By Jessica M. McGeary
Questions exist as to whether this tribe can really be called Garou as they are largely based off Lycaon pictus, the African wild dog. Garou convert from other tribes, though, especially anti-extermination Red Talons and the occasional lost/renegade Silent Strider.
Founder: Female Philodox, of Glass Walkers (or whatever their names were in the beginning). She was young during the end of the Impergium and grew disgusted with human behavior after it ended. She joined Red Talons for a time, but couldn't deal with the "kill 'em all" ideology. She went to learn from the Silent Striders for a time, and then vanished. It turns out she went south and found the wild dogs (btw, there are those who believe Lycaon pictus belongs in the same genus as the wolf). Several other Garou came with her. The People of Law came from this.
Converts aside, the lupus form looks like the African wild dog - round ears, splotched, spotted coat, 30 in. tall at shoulder, four toes on each foot. Most homid members look like Bushmen, though lots of em are Black. The People of Law are a lot stricter about the Litany and such matters than are the modern Garou. They do not have metis members. Metises are mostly born to converts; if this happens, the metises are driven from the tribe and pronounced anathema, and the parents are killed, but quickly and mercifully. Should a metis child be born to native People, all three are killed - the child mercifully, and the parents are torn to pieces by the pack. Guilt is determined by Philodox inquisitors according to strict ritual procedure. Metis young produced by rape are subjected to a ritual which renders them a normal wolf or wild dog (though still deformed and sterile), without the power of the Change, forever. The mother is put through a process of healing and cleansing, involving a lot of rituals for the purpose, and is absolved of all guilt. The male is torn to pieces by the pack. The People of Law do not have knowledge of the Rite of Gaia's Vengeful Teeth. If they did, they would consider it horrific and refuse to learn it or use it.
Metis young produced by Black Spiral rape, which has only happened twice in the tribe's history (and then to members travelling far from the tribe's territory) are killed. Erm, that is, Black Spiral rape has only happened twice, but both times it produced young. The mother spends a year or more in the process of healing and purification, and both have Renounced and launched wars of revenge against the Spiral Hive whose member was responsible. Both times they have destroyed all the Spirals therein (their packmates assisted them, of course). The Pathstones were taken from the Pits guarded by these Hives, and the area purged of the Wyrm's taint. The Striders have discovered one of these, but what happened to it, they do not know.
Sorry, my mistake. Metis children of rape are killed, too; this is not so much because of the Litany or other laws, but because their deformities would place too much of a burden on those beings to whom they were given. However, the tribe does have a ritual by which a metis can be deprived of the Change and made a normal forever - either a normal wolf/wild dog, or a human. Normal only in the sense that they cannot change shape. The rite in question is mostly performed when a Black Spiral or something of that sort is captured. I'll go try and write it up at the end of this thingy.
Council of Wyrm's Advocates: Philodoxen are the strongest auspice within the tribe, naturally, but the auspice immediately following them in power is, oddly enough (or not) the Ragabashes. Ragabash elders choose from all the tribe's Ragabashes to form the Council of Wyrm's Advocates (institution existed from Long Ago, but the name came from a Strider passing through from the north). The Council exists to test laws to destruction prior to implementing them, and to occasionally give old laws a pounding from hell to see if they still need to stand. Galliards come slightly below Ragabashes in power, as they come in quite handy for remembering precedents and old lore long tucked away and suchlike. Ahrouns make great enforcers and prosecuting attorneys (actually, its mostly the other way around - converts and homids who are prosecutors tend to be Ahrouns). Theurges serve the standard mystical functions and do a lot of the healing and psychological stuff.
Converts tend to be anti-extermination Red Talons who wandered into Africa. The occasional Silent Strider comes to join them. Native-born homid tribe members who are not Bushmen or Black are usually of Middle Eastern descent. The occasional bit of non-Lycaon blood that crops up (high Pure Breed members have a chance of going to Lycaon or going to Lupus, but not both- those with Lupus forms are throwbacks) manifests as the form of the Arabian wolf or the Iberian wolf (from tribe members who went north, bred to Arabs, and had descendants who joined the Moorish conquests).
Interesting note: converts who are Lupus Garou, for the most part, tend to mate with humans, as they aren't used to the cues and signs from L. pictus. Homid converts often wind up bowing to necessity and mating with the wild dogs, as the majority of humans in the People's protectorate find most homid converts to look revolting. This is also often the force that causes the creation of metis young, but you saw what happens to them.
Totem: Halakha (Heb. word for Divine Law, but it's her name).
