The Wandering Hunt



In the wake of the Blizzard, no pack has re-established itself in Georgia. There was a lone group of Fire-Touched, but they have since been driven out by fire elementals whose bargain with them went sour. The only known locus is corrupted, none of the wolves in the area want to pull together, and a destructive pig-spirit rules over the Chattahoochee. The omens are clear to one Ithaeur, who now seeks a place in Atlanta as she is guided by the whispers of a mighty, alien totem.

Most of the group is made up of Hunters In Darkness; there seven members in total, five wolves and two wolf-bloods. The pack has the peculiarity of harbouring a Half-Wolf — a Ghost Wolf who is a member of the Pure. In other areas, they might be questioned or even put to death for their choice in pack members, but the Half-Wolf was stolen away and stripped of his auspice at a young age. As many of the group are part of the Lodge of the Black Fury (see Werewolf Translation Guide, pg. 7), they believe in the rehabilitation and care of children and younger wolves who might be corrupted by society's evils. With little to no authority saying otherwise in Georgia, they feel it's a perfect spot to set up, and wander the world no more.

The Totem: Walker-Among-the-Stars
Four years ago, a small meteorite fell from the heavens, carrying with it a wayward star spirit. It crashed into the rolling plains of the Midwest, not larger than a baseball when it finally came to the ground. As steam hissed and rose from its rocky surface, in the Shadow, a disoriented Gaffling staggered to its feet, staring fearfully around at the strange world it had crashed into; it appeared as a man-sized wolf at a distance. Up close, it looked as if made of the night sky, with two white, fiery eyes and and equally fiery mouth, the jaws dripping starry black.

Leah, Alpha of the Wanderers and Ithaeur, was still new to the world of the Uratha. With only her friend Morgan LaRoche beside her, the pair came across the spirit, who was hissing and shooting plasma-fire at anything that came close. Trying to communicate was difficult; it spoke a hissing, crackling dialect of First Tongue, more ancient and strange in its speech than some of the older spirits the pair had come across. Feeling sorry for it, Leah goaded it into calmness with Essence, even though Morgan felt it was a really bad idea. The creature, after all, was a foreign spirit, something that came from Earth's upper atmosphere, where the boundary between sky and space was very thin.

Since then, Leah and Walker-Among-the-Stars have grown closer. Though Walker is not totally alien, he/she/it (its gender-identity changes on a whim, though the pack often finds it masculine) still finds the below world bizarre and foreign. Thankfully, it can feed off the night-spirits that congregate on Gaia's surface, but it still hungers for the weaker star-spirits that were pulled into the upper atmosphere by the spirits of gravity and sky. Though it rules over the pack, it acts much like a puppy or protective guard dog at times, especially around Leah. This has had the effect of bringing about grumblings of favouritism among the pack.

Overview

 * Name: Thakhdu-Thif-Malan (Walker-Among-the-Stars)
 * Virtue: Fortitude
 * Vice: Wrath
 * Concept: Spirit-wolf thing of the heavens
 * Choir: Material - Stars
 * Totem Level/Ban Severity: Four (17 Totem Points Total)

Attributes

 * Power: 2
 * Finesse: 4
 * Resistance: 3

Influences

 * Fire: ●
 * Darkness: ●

Numina

 * Blast (Fire Breath)
 * Material Vision
 * Materialize

Traits

 * Willpower: ●●●●●-●●●
 * Temp.:    □□□□□-□□□
 * Essence: ●●●●●-●●●●●-●●●●●

Totem Blessings

 * Gift - Call Fire (Pack): 5 Totem Points
 * Numina For Totem - Blast: 3 Totem Points
 * Skill - Stealth (Given): 5 Totem Points
 * Specialty - Navigation By Stars (Survival): 2 Totem Points
 * Specialty - Astrology (Occult): 2 Totem Points

Bans

 * Personal Ban: Materialize at least once a day, either at twilight, daybreak or during the night.
 * Pack Ban: The pack must keep a sacred fire going constantly, and offer some sort of fuel, Essence or edible food into the fire twice a day.

