LOTORIS

By Alex Rudnick (alexrudnick@juno.com)

The Creation of the Lotoris...

There was a time when Arcadia was much closer to Earth than it is today. Faeries came and went as they pleased, more frequently than now, often making friends among the beings spiritually powerful enough to get their attention. They came and hung out with certain Garou, mingled with Nuwisha, and even interacted with some human mages. Eventually, they learned how the Nuwisha and Garou changed, what made these bete tick. Eventually, they decided to try their hand at what Gaia and Luna had been doing all along; they created a new race. They looked across the Earth to find a race suitable to be the basis for their new one, and after a long and interesting rummage, they found the raccoons. In a great ritual which took a huge amount of time and was done generally because they got bored, a new race was created. A race that would not only be cool like raccoons, but would be able to pass as humans, well, sort of, anyway. The faeries gave their Wereraccoons pointy ears so that everybody would know who made them.

Soon, the Lotoris, as they came to call themselves, got pretty independent and went off in search of stuff to do, and shiny things to collect.

The Forms

Lotoris change pretty much along the same track of forms as the other wereanimals.

Homid: A Lotoris in Homid form looks like a fairly normal human, except he tends to be more slim than average, with pointy ears. Hey, come to think of it, that would make them look like a Changeling, now wouldn't it?

Stats as in normal, difficulty 6

Glabro: The Lotoris glabro looks more human than a Garou glabro. They get much stronger, about 5 inches taller, and the skin around their eyes darkens a bit to form a semblance of a raccoon mask. Also, their ear-points round out a bit.
+1 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +1 Stamina, difficulty 7

Crinos: This is one of the oddest looking things that you will ever see. A Lotoris in Crinos form is about seven and a half feet tall, with a well defined raccoon mask, a long, ringed tail, powerful muscles, and a raccoon-like snout and round ears like those of a raccoon on top of the head. Note that since Lotoris didn't show up until well after the Impergium, humans don't have any sort of instinctual fear about them, but don't you try to tell me that you wouldn't get concerned if you saw a 7 1/2 foot raccoon/man. Talking is limited to growling, a bit of human speech, and speaking to raccoons and Lotoris.

+2 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +2 Stamina, Appearance -2, Difficulty 6

Hispo: A Hispo form-Lotoris takes the form of a large raccoon, with more vicious teeth and claws than proportionally probable. In this form, a Lotoris is about four feet long, and gets seriously dangerous in combat. In Hispo, a Lotoris can only talk to raccoons and to other Lotoris.

+1 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +1 Stamina, Difficulty 7

Procyon: This is the equivalent of the lupus form in Garou. The Lotoris becomes just like a normal raccoon. This is the form that they are least likely to be noticed as supernatural, as it's the only one that is shared by a normal animal. In this form, they cannot talk, except to raccoons and other Lotoris.

-2 Strength, +4 Dexterity, -1 Stamina

Culture

The wereraccoons have a remarkably unstructured culture. Each individual does darned well whatever she feels like, and they rarely travel in groups. They are of Gaia, sort of, and feel the need to defend their foster Mother, which sometimes leads them to ally themselves with other wereraces, humans, and whoever else they feel like. Also, they lean more towards the Wyld than the Weaver, but they find nothing wrong with modern technology, as it has its uses for them. In many respects they are similar to the Nuwisha. Activities that they enjoy are collecting shiny items, exploring situations/places, huge-scale practical jokes, word games, and climbing trees and other climbable things. They are rather plentiful, just as their raccoon kinfolk, and You would just as soon find one in the middle of a city as in a forest. Many of them have travelled to Arcadia permanently, just for fun and because they like faeries.

Gifts

Lotoris, being very disorganized, have no ordered list of the gifts that they know. They can, if they feel so inclined, find someone to teach them a gift that they wish to know. Most often, they learn gifts that are used by Nuwisha, Ragabash, and Lupus, but they are not constrained. A beginning Lotoris character gets to choose 4 level 1 gifts, subject to Storyteller approval. Most of the time, a Lotoris wouldn't have access to Get of Fenris or Ahroun gifts, nor would they really want them.

Other Stuff

The wereraccoons can step sideways, and often do. The Umbra is a place that they find very interesting. They (mostly) have no Rage, but if one of them spent enough time with some Garau, it might wear off on him. Generally, they are playful in nature, and don't care much about what others think, so their renown is in order of importance: Humor, Wisdom, and Glory. They are perfectly capable of making their own fetishes, and can use other people's fetishes if they can get a hold of them. They most often follow Totems of Cunning, such as Raccoon (weird, huh?) or different forms of the Trickster. In addition, Lotoris have no problems with silver, but iron gives them the same effect as a Garou with the gift Faerie Blood. They effectively always have the Faerie Blood gift activated.

Character Generation Info

Beginning Gnosis: 3 for Homids, 4 for Metis, 5 for Lotorids (born as raccoons)

Rage: 0, but hey can use experience or freebie points to raise it

Beginning Renown: 2 in Humor, 1 in either Glory or Wisdom

Backgrounds: No pure breed

What they Think About Other Tribes/Races

Bastet: These guys are just so vain, it gets really annoying. Wanna see something funny? If you think you might get in a scrap with one of them, make sure you've got a super-soaker full of Ketchup and Water. Sure-fire way to get a diversion. I'd rather hang with Nuwisha or Corax any day.

Black Furies: The Furies really need to calm down; they have no sense of humor, but they do know about the Wyld.

Bone Gnawers: Gnawers are our chums, for the most part. They know so much about the city, it gets scary. They'll help you out if you need help, and they know how to have fun.

Children of Gaia: They are way too nice. There's gotta be something that they aren't showing us. Let's find out what that is.

Corax: These guys can be great fun. They like investigating things almost as much as we do. Also, if you need to make a deal with Garou, they've got connections with them.

Fianna: They know how to have fun. The Fianna are our favorite Garou, partly because they're cool, partly because of our mutual buds.

Get of Fenris: Just stay away from them -- unless you've got a good way to play a trick on them. The humor will be wasted on these guys, though. Way too serious.

Glass Walkers: Another good bunch of Garou. If you play your cards right, they can hook you up with just about anybody. Their humor is often right there in their names, especially those funny computer/native names.

Nuwisha: Nuwisha are bunches of fun. Just great wereanimals. Help them out with their pranks, which are hilarious, and they'll be nice to you. They can really kick butt in the Umbra, too.

Red Talons: These wolfies rule the wilderness, paws down. They aren't too much fun, but they're good at what they do. Leave 'em alone, unless of course you've got something entertaining to do to them.

Shadow Lords: Aiiiieeeee! If you see a Shadow Lord, run and scream... or, better yet, do something really humbling to him. They have about the least humor of the Garou, and all they want is to dominate. I don't think they could handle it if they were in control, though.

Silent Striders: They seem nice enough, and from travelling around so much, they probably know quite a bit of interesting information.

Silver Fangs: The Fangs are the ones who pull all the strings in the Garou. Sometimes, the ones who aren't inbred-all-to-heck and psycho will be more or less reasonable. They're traditional, establishment-type sods. Bleah.

Stargazers: Very strange. They don't think we're funny, and they spend too much time thinking about philosophical doohickies, but I'll be boring if they don't kick butt.

Uktena: Almost as good as our Nuwisha chums in the Umbra, they know a bunch about spirits and magic and whatnot. Freaky stuff goes on around them, so watch your ringed little tail.

Wendigo: Really weird. It's generally best to keep away from them. The spirits that they know are scarier than you want to think about. They're good with survival, though.

Quote

"Hee hee hee... wait until he finds out sort of spirit was in that klaive!"