DERAGOS

By Bejeir D. Brooks (brooksbe@egr.msu.edu)

Introduction

Aye, there, how are you doing my Brothers, Sisters, Cousins and Kin? Whoa, there now if you be kind enough to sit down Brother Sub-Zero, for I've heard of your exploits and wouldn't want to disturb Lisa's kits. Now if you'll all be so kind as to ignore the eyes I'll tell you of our wayward Kin...

In the beginning, as you all know, there was nothingness, not nothingness like Man now believes but as things once were. Nothing had a name and nothing really cared and that's the way things should be. All were one as one were all; then something happened...

Now, I've been told that the Weaver gained consciousness and started spinning uncontrollably, catching the Wyrm in her Web. This in turn drove the Wyrm insane causing him to devour -- funny thing words... I mean listen to me; here I am speaking of the Weaver and the Wyrm as male and female when we all know they are both and neither just two strands of the triple helix which man calls DNA and I call Gaia's will. Yeah...

Gaia had children, her protectors, each with their job to do as given by Luna our mother and I suppose Kraken in some states. Shh! Aetna calm yourself and sheathe your klaive; not all Rokea are...well they have their laws and we have ours... But this is about the Weaver. You see the ol' Lass needed soldiers and they were her chosen breed. Not like the Ananan for they are of her Blood; her children, the Deragos were and will always remain her Chosen. They were not given to the Wyrm, for they would not go. Malfeas had nothing they wanted. But they were touched all the same. With little tendrils of Corruption, Balance if you will. They were subverted worse than any Howler by a Pit, but not as bad as the Bunyip.

The Deragos as far as I can tell are a race of shifters that have forsaken man and yet dwell on him night and day. Not that they eat of man like the Rokea or the Mokole (How can we even expect them to abide by that law?). They live on his fringes. They have forsaken man in that they have not a Homid form. They are likened to the Leeches in that they can learn new shapes and start with but one. Unfortunately the Deragi is better suited to this benighted than any of our present races, for while our territory diminishes and is destroyed by the hand of Man the Deragos's is increased. The only Children of the Flux that have a wider territory are the Ratkin, for I've never seen a land free of rats and their kin.

But the Deragos lives on the fringes of the farmland that which man needs to survives, and while they cannot subsist in toxic lands as the Spirals, one of their learned forms can.

Possible Breed Forms Table

Base Forms	Str	Dex	Sta	Health Levels	Notes	Believed Gifts	Shift Difficulty
Moose	+2	+1/ +3 water	+1/ +3 water	6/8 water		Water Related	6
Antelope	+2	+4	+3	8		Ragabash	6
Elk	+2	+2	+3	8			6
Caribou	+3	+2	+4	8		Stargazer	6
Gazelle (fm)	+2	+5	+2	8		Speed Related	6
Stag (m)	+3	+4	+2	8			6
Reindeer	+2	+3	+3	8		Wendigo	6
Giraffe	+2	+1	+1	8	-4Per Diff. in Open land (few trees)	Silver Fang Auspice	6

Known Mythic Forms

Known Mythic Forms Table

Base Forms	Str	Dex	Sta	Health Levels	Notes	Believed Gifts	Shift Difficulty
Hybsil	+0	+1	+0	6		Homid	9
Leucrotta	+7	+2	+12 -1 Diff. to all rolls	8	Bite does Aggravated -2 Diff. with wits	Shadow Lord	9
Peryton	+4	0/+3 Flight	+3	7	Gore does Aggravated w/ +2 dice on attack	Corax	9
Giant Stag	+6	+3	+4	9	Gore does Aggravated		8
Irish Deer (Giant Moose)	+4	+2/ +5 water	+3	9	Gore does Aggravated Can hit 2 close opponents w/ same goring.		7

Possible Breed Forms

The cost of all breed forms is equal to four times the rank of the Deragi in experience on top of any other costs.

All Deragi Gazelles are females, whether or not they are born into deragoity through gazelle-dam or not. A male moose, will be a female Gazelle. Gazelles can burn rage equal to their stamina into dexterity for extra speed (works for initiative too).

