W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

courts there. Any cooperation between West and Eastis likely to be short-lived, however, as the local Ratkinhave no interest in losing their autonomy, nor do theAjaba refugees holed up there desire to end up undersomeone else’s control again.AustraliaAustralia is a land of diverse extremes with a tropicalnorth and arid center that do not have much by wayof human settlements. Most of the human populationresides in the temperate southern coastal regions. Thesewide zones allow the Fera to concentrate on their owninterests — and Australia’s isolation has given rise tostrange native fauna only superficially similar to thoseelsewhere in the world.The Ananasi, Mokolé, and Nagah have a long historyin the country, and the savage Rokea roam the seasaround the island continent. Australia offers no suitableanimal Kinfolk for many other Changing Breeds, andthe rare few who travelled to the continent soon left.Australia’s isolation meant that the War of Rage neverreached its shores. Some Fera fled south to escape the fighting.The Camazotz were the first newcomers to arrive, spreadingstories of the horrors committed by the Garou. After untoldyears the werebats heard whispers of the Garou’s comingand warned the other Breeds. Soon after, the first of thewerewolves who would become the Bunyip crossed the seasand settled in the northern lands of the new continent. TheMokolé watched them and the werebats made sure everyoneknew where they were, but separation couldn’t last forever.Werewolf met Fera in a way that would both save the Bunyipand doom them to extinction.The Bunyip assimilated with the indigenous Australiansbut without any source of wolf blood they knewthat they would die out after only a few generations. Itwas the Camazotz who heard the wolves howling theirsorrow into the night and took pity on them. The batsbrokered a peace between the Bunyip and AustralianFera. The Mokolé would share Dreamtime secrets withthe Bunyip, and in return and the Garou would protectthe land and become able to mate with the native thylacines.Gaia’s harmony was restored between the Breeds.Despite the peace, the Fera still believed that theBunyip would fade and cease to be a concern. The Bunyipadapted to Australia better than the other shapeshiftersexpected, but their numbers remained too sparse toeffectively control the human population. Over time,native Nagah found that they had a lot of commonground with the mystics of the wolf. After all, they hadthe patronage of the Rainbow Serpent, cousin to theWani. In a move that would see them ostracized fromother Nagah, the Australian wereserpents revealed theirexistence to the Bunyip.Many Ananasi were dissatisfied with the Garou’sslow decline, and manipulated the human tribes to feelthreatened by the Bunyip’s thylacine Kin. The humanpopulations hunted the Bunyip’s breeding stock to nearextinction, until the only remaining viable populationwas on the southern island that would become Tasmania.The mainland Bunyip guarded the few remaining thylacinesbut the population was too small to be viable. Eventhen, the Bunyip survived — tolerated if not acceptedby the Australian Fera.When the Shadow Lords slaughtered the SouthAmerican Camazotz a madness took hold of Bat. Thissoon infected the last remaining Camazotz colony inAustralia, making them paranoid and isolationist. Theyconfronted the Bunyip on what had occurred but thewerewolves had no answers. In confused revenge, themessengers withheld vital information from the AustralianGarou. Most importantly, they did not inform theBunyip of the coming of more werewolves to Australia.When European settlers brought other Garou, thenative Changing Breeds were taken by surprise. Suddenlythe Fera had more to contend with than theirpeace treaties with a dying tribe. The War of Tears sweptthrough the Bunyip like a storm. To their credit, theBunyip didn’t drag the Fera into their conflict with theforeign Garou — the werethylacines died with honorand glory to the last.With the Bunyip gone, the Garou settlers searchedfor other targets for their Rage. The spirits of Australiawere hostile to the invaders and did what they could tokeep the Fera hidden. The Camazotz disappeared and noteven their allies knew where. The Nagah felt sorrow andanger at the passing of their Bunyip allies, but saw theirfall as an object lesson in why they must remain hidden.The Rokea kept to the waters, daring those Garou whoventured into the sea to fight the weresharks. Werewolveslearned of Mokolé in the inhospitable deserts and tropicalswamps, but the Garou had neither the will nor theendurance to launch an attack. Meanwhile, the Ratkinand Corax arrived, hidden on the colonists’ ships. Theyspread quickly across the land, moving along with thehuman settlements and then exploring beyond.The Ananasi dispersed into the bushlands to wait.Here they found the price of betraying the Bunyip — anew and implacable foe. Something slaughtered dozensof werespiders, traps and webs caught nothing, and thebodies of the hunters were dumped in former BunyipCaerns. The Ananasi learned a name for their nemesisfrom Aboriginal tribes — Yahwie, a protean monsterfrom the Dreaming. Some Ananasi claimed to havetrapped and killed the horror but each time it rose againto hunt. Some werespiders fled to other countries, buttheir mutilated corpses were discovered in the Bunyip’sCHAPTER ONE: THE CHANGING WORLD 31