The Dishonorable Opposition
Posted on
June 18, 2012 by
ethan
10
Right now I’m deeply involved with Chapter Nine: The Enemy. I understand this is something that will have a lot of you particularly interested, what with Black Spiral Dancers, a number of fomori powers rapidly approaching that of the original Freak Legion itself, Banes and other spirits, other supernaturals, and a treatment of Pentex — with a couple of new subsidiaries that carry on the Balefire-soaked parody of our own real-world horrible corporations, no less. Several points of interest here:
Big Ol’ Essence Pools. Drawing from the
Book of the Wyrm, we see Dream Makers running around with Rage 10, Gnosis 10, Willpower 10, and Essence 300. This also indicated the possibility of bringing up the Nexus Crawler to match. Is a Nexus Crawler with 100 Essence far too much of a leap? Is it more of a necessary thing to get the critter up to a proper threat level?
Massive Amounts of Fomori Powers. There’s a bit of a
Freak Legion vibe going on in the back of the book. Yes, there will be completely work-safe powers like “Chameleon Coloration” and “Claws and Fangs.” But there will also be powers like “Dentata Orifice,” “Fiery Discharge” and “Fungal Udder.” Powers like the latter are not actually explicitly sexualized or scatological — a “dentata orifice” might just basically be a mouth in the palm of the fomor’s hand or in his belly — but they can be taken as such. If that strikes you as highly problematic, I’d like to hear about that.
Black Spiral Dancers. Yeah… I know you’re all probably kind of interested in how they’ll turn out. Well, go forth, excerpt!
The Black Spiral Dancers are the only werewolf tribe to have wholly turned to the Wyrm. Some show signs of degeneracy from an early age, acting out through displays of violence and madness. Like some Garou, many have survived childhoods troubled by suffering or abuse. The tribe’s inherited madness and psychopathic tendencies inevitably increase after the trauma of a Black Spiral’s First Change. Once they’ve rejoined their brothers and sisters, most react poorly to the abuse they receive from their Kinfolk and others in the tribe. Their new extended family includes werewolves who (for whatever reason) have abandoned their former tribes, accepting this one. Recruits then corrupt their souls through a blasphemous ritual known as the Rite of the Black Spiral: an initiation ceremony that intensifies and fully subjects them to the Wyrm’s corruption. Occulted in darkness, the Black Spiral tribe has remained hidden for millennia, passing on powerful Gifts empowered by the Wyrm and a never-ending hatred for Gaia and other Garou.
Millennia ago, this tribe was known as the White Howlers. These white-furred werewolves were cousins of the Fianna, roaming the lands we now know as Britain and Eastern Europe. In the highlands of Scotland in the first century A.D., they lived among Picts north of Hadrian’s Wall, isolated from the rest of Western civilization. White Howler Kinfolk were known for their unrestrained fury and brutality, as tales of their heathen rituals became the stuff of legend. White Howler cubs proved their worth not only by defeating physical foes, but by going on spiritual journeys into the depths of the underworld. With typical Garou arrogance, they believed they could face the most horrific creatures of the spirit world and return unscathed.
Their greatest arena was a realm known as the Spiral Labyrinth, visited through a perilous journey they referred to as “walking the spiral.” The deeper they descended, the more imperiled their souls became, as they ventured further into the infernal realms of the Wyrm than any other tribe in existence. Spiritual corruption was like a cancer spreading throughout the tribe, as more and more of them abandoned their original tribal totem, the Lion. In the modern age, the tribal totem has long been abandoned, as the White Howlers’ legacy was ultimately corrupted by the Wyrm. Before the fall of the Roman Empire, the last White Howlers were dragged down into the Spiral Labyrinth after a valiant last stand at the infamous Sept of the Mile-Deep Loch.
Today, the tribe’s name comes from the labyrinth that ultimately destroyed the now-extinct White Howler tribe, replacing them with fanatics known as the Black Spiral Dancers. Rituals of “walking the Black Spiral” are still used to initiate cubs and wayward Garou into the tribe. Degenerating into this downward spiral is a soul-scarring journey, as it is still hidden in the depths of the Wyrm realm called Malfeas. Each petitioner must betray the associates of his former life, forsake his former spiritual beliefs, and most importantly, descend into madness.