Combat

 * Size: 5
 * Speed: 11
 * Init. Mod: 8
 * Defense: 4
 * Armor: 0/0
 * Corpus:  ●●●●●-●●●
 * Cur. Corpus: □□□□□-□□□

Roleplaying Hints

 * Spoiled Rotten: Walker is a very spoiled totem. He is doted on constantly by Leah, who tends to his every whim and wish like he was a pampered, purebred dog. He can be very demanding, to the point of being destructive; he is very much like a puppy who was given too much attention and not enough discipline. Such actions can threaten the Masquerade, or draw the attention of characters who hear of a giant wolf made of stars, breathing fire at anyone who comes close....


 * Changing Packs: It might be hard to believe, but it is possible to convince Walker to abandon the Wanderers. He misses his home in the sky dearly, and would love to wander about Earth's upper atmosphere, chasing around the minor spirits of stars and heaven once more. Leah has soothed the grief he has felt, and has given him a good life on Earth, but he pines for the greater above. If a pack had a territory that was several hundred feet in the air — or even higher — or wanted to free him outright, it would perk the totem's interest.


 * Risks of Magath: As a star-spirit, the spirits of terra firma are very alien to Walker. There is little here he can naturally eat; darkness, night, shadow and fire spirits are his safest bets, and anything else could run the risk of him turning magath. He already lusts for more appropriate prey, even though Leah does everything in her power to make him happy and satiated. There is always the risk of him chasing after something too ambitious for him, and then devouring it and becoming an abomination. One can only dread what an already-temperamental totem might be like if it were insane.

Leah Martha Caldwell ("Kakizal-Malan")


In the rolling plains of Midwest, a country girl stared at the stars, enraptured with them. Always filled with childish wonder, she swore she could hear them crackling, hissing and snapping at each other. If she squinted hard enough, she could see the passage of Venus and Mars, and Lunes flitting among the clouds. Leah Martha Caldwell always had her head in the clouds, mind always wandering to and fro with all her visions of the world beyond. Her parents always warned her to take things more seriously — Ithaeurs were the werewolf link between spirit and flesh, and it was too easy for Shadow-beings to latch onto them. Leah remained carefree and uncaring, confident that she could deal with whatever was thrown at her; she enjoyed the company of star- and sky-spirits. They made for interesting company whenever she was bored or sad or lonely.

The Wandering Hunt was more of a coincidence than a planned coming-together. Originally it was just Leah and Morgan LaRoche, a good friend of hers; the pair left their pack after a feeling of crowding crept over them. It was natural for young wolves to wander, they knew, but the lack of space had a basis in reality — their small town, no more than a hundred or so people, had no less than five packs trying to lay claim to it. Thankfully only one was Pure, but the tension and paranoia that the Forsaken-heavy area would be overrun made everyone on edge. Leah convinced Morgan their luck was better elsewhere, and Morgan agreed that leaving might be best; divisions and accusations of mixed loyalties were getting worse and worse.

Leah isn't a natural leader figure; she'd rather be a follower, or left to her own devices. Her good calls were partially guided via the intervention of her totem, whom she has shared a close relationship with since "adopting" it. Morgan, who is more of a leader than she will ever be, has also been a factor; Walker, however, doesn't respect her as nearly as much as he respects Leah. Therefore, since the risk of Walker abandoning the pack (and breaking poor Leah's heart) is too great, Leah takes the alpha role to keep the totem happy.

Sadly, the truth is that no one (except maybe Morgan and the Half-Wolf Scarlip) really likes Leah. She is often more preoccupied with acting on a whim and doting on her patron spirit, leaving the majority of the gruntwork to Morgan to take care of. Indeed, if Leah had more of a choice (and was more willing to stand up to Walker), she'd make Morgan the alpha — and then maybe the pack could pull together more.

