W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

venom — a belief that has spread to some non-AustralianNagah who journey to the country to breed. This has ledto a strong presence of wereserpent Kinfolk in Australia,both in the teeming snake populations and the humanswhose dwellings fall within the snakes’ hunting grounds.The Gumagan Mokolé have been a part of Australiafor as long as any can remember, and intend to be longafter the humans have gone and the current age turnsinto the next. They protect their territories using the oldways of tooth and claw. Humans know that to come closeto swamps or water in the Australian tropics is to invitecrocodile attack. Despite this, the continuing press of humanand werewolf into their territories is forcing the Mokolé tointeract with humans. The dragons work with the manyindigenous Australians who regard the parks and open areasas acceptable gathering and living areas for their traditionaltribal groups, and so far the Garou of Darwin and CentralAustralia haven’t realized how strong the Gumagan are.Western EuropeDespite being home to many tribes of werewolves,Western Europe is not utterly devoid of other ChangingBreeds. Ratkin and Ananasi live among the humansin increasingly-cramped cities, while the ever-presentCorax balance their trade in secrets with their mythicassociations with fate and death. The Ceilican holdancient ties to the British Isles, and a larger-than-averageportion of the fae catshifters make their home there.Over the past 60 years, Western Europe has becomehome to an increasing variety of Changing Breedsimmigrants from nations all across Asia and the MiddleEast, as well as Northern Africa. Some are adults: Ajabarefugees fleeing conflict with the Simba, and ChangingBreeds of all sorts who are pressured by the expansion ofthe eastern shifters. Others are the children of immigrantKinfolk who have been motivated by civil strife andeconomic factors to seek a life for themselves and theiroffspring in the relatively safety and prosperity of theEuropean continent.Some newcomers, especially among the Ratkin andthe Corax, have had little trouble integrating, either bystealth or by providing useful services to those who havelong made Europe their home. Others remain hidden; theGarou are well-established in the area, and not overlyinclined to welcome outsiders.Recently, the Corax spread the word that a fewwerebears had awakened from long hibernations inScandinavia, roused by the declining numbers of theirursine Kin. Although the awakening of local Gurahlbrings hope to the Changing Breeds in Europe whocould well use the additional allies, the werebears feeltheir first duty must be to their own species, to preventthemselves from becoming extinct.Eastern Europe & RussiaParts of Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe remainhighly toxic after spills and nuclear “accidents” many yearsago. The region around Chernobyl continues to swarmwith banes, and some of the most violent Garou in theNation control the region. Because of this, the Fera wholive in Eastern Europe and Russia hide themselves evenmore carefully than shapeshifters in other regions. Inmany places, tensions between the Garou and ChangingBreeds break out into open violence, but amidst thisfighting both groups also face far more dangerous foes.Russia and portions of Eastern Europe have become ahaven for the Pentex subsidiaries and other agents ofthe Wyrm that have been driven out of Western Europe.In 1990, a vastly powerful Wyrm-creature emergedin the wilds of Russia, styling itself after Baba Yaga offolklore. Soon after its appearance, a mystical ShadowCurtain cut off most of Russia from the outside world —spirits and shapeshifters could enter, but were unable toleave. The barrier finally collapsed in 1998, and manyamong the Changing Breeds travelled to discover whathad happened. The local Garou, weakened from fightingthe Wyrm-creature’s minions, had to fight off swarms ofemboldened Ratkin who sought to take advantage of thesituation. A few werewolves of the area — those who letthe Wyrm thrive by their inaction but survived the result— fell prey to the Nagah. Even some of the nominallyimpartial Corax took sides against the werewolves andChanging Breeds who worked with Baba Yaga — andthose who did not do enough to stop her.With the Russian werewolves and Changing Breedsembroiled in a vicious war, this left Russia wide open forinvasion by other agents of the Wyrm — who respondedto the opportunity by arriving in great numbers. Thoughthe fighting has since died down, the Changing Breedsface a deadly threat from both banes spawned out ofthe toxic chemicals around mining towns, and mutatedfomori empowered by the high levels of radiation insome regions.For the past decade, Ratkin have murdered theirway to the top of several of the larger Russian criminalsyndicates, as well as some of the bandit gangs that patrolSiberia. There, they use their underworld connectionsto help them strike at agents of the Wyrm, to weakenthe governments in the region, and to sow chaos byattacking the area’s aging infrastructure. Most otherEastern European shapeshifters consider these Ratkinto be dangerous terrorists who are almost as much of athreat as the banes and fomori.The one glimmer of hope in this grim region is thatRussia was traditionally home to many of the Gurahl’sgreatest warriors and heroes. According to legend, aCHAPTER ONE: THE CHANGING WORLD 33