Protectorate: The People of Law mostly look after the Bushmen, these days, as well as some of the other native populations in southern Africa. They also guard the Lycaon pictus population fiercely.
Initial willpower: 5
Initial backgrounds: 2 (no Contacts or Resources) Characters w/Pure Breed 5 must roll 1d10. On a 10, their final form is not Lycaon but Lupus. Roll again; 9 or higher means that the form resembles an Iberian wolf. Lower, and it's the Arabian wolf.
Only the Garou who have joined them know of the Peoples existence. They conceal themselves from the others - indeed, if they had not begun receiving Red Talon and Silent Strider members, they would have continued to believe, as they had been doing for ages, that the other Garou were extinct. Prior to 1850 or so, none of them had left Africa. Some Garou had come to Africa with the British conquests, but the People had no contact with these, save for a few who were killed by Wyrm beasts the People were trying to destroy.
A pack of fifteen People (eight Lycaon, one Lupus; eight female, seven male) is headed north to Yugoslavia, at the request of Halakha. They will not be discovered until they reach the area, and then it will be by either local Shadow Lords or by one of the three Garou with the UN forces in the area (two Fianna, one Black Fury). This will happen after thirty or forty soldiers who commit rape as part of the war are torn to pieces by wild dogs, or shot by the Ragabashes. There are three Ragabashes in the pack, two male, one female. These remain in Homid form while the others change to Lycaon/Lupus form; they deal with the men who fear the dogs and shoot at anything with four legs, mostly by shooting them, but some by slitting their throats. The ones killed by the Ragabashes are not touched by claw or fang, but left for the others to find. Human women who have not yet been subject to rape, as well as many who have, have taken to making friends with area dogs. A few brave women have also made overtures towards local wolves (one of which is a Rank 3 Shadow Lord lupus), as they've heard of a wolf in the dog-pack as well.
Long long long long ago, the People of Law made contact with the Bunyip. Seventeen Bunyip fled to them over Moon Bridges before the Bunyip were killed off; these seventeen pulled up the Bridges behind them, utterly frustrating the Wyrm agents who could no longer track them. These joined the People - their life governed by the Dreamtime Laws made it easier for them to fit into the tribe. Children of the People tribe who are born Garou have a one-in-a-million chance of being born Bunyip. Bear in mind that the chances of an alligator being hatched white but not albino are one in a million, but recently a clutch of 25 alligators in Louisiana hatched out seventeen white young. I'd say that as a result of the weird things accompanying the incipient Apocalypse, there's a higher chance of Bunyip young being produced. No need to worry about Pure Breed levels for them, but they would most likely have high scores (a 4 or 5 would go with being Bunyip, but you wouldn't have to roll for it with that level Pure Breed).
The Ragabash council is the Council of Wyrm's Advocates because the idea of the Council came from a Strider convert who knew of the Catholic Church's procedure relating to canonization. Since they didn't believe in the Devil as such, they changed the name. The People see nothing wrong with arguing the Wyrm's cause when testing a law, whether proposed or established, and the Ragabashes especially feel it is their sacred duty to test things against the Wyrm's force- not only laws, but often cubs as well. The People's Rites of Passage would horrify other tribes of Garou; their Theurges invoke Wyrm spirits or creatures and hold them or bind them, then test the cubs against the most appropriate sort of spirit. Those not destroyed or killed by the cubs are banished back to Malfeas.
Ragabash: Tester of the Law<
Theurge: Interpreter of the Law
Philodox: Giver of the Law
Galliard: Holder of the Law
Ahroun: Enforcer of the Law
or something like that.