Appearance: In her human and Dalu forms, Leah appears as a lean, lithe black woman, somewhere around twenty years old. She is petite at 5'3", and wears her hair in long cornrows. Her skin is the colour of dark Hershey's chocolate, and her eyes are so dark they're almost black. In Dalu, Leah gains a foot in height and coarse, curly black hair over her body, as well as golden-yellow eyes and pointed ears and claws. In Gauru, Urshul and Urhan, she appears as a black wolf with frosting on the muzzle, lighter shading around her underbelly and neck, and even lighter frosting around her eyes; when she uses Two-World Eyes in these forms, it appears as if they glow.

Overview

 * Name: Leah Martha Caldwell/Hears-the-Stars/Kakizal-Malan
 * Virtue: Faith
 * Vice: Sloth
 * Concept: Wandering stargazer
 * Auspice: Ithaeur (Crescent Moon)
 * Tribe: Hunters In Darkness
 * Lodge: Lodge of the Black Fury (Werewolf Translation Guide, pg. 7)
 * Aspect: Totem-Bond, Isiburalath
 * Experience: 35/35

Attributes
Power:      Strength  ●●       Presence       ●●     Intelligence ●●● Finesse:    Dexterity ●●       Manipulation   ●●     Wits         ●● Resistance: Stamina   ●●●      Composure      ●●     Resolve      ●●●

Skills
Mental                  Physical                 Social (-3 Unskilled)          (-1 Unskilled)          (-1 Unskilled) Academics:    ●●        Athletics: ●            Animal Ken:   ● Computer:     ●         Brawl:                  Empathy:      ● Crafts:       ●         Drive:                  Expression:   ●● Investigation: ●        Firearms:               Intimidation: ● Medicine:     ●         Larceny:                Persuasion:   ● Occult:       ●●●       Stealth:  [●]           Socialize: Politics:               Survival:  ●●           Streetwise:   ● Science:      ●●        Weaponry:  ●●           Subterfuge:

Specialties
1. Occult (Diseased Parts of the Shadow, Astrology [Totem Blessing])

2. Athletics (Running)

3. Survival (Wilderness, Navigation By Stars [Totem Blessing])

4. Science (Astronomy)

Renown
Cunning: Glory: Wisdom: ● Honor: Purity: ●●

Gifts

 * | Call Fire (Elemental, Totem Blessing): ●
 * Speak With Beasts (Nature): ●
 * Two-World Eyes (Crescent Moon): ●
 * The Heart of Things (Wisdom): ●

Rituals

 * Rituals Trait: ●● (12 XP)

Rites

 * Banish Human: ● (1 XP)
 * Rite of Dedication: ● (1 XP)
 * Shared Scent: ● (1 XP)
 * Banish Spirit: ●● (2 XP)
 * Rite of Healing: ●●● (3 XP)

Traits

 * Willpower: ●●●●●
 * Temp.:    □□□□□
 * Primal Urge: ●●
 * Essence: ●●●●●-●●●●●-●

Merits

 * Altar Stone: ●●
 * Pack Affinity: ●
 * Totem: ●●●●● (15 XP)

Flaws

 * Strict Carnivore: Ever since her change, Leah has been unable to process vegetables or vegetable matter very well. She gains no nutrition from vegetables, and is on a strict meat-only diet because of that. If she is forced to eat vegetables or anything plant matter-heavy, she must roll Stamina+Survival not to throw up. Anything that is 70% plant matter or less will give her no sustenance, and she will begin to suffer from starvation if she doesn't eat meat meals.

