W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

such reason, forming “imperfect clutches” to venture awayfrom their wallows and sway destiny in their Breed’s favor.The latest generation of Mokolé wants to do more thanwitness and remember history; they want to create it.OrganizationThe Lizard King’s Kin still walk the earth. But don’tbother looking for some Lost World where thunderlizards and T-rexes have survived extinction. That’s amyth distorting the real truth. The Mokolé are lurking,just below the surface, in swamps, seas, and rivers allover the world.StreamsWeresaurians have survived as alligators andcrocodiles, monitor lizards and Gila monsters, gavials,caimans, perenties — and stranger things that furtivelyspawn in the shadowy murk. Too few to form tribes, thesurvivors of this evolutionary pageant have gathered infour major “streams” based around four of the primevalrivers of the world.The Mokolé-mbembe, the Stream of the Fighters,traditionally have stalked the swamps and waterways ofAfrica and the Americas. They are by far the largest ofthe four streams, and as the current End Times approach,their numbers are steadily growing. Decades ago, theMokolé-mbembe were rarely sighted outside the depthsof the Amazon Rainforest. Now, a more diverse varietyof humans have awakened to the Dragon’s Dream, andtheir human and reptilian Kin are growing ever morediverse. The stream’s most common varna are alligatorsand crocodilians (including the American crocodile andNile crocodile), but a few take the shapes of caimans orGila monsters.Australia and Oceania are home to the Gumagan,a stream represented primarily by Aborigines and Melanesians.Known as the Stream of the Forerunners, theyare well-respected by other Mokolé for their insightsinto the spirit world, particularly the Dreamtime. Unlikeother streams, all Gumagan are capable of enteringthe Umbra. They are known for their extensive andprimeval Mnesis: their memories of the earliest days ofthe Earth. Most Gumagan varna are saltwater crocodilesor perentie monitors.The Indian subcontinent serves as the spawninggrounds of the Makara, the Stream of the Folk. Thehuman politics, religion, and mysticism of the Indiansub-continent have heavily influenced this stream. TheMakara consider themselves diplomats to the otherChanging Breeds. Their four auspices are determined bythe seasons, and are further subdivided by the caste systemsof their homelands, to such a great extent that outsidersrarely understand the finer distinctions between them.MOKOLÉMakara varna are typically gavials, mugger crocodiles,and saltwater crocodiles.Working with the other Asian Changing Breeds,the Zhong Lung are known as the Stream of the Philosophers.Although they have inherited the millennialMnesis of countless scholars and teachers, because oftheir association with the Emerald Courts, they have thefewest memories of conflict with other shapechangers.Throughout the Middle Kingdoms of China, Korea, Japan,and Vietnam, they have endured as the stream leastharmed by the Garou. Known for their epic patience,their aspects are measured by the season in which theyare born. Their varna are most often Chinese alligators,saltwater crocodiles, and monitor lizards.WallowsMokolé live much humbler lives than they did millenniaago. Their Dreams speak to them of past eonsof saurian supremacy where their ancestors dwelled inherpetological luxury. But in the modern world, theymaintain modest places where they can hide from thosewho would do them harm, spawning enough hatchlingsto perpetuate their race. These breeding grounds areknown as wallows, homes for the human and reptilianshapes they take.Most wallows evolve in places where humansand reptiles can live side by side without raising overtsuspicion: alligator farms in Florida, ruined temples toforgotten gods in India and along the Nile, riversidefishing communities in China, isolated hot springs inthe Australian outback, and similar locales. Such placesare few and far between; the human dislike of all thingsslithery and scaled is as deeply imprinted and ancientas the saurian’s own Dreams, and many humans lookaskance at those who interact with reptiles on a frequentand voluntary basis.ClutchesWherever intelligent living things gather, communitiesemerge. Weresaurians form small, moderately socialclans called clutches. Two clutches may harbor grudgesand petty rivalries for generations, sometimes warringover misperceived slights, but ultimately, survival istheir chief concern. When two clutches fight, they donot kill each other, but act to injure and shame theirenemies enough to temporarily delay further conflict.This preserves their numbers, but (unfortunately) doeslittle to quell rivalries between clutches.A healthy, functional clutch depends on the relationshipsbetween the different aspects (the weresaurianversion of auspices) of Mokolé society. In the West,a grouping that contains representatives of all sevenaspects is known as a “perfect clutch” — an extremely141