W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

BIRTH OF THE ENDLESS STORMBlack Tooth was a witness to the Fifth GreatMaelstrom. While it may or may not be the causefor Black Tooth’s going berserk almost forty yearslater, it is true that witnessing the Maelstrom hada profound influence on the Simba hero. BlackTooth saw omens and tidings in the Tempestthat opened his mind to new trajectories andunseen forces. It was here that he conceived thevision of his pride, the Endless Storm. Accordingto his own journals, the Fifth Great Maelstromburned the images of his pride-mates into hismind, some of them long before they were born.It would, however, be almost forty years before BlackTooth’s uprising. Some say he was waiting until he hadbuilt the Endless Storm to his satisfaction. The truth isnot that simple. Black Tooth’s animosity for the ChangingBreeds began in the sixties, as the first signs of a newsickness spread throughout the Congo. The terrifyingand mysterious disease, which was beyond his shamanicunderstanding, filled the great warrior with an icy horrorand an impotent rage. Black Tooth viewed Africa asthe cradle of mankind, the most ancient and pure landon Earth — the very womb of Gaia. Yet he could notreconcile the Great Mother’s love with the spirit of thisterrible disease that she had birthed.Black Tooth blamed the Changing Breeds for Gaia’smadness, and her illness. In his eyes, they were responsiblefor the soundness of the Mother, and under theirnegligent care nature had been despoiled and becomedecrepit, throwing the world into a state of chaos. AIDS,now tearing unfettered across the continent, would soonspread to the rest of the world — and the very Kinfolkthe Changing Breeds relied upon would disappear.The terror of the disease and the helplessness he felt leftBlack Tooth off-balance, unsure of how to react. As befitsthe Simba, mightiest of the Bastet, he swiftly decided onviolence. The Ajaba, ancient enemies of the Simba, haddominated Africa for too long. When Black Tooth finallyturned his rage on the Changing Breeds, it was the Hyenasthat bore the brunt of his wrath, and the genocidal rampagethat followed nearly wiped them from existence.Though the Endless Storm committed many atrocitiesin their war, their greatest purge came in 1984, atNgornongoro Crater. Black Tooth trapped the governingbody of the Ajaba and, exploiting their Yava, unleashedthe Endless Storm and annihilated them.Might of the Tyrant SimbaBlack Tooth’s established his control through a numberof alliances: with powerful spirits and the Laibon,vampires of Africa; with the Ratkin of Johannesburgand Pretoria; and with the sangoma, witch doctors andmedicine men to whom his familiars whispered secrets.The mad Simba also possessed great personal power; theTempest swirled in his mind, showing him the patternof nothingness, from which only the worst and mostterrible secrets might be drawn. Black Tooth stared intothis internal Maelstrom, and it gave him insight to manydreadful forms of power.With his great charisma and his legendary warriorstatus, he won over many allies who should have distrustedhim. With his fierce claws and mountainous thews, hecrushed his enemies and bent them to his purposes. Whenthe great Ajaba purge began, Black Tooth could be seenin the dust and ash of volcanic skies, his leonine visageseeming to scan the veldt for those who had escaped hisclaws, his profile rising in storm clouds, his roar in everypeal of thunder.It was known that Black Tooth, in his time as a hero,had vanquished four great Banes. When he stood inascendance over the vanquished Ajaba — announcinghis victory after the 1984 holocaust — those Banes werein attendance. Whenever Black Tooth took his Crinosform, he wore two of the vanquished Banes tied into hisbeard, hanging below his fangs; another two were tiedinto his mane, rising above him like aborted bodhisattvasfrom the womb of a dragon.These Banes were a source of Black Tooth’s power andhis enemies’ fear. From their whispers, Black Tooth learnedfar more necromancy. When these magics did not suffice,he could tap their might directly to add to his own. Moreoften than not, the very threat that Black Tooth mightuntie one of his captives and unleash it was enough tomake the disorganized Changing Breeds flee — right intothe Endless Storm’s trap. In this way, Black Tooth preyedupon the Changing Breeds’ unwillingness to work together.With the Banes advising him, Black Tooth drewobeisance from the ghosts of tribal ancestors, and throughthem he gained the cooperation of many villages andtheir local spirits in unearthing caerns and unseatingthe Kinfolk of his enemies. Black Tooth also used theghosts to subjugate a number of the Guruhi, lords of theAfrican vampires, threatening to uncover their dens andexpose the Masquerade. Through his vampire allies, hegained access to networks and infrastructure that hadbeen beyond his means. He used them to contact theRatkin, whom he paid as attack dogs, bolstering hisforces against the numerous Changing Breeds that wererealizing all too late what a problem he was.APPENDIX ONE: THE AHADI253