The Silver Crusade rapidly expands. In Europe, the Ra- gabash Finds-the-Valley leads twenty septs. His cunning and innovation, along with his packs’ gold and silver weapons, have saved many packs from Corax ambush and Camazotz traps. From the Sea of Wolves into the mountains and plains of India, the Galliard Worthy-of-Luna’s-Love unites disparate septs to strike against the flying Fera. Despite their fragility, the werebats and wereravens develop new tactics and plans at a moment’s notice, putting the other shapeshifters on the back foot. They leave only the Apis and Mokolé alone; as victims of both gold and silver, the Corax and Camazotz
hope to count them as allies. In the end, both Changing Breeds turn away from the conflict entirely.
The young wereraven Shining-in-Shadows tricks the Garou into attacking what they think is a nest of Corax Kin. The werewolves are mistaken — the humans they butcher are family to the Grondr and the Gurahl. When their shape- shifting relatives arrive, it is too late for the Kin but both sides fight with renewed vigor against what they’re certain are traitors in the war. Many werewolves die but Worthy-of- Luna’s-Love survives, the other shapeshifters dead at his feet. Shining-in-Shadows had a contingency in store for him. It took a lot of work to arrange, but a Nagah watches the battle without knowing its true cause. Graceful-Speaker, watching in her Vasuki form, sees only a werewolf gone mad. The next night, Worthy-of-Luna’s-Love dies to the Nagah’s poison. Graceful-Speaker doesn’t realize that when the Garou work out what happened, her actions will have created a martyr.
Though initially a tactic to whittle down more numer- ous foes, the messengers of Gaia don’t yet realize the full consequences of their actions.
In Africa, the Camazotz turn the werewolves against the Bastet. The Ahroun Giant-Jaw’s warriors strike into the land of Black Earth, but they meet their match in prides of Simba flanked by Swara and supported by the magic of the Bubasti and Bagheera. Packs of Ajaba harry the invaders, leading them into traps and ambushes. The Camazotz track stragglers on both sides through the night and the Umbra, assassinating them with silver when they try to flee. The fighting rouses the Mokolé at last, and they bring thunder and flame upon the Garou, ignorant of the werebats’ hand in the war.
War rages between the Changing Breeds across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Some Garou fight alongside other Changing Breeds against the Corax and Camazotz, but far more see all other shape- shifters as a threat. In a generation, everyone knows one reason or another for their war, but few, if any, know that those reasons are the lies of the werebats and wereravens, spread in vicious retaliation to Garou aggression.
As events spiral further out of their control, a few of Gaia’s messengers try to stop the fighting. Their attempt is too little, too late. Whispered-Truth, the young envoy of the Camazotz, stands before the war-leaders of the Garou and Bastet. They don’t believe her explanation, and leave her gutted body to rot in the sun.
Getting Involved
For the first time, humans can significantly injure their would-be gods. Characters can try to prevent the spread of the poison metals, but how long they can keep the secret is another question.
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The Apis call upon allies to assist their crusade. Their early victories rely on the speed of the charge. Shapeshifters open Moon Bridges between caerns to out-maneuver their foes. Characters assisting the Apis charge receive high Re- nown and plentiful rewards. Alternatively the characters could side with the werewolves, warning of the impending attacks or leading counterattacks. This saves many Garou lives, but weakens the Apis greatly
The Corax and Mokolé, equally affected by gold, believe the werewolves will soon turn the poisonous metal against them. Characters of these Breeds may want to broker peace, or to find a place to hide from rampaging werewolves.
Once the Changing Breeds discover the effects of sil- ver, all bets are off. The Garou go looking for anyone and everyone to blame. It doesn’t take long for them to discover that the white metal hurts many other Changing Breeds, and to turn on Gaia’s ears and eyes. The players’ characters could join the werewolves hunting the Corax or Camazotz. It’s not a nice or honorable war — they’re on the receiving end of guerilla tactics with a silver edge. Alternatively, the players may take the role of Corax and Camazotz who have turned from messengers to hunters.