Black Spirals possess a wide array of mental disorders, ranging from insidious hidden delusions and phobias to overt and disturbing outbursts of mental illness. Even if a Black Spiral cub is separated from its own kind, the werewolf’s downward spiral into insanity is inevitable. This doesn’t mean Dancers are completely dysfunctional, however; Garou seem to think so because the most self-destructive Black Spirals are used as shock troops against Gaian packs and septs. At their best, relatively functional Spirals are cold and calculating psychopaths capable of infiltrating and subverting human society. The most obvious manifestation of the tribe’s psychosis is an enduring hatred of all Garou, an obsession that defies all reason.
Like Garou, Black Spiral Dancers run in packs and gather in numbers. Just as the Garou have caerns, Black Spiral Dancers thrive in Hives, whether they’re toxic hellholes no one would dare approach or subterranean tunnels hidden from vigilant enemies. The tribe has its own camps, rituals, and moots, many of which are dedicated to the three hydra heads of the Triatic Wyrm and its many subservient Urges. Public ordeals of victimization and orgiastic rites are common. Despite this, a Black Spiral pack can choose to remain isolated from the rest of the tribe almost anywhere, as long as they faithfully obey the whispered commands of the Wyrm.
Metis Garou are common in Black Spiral packs. Some are recruited from those who resent their second-class status in the Garou Nation; others are born into a tribe that willingly breeds metis to bolster their numbers. Black Spiral reproductive rights allow absolute freedom. The tribe’s orgiastic practices are perverse and frequent: outbreeding enemies is a biological imperative. The Black Spirals easily outnumber any of the Thirteen Tribes of the Garou Nation. Metis deformities, like other deformities, are proudly displayed.
Appearance: Modern Black Spirals are a mockery of modern werewolves. Most possess minor mutations and other forms of disfigurement that hint at their corruption. This might due to pollution, corruption, or radioactivity near their place of birth. In Crinos form, Black Spirals are frequently afflicted in some way: their skulls may be malformed or their jaws might slaver. A Dancer’s eyes typically burn an unnatural shade of red or green. Their fur is filthy, gnarled, or patchy; the most common shades are dirty black or sickly greenish brown pelts. Garou recruited from other tribes appear as corrupted versions of their former brothers and sisters. Many Spirals are deformed in some way, since nearly half the tribe is metis. A few exceptionally rare and exotic Black Spirals have the pure white fur of their White Howler ancestors.
Kinfolk & Territory:Black Spiral Kinfolk aren’t the most stable individuals. Sanity isn’t their strong suit, and emotional stability is a struggle. Most are used to conditions of financial adversity and questionable hygiene, supporting themselves through marginal jobs and living in squalor. For reasons they never fully understand, they are inexorably drawn to the Wyrm’s corruption. This may result in a lifestyle “improved” by a variety of spiritually harmful products created by Pentex and its many subsidiaries. To keep an eye on these relations, some Black Spirals manage to secure work for them in those same corrupt companies. There’s certainly no guarantee of employment, however. Some Kinfolk stray into what may seem like perfectly ordinary homes and lifestyles; that makes the moment when their dysfunctional tendencies finally manifest far more shocking than they would normally appear.
Black Spiral Dancers have relatively few lupus for a tribe their size; they rely more on breeding metis. Their wolf Kin live miserable lives in captivity, kept in small preserves at best and in the depths of Hives at worst.
Tribal Totem:Most Black Spiral Dancers serve the tribal totem of Whipporwill, a spirit of ill luck and ruin. In addition to their eerie wolf calls, Black Spirals can emulate the bird of the same name.
Initial Willpower:3
Background Restrictions:Almost any Garou Background is allowed, although they tend to manifest in more sinister ways. However, no Black Spiral can take the Pure Breed Background unless he takes all five dots, representing a throwback to the original White Howler bloodline.
Derangement:The Black Spiral breaks the minds of those who dance it. Each Black Spiral Dancer has at least one overt or covert form of insanity. (One optional way to represent this is by choosing a Derangement from another White Wolf sourcebook.)
Beginning Gifts:Bane Protector, Resist Pain, Resist Toxin, Sense Wyrm, Shroud
Quote: You’ll understand. Once you pass through the gates, your senses will be opened. You’ll smell the reek of the rotting wounds, hear the voices under the skin of the earth. You’ll see the truth about the world when the illusion is torn away. Come and dance with us. You’ll understand.
