W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

As the Pakistani government is, for the most part, onlyslightly less corrupt and murderous than the bandits, the fewlocal Nagah in the area have their work cut out for them.Some seek to judge those governmental leaders whose vicereaches the furthest and thus claims the highest blood-toll.Others support the government and attempt to kill the mostviolent bandit leaders — the wererat warlords among them.Either way, the Pakistani weresnakes are exceedingly carefulin all of their efforts, because they know that the Ratkinsuspect their presence and are unlikely to ask questionsbefore delivering their own retribution.AfghanistanAcross the border in Afghanistan, a rare alliance ofBastet, Ratkin, and Corax works together in opposition tothe United States’ ongoing control of the country. Fearingthat the American presence is a prelude to increasedmining and industrialization, these shapeshifters attemptto drive off both western troops and the industrialistswho are trying to exploit the area.Several of the Pakistani Ratkin warlords supportthe alliance, making it one of the few places where nonhengeyokaiRatkin openly cooperate with several differentChanging Breeds. Although they don’t know it, a trioof Nagah also assists the allies. This nest of assassins hasalready removed several corporate officials and a few of theAfghani politicians working with them, in judgment for thecrimes against humanity perpetrated in the name of profit.East and Southeast AsiaSeveral Chinese cities and towns number among themost polluted places on the planet. In these regions, fomoriand banes don’t merely thrive; they walk openly, supremelyconfident in their power. Their suffocating presence, alongwith incredibly potent toxins, has forced even the Ratkinto leave the most polluted cities, or else perish against theWyrm’s overwhelming might. In the surrounding area,the Beast Courts battle the growing armies of evil that aredrawn to the pollution like moths to a corrupted flame.JapanThe Beast Courts have had moderate success in theirrecent efforts to reduce pollution and destroy the agentsof the Wyrm throughout Japan. Their efforts, however,were recently severely set back by the 2011 earthquakeand tsunami that devastated much of the country, andthe nuclear accident at Fukushima that followed. Now,the Beast Courts must deal with the banes spawned bythat series of events, the ailing Gaian spirits of the area,the irradiated land and water, and the nearby humansthat the disaster has made easy prey for the Wyrm’smanipulation, before the devastation creates even moreWyrm-tainted spirits.The Beast CourtsMost western shapeshifters know little about therelatively isolated shapeshifters who make up the BeastCourts of Asia. Known to themselves as hengeyokai,they live in communities that include all manner of localChanging Breeds, including the Garou — an arrangementthat baffles and sometimes horrifies western shapeshifters.As contact between East and West increases, immigrantsand visitors from both the Beast Courts and the westernworld have begun learning more about one another.HistoryThe Asian Changing Breeds are physically the sameas their western counterparts, however, their culture andhistory is very different.In the Middle Kingdom, the traditional protectorateof the Beast Courts, Wyrm-tainted creatures called theKuei-Jin tricked the Changing Breeds into what is nowreferred to as the War of Shame. The war wiped out theOkuma, Gurahl who took the form of Asian bears, andbecause of it, the Kumo (Asian werespiders) retreatedfrom the other shapeshifters, eventually giving themselvesover to the Wyrm.The surviving Breeds eventually learned of the Kuei-Jin’s treachery and rallied together against this threat.Since this time, the Changing Breeds have workedtogether. Surprisingly, this arrangement has been quitesuccessful; it is not uncommon for the hengeyokai toeven form packs, or sentai, that include different Breeds.Perhaps even more notably, the normally secretive Nagahactually share information in the Beast Courts of theEmerald Mother, and have been known to join sentaiwith other shapeshifters.To outsiders, the politics of the Beast Courts canappear slow and hobbled with layers of ancient tradition.In truth, however, the careful formality defuses conflictbetween court members with a measure of elegancenot found in traditional challenges. As a result, mosthengeyokai feel more loyalty to their court than they doto their own Breed of shapeshifter. Individual courts mayfight, and even wage war against one another, but theirstrict rules of behavior ensure that the hengeyokai willnever experience the madness of another War of Shame.Because East and Southeast Asia have been denselypopulated for thousands of years, the hengeyokai live incloser proximity to both their wild Kin and to humanitythan elsewhere. As a result the Beast Courts makesome accommodations for their population density.The hengeyokai have far more in the way of centralorganization than any of the western Changing Breeds,which provides a set of strict rules to help them avoidCHAPTER ONE: THE CHANGING WORLD 35