W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

Both to accommodate the Umbral Dansers and toensure the Breed’s privacy, Festival is held in one of thewerecoyotes’ most carefully hidden Penumbral hideyholes,and the Nuwisha keep the gathering’s exact timeand location secret from everyone outside of the Breed.Working together, the werecoyotes chase away outsiderswho attempt to spy on the Festival, and hunt down andkill anyone who tries to infiltrate it.The first portion of the Festival is a time for news andplanning. Werecoyotes share any dangers or wonders theyhave discovered, ask for help with schemes and tricks,and tell stories of events that other Nuwisha might careabout. Once the tales have been told, the bulk of theFestival is a joyous and drunken celebration. The Festival’srules prohibit Nuwisha from harming one another,and for the duration werecoyotes suspend any feuds orgrudges they may have with their own kind. Instead, itis a time for coming together as a Breed and as a giant,rowdy, bawdy, boastful, and entirely irreverent family.Hiding in Plain SightThe Nuwisha are by far the most similar to the Garouof any of the Changing Breeds. Many Nuwisha use theirphysical resemblance to small, scrawny werewolves to passthemselves off as Garou — a trick that puts them in theright place to educate both the Garou and their enemies.Nothing says “education” like five pissed-off werewolvestearing some sap limb from limb. Sure, the victim won’t feelthe benefit of the lesson for long, but his friends might learnas they wonder how they can avoid the same grisly fate.When they infiltrate Garou packs, werecoyotes canoften pass as Ragabash, though with a particularly cruel andunusual sense of humor. Only a werewolf who is exceedinglyfamiliar with the Nuwisha can tell the difference without usingsupernatural means. Most Nuwisha can’t endure the Garouhierarchy and insistence on social structure for very long, butfor as long as they can put up with the werewolves’ attitude,masquerading Nuwisha attend moots, befriend Garou, learnsecrets, and occasionally lend their aid, all while maintainingcover as scrawny werewolves. In addition to the practical valueof these interactions, many werecoyotes enjoy this deceptionsimply for the thrill of putting one over on the foolish Garou.The Umbral DansersNobody knows exactly how many Nuwisha exist today.The only chance to take a census would be at a Festival,and that event is far too chaotic for anyone to perform aheadcount. Because of ancient pacts sworn to spirits andCoyote himself at the end of the War of Rage, only a hundredwerecoyotes can be on Earth at any one time. Thus, the vastmajority of the Breed dwell in the Umbra. A werecoyotein the Umbra can only return to the physical world whenless than one hundred other Nuwisha are currently there.Those Nuwisha who live permanently in the spiritworld have performed the Rite of Dansing to becomeUmbral Dansers. The Umbral Dansers care for and studythe Umbra, can learn a variety of special Gifts that allowthem to better understand and manipulate the spirit realm,as well as having the ability to communicate with otherwerecoyotes even through the Gauntlet. Umbral Dansersdo not share these Gifts with Nuwisha who haven’tperformed the Rite of Dansing. Some keep their secretsbecause they don’t believe that werecoyotes are worthyof Danser secrets before performing the Rite themselves.Others simply believe that the secrets of the Umbra are forthe Umbral Dansers alone. Let the Nuwisha on Earth focustheir attention there and leave the Umbra to the Dansers.Umbral Dansers hold the fragile and often contentiousfabric of Nuwisha society (such as it is) together, relayinginformation and requests for help between werecoyotes.They also guide those they approve of to useful places inthe Umbra, while leading agents of the Wyrm astray andconcealing powerful or sacred places within the spirit worldfrom those who would do them harm. Like all Nuwisha, theUmbral Dansers fight with cunning and guile rather thanbrute force, but they are first and foremost the guardiansof the Umbra and will do whatever it takes to protect it.Self-Centered HeroesNuwisha have nothing against working with others, butthe vast majority of werecoyotes won’t put the good of thegroup before their own needs. In fact, the entire concept isalien to them. Instead, every Nuwisha has his own agendaand goals, reflected in his personal totem — the aspect ofCoyote that he chooses to exemplify. This doesn’t mean thatNuwisha aren’t willing to risk death or even sacrifice theirlife for something they believe in, but they’ll only do so if itis their choice, not because someone else asked or orderedthem to. Many Garou say the Nuwisha have no respectfor authority, and the werecoyotes agree wholeheartedly.Although many coyotes never form packs, even whenthey do, the bonds between members are less strongly tiedthan those of their lupine cousins. Nuwisha relationshipsreflect this, with individual werecoyotes preferring to workand live alone rather than cooperating in a pack. Theirlargely solitary nature, combined with their limited numberon Earth at any given time, means that most Nuwisha aremore likely to spend time with other Changing Breeds oreven Garou as they are with others of their kind. Like theirnatural animal Kin, however, Nuwisha often form strongbonds with particular individuals. Though werecoyotes canwander off on their own for weeks or months, they alwaysreturn to friends and companions. A Nuwisha can vanishfor months then appear at a friend’s door ready to party,restart a shared project, or fight side-by-side as if they hadnever been gone.168CHANGING BREEDS