Rage Across Colorado: June 2014

Finding yourself limited to the Hidden Glade and the bawn (the protected territory around the caern, or in this case, the future caern.), you find that you crave news of the outside world. You're told that you're part of a bigger war to save Gaia, but it sure feels like you're being held prisoner. Noticing this, the elders send Jeremiah Shepherd, the Silent Strider Theurge known as "Spiritstorm", (one of the five members of the Goat Getters, the pack you heroically saved from ending up as Magadon drug-induced turnips), to speak with you. Being a young cliath, you find yourself able to relate to him better, as he understands what you are going through, and is closer to you in age and experience.

"Hey, friends. Sorry if we've been a bit distant. We've been undergoing some rituals to prepare for a quest the elders have asked us to go on. Seems like they want to establish some ties with the septs in Washington. Anyways, I wanted to spread some news I've heard through my chain of contacts. Remember, we Garou are scattered all over the world. We don't get much time for rest, and spend most of our time working towards saving Gaia. Ever since the Night of the Red Star, things have been more chaotic then at any point in our history. I guess this day in age, things happen much faster than in the past.

As you're very much aware, the urge wyrm Foebok made his appearence here, in Colorado Springs of all places. Why this place, I can't possibly imagine. It seems like he's laying low, which has the elders all the more concerned. I've gotten reports that the urge wyrm of power, a being called Mahsstrac sprung up in Russia, Moscow to be exact. That's pretty terrible news, considering how far stretched the Silver Fangs, Wendigo and Stargazers have been. A couple of decades ago, they had a nation wide crisis with this little wyrm demi-god called Baba Yaga. She came pretty damn close to annihilating every Garou within the Russian border. We were just beginning to recover there, and now Mahsstrac has sprung up and according to what we know has his teeth firmly embedded in Putin. The military movements of Russia into Ukraine are motivated by the urge wyrm's desire to gain more and more power, and it doesn't look like any amount of U.S. diplomacy is going to persuade Russia to slow down their expansion.

We've also confirmed that Angu, the urge wyrm of cruelty has created some sort of mortal host for itself in one of the Chinese military generals. It seems that they're breeding fomori at an alarming rate by ordering troops into military prisons, and giving orders to commit heinous acts on the already brutalized prisoners. Forcing people to torture, mutilate, and beat already defenseless and broken people opens them right up for possession by banes. Garou don't make for good choices when it comes to rescuing scarred humans, what with the delirium and all. Those victims who happen to spot us in our war form as we fight to rescue them usually have the last shred of sanity stripped from them. And those that don't, are so affected by the curse, that they can't remain in our care, and are too hurt to take care of themselves. It's a shitty situation, and not one that has a good answer.

We've spotted signs of other urge wyrms appearing, but most of them seem to be laying low for the time being. Probably gathering power, and building a following. Hopefully we can hunt them down before they pose a real threat.

It's not all bad news though, I've caught wind that the sept at the Single Star caern outside of San Antonio uncovered a cache of sixteen completely unique fetishes, one belonging to each tribe. The sept is composed primarily of Uktena and Children of Gaia with a few Silent Striders, all of whom are pretty young and more optimistic than most Garou. They had developed a hope that this was some sort of sign that the lost tribes might return, I think. However, despite their best efforts, the fetishes are spiritually dead, one and all. It seems that each fetish is destined to be used against some sort of wyrm enemy that has yet to reveal itself to the Garou nation. Any further details are shrouded in mystery, most likely to keep our enemies from trying to intercept the fetishes." Jeremiah pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath, and looks at you with a sideways glance. "One thing that doesn't seem to be getting discussed is the possibility that an item of similar power may have been revealed to the Black Spirals. They are, like it or not, a legitimate tribe. It's something I'm hoping to catch wind of before it's too late.

As you learned for yourself and reported to us, it does indeed seem like all the spirit world's wolf spirits have upped and disappeared. Any fetishes that had wolf spirits bound in to them are now empty. Normally this would be very alarming, but all the information we've gathered indicates that the spirits have been called into the far umbra by Gaia. If only we knew for what purpose. The Get haven't been affected, but then again, Fenrir has always been more of a war spirit that takes wolf shape. Personally, I was hoping the Red Talons might have some insights. I know their tribal totem, Griffon, has within it's brood a wolf spirit...of sorts. But good luck getting anything useful out of them. Their lips only open if it's to issue a threat about tearing your throat out. They really need to lighten up a little bit.