As the lies of the flying Fera take hold, characters could become the first to weaponize the metals — wrapping a simple club or spear in shards of gold, or shaping silver into knives. Soon, they face a new kind of war, one where human and Kinfolk alike can inflict vicious wounds.
Another avenue to explore is how the spirit world reacts to the exile of the Apis. Shapeshifters of all breeds petition Luna and Helios for answers. One wereaurochs returns, maddened, many years later. Characters could mount a rescue, if they can make sense of the poor ramblings of the mindless, raging, Minotaur.
Changing the Outcome
If the characters manage to broker peace between the Apis and the Garou, or between Gaia’s messengers and the other shapeshifters before everything gets out of hand, they may defuse the coming war, preventing the Apis from fleeing into the Umbra. Their actions would leave the Apis alive in the world today — unless some other force causes the wereaurochs’ extinction.
Should the characters let slip the secrets of gold and silver to embittered Kinfolk — or if the characters are those embit- tered Kinfolk — then they have a chance to stand against the shapeshifters at last. Gathering others made orphans by the war, they band together in bitterness and resentment, and lash out at the Changing Breeds. In turn, the Changing Breeds either lash out at the rogue Kinfolk, losing friends, family, and breeding stock, or find new respect for their Kin. Either way forever changes relations between shapeshifters and Kinfolk.
Reconciliation
One hundred generations pass.
The kingdoms of mankind expand and squabble, de- spite the Changing Breeds’ efforts to fulfil the duty of the lost Ratkin. The Bastet and Mokolé still rule the lands of the Nile. To combat the insidious Wyrm-creatures hiding among the people of her land the Simba known only as the Pride-Queen summons Helios himself to help her eradicate them. She enters a killing frenzy for six days as an avatar of the sun-god fights by her side. The Wyrm-beasts die to sunlight, heat, and claw — unfortunately, so do hundreds of Kinfolk. Despite her success, the carnage blights the name of the Simba among the breeds. In their stead, the Bubasti rise in esteem. They have learned much from human magi, and they believe that arcane secrets guard their feline Kin.
Current History
In the hills north of the Inhospitable Sea, the Garou prince Unyielding-Stone rules the Sept of Locked Horns. His years of conquest have been too successful. The Garou no longer have Fera allies against political vampires, southern demons, or the Wyrm-tainted sorcerers in the Caucasus. The Grondr have fled; the land beneath blighted caerns remains poisoned. The Gurahl, too, have retreated; no more do the Garou warriors receive their healing. The were- wolves killed the secretive, infuriating Bastet; no longer do they uncover hidden knowledge. Even the Corax give this land a wide berth. None of Unyielding-Stone’s numerous children have undergone the Change, and he cannot get help from the Apis.
Unyielding-Stone looks upon this state of affairs and feels, for the first time, regret. Seeking counsel, he visits his father Butcher-at-Sunrise in the Sept of the Crescent Moon in the far-off mountains. The old king scoffs, believing such talk sign of weakness.
After a week of arguments and soul-searching, Falcon appears before both werewolves. The totem reveals that Unyielding-Stone’s remorse hides wisdom — all of Gaia’s children must work together to protect Her. Hearing this humbles Butcher-at-Sunrise. He immediately prepares a message for his nephew, Forever-Stands, to cease his wars against the Fera. Unyielding-Stone vows to deliver this admonishment personally.
Rage
The sept of Stone Naming crouches in the hills of the Wolf-lands — a wild and savage domain south of the Sea of Wolves. The people are belligerent and territorial, and For- ever-Stands has been demanding tribute from neighboring human and Fera domains for many years. Such is his power
that envoys make regular diplomatic overtures despite the danger. Legends tell of his raids against the southern cities, and the skulking city vampires despise him.
A pair of Kinfolk find the desecrated body of Unyield- ing-Stone barely a mile from the sept. Such base treachery enrages Forever-Stands. He accuses the Bubasti envoys, Harvest-of-Secrets and Sharp-Point, claiming that their sorcery is responsible for his brother’s death. Sharp-Point dies with his tongue torn out while Harvest-of-Secrets flees the furious Garou, further proving her guilt in their Rage-maddened minds.
Forever-Stands is not a learned king, but his Galliards sing of the bear-folk who can return the dead to life. He takes the corpse to the glade of three Gurahl. Summer- Dreams-of-Life is wise in the ways of Gaia, and proclaims the murder was by the fangs of a wereserpent. If the Nagah judged Unyielding-Stone worthy of death, then it is not the Gurahl’s place to return his life, nor the werewolves’ place to demand it. Forever-Stands declares that the Wyrm must be addling the Gurahl mystic’s mind. He and his pack fall into frenzy. At the end of a bloody fight, Summer-Dreams-of-Life and one of the other Gurahl lie dead, as do five werewolves — including Forever-Stands.
The last Gurahl flees to the camp of a Grondr known as Trample-Bane. He listens to her tale with increasing anger, and upon its conclusion sends forth a summons to all the Grondr and Gurahl that he can reach. At the Caern of Luna’s Love they argue about this unprovoked outrage, and the increasing Garou aggression. After a week, Trample-Bane ends the moot. They will retaliate.
The frenzied herd of wereboar and werebear thunders into an astonished Garou pack deep in the Wolf-lands, killing them all. The pack’s Kinfolk stumble upon the post-battle celebrations. Trample-Bane tears into the hu- mans, knowing success against Gaia’s Warriors requires surprise. The war band ravages the hills for two more weeks before the Garou finally catch them. The battle of Sunset-Stream is vicious and bloody. Neither side claims victory and they name no heroes that day.
Escalation
Garou packs howl of the upstart Changing Breeds. In Western Europe the Garou tribes unite to strike at the Fera and their Kin. The Theurge Wyrmslayer forges the first klaives, fetish swords of bronze and silver. With these blades the werewolves slaughter the Nagah. With torcs of gold the Garou torture the Apis and Corax into betraying the other Changing Breeds.
In central Europe the Garou justify exterminating the Camazotz by comparing them to the hated vampires. The Philodox Screams-of-Foe proclaims the werebats are Wyrm-spawn who birth the Banes that infest the land
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through blood magics, in defiance of Gaia. The cunning Garou tribes ambush and overwhelm the Fera time and again.
In northern Europe the Garou clash with furious might against the enraged Grondr. The Grondr elder Big-Tusk leads thunderous charges into werewolf septs; he earns wary respect from his foes before his death. The Corax plead neutrality — spying and carrying messages for both sides. Their warnings save many Fera, but not enough.
The Garou cleanse the Mediterranean of other shape- shifters with claws, fangs, and trickery. They hunt the Bastet from island to island. They chase the great Mokolé Deadly-Glance through both sides of the Gauntlet for weeks. Finding themselves unable to slay her, they curse her to eternal sleep within a cave surrounded by mounds of gold and silver treasure to ward against her awakening.
Garou warriors rampage through the Middle East, chasing the Fera into the snowcapped mountains. The Apis, Gurahl, and Grondr kill many, but the Garou are faster and uncompromising. In India the Garou suffer for their losses in the mountains. The subtle Nagah assassinate many, but packs dig out any wereserpents they find. Fearing annihilation, the weresnakes fake their breed’s extinction. The Ananasi Slender-Leg weaves the Fera into strategic unity. They divide, entrap, and slaughter the invaders until the Garou withdraw. In Africa the werewolves slam into Ajaba, Bastet, and Mokolé. Many local Garou are so sure of Fera dominance they refuse to help their cousins. The werewolves use Moon Bridges to press into the continent. Forewarned by Camazotz, Corax, and Swara, the Ajaba matriarch Lightning-Cracks-Marrow occupies the destination caerns, setting upon arriving Garou with the bloodcurdling fury of Ajaba packs and Bastet prides. Faced with Fera unity, the werewolf assault falters.
Across the steppes and mountains of central and northern Asia the Garou stalk the Ananasi, Gurahl, and Bastet. The last of the Asian Qualmi are saved by the Co- rax Speaks-No-Lies, who leads them through the Umbra to North America. Unfortunately, the Garou track them through the cold spirit tundra and devour almost all of them before they arrive.