Harmony

 * 10:---
 * 9: ---
 * 8: ---
 * 7: - Here -
 * 6: ___________
 * 5: ___________
 * 4: ___________
 * 3: ___________
 * 2: ___________
 * 1: ___________

Combat

 * Size: 5
 * Speed: 9
 * Init. Mod: 4
 * Defense: 2
 * Armor: 0/0
 * Health:  ●●●●●-●●●
 * Cur. Health: □□□□□-□□□

Weapons and Equipment
Decorated buck knife/sacrificial knife, hatchet, backpack, spare change of clothes, multi-tool, first-aid kit, water pouch

Roleplaying Hints

 * Popularity Contest: The pack wants Leah out, or at least as close as they can settle to her not bossing them around anymore. Leah would give up alphaship to Morgan if she could, but Walker-Among-the-Stars insists it is his favourite wolf who calls the shots. Perhaps a story could be made if the pack were to be freed from Walker's influence, or for someone to usurp the position from Leah and dispose of the totem? Even Walker's favour could be gained, somehow, and thus turn his attention off of Leah.


 * Clueless Girl: Leah's a dreamer, not a doer. She'd rather love instead of fight, and if Morgan and Walker hadn't been guiding her, there's a very good chance the pack might be in deeper trouble than just having a Half-Wolf hang around. Someone might be able to take advantage of this naive streak of hers.... Or teach her what it really means to be a leader.


 * Wrath of the Forsaken: Leah harbours a Pure wolf amongst her ranks. In her old hometown, the Pure were reviled, and the Pure who were driven out of Georgia would very much like to come back. Plots could be had if her old family found out what she was up to, or if anyone could convince her that Atlanta needed a few more "benevolent" Anshega....

Morgan LaRoche ("Kelithekhdu")


In stark contrast to her alpha and good friend, Morgan LaRoche is what the pack wishes their leader to be. She is quiet but stern, fair but a predator — to mess with her territory is to mess with her directly. She takes very seriously the vow to let no sacred place be violated, and her mother was an active member of the Black Fury Lodge of the Meninna. Said lodge is dedicated to protecting the wild places of the world, and the mothers, women and children within; Morgan herself was adopted, the biological daughter of an unhappy relationship between a wolf-blooded woman and her abusive werewolf lover.

While Leah was out stargazing and studying the secrets of the Sky-Shadow, Morgan was indoctrinated into a whirlwind world of women's rights and the protection of the sacred feminine. She convinced Leah to join the lodge out of a hope that the Ithaeur — who was seen as slothful and dangerously naive — might put her talents to better use than communicating with random alien spirits. It worked for a while, but Leah never came around, acting more like a Ghost Wolf than the Hunter she had been indoctrinated as. Morgan was jealous of her free spirit, as couldn't help but feel pressure from the local Furies; she was a Suharrahu, one who had changed under a lunar eclipse. Reborn as a blend of Rahu and Irraka, she was expected to be an example, fulfilling the roll of a shadowy stalker who raged as a throat-tearing crusader might. As tensions grew between the Furies and the other Hunters — it was believed the lodge was having too much sway, especially when it came to matters of managing local wolf-bloods and their "rights and ethics" on urugarum — Morgan grew increasingly uncomfortable with her lodgemates.

LaRoche remained loyal to her pack and the lodge, until one night spat in the face of all she fought for. Several Pure wolf-blooded, who no longer believed in the Anshega's cause, came with their children to the Furies and begged for shelter. They were of the Ivory Claws, who were planning on creating a marriage alliance to bring more Claws into the already Pure-heavy area. Seeing a chance to increase the number of Urdaga urugarum, the Hunters took the ex-Anshega in, promising them shelter.

Not a few days later, the wolf-bloods were forced to be remarried to local Forsaken, their "bargain" for shelter from the Claws. The local Furies turned a blind eye, in Morgan's opinion; they let it happen, said it was the only way to keep the would-be brides safe. Morgan gave in to Leah's insisting that they leave; the Ithaeur was planning to go off on her own, find a new place for herself where there was less conflict. She had adopted a little star spirit, which she said would "protect them" — Morgan felt it was a bad idea, but her disgust with the Furies motivated her to go.

That was four years ago, and now, she's entering Atlanta with an increasingly low-morale pack, who think she should be making the shots instead of a bratty totem's pet Uratha.

