W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

Chapter Four:The Lost BreedsHistory has been hard on the Changing Breeds. Theshapeshifters alive today do not fully represent the greatdiversity of those Gaia has created throughout history.Several Breeds have lost tribal lines, like the Bastet’sKhara, and the Okuma of the Gurahl. In other cases,entire Breeds of shapechangers have been driven out ofexistence. The Apis, Camazotz, and Grondr all becameextinct hundreds or thousands of years ago, and their lossis mourned to this day by Gaia’s remaining descendents.Some still hope against hope that the fates of theseLost Breeds are not as final as they seem to be. MostChanging Breeds believe the Nagah to be extinct aswell, after all. Shapeshifters who discover the weresnakes’continued existence may hold hope for the other LostBreeds as well.ExtinctionA Changing Breed can become extinct through avariety of causes. Some shapeshifting lines fell prey tothe Garou — slaughtered outright, or reduced to so fewnumbers that their Breed dwindled out. Both during andafter the War of Rage, the Garou have accomplishedwhat the Wyrm has not: killing off entire lines of theirMother’s other shifting offspring. The macabre ironyof this “achievement” rankles to this day among thewerewolves and those shapeshifters who attempt to workwith them in Gaia’s service.But the Garou are not responsible for all of the LostBreeds. Some suffered a subtler — but no less certain— demise, when their wild animal Kin met their end.CHAPTER FOUR: THE LOST BREEDS227