Werewolf: The Apocalypse
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Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a role-playing game from the World of Darkness line by White Wolf Game Studio. In this game, players take the role of werewolves known as Garou (as well as other lycanthropes), modern primitive ecoterrorists who are locked in a two-front war against (on the one hand) the spiritual desolation of urban civilization and (on the other) supernatural forces of corruption that seek to bring about the Apocalypse.
Along with the other titles in the original World of Darkness, Werewolf was retired in 2004. Its successor title, Werewolf: The Forsaken, was released on March 14, 2005. All information below refers to the fictional world created by the Werewolf books, apart from the section, Real World Controversy.
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Garou
The Garou are beings of both physical strength and spiritual depth. Created by (and in most cases fighting on the side of) a force known as Gaia, Garou are shapeshifters capable of changing their physical form at will to appear as humans (a form they call homid), wolves (lupus), or several intermediary mixed forms. There are: glabro; physically strong and brutish humans, crinos; the traditional wolf-man, and hispo; wolves of unnatural size and strength. Unlike werewolves in most traditional folklore, Garou in Werewolf: The Apocalypse are neither mindless predators nor lunatics. Instead, they are depicted as defenders of Mother Earth and its Umbra (or spirit world).
Breeds
In the World of Darkness, lycanthropy is not a disease but a heritable trait. As dual beings (being both wolves and men), Garou can (and do) interbreed with both species. A Garou's extended non-shapechanging family is called its Kinfolk. Most often, Garou are born to one human and one Garou parent but in families (both wolf and human) where Garou blood is especially strong, Homid or Lupus Garou sometimes are born from non-shapeshifting parents.
The circumstances of their parentage determines their breed. A half-human Garou are called a homid, and is born in homid form. A half-wolf Garou is called a lupus, and is born as a wolf. A Garou born from two Garou parents is called a Metis and is invariably deformed as a result of this inbreeding. Once pariahs in Garou society, trying times have led to the partial reintegration of the Metis breed into the ranks of the Garou. A werewolf's breed determines (to some extent) their Gnosis, or spiritual awareness (Lupus Garou being more in tune with the primal spirit world than Homids, and Metis Garou being in between).
In general, while most Garou leave their native societies to live among their shapechanging kin (engaging in a modern primitive lifestyle), they retain healthy contact with their Kinfolk to ensure their protection as family and the overall health and vitality of the Garou line.
Society
Garou are not solitary creatures. They live in packs like wolves do and organise themselves into septs (groups of packs) and tribes. Garou tribes resemble human tribes in that they are a community of members sharing common lineage, traditions, rites and values. Unlike most human tribes, however, the tribes of the Garou span the globe, with its members spread thinly over large areas of influence. The Garou tribes each claim descent from the human peoples of particular geographic areas or demographic subset of human/wolf society. There were once sixteen tribes, but only thirteen remain servants of Gaia in the modern age. Twelve of these tribes form a great alliance known as the Garou Nation. They are:
- Black Furies
- Bone Gnawers
- Children of Gaia
- Fianna
- Get of Fenris
- Glass Walkers
- Red Talons
- Shadow Lords
- Silent Striders
- Silver Fangs
- Uktena
- Wendigo
Three tribes have been lost to Gaia: the Bunyip of Australia (destroyed in the War of Tears), the Croatan of North America (who sacrificed themselves to protect their homeland), and the White Howlers of Scotland, who were corrupted by the Wyrm and became the Black Spiral Dancers. A fourth tribe (the Stargazers) remains loyal to Gaia but have withdrawn from the Garou Nation.
Seventh Generation
the Seventh Generation is a corrupt conspiracy composed of five separate castes; the Business Caste, the Government Caste, the Snatchers Caste, the Medical Caste and the Warrior Caste. This fictional organization works in total secrecy to destroy the world by means of corruption. They worship the various incarnations of the Defiler Wyrm and their main modus operandi (in instigating corruption) is sexual abuse of women and children, the pollution of the environment and all other actions that betray trust and instill pathological relations between humans. In the game King Albrecht, the Silver Fang tribal leader, destroys the Seventh Generation in 1999.
Auspices
Garou society is divided into five auspices, or spiritual life-paths that a Garou is born with. They are tied to the phases of the Moon and considered gifts from Gaia's sister Luna. These auspices determine (to some extent) a Garou's Rage, or violent predatory instinct. The auspice system is one of pillars of Garou society as it helps to describe social caste, predispositions, and calling. The auspices are:
- Ragabash: Auspice of the new moon, the trickster.
- Theurge: Auspice of the crecent moon, the seer and shaman.
- Philodox: Auspice of the half moon, the arbiter.
- Galliard: Auspice of the gibbous moon, the bard.
- Ahroun: Auspice of the full moon, the warrior.
As a Garou performs deeds fitting with their auspice, they rise in rank in Garou society. While Garou can renounce their auspice and select another more suited to their true calling, this is a grave action, done only in cases where a Garou's auspice truly does not fit their destiny.