There have been a couple of major victories for our side too. The Bone Gnawers and Children of Gaia in Louisiana managed to overthrow the Leechwater Hive somewhere in one of their unmapped bayous. They had some losses, but the Spirals suffered a lot more. They didn't have the ability or manpower to try and convert it to a caern, so they tore the damn place apart, and killed every wyrm spirit they could lay claw to.

And the Glasswalker's and Silver Fangs of Unbreakable Hearth led a brilliantly organized assault on Pentex banking interests in Geneva, Switzerland. Apparently, the Glasswalkers tore down the computer and security defenses of the banks and coordinated on social media sites with Swiss criminals and hackers. They directed the hackers to the weak points in the security systems, and looters and rioters into the weak points of some of the actual banks. In all the chaos, they uploaded all manner of viruses into the Pentex systems destroying all sorts of financial data, and directed their ground troops and Silver Fang forces into the hot spots that weren't having humans directed at them. Pentex swooped in, and the huamns scattered of course. The Glasswalkers and Fangs were entrenched pretty heavily in the other banks, destroying fomori and physical assets. Pentex thought they had them trapped, and as they moved in, the secret Fianna forces on loan from the Silver Tara caern in Ireland hit them from behind. Poor, stupid bastards never had a chance. A really brilliant set up that worked out great. I've heard the names of a Glasswalker Galliard named Sven "Cards Down, Guns Up" and a Silverfang Ahroun named Amodeus "Rage-of-The-Heavens" were the pack leaders responsible for the coordination. I bet we'll be hearing a lot about them in the coming weeks.

And lots of weird rumors coming out of the Amazon. The Fenrir have been leading the war efforts there for almost twenty-five years now. Hundreds of Garou have died their, but thanks to the Ahroun Golgol "Fangs-First", those lives were not in vain. For awhile there, things were looking rough. Golgol got down there, and found the Fera (the term that encompasses all shapechangers, but most commonly used by Garou to speak of other shapechangers) not working together at all. Pentex faced little to no resistance from the lone Bastest who opposed them, and they easily massacred hundreds of acres of rain forest a week. Golgol's presence into their lands infuriated them so much, that the cat changers started banding together just to try and chase out the packs under his command. Then Golgol discovered that the Mokole, those are...uhh...I suppose we should call them were-dinosaurs for the lack of a better word, weren't long-dead from the War of Rage like we believed, they had just been sleeping and biding their time. Well, the scent of Garou certainly woke them up.As if pissed of Bastet prides and rampaging dinosaurs and wyrm-corrupted corporations wasn't enough to worry about, the strange and creepy Ananasi, werespiders, began abducting Garou who strayed too far from their packs. Things were grim to say the least, so Golgol did something uncharacteristically like the Get. He called for a truce, offering to meet any of the Bastet face to face, by himself, if only they would offer him five minutes to speak. While we'll never know exactly what was said in those five minutes, we do know that a dozen or more Bastet showed up, each ready to drive a spear into Golgol's body. Golgol swallowed his pride, and sincerely apologized for barging his way uninvited into territory that wasn't his, without so much as even a howl of introduction. He admitted that pride and vainglory had led him to the Amazon, but that he also had a desire to fight for Gaia. His speech did not exactly win over the Bastet, but they agreed to call off the hunt on the packs under his command, so long as they claimed no territory in the Amazon for themselves. They also agreed to speak to the Mokole and Ananasi on his behalf. So, from a distance, the watched as Golgol, now with only one enemy in sight, led the packs against Pentex, and scored victory after victory. Although they would be loathe to admit it, they developed a respect for the Get's battle prowess. And so, over the course of the last 14 years or so, Golgol has been the general overseeing all the battles that take place. The Mokole, Ananasi and Bastet alike all follow his direction, although you'll never hear him claim leadership over them. He's smart enough not to argue semantics. Oh, damn, sorry to get caught up in the history lesson. I said all of that to say, that it looks like the Amazon can be declared a victory for us. Pentex has decided it's too costly to keep fighting to hold the land.The forests are beginning to grow back, and the land is healing. The rumor is that as the land grows more and more fertile, something powerful is stirring deep in the heart of the Amazon. Golgol and his troops are keeping quiet until they know for sure what they're dealing with, but they're certain it's Gaian in nature.

Well, friends, that's really all I've heard lately. It's good that we're getting some up-lifting news for once. There was a stretch there where it seemed like nothing was going well for the Garou. We were suffering heavy casualties every day and had nothing to show for it. Maybe things are finally turning around. Keep your ears up, and let me know if you hear about something I haven't."

Rage Across Colorado

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A chat with Jeremiah

Popstar Visits Colorado Springs

Murder in Rushing Brook Community

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