Everything

The wereshark en­ ters an unstoppable blood rage. One of Teanoi’s servants teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Rage (difficulty 7). If she gets at least three successes, the wereshark voluntarily enters frenzy. The character immediately gains three points of Rage, and gains another two points at the beginning of each turn that can take him above his maximum — and above ten points. The Rokea’s damage rolls also increase by two dice. This Gift lasts for the rest of the scene.

Like their Western relatives, the Tengu are the Beast Courts' scouts, messengers and information gatherers. Like the Hakken, most Tengu take a keen interest in humans and their lives and customs. Being what they are, Tengu are fascinated with human secrets and enjoy talking with any human who can spare the time.

Tengu often take great pleasure in talking to humans about the Changing Breeds and other supernatural terrors. They spin a mixture of lies and half-truths to mislead the curious and frighten away potential threats. Their fatal lies about the Changing Breeds’ weaknesses render the more determined threats harmless.

Recently, a group of Tengu calling themselves the Grey Clouds Temple has found another use for curious humans. They abduct promising humans and train them to hunt threats like Kumo and Bakemono, providing them with both knowledge of the creatures' weaknesses as well as specialized weapons and training. Most of these so-called goblin-slayers do not survive more than one or two encounters with their foes, but a few have become skilled monster hunters — and have begun to wonder about their mysterious mentors.

Organization

Most Tengu live alone, occasionally gathering for group meetings where they gossip and share informa­ tion. They rarely join mountain sentai, preferring to avoid the loss of privacy that that comes with that sort of commitment. Wereravens instead prefer the mercurial wave sentai, and those who join either wave or mountain sentai learn to find joy in being part of a group. Tengu also regularly acts as advisors to the various courts. Their skill at gathering information puts any court lucky enough to have a wereraven counselor at a distinct advantage.

Tengu society is as egalitarian as that of the Corax worldwide, with no Auspices or particular deference based on rank. Those who serve the Beast Courts adhere to the rank system of the Way of Emerald Virtue and most often take on the Leaf Auspice when they join a sentai.

Among their own kind, Tengu settle disputes using games rather than physical combat. Often, these games use unknowing human pawns. The competing wereravens manipulate two or more humans into taking part in some competition, where each wereraven bets on and perhaps secretly aids a particular human contestant. Even once the contest is over, the humans rarely have any idea that their contest was anything more than a drunken rivalry or a series of unfortunate coincidences.

Tengu Traits and Gifts

Though the Tengu of the Beast Courts were the original innovators of most of the wereraven battle-Gifts, such as Bloody Feather Storm, these ‘secrets’ have long since been dissemi­ nated among the greater body of the Corax.

The reverence for dragons present in many Asian cultures extends to the Changing Breeds, and while the Zhong-Lung are neither particularly numerous nor significantly wiser than the other streams, they are easily the most respected. Unlike other Mokolé, these ancient reptiles have archid forms that appear as the dragons of legend. Also, while some Zhong-Lung are kin to monitor lizards or freshwater crocodiles, many are related to the large ocean-going saltwater crocodiles. These beasts are found all across coastal Asia, from Myanmar to China, as well as the shores of Indonesia and Australia. The sea-going Zhong-Lung have close ties both with others of their kind who live in rivers and swamps, and with the Same-Bito with whom they share the same seas.

Although they can be fierce warriors when something threatens them or their allies, when not facing and immediate threat, most Zhong-Lung remain lost in the dreams of Mnesis. Even homid Zhong-Lung

take little interest in the activities of humans or in events beyond the scope of their families and local Beast Court.

Organization

The lives of male and female Zhong-Lung are very different. Male Zhong Lung (or k’iulung) usually live alone, coming together only to mate, confer, defend their homes or attend to court matters. Female Zhong Lung (or chi’lung) are far more social, living in groups of

three or four called ching-tu, to pro­

tect their young and any pregnant

females. A female elder known

as an “aunt” (aiyi)

rules each ching-tu.

Male Zhong Lung

typically spend

several months

with their

mates before resuming their solitary life. When the female gives birth, the aunt invites the father to pay respect to his mate and greet his progeny.

Unlike Mokolé, Zhong-Lung only breed with partners of their breed form. Each aiyi is in charge of approving and overseeing courtship and mating rituals for the members of her ching-tu. Homid k’iulung usually enter into storytelling or artistic competitions to impress their prospective mates; suchid k’iulung more often resort to physical combat to first blood for the same purpose. Both breeds enjoy riddle contests as a means of settling disputes. Although Zhong-Lung do not hesitate to fight the Emerald Mother's foes, they keenly understand how limited their numbers are and avoid spilling blood over mating practices.

Zhong Lung Traits and Gifts

The Middle Dragons differ significantly from their brethren elsewhere. Most notably, the Zhong Lung have four Auspices based on the seasons, rather than the cycle of Heaven; each corresponds with one of the Mokolé solar Auspices. Additionally, all Zhong Lung who are members of the Beast Courts can take Gifts from the Garou’s Galliard list as Auspice Gifts.

Finally, the Zhong Lung have mastered a number of Mokolé Gifts rarely seen outside of Asia: