Bestiary

Balefire Sharks have all of the traits of ordinary Rokea, except that they can regain Gnosis in any body of polluted or radioactive water and they are immune to the effects of any of the four elemental Wyrms. They possess the same Gifts as other Rokea, but can also learn Black Spiral Dancer tribal Gifts. In addition, they can only possess Wyrm Totems and summon Banes, since other spirits refuse to deal with these corrupt creatures.

Balefire Sharks require regular exposure to radiation to survive. At least once a month, every Balefire Shark must spend at least one full day in an undersea Wyrm Grotto associated with the element of balefire or swimming in a source of moderately strong radiation. Spending time in an intense source of radioactivity also allows them to recover all of their Gnosis within an hour. Only the cracked reactor core of a sunken nuclear submarine or other similarly massive sources of radiation are powerful enough to allow the Balefire Shark to accomplish this feat.

to survive, not to fight the Wyrm, most had few regrets about this alliance. Swearing allegiance to creatures allied with the deadly radiation of the atomic blast that killed them was a very different matter. Only the most desperate Rokea made this terrible choice. Some soon regretted their decision but like all bargains with the Wyrm, this one was far easier to make than to break. The nature of their transformation means that most Balefire Sharks have difficulty even considering disobeying Lord Kerne’s orders and any who attempt to forswear the Wyrm swiftly die from radiation sickness.

The balefire elementals ordered these sharks to patrol the polluted waters around nuclear power plants and factories producing toxic chemicals, keeping them safe from anyone on land or sea who would interfere with their operation. Balefire Sharks can exist comfortably in both fresh and saltwater, as long as this water is radioactive or otherwise polluted. As a result, a few Balefire Sharks now patrol areas in the Great Lakes, Lake Baikal, the Caspian Sea, and other similar bodies of water.

Since the mid-1950s, many of the Balefire Sharks have learned more about the land, so that they can better protect factories and power plants. Most, however,

still have little real understanding of human technology or society. Instead, their methods of providing protection remain exceedingly direct. They attack and devour anyone who interferes with a location they are guarding. The Wyrm affected their minds as well as their bodies, altering their loyalties so that most of them see nothing wrong with killing other weresharks who threaten their charges. Most Balefire Sharks are now far more comfortable with other minions of the Wyrm than with non-corrupted Rokea. The corruption that balefire inflicts upon a creature has driven a few Balefire Sharks entirely mad. These creatures take every opportunity to spread the radiation that nourishes them all across the oceans.

Instead of protecting nuclear sites from interference, they destroy reactors and rip open radioactive waste dumps in order to spread poison across a large area. These insane Balefire Sharks are sometimes too indiscriminately destructive for the Wyrm’s more careful and subtle agents. On a few occasions, agents of