BAN SAIDE

By Jacob Williamson (theslin@mail.utexas.edu)

Title: Li'l People & Co
To: Nytaki Gladwulf
Dest: D:\GW\COMM\TRIBES.TXT
Author: Zinfandel
Time: 3:22:03 AM
Date: 03/12/94

Re: Fairy Tales and so forth

Silly Nytaki. Fairies don't exist -- and I don't care what the MacDrunkenbuggers say. Take a look at the streets. With all the blood in the gutters, why'd the Fae hang around? They're all safe in the Arcadian Gates. But I'm a professional. I hounded old Shakespeare for a month before he passed the attached tidbits on to me.

Zinfandel the Red

Once upon a time...

Gaia, the Weaver and the Wyrm worked to create a world of magic. Gaia and her father, the Wyld, channeled life and energy into a hungry void. The Weaver brought order to the flood of power, for only in order and pattern could Gaia's children find homes. The Wyrm performed his one task, unravelling order and stagnating creation, that neither order nor creation could overwhelm the other. With the world a Balance was formed.

Over millennia the Balance held and the lands of Gaia were filled with wonders. Beings of purest energy, elementals spun from crystalline fire and molten earth, shown with the light of the sun. The silvery stars lit the night sky as brightly as when Luna herself, whole and perfect, watched from her impossibly high perch. Joy was so bred into every soul that even an infant snatched from life by an unseen hand was celebrated. If the child had spent but a day in Gaia's perfect world, it would have felt more of the wild love of Life than could be held in a century of unceasing gaiety. And through the light of Gaia's creation the fairies danced.

Even as the Weaver's delicate sanity evaporated, even as she trapped Gaia and the Wyrm in her patternless web, the fairies stayed with their mother, dancing, singing, and giving Gaia what little joy and comfort they could. When the Wyrm's talons gouged into the world and into Gaia, her little children looked down the paths before them, and fled to the Umbra, fearing their own deaths.

Though the "little people" left the Realm, they did not vanish completely. In the years of Balance, the fairies found a kindred spirit in the people of the Garou -- warriors, yes, but warriors who could dance with the Fey in the Umbra and on Gaia's Realm. Long after their disappearance, fairy blood could be found in creatures born of both Fey and Garou. From these roots, the tribe of the Ban Saide trace their history. Generations of Garou were born into this tribe, a tribe of mystics that rivalled the Uktena in their understanding of the worlds beyond the Umbra's silver veil. But as the tribe began to grow, its powers faded. The Fey blood became dilute. More than two hundred years after the fairies' departure to Arcadia, their legacy left with them.

Now, no trace of the Saide remain. Though the Fianna occasionally sport a cub born of fairy stock, such a cub will never find a mentor to help him develop the gifts of the Ban Saide. In the years of the approaching Apocalypse, when allies with the Saide's legendary strength would be invaluable, they may be found only in stories and children's fables.

As a tribe, the word that would have best summed up the Saide would have been "enthusiastic." Saide theurges were intent on probing the Umbra, neglecting all else -- even their own bodies -- in their pursuit of the secrets held by the Spirit Realm. Saide ragabash were feared for their elaborate schemes, and the Get of Fenris would seek out Saide ahroun for a relaxing brawl. While the Saide were counted amongst the tribes of the Garou, they lived each moment to its fullest.

Never a big tribe, the largest Saide moots held no more than fifteen or twenty adult Garou. While a moot progressed these numbers dwindled further as the attendents, one by one, stepped into the Umbra. Ban Saide moots often held an element of "survival of the fittest," as those Garou who couldn't join the Umbral gathering were left out of the important decisions and the Revel. Beyond that, the Saide were very democratic; each Garou being roughly equal to her sister. In a crisis situation, command was thrust upon the Saide with the highest Gnosis. Otherwise, the Saide recognized no leaders.

Tribal Totem

The Saide adknowledge no single totem -- rather, each individual or pack would choose a Fey guardian who performed much the same role as a totem spirit.

Initial Willpower

4

Backgrounds

3 background points must be spent on Familiar, Fetish or Purebreed. Saide could not have the Resources background.

Beginning Gifts

Lapse, Lightfoot

Physical

Most Garou in Lupus form radiate a cold, cruel aura, a halo of harsh reality befitting Gaia's most efficient predator. A Saide in Lupus would shine with barely perceived light, an almost invisible glow which only lessened the darkness around them. Many Saide ahroun used their glow to good effect as a lure for "intelligent" prey. In human form, the Saide were a beautiful people, tall and slender with the hint of a point on their ears.

Territory

Legends of the Saide can be found in Great Britain and Ireland. A very few Saide myths are told in the New World, where the tribe was known as the Manitau.

Protectorate

While the Saide watched over the people of their homeland, England, they were also fierce guardians of dreamers, people who could find it in their hearts to believe in fairy tales.

Quotes

"We are the children of the great light, Mother Gaia. Our lives glorify our Mother, every movement is our Mother acting through us. How can we do wrong?"
-- Laike Sees-the-light-Dimly, Ban Saide Philodox

"The better to see you with, my dear."

Greymoth, Ban Saide Ahroun

Tribe Gifts

In the unlikely event that a Garou can find a spirit teacher, she could conceivably learn the Gifts of the Ban Saide. Some Nature-spirits exist that remember their dead tricks, though they are often intoxicated by the Wyld and difficult to reason with. Fairies are unpredictable and have been known to trade dead Gifts for quests, tasks, and strange alms such as a Garou's tail...but they, too, treasure their secrets.

Lapse (level 1)

Lightfoot (level 1)

Haunt (level 2)

Lare Call (Level 2)

Looking Glass Curse (Level 2)

Fey Circle (level 3)

Gift of Tongues (level 3)

Titania's Glory (level 3)

Seeming (level 4)

The Silver Passage (level 4)

The Silver Veil (level 4)

Faerie Blood (Level 4) As per the Fianna gift of the same name.

Gloaming (level 5)

Appendix

Titania (Totem of Respect)

Lares (minor elemental spirits)