Trials are conducted by the People in a manner somewhat different from other Garou. Its considered terribly rude for someone to flee trial, but when it happens, they are hunted down by Ahroun-Ragabash teams. Once the trial begins, the law relevant to the situation is recited by the Philodoxes, and the crime for which the trial is conducted is spelled out. The one being tried may not speak for himself or herself, but neither may the one who brings the accusation speak. Either a Ragabash or a Galliard - accused's choice- Speaks for the defense, and either a Galliard or an Ahroun for the accuser. (Galliard v. Galliard makes for spectacular trials. Scopes monkey trial scale.) (On rare occasions, Theurges will be employed to Speak for one or both sides.) A Galliard not Speaking for either side recalls events and trials similar to the one being conducted, though not always judicial precedent. Both sides Speak, and may question the other side or independent witnesses if they wish. It is the neutral Galliard's sacred duty to speak or sing forth any piece of lore or history they remember that they believe relevant to the case at hand - no matter when they are reminded during the trial. Three Philodoxes pass the final judgment; they must be unanimous in their decision. The judgment is then presented to a group of Theurges, I'm not sure how many. Either three or five. If these Theurges believe unanimously that the judgment before them is wrong or unjust, they say so, and the trial is ended and passed to the Council of Wyrm's Advocates, from which there is no appeal. (If not all the Theurges agree, but at least one thinks it unjust, the case is retried, with different principals for everything except accuser, accused, and Theurges.) This happens extremely rarely, though; a trial before the Wyrm's Advocates is a terrible thing, invoking magic and spirits, more frightening than a Shadow Lord Grand Inquisition. You see, if this happens, all those involved in the trial- accused, accuser, Speakers, neutral Galliard, judges, Theurges, everyone - is put to the Council's scrutiny, and this is not something any of them wish to have happen.
Hrm. Howabout this. Three Theurges. If one thinks injustice done, the case is retried; if two, the Speakers are changed, or sometimes exchanged; if three, we go to the Wyrm's advocates. Also, the Philodoxes give judgment, but the Theurges do the sentencing. The neutral Galliard must give the recitation of the facts of the case as presented by the accuser prior to the trial.
The People of Law are, technically, more Wyrm than anything else - but the original Wyrm, the bringer of harmony, the balancer, destroyer of excess. To tell the truth, they are some of the most balanced Garou - if they can accurately be termed Garou. Once they meet the other Garou on a large scale, both sides will have to figure out for themselves whether the People can truly be called Garou. They are strong in the Weaver - their laws, their Code, etc. - in the Wyld - for their sacred spaces and environment are some of the best protected, and they hold life and liberty and change more dear than most Garou - and in the Wyrm as it once was, for they will sacrifice themselves if need be to keep balance between excessive order and excessive chaos. Damn straight they hold the Philodox auspice in highest place. Their outlook and behavior dates from their origins - Silent Striders, creators and invocators of mystery; Glass Walkers, preservers of order; and Red Talons, destroyers of excess and ill. A number of Garou who were born in the Indian populations in South Africa are quite comfortable with their philosophy & have joined them.
Moots, of course, are held on the half moon; occasional moots come at the time of African festivals or on the new moon, and naturally resemble these festivals. They live anywhere Cape hunting dogs are found, and roam the Kalahari with the Bushmen. Some of the People are the only preservers of Southern Bushman blood left after the British and Dutch killed them.
Currently the People's highest leader is a middle-aged Philodox of Bushman blood, educated by White humans. His birth name was something I can't type 'cos I don't have the symbols for all the different clicks, but his marvelous understanding and establishment of human law, the Litany, and the Code in its entirety prompted others to encourage him to take a new name at the Change. His name is Hammurabi.
Some of the Ragabash Gifts are restricted severely in their usages by the Code. Whelp Body may not be used unless the Ragabash is attacked first, or fighting a Wyrm minion. Thieving Talons of the Magpie I'm not sure about. Violation is a secret that has been allowed to be lost - the original Ragabashes who accompanied Halakha south did not teach it to the cubs they mentored, though they taught of the power's existence and warned that its use would be grounds for a trial. In its place, the metis power Totem Gift is taught; the whole tribe may be taught that ability, which came to them through a Ragabash who had had a Metis mentor.
Hm. Perhaps, perhaps, one Ragabash on the Council of Wyrm's Advocates may be privy to the secret of Violation, and only teaches the power to his/her successor before he/she dies. Allows for punishment of criminals without using Gaia's Vengeful Teeth.
Camouflage (Level One): As the Wendigo power.
Sense Wyrm (Level One): As the Metis power.
Find Water (Level One): As the Lupus power, but available to Homids as well without extra cost. Bushmen do sip-soaks and suchlike, you see.
Messenger's Fortitude (Level Two): As the Silent Strider power.
Distractions (Level Two): As the Galliard power. Used only by Lycaon or Lupus tribe members, and the yips, yelps and howls involve the birdlike chirps and yaps the wild dogs make.
Adaptation (Level Three): As the Silent Strider power.
Attunement (Level Four): As the Silent Strider power.
Totem Gift (Level Five): As the Metis power.
Gaia's Vengeance (Level Five): As the Red Talon power.
Gate of the Moon (Level Five): As the Silent Strider power.
All right. Here's another special Rite, developed by some curious Theurges and Galliards aeons ago, not long after the initial Pack reached the southlands.