Red Talon Story

[Hazmat]

(Adapted from the Red Talon tribebook (Revised) and as told by Bloody Throat, a Talon Galliard)

Bloody Throat turns her muzzle skyward and howls, softly at first and then rising in volume. Warm and expressive, the young Red Talon sings of a long ago time, of endless wilderness and healthy prey. Mother's servants, wolf and cat and bear and others, hunted and watched and healed, protecting her. Weaver and Wyrm were weak; there were no human-hives of concrete and filth. And there were no tribes, only Garou who watched over human herds, culling their numbers when necessary, because the humans, then as now, could not control their numbers themselves.

Bloody Throat's howl is bolstered with pride as she sings of Fells Trees, wolf-born Garou, very strong, very wise, very fierce, untouched by human corruption. Unlike other Garou, Fells Trees and his pack did not breed with the humans. Unlike other Garou, Fells Trees and his pack remained pure in their wolf-hearts. They did not keep human herds, but killed any that were not in another Garou's territory. The wolf-born knew that the humans had been separated from Gaia by the Wyrm and the Weaver. They were no longer what the Mother had made them and were now her enemies.

Bloody Throat's howl turns unhappy when she sings of the other Garou, their predator instincts dulled by human ways of thinking, and how the alphas of all Garou, white-furred, called all together for a great Moot. The war against the humans must end, commanded the white-furred alphas. Garou must name themselves in tribes and agree upon a Litany of laws. Fells Trees was there with his pack, and all the other wolf-born Garou who had no human in them were there as well. They did not care about being a tribe. They did not care about names, or a Litany of laws. Fells Trees, who was the greatest of them, spoke for them.

Here, Bloody Throat shifts up into Hispo and bellows out in her loudest voice. ~How will the humans be controlled if the war against them is ended?~

Bloody Throat begins to pace, massive and bristling. ~The white-furred alphas, now called Silver Fangs, wanted to know the name of Fells Trees' tribe. Fells Trees said that names and tribes were not important and asked again how the humans were to be controlled. The Silver Fangs told him that if he and his pack did not have a tribe, no Garou would recognize them. They would be nothings.~

Bloody Throat snarls, expressing the anger of Fells Trees, and she rears up onto her hind legs, rising into Crinos form and lashing out at the air with one set of claws. ~Fells Trees struck him, there! And his claws made red on the Silver Fangs' chest! THAT is our name!~ Dropping back to all fours, though still in Crinos, the Red Talon says, ~And Fells Trees told the Silver Fangs he would wait for their answer, and he and all the other wolf-born left. Because the Silver Fangs were alphas, they did /not/ continue the war against the humans, only killing them when they came too close to kin and cubs...~

Bloody Throat lifts her muzzle and howls again, the pitch of her voice rising as she shrinks back into her natural form. Her lupine song takes on a minor, mournful note now as she repeats Fells Trees' ancient question -- how will the humans be controlled? -- and trails off without answer, without coda. The Red Talon stands in silence for several seconds, clearly listening for something, and then drops her head and pads back to her previous place and lies down.