Victory
The Gurahl gift for prophecy saves some, but not all. The Gurahl Grandmother, Rides-the-Avalanche, leads her breed in retreating from the madness. Those who can enter a great hibernation. The Garou butcher those who can’t.
Unwilling to kill the last insane Apis themselves, the Garou capture Star-of-Heaven within a maze. Trapped, he descends into endless rage. The Garou send humans with gold and silver weapons to kill him. Star-of-Heaven kills many hundreds before one emerges victorious.
During the incessant Garou attacks distracting them from their duty as Gaia’s warriors, the wereboars must continue purifying the land — honoring their duty to Gaia, even in the face of oblivion. When one Grondr dies, another consumes him, containing any unpurged Wyrm-things with- in herself until she may perform the proper rituals to burn off the taint. As more die, they devour the fallen faster and have less time for ritual. The spiritual poison accumulates with every feast. The final stand of the Grondr takes place at the Sept of Husks. The battle takes hours, and at the end the last broken Grondr, Bristle-Grows and Oak-Leaper, desperately — pathetically — crawl among the corpses to eat. The Garou slit their throats before they can finish and leave them to rot. Their last thoughts are of survival. Days later the bloated bodies exhale clouds of toxic gasses. The few human witnesses say that two Grondr corpses stood up once again and walked away, their heads rotted to bare skulls.
Garou propaganda turns the European Camazotz’ al- lies and kin against them. Alone and despairing, they lose their Gaian purpose. The last werebat, Sings-of-Luna, dies when a Shadow Lord, Pleasing-Thunder, mistakes her for a vampire. The young werewolf remains forever ignorant as to the gravity of his act. No one notices the Camazotz’ absence for many years, and none think to mourn them for even longer.
Getting Involved
The Garou are at their peak of aggression and power. The Fera have powerful domains of their own, and demand equal respect, but all tread carefully around the more numer- ous werewolves. The War of Rage is about to earn its name. The Garou fight with determination and fury across several continents. Their numbers and coordination give them a significant advantage over disparate enemies. Only when the Fera unite can they prevail, as events in India and Africa prove.
The werewolves’ most successful battlefields are in Europe and the Middle East. They control more caerns, and arm both themselves and Kinfolk with weapons of silver and gold. The first klaives make even a werewolf in Homid dangerous. The Ananasi, Bastet, and Gurahl hide. The Mokolé and Rokea leave for parts unknown. The Corax play both sides, scouting for the Garou but also saving many Fera and their Kinfolk. The Grondr population dwindles with every spectacularly brutal raid. The remaining savage Apis win many early battles, but not enough to save them from the violent Garou. The Garou hunt the Camazotz, ostensibly for their resemblance to vampires. In truth the werewolves know the werebats spy on them. Garou packs spare no effort to destroy the judgmental weresnakes with fang and blade.
Within India the Garou slaughter so many Nagah Kinfolk the weresnakes fake their own extinction to sur- vive. The werewolves don’t outnumber the Fera here — the Ratkin of Asia didn’t follow their kin into the Umbra. The Ratkin swarms surprise the Garou and when the Fera unite the Garou lose. Gaia’s warriors take their toll, though. In the aftermath the Apis, Nagah, Grondr, and Gurahl have disappeared, and even the Ratkin have been reduced to a fraction of their former population.
The African Fera are united, but the raging werewolves outnumber them in every skirmish. Even so, the Fera almost halt the werewolves’ advance into the continent. Almost. Once the Garou have taken enough caerns they can use Moon Bridges to leapfrog the most powerful Fera. These caerns soon become chokepoints, used to ambush the werewolves. The war despoils thousands of caerns through bloodshed and destruction. Both sides distrust the African werewolves, and few take part in any fighting. Instead, they focus on the secondary effects of the war — local Wyrm-creatures exult in the carnage, and vampires are quick to take control of humans who have lost their living deities.
Changing the Outcome
The best way to prevent the outbreak of violence is to prevent Unyielding-Stone’s murder. To do so, the characters must deal with the powerful, subtle, and thoroughly corrupt Nagah Humble-in-Duty. Alternatively, they could convince Forever-Stands to leave his brother dead — but they must