As you sit against a wall in the grungy old warehouse inhabited by a large number of The Springs' homeless population, reading numerous stories in the newspaper detailing all the bizarre happenings worldwide linked to "The Event" (The nickname for what scientist are calling a "geomagnetic pole shift"), you hear Grandfather Beasly coughing. "Come on, kid. Ain't no use readin' those things. Nothing but bad news whitewashed with hogsnot. I ain't got no idea what the hell has been happened to the world, and the humans got even less of an idea, so don't bother readin' into all their lies and excuses. We got to go get your other friends an' have a lil' pow-wow get-together hootenanny. I may not be able to teach you much about Gaia, or what it means to be a Garou, but I'd like to teach you a few tricks that may just save your life some day." He lets lose a series of hacking coughs that force him to almost double over.
After gathering the five of you up, you find yourself sitting in a small circle on the third floor of the the warehouse. Looking around, you see this floor is mostly empty. The words, "Help not Man for his survival unless it threatens ours. Hurt not man unless he threatens us. Kill not man for food unless we might perish." are painted on the far back wall in large block letters, with the words "FUCK THAT" written over the first two lines. Several mattress with sheets and an assortment of pillows and blanket also dot the room. You've learned that Grandfather Beasly and his pack sleep on the third floor, which non-Garou are not allowed to enter. Grandfather has explained that as creatures of rage, it is important they have a place to come to when they grow too frustrated, so that they don't harm any of their kin or family. You've also learned that the 2nd floor is limited to kinfolk, those who share Garou blood, but haven't been "spiritually blessed" with the ability to shift. They are a motley bunch, a variety of different races and personalities, and a handful of them with a number of mental issues, but none the less quite friendly. All in all, there are about fifty of them, but they come and go throughout the day. The ground floor is left open for other homeless and destitute folks who aren't kin, but have nowhere else to go. You find they're a bit more stand-offish than the kinfolk, and even though they may smile at you, they are quick to move away as you pass.
And so, you find yourself and your four friends sitting in a circle with Grandfather Beasly.
"Alright, cubbies. You get the distinct pleasure of learning a thing or two from this ol' scumdog. Now here's another lesson in Garou society; Nothing comes free. Everything has a price.
Everything. Now, I'm goin' to teach you a couple of small tricks...well, it ain't right to call 'em tricks. They're gifts, gifts from Gaia, traditionally taught to us by spirits, who act as her messengers. Now we in our pack don't have a proper spirit speaker, someone to talk to the spirits for us. So, we tend not to call on them unless we have to, cuz' while Javier can speak to them, he doesn't know all the best ways to flatter 'em properly, and sometimes doing so runs the risk of doin' it wrong and pissin 'em off. So, I'm gonna' teach you each a gift, and later on I'll make proper chiminage, errr...that's the Garou word for bribery, to the spirits on your behalf, in order to sorta' apologize for passin' on this knowledge without their express permission. In return, I expect you to show me respect, not interrupt me when I'm talkin'....which you all seem to have a bad habit of doin', and at the end of it all, say 'thank you, Grandfather'."
"You should know, that I'm gonna' teach you a few things that any of us human born Garou can learn. These are still gifts, but they tap into the human-side of your blood, so they'll feel more like "tricks". There are other types of gifts, some of them you can learn based on what sort of moon you were born under, and those have a more intimate feel, like they come from your soul. From deep inside your very being. It's not easy to put into words, but you'll feel it when you learn one. And then there are gifts you can learn after you've been fully accepted into a tribe. Tapping into them feels like accessing a big ol' library of forbidden secrets.
Now, I can already see the questions building up in those wicked little minds of yours. While in theory, you could learn all sorts of gifts not appropriate to you by breed or auspice, the fact is that such a thing doesn't happen often. The trickster spirits aren't real keen on sharing their secrets with warriors, and the spirits of mysticism don't really want our judges in on their dark magic. Out of all of us in my pack, Javier is the only one who has learned a gift outside of his moon role. We don't have a spirit speaker of our own, and it was important that we learn how to communicate with them. Through much effort, he managed to beg his way into a spirits good graces, and they taught him the language of the spirits. And a word of advice for the future, teaching a member of a different tribe one of your tribal gifts is the quickest way to find yourself lookin' into the eyes of a super-pissed off elder. It's just not somethin' a wise Garou does. Truth be told, it's almost unheard of, and when it does happen, there are major repercussions.
"Ok, now one last thing before we begin. Like I said, these are gifts from Gaia. As such, they are not to be wasted foolishly. These gifts should be used in a way to further the purpose of protecting Gaia. It isn't unheard of for spirits to revoke a gift given, usually without warning. There's an ol' story about a perverse lil' cub who learned a gift that would let him get into places where he weren't spose' to be without bein' seen. Rather than use the gift to find bad guys and kill 'em, he was a'usin it to get into the women's locker rooms and go spying on 'em ti get his jollys. While a spirit might be willin' to overlook this a time or two, after all, most of 'em have a sense of humor, about the fifth or sixth time he done used it for this, the spirit that taught him the gift went an passed word on to one of his packmates about what he was up to. Well, that packmate happened to be what we call a Black Fury, they're a tribe of ultra-feminist, ass-kicking, all-women types. Needless to say, she was not amused, and that cub spent the better part of an entire day regenerating his nuts back, and the next day regrowin' his cock." Grandfather Beasly gives a chuckle, and a shudder at the thought. "So, all that to say, remember that these gifts are to be used for Gaia, not to further your own weird schemes. Alright, let's begin...."