All Deragi Stags are males, same as with the Gazelle. None are too sure as to why this is but it has something to do with the fact that they abandoned Stag. Unfortunately for them, they take aggravated damage whenever a bright light is shined in their eyes (over 93W). They also have their Wits temporarily dropped to zero when this happens unless a willpower roll is made with every success equaling a point of Wits saved. As a side effect of having their Wits nullified, they automatically get the initiative in any round that they have the light in their eyes; treat them as if they had just burned 5 gnosis into Spirit of the Fray.

The Caribou are the most serene of all of the Deragi forms and Deragos in this form gain 2 points of willpower until they change out of it. These points can exceed their regular amount making 12 a possible number, just not very likely. Fortunately for them they burn rage equal to their stamina into their stamina for soaking cold based damage but are immune to sunburns and heat stroke. Caribou Deragos are carnivores..which is why there are rarely too many of them born into and surviving in a herd of Caribou since they are usually found out by the rest of the herd and trampled to death before they get too far along in life.

Reindeer are one of the most ferocious breed forms in that the Deragi is able to burn rage for extra actions in this form. many a Polar Gurahl has been brought down by sled team of frothily muzzled Deragosian reindeer. These mighty beasts burn rage into either their strengths or their stamina equal to their stamina and soak as Caribou.

Giraffe Deragos are the creme de la creme of Deragi society. This is the absolutely hardest form to master in that they have to live five centuries before they can learn this form if they aren't born into it...

Elk and Antelope Deragos are able to learn vampire disciplines. The Elk can learn disciplines that begin with letters between A and K, while the Antelope are restricted to those between L and Y not counting the letter Q. Neither can learn Thaumaturgical Paths.

Known Mythic Forms

Hybsil have an antelope base and a pixie top (like a centaur). Thus they are able to use the gifts of humans and use the powers of Changelings. They are also three feet tall. This form requires the Frankensteinic surgery of 15 Kinfolk from different tribes and bete as well as a number of experience points equal to the number of permanent dots on the character sheet.

Leucrotta has an appearance of such beauty that Samedi and Nosferatu take them to parties so that they look cute. The body is that a stag; its tail is lion-like and its legs end in cloven hooves. This beast has the head of a badger and instead of teeth has sharp, jagged bony ridges. They have a special backwards kick with both hooves which does aggravated damage but is halved. This form is immune to toxic and bio-hazardous materials and may burn rage into anything while within toxic or bio-hazardous materials. Unfortunately they regain rage at one-fourth the usual rate while in such an environment. The cost of this form is the consumption of three pounds of radioactive waste, the eye teeth of seven Salubri, ritual combat with a badger, a lion, a goat and a number of experience points equal to the number of permanent dots on the character sheet. (Note: the badgers head, the lions tail and the hooves of the goat are used in the creation of the new form, so each looks uniquely disgusting, especially if they were killed by trampling.)

Peryton is a creature with the head of a deer and the body of an eagle. The upper body and head are usually blue-black, the horns are jet black while the wing and back feathers are a dark green. The chest of the male is a light to a medium blue and that of the female is drab. The Peryton form is the enemy of all Corax. Additionally it can only regain or burn rage while it is eating and digesting the heart of an enemy which takes about 30 minutes for every 100 pounds of the foe. This form is immune to anything but magic weaponry (this does not include claws). If this form is struck when it doesn't have a heart in its stomach or mouth it will spontaneously combust. This form can burn rage into any attack and for every point of damage it inflicts it regains a point of health which can exceed its listed form amount. The cost of this form is the dried out husks of 347 fleas which have been eating off of rabid eagles plus a number of experience points equal to the number of permanent dots on the character sheet.

Giant Stag form is just that a giant stag; it has all the commentary of the regular Stag except it's a eunuch. The meat from a giant stag tastes really really really good by the way and Stag himself will throw a party with Grain's guaranteed appearance if anyone kills a Giant Stag. The cost of this form is three cubic yards of ear wax, no experience needed. This form can learn vampiric disciplines starting with the letters Q or Z.