Spirituality
Garou are spiritual creatures. It is said that they once were animistic spirits themselves, and upon entering flesh they retained their spiritual affinities and pacts. The culture of the Garou nation is centered around venerating various spirits (every pack, sept, and tribe has its patron spirit or totem) that can help them in their war against the enemies of Gaia. While it is Theurges who deal with spirits most often, every werewolf has to deal with spirits, in order to gain favors and knowledge, and to learn Gifts, the quasi-magical powers of Garou.
The thematic conflicts of Werewolf: the Apocalypse is largely driven by a spiritual war being waged by the Triat, incarnations of the three aspects of reality:
- Wyld is the force of primal creation and chaos
- Weaver is the force of stability and stasis
- Wyrm is the force of corruption, decay, and destruction.
Garou find themselves primarily in conflict with the Wyrm (who has used the advance of urban civilization as a vehicle to spread spiritual sickness throughout Gaia) and somewhat in conflict with the Weaver, whose forces of dogma, science, and technology have largely been responsible for the spread of urban civilization in the first place. An imbalance in spiritual forces occurred when the Weaver's ambitions to "clarify" (or rigidly define) reality led to the imprisonment of the Wyrm so that it could not undo the Weaver's work. The Wyrm went mad and rather than simply breaking down reality for the Wyld to re-create, it began to destroy and corrupt outright with the intention of bringing an end to reality. Though not all corruption, urban sprawl and scientific amorality are born of the Triat, the themes they represent nevertheless remain the central themes of the Werewolf game.
History
According to Garou oral history, it was always their duty to keep the balance in nature on behalf of Gaia. They did so by culling overgrown populaces, hunting too powerful predators that otherwise would rampage unchecked and fending off otherwordly spirits that overstepped their stance.
The formation of nations and cities was the first radical change wrought on the Garou by humanity. The Garou prevent it declaring the Impergium. During this period, Garou are credited with destroying large human cities and retarding the technological and scientific progress of the human race. Though the Impergium dates back to the Mythic Age before recorded history, humanity has retained an inborn fear the Garou. Humans seeing Garou in their hybrid (Crinos) form may be struck with a condition known as Delirium, a state of panic and denial that has been largely responsible for modern humanity's disbelief of the existence of the Garou.
The Garou maintained an active role in the direction of humanity until the Industrial Revolution. This overwhelming societal transformation weakened Gaia and pushed the Umbra away from terrestrial reality, giving it less influence over the world. This period was marked by the withdrawal and extinction of many spirit varieties, but also heralded the birth of new "urban" spirits (such as glass and electricity elementals). These changes were visible in the Umbral landscape, as sites associated with Gaia became fewer and weaker, while the Pattern Web of the Weaver and the corrupt influence of the Wyrm became more prominent.
As the defense of Gaia becomes more difficult, the Garou have found their tasks increasingly harder to perform. Once able to act as silent warriors and guides, many have been reduced to guerilla tactics and monkeywrenching. These ill omens have led to a general consensus that an Apocalypse is nigh, in which a final desperate battle will be wages by all sides. In addition to discrete threats such as the Wyrm and its minions, Garou find themselves opposed to the faceless foe of general disinterest in Gaia. Environmental disasters and modern warfare have done considerable damage to Gaia in recent decades. This callousness is sometimes spead by the Wyrm itself (as best exemplified by the Pentex corporation, a global conglomerate dedicated to spreading the Wyrm's influence).
The Fera
Though the most widespread, Garou are not the only shapeshifters in the World of Darkness. The Fera (also called the Changing Breeds) is a term used by Garou to refer to other shapechangers. The affiliation of these other beings is not necessarily to Gaia, but by and large this is the case.
Real-World Controversy
Werewolf: the Apocalypse has been accused of being the least cerebral of the products in the World of Darkness, owing to the considerably damage-dealing and damage-resisting properties most Garou possess. It has also been derided (as has Wraith: The Oblivion) for the ideological slant of its themes and its glorification of violence. Supporters have argued that the extremity of its themes are merely parables for social conditions that are widely accepted in modern society, and that the game is a metaphor for the struggle of the modern against the traditional.
Overall, the Garou are depicted as spiritually rich, while their opponents (such as Pentex) are depicted as banal, corrupt, and morally bankrupt. These themes are broadly opposed to globalization and modernism. While the presence of the changing breeds has added some variety to the worldviews of the setting, Werewolf: the Apocalypse consistently depicts a good guys vs. bad guys dichotomy that is tied to certain issues such as environmentalism, corporate monopoly, and multiculturalism. As such, it (as a setting) has been considered the product line most tied to current political values in the World of Darkness (as opposed the Vampire: The Masquerade, where the characters exist apart from most political issues, and Mage: The Ascension, where rules allow characters to play on any side of the conflict). While arguably not the most countercultural line of products in the World of Darkness, the political relevance and ideological slant of Werewolf has made it subject to judgment (either positively or negatively) as a political symbol in the real world.
It has been noted that Werewolf is considerably anti-intellectual. Science and technology are nearly universally portrayed as being either intrinsically evil or tainted by evil, supposedly related to the spiritual destruction or devastation of Gaia. This leads to situations such as player characters being rewarded for acts of ecotage that include the destruction of valuable research or the killing of scientists.de:Werewolf: The Apocalypse pl:Wilkołak: Apokalipsa pt:Lobisomem, o Apocalipse zh-cn:狼人之末日怒吼