W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

POWER OF THE ENDLESS STORMBlack Tooth saw the formation of his pridewritten in the entropic rush of the Tempest. Notonly did he see the form and face of those hewould recruit, but the Maelstrom showed himthe talents his soldiers would harbor. For theduration of his life, the Simba would seek notonly the future members of his unformed pride,but the fetishes and spirit pacts they would needto bring out their fullest potential.In each member of the Endless Storm, theAhadi would find a supreme combatant — tacticianshoned by two lifetimes of experience — thatof their own, and that which the Tyrant Simbahad gathered for them. These warriors, formed inthe mind of one of the mightiest Simba heroes,empowered by the wisdom and foreknowledgeof ancient spirits and their pride-king, wouldprove some of the most dangerous enemies inall of Africa.while men continued to kill men, drought and faminedid the work of the Ratkin, and AIDS burned in theblood of the people who drew forth the Wyrm in theiragony. Truly, this was Black Tooth’s Africa.The young Ajaba named Kisasi was born into thesetimes. She did not know them to be darker than anyother. All she knew was that her kind were rare, killedor driven out of their home. She also knew that Gaiahad given her a duty — a culler of the weak — and adiseased tyrant who culled the strong to keep powerimpeded that duty.When she looked at the world around her, she sawthe working of the Wyrm. Kisasi knew, as a matter ofinstinct, that someone must defeat Black Tooth. It was notthat she couldn’t sympathize with Black Tooth. Indeed,upon hearing the tale of the great Simba’s motivation,she agreed with his concerns. However, looking past themurder of the Ajaba, she saw that Africa was bleedingfrom many wounds. Banes of pestilence, disease andfamine built new miseries in the souls of man and beast.The Ajaba whose role it was to cleanse such sicknesseswere gone. That was Black Tooth’s sin. To save her land,she must see him gone.But the Ajaba were gone. Kisasi needed allies. Forthat, she looked to other Changing Breeds.She called to the Mokolé, but they snapped andhissed at her. She pursued the Swara but they fled herapproach, whispering remonstrations as they went. Allknew that Black Tooth had marked the Ajaba for death.None wanted to be seen with her.It was only as she arranged the stones of a shatteredAjaba caern, in an attempt to feel closer to the slainmother she barely remembered, that a watching Bagheerafelt pity. She wanted to make the kill swift and painless, butshe was stayed by Kisasi’s quiet voice whispering comfortsinto the night. Kiva, the old wereleopard, crept close.The moonlight revealed Kisasi wrapped protectivelyaround a lion cub, whose pride had been slaughtered byhumans. When Kiva finally made herself known, shecame as a listener. She would leave as an ally.“I have seen you approach the spirits, whom haveturned away from you in fear of Black Tooth. I havewatched you ask the Breeds for help and they haveshunned you. What is it that you seek, that makes youso courageous?”“Only peace.”“Well, you shall be courageous forever.”Thus the old Bagheera bade Kisasi to share her plans.Kisasi’s words were the kind that made so muchsense they would be greeted as madness. She spoke ofher dream — the ranks of the Changing Breeds lockedin a cycle of interlinking tasks, bound by duty to theMother and to each other, never again divided. Eachwould respect the task of the other. It was her convictionthat only such a pure, empathetic binding could breakthe dark power of Black Tooth.What she asked seemed absurd in some ways, naïveand idealistic in many respects. But the old Bagheeraknew her words to be true. She vowed to shepherd Kisasion her quest to realize this dream.They went first to the Makunguru, the AfricanCorax, who heard the plan of Kisasi, and saw moresense in it than good. For them, it was a chance to be asthey ever were, interlopers and mediators and callerson-the-wind.Now the fate of the world would rest ontheir wings. Most of the Makunguru who heard the talejoined Kisasi’s crusade.Benefitting from a long-established relationship ofexchange between the Corax and Mokolé, Kisasi gainedaudience with the weresaurians. While many rankled atthe prospect of acting outside their remit, a few — mostlythe inquisitive, adventurous young — who understoodnecessity in Kisasi’s idea. They saw potential to guide herand ensure the Mokolé habitations remained sacred andtheir own — perhaps out of fear of the greater destructionthat would come of a war with their own kind ratherthan the Endless Storm.APPENDIX ONE: THE AHADI255