The Irish Deer is a throwback from the Pleistocene era and has all the commentary of a moose, but its cost is the broken livers of 23 alcoholics, a corpse which died from a fermentation process and the gonads of 57 shellfish or 1 alligator/Crocodile. These items are strewn aimlessly about a patch of good fertile land and a half-quart of bog-gas is expelled onto the land which is then turned into swampland and of course a number of experience points equal to the number of permanent dots on the character sheet is required. This form can learn thaumatugical rituals.

Rank

Deragos are Ranked according to the number of forms they have mastered. But the Giraffe knowledge is always given precedence and a Giraffe-Borne can always claim leadership.

Changing Forms

Deragos don't change form like the rest of Bete. They are always at the most two changes away or three successes from any other form, and often only one shape away. The following chart displays how this occurs:

Peryton PossibleBreed Forms Giant Stag Leucrotta Irish Deer Hybsil

Life-spans

Deragos do not die of "natural causes", only tooth and claw or blade may kill them. Additionally, Blueberry Yogurt has been found to kill them on contact.

Healing

Deragos have no superlative healing rates except were noted. If they are struck and then left for dead, they are then able to arise the next morning completely healed; they also have no susceptibility to silver.

Rage

Deragos gain rage as easily as garou, but they are affected by too many successes on the rage rolls differently than most other Bete. Since they don't have the same breed types as other Bete they frenzy according to the type of form they are currently in.

Non Antlered forms attack and attack and attack every shrub, bus, tree and garden in your path. None shall resist the anger in your hooves!

Peryton, Hybsil or Leucrotta are affected as Metis by the Wyrm.

Antlered Forms are subjected to the Thrall of the Antelope, which is a form of the Caribou Effect except that hooves may be used.

Yes, that is correct in that the Leucrotta can choose which path to take. If more than 7 Deragos fall to the Thrall of the Wyrm then they will begin to stampede.

The Moon

Luna only affects Deragos for getting rage, except they can only regain rage during the twilight hours of the day. They therefore do not have auspices except where noted, most notably the peryton and Giraffe forms.

Special Combat maneuvers

Treat antlers as claws for attacking and damage.

	I	A	D	Notes
Gore		-1	+2	Str. roll Diff 7 or knockdown
Moved at least 10 yds.	-2	-3	+4	as above Diff. 8

If not using WoD:Combat: Diff 7, Str +2 or Str +4 if moving (Freak Legion pg. 31)

Rites

Rite of Null Time

Gifts

The Caribou Effect (Level 2)

Wearing the Leech Shirt (Level 3)

Bambi's Mother (Level 4)

Rumble in the Tundra (Level 5)

Merits and Flaws

Strict Vegetarian

(2 pt. Flaw)

The Durago can only gain sustenance from Vegetables which is really bad for caribou forms if they don't learn another form quickly. Roll +1 to the difficulty of all Deragi social situations w/ a deragi that knows your secret.

Mark of the Sheep

(3 pt. Flaw)

No one takes you seriously; no one believes in you; everyone picks on you, bullies and attacks you first. On the up side the hairs you shed can be sold as a high quality wool.

Restricted Form (3 pt. Flaw)

Any single Deragi form is prohibited to you; this can be chosen multiple times. Gain 1 point of permanent glory.

Extra Form

(7 pt. Merit)

As above except no points of glory and you get an extra form instead of losing one.

Bummer of a Birthmark, Hal

(5-7 pt. Flaw)

For some reason you have a birthmark on your chest that cannot be covered up in any way (it literally eats through inanimate objects though not weapons). It is in the shape of the Black Spiral in Malfeas. The BSD think your cool, but that glowing emanation from your chest makes you an easy target. (-2 to the difficulty number)

With the 6 pt. version the Birthmark can be seen from behind you.

With the 7 pt. version the mark can be seen through the Chrysler building. (-4 to the difficulty number)