. Generally reviled by Garou society.

Mokole, The: The term Garou use for the Werecrocodiles.

Moon Bridge: A gate between two Caerns; it most often appears during Moots.

Moon-Calf: Idiot, simpleton.

Moot: A Sept or Tribal conclave that takes place at a Caern.

Mule: Slang for Metis Garou. Often used disdainfully, but one of the lesser insults used for Metis Garou.

Near Umbra, The: The spirit world surrounding the Gaia Realm.

Pack: A small group of Garou bound to each other by ties of friendship and mission as opposed to culture.

Pentex Inc: A corporation dedicated to World-wide corruption in the name of the Wyrm.

Penumbra: "Earth's Shadow''; the spirit world direct surrounding the physical world; many, but not all, terrain features will be the same.

Philodox: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Philodox is the Judge, born under the Half Moon.

Protectorate: The territory claimed and patrolled by a Pack or Sept.

Ragabash: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Ragabash is the Trickster, born under the New Moon.

Ratkin, The: The term the Garou use for the Wererats.

Reaching: Travelling into the spirit world.

Realms: The worlds of "solid" reality within the Tellurian. Earth is often reterred to as The Realm or the Gaia Realm.

Revel: Performed at the conclusion of Moots, the revel is the shifting of all participating Garou into Crinos, to participate in a ritual hunt of everything in the Protectorate which might threaten the Caern.

Ritemaster: See Inceptor.

Ronin: A Garou who has chosen or been forced to leave Garou society. It is a harsh fateto become a "Lone Wolf,'.

Sept: The group of Garou who live near and tend an individual Caern.

Table Rock: The historical meeting place of the Garou at which a Concolation was held and the tenets of the Litany were agreed.

Talens: Minor fetish's, which often can only be used once or a very limited number of times.

Tellurian, The: The whole of reality.

Theurge: One of the Auspices of the Garou. Theurge is the Seer, born under the Crescent Moon.

Totem: A spirit joined to a Pack or Tribe and representative of its inner nature. A Tribal Totem is an Incarna, while a Pack Totem is an Incarna Avatar.

Triat, The: The Weaver, the Wyld and the Wyrm. The trinity of primal cosmic forces.

Tribe: The larger community of Garou. Tribe members are often bound by similar totems and lifestyles.

Umbra, The: The spirit world.

Vampires: Lords of the cities and the Garou's etenal foes.

Veil, The: Part of the Delirium. An effect which induces madness in humans, rather than force them to accept visual evidence of the existance of Werewolves.

Ways, The: The traditions and abilities of the Garou. The way of Stepping Sideways, the way of fiery Rage, the way of changng shapes, the wisdom ways and the way of Gaia.

Weaver, The: Manifestation and symbol of order and pattern. Computers, science, logic and mathematics are examples of the Weaver's influence on the material plane.

Wyld, The: Manifestation and symbol of pure change. The chaos of transmutation and elemental force.

Wyrm, The: Manifestation and symbol of evil, entropy and decay in Garou belief. Vampires are often manifestations of the Wyrm, as are toxic waste and pollution.

Wyrmhole: A place that has been spiritually defiled by the Wyrm invariably a location of great corruption.

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