Appearance: In her human form, Morgan appears as a fit, toned black woman, of the same skin tone as Leah if not a little darker. Her eyes are a dark brown, watchful and steady in her gaze like a hawk's. She is considerably taller than Leah (5'7"), and in Dalu, she gains noticeably-bulky and stringy muscles. (Her claws are also more prominent and wicked-looking.) In Gauru, Urshul and Urhan, she appears as a pitch-black wolf with a mix of feminine grace and power-packed muscle; perhaps because of her auspice, depending on the moon phase, her coat has the oddest sheen. Under the new moon, it barely reflects any light, leaving her as a black shape in the dark; the coat gradually becomes more shiny until the full moon, where it has a noticeable "chrome" effect.

Overview

 * Name: Morgan LaRoche/Throat-Snatcher/Kelithekhdu
 * Virtue: Fortitude
 * Vice: Wrath
 * Concept: The voice of reason
 * Auspice: Suharrahu (Lunar Eclipse)
 * Tribe: Hunters In Darkness
 * Lodge: Lodge of the Black Fury (Werewolf Translation Guide, pg. 7)
 * Aspect: None; Suharrahu have no known Aspects
 * Experience: 35/35

Attributes
Power:      Strength  ●●●     Presence       ●●     Intelligence ●● Finesse:    Dexterity ●●●     Manipulation   ●●     Wits         ●● Resistance: Stamina   ●●      Composure      ●●●    Resolve      ●●

Skills
Mental                  Physical                 Social (-3 Unskilled)          (-1 Unskilled)          (-1 Unskilled) Academics:    ●● (9 XP) Athletics: ●●           Animal Ken:   ● Computer:               Brawl:     ●            Empathy:      ● Crafts:       ●         Drive:     ●            Expression:   ● Investigation: ● (3 XP) Firearms:               Intimidation: ● Medicine:     ●         Larceny:   ●            Persuasion:   ● Occult:       ●●        Stealth:   ●[●]         Socialize:    ● (3 XP) Politics:               Survival:  ●●           Streetwise:   ● Science:                Weaponry:  ●●●          Subterfuge:   ●

Specialties
1. Occult (Astrology [Totem Blessing])

2. Weaponry (Axe)

3. Survival (Wilderness, Navigation By Stars [Totem Blessing])

4. Persuasion (Being Diplomatic)

Renown
Cunning: Glory: ● Wisdom: ● (8 XP) Honor: Purity: ●●

Gifts

 * | Call Fire (Elemental, Totem Blessing): ●
 * | Feet of Mist (Stealth): ●
 * Clarity (Full Moon): ●
 * Loose Tongue (Evasion): ● [Free Gift From Wisdom 1 Dot]
 * Father Wolf's Speed (Father Wolf): ●●

Rituals

 * Rituals Trait: ● (5 XP)

Rites

 * Rite of Dedication: ● (2 XP)

Traits

 * Willpower: ●●●●●
 * Temp.:    □□□□□
 * Primal Urge: ●●
 * Essence: ●●●●●-●●●●●-●

Merits

 * Pack Affinity: ●
 * Totem: ●●● (5 XP for 3rd dot)

Flaws

 * Disharmony: As the flaw in the Forsaken Player's Guide, only caused by what she saw as a betrayal of her old pack and allies against penitent Anshega wolfbloods. She gains an experience point whenever she adheres to the moral code of a human, but violates the levels of Harmony in some way.

Harmony

 * 10:---
 * 9: ---
 * 8: ---
 * 7: - Here -
 * 6: ___________
 * 5: ___________
 * 4: ___________
 * 3: ___________
 * 2: ___________
 * 1: ___________

Combat

 * Size: 5
 * Speed: 11
 * Init. Mod: 6
 * Defense: 2
 * Armor: 0/0
 * Health:  ●●●●●-●●
 * Cur. Health: □□□□□-□□

Weapons and Equipment
Hatchet decorated with Uratha runes, buck knife, backpack, spare change of clothes, map of Atlanta, whistle, binoculars