W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

the herd, and we know that what survives grows onlystronger in response.Denied our lands, we have scattered to the fourcorners of the earth and claimed each shadow as ourown. Denied our Kin, we plant our seed where we may,breeding new clans to replace the ones so mercilesslytaken from us. Denied our duty, we fulfill the role ofrainmakers for all, bringing down those who are tooweak, too foolish, too vulnerable to survive the teeththat-bite-and-never-let-go.We will endure. We will survive. And in time, wewill regain what has been taken from us. We will rebuildour families, reclaim our lands, return to our natural placein the order of things.And when that day comes, the cats will yowl formercy and find it denied them. They will run, but fromthe shadows we will hunt them down. And their Kin willmourn over their thrice-wretched bodies as we call forththe rains over the plains of Africa once more.AJABA LEXICONAhadi: A proto-truce organization being spearheadedby Kisasi for the purposes of endingovert hostilities between the Ajaba and theother Changing Breeds of Africa.Aktu: Pack leader, usually female.Anthros: The bipedal hybrid form; more humanthan hyena.Clan: A large extended-family unit, includingAjaba and Kinfolk.Crocas: The cave-hyena form; four-legged warform.Hyaenid: The hyena form; also the breed ofAjaba born to a hyena parent.Kisasi: A young Ajaba with Maasai heritagewho is working to create and support peacebetween her people and the rest of the shiftersin Africa.Takuya: Allies, including but not limited toKinfolk.Yava: Supernatural weaknesses. Both Ajaba andBastet possess Yava.OrganizationHistorically, Ajaba society, like that of their hyenaKin, was made up of tightly knit family groups: packs forhyaenid Ajaba, and small, sometimes-nomadic villagesfor homids. These packs consisted of related Ajaba andtheir Kinfolk, and contained anywhere from a half-dozento nearly 100 members. Each of these family groups wasa part of a larger clan, which included the Ajaba-relatedpacks in a particular region, or in the case of homid Ajaba,the members of related tribes in the area.Traditionally, an Ajaba clan had one leader (usuallyfemale), an Aktu, who dictated the group’s behavior.Each clan would include several packs, also traditionallycontrolled by a female warleader. Packs consistedof several additional warriors (Ajaba as well as humanor hyena Kinfolk), scouts, healers, and the like. Thepack would also support lesser members — non-hunterKinfolk tagging along for a meal, children and kits, andnewcomers learning the ropes.Modern NightsThis all came to an end the night the Endless Stormnearly annihilated the Ajaba. Every werehyena capableof making the journey was present in the crater on thatfateful night, and — with a bare double-fistful of exceptions— died there. In order to escape Black Tooth’swrath, those who survived scattered to the four cornersof the earth.Since the night of Black Tooth’s massacre, most Ajabaeither run alone or with a small pack of werehyenas andKinfolk. Denied their traditional lands, these packs havecarved out new niches wherever they can do so withoutdrawing too much attention to themselves.Some slipped into the shadows of Africa’s big cities,building places for themselves among the street gangsand criminal element. Others fled across the sands of theMiddle East and into India, relying on the ever-growingtension between Simba and Bagheera to slow the werelion’spursuit. Some made their way to the Americancontinents, Europe, or Northern Asia; anywhere thatthey can find shadows to hide in — and weaker individualsto prey upon.Once, the Ajaba culled their own. Their sacred dutywas clear, and while many outsiders feared and distrustedthe werehyenas, none could call them hypocritical. Inevery pack and every clan, the strong destroyed the weak,injured, and elderly to ensure the group would surviveand grow strong.In modern nights, however, every Ajaba life is seenas sacred, and every measure is taken to protect the pack.The healthy nurse the injured and sickly. Leaders pun-44CHANGING BREEDS