W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

of like walking can-openers, if you ask me… but folksusually don’t.We get kind of focused — normal folks call itobsessive-compulsive, but we know it’s just paying attention.And we like to move around a lot. Homids likeme get screwed in the flight department but pretty muchhave the rest of the spectrum to play with. [Homid Coraxcannot buy the Hobby Talent: Flight at character creation,other than with freebie points.][Starting Gifts: Enemy Ways, Morse, Open Seal, Persuasion,Spirit Speech, Voice of the Mimic and Word Beyond]TribesTechnically, we don’t have tribes. We’re generalists,built to survive anywhere, under any circumstances.It just doesn’t make any sense to have one batch of uswho can call down Helios and another group that caneat eyeballs to see what a dead man saw, but never thetwain shall meet. Gaia needs us all to be able to do whatwe have to in order to bring back the stories.And besides, we’re all such blabbermouths that noneof us would be able to keep from spilling the beans onour group’s super-secret Gifts or Rites or whatever. Beforeyou know it, we’d all know what the rest knew, anyway.That being said, though, we went intercontinentalback in the days when obsidian arrowheads were hightech.That means that we’ve got our own little set ofsubcultures, if you know what I mean. Here are the bigbreakdowns. There’s a few dozen smaller ones out there,but these are the ones you absolutely need to know ifyou’re going to stay out of trouble.ChasersSo, first off, we’ve got the Chasers — and I mentionthis because you kinda got that feel to you. Chasersare loose murders of young brats like yourself who gettogether to play X-Files. They hang out and dare eachother into poking their beaks into places they really can’thandle on their own — and probably shouldn’t as a groupeither. Sure, it’s fun to go poking after spooky stuff; allkinds of interesting things hiding out in the shadows.Just make sure if you join up with a band of these guys,that at least one of you has the brains to keep an eye onwhere the exits are. Finding a Nest O’ Banes is all hunkydory; deciding to play “Clean Out the Nest” with yourlittle buddies is a one-way ticket to the Great Deep Fryerin the Sky. Don’t be dumb enough to think stumblingonto something interesting means you’re tough enoughto deal with it yourself… That’s what the wolves are for— point-and-click furry missiles of Gaian destruction,and all that.Anyway, running with a trouble-squad can be fun fora while, but most Chaser murders break up after a yearor two. That’s about how long it takes for the membersto realize they cramp each other’s styles, and go off theirseparate ways.LeshyLeshy are from Russia and that neck of the woods.When they’re in homid, most of them are bald — notto mention missing one ear — but they do make prettybirds. They’re tricksters as good as any of us: forest-critterswho keep to the deep woods when they can. Lots of theLeshy are corvid — maybe three out of four? And they’remore paranoid than the rest of us put together, but thatjust makes them really good at spying and watching eachother’s backs.Oh, and once they start talking? Pack a lunch. You’regonna be there a while.Hermetic Order of Swift LightSo, we’re not all fun and games around here. TheHermetic Order is the business arm of the Breed. Basically,they do their Gaia’s-gossip thing for the right price.For decades now, they’ve been working out of the BigApple, where they rent this set of posh offices on MadisonAvenue that could keep the rest of us in bird-feed forthe rest of our lives.The sign on the door says “Helios Overnight Services”,and if you need to get something important delivered— Grand Klaives, corporate blueprints, hostages,you name it — they’re the people to go to. But their bigmoney makers aren’t “things” at all — they’re secrets.Passwords, bleeding-edge code, blackmail fodder, andanything else that someone doesn’t want brought to light?Chances are that HOS has it available — for a price.By tradition, there’s only one actual Corax in theHOS nest, but that’s just a formality. A bunch of the restof us are involved, on a freelance basis, running packages,gathering secrets, scouting on potential clientele, and thelike. And some of those “freelance” positions have prettymuch become full-time, long-term gigs, if the rumors areright. Tradition is tradition, but since communicationtech has gone global, things have really picked up forthe Hermetic Order of Swift Light. Their CEO is ridingthe headwinds of technology at this point, and thereare big things on the horizon for the “company”. Whoknows, maybe a time will come when we’re all workingfor HOS, in one way or another.The Gulls of BattleOn the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got thescrappers. A quick heads up, kid: these guys aren’t weir-96CHANGING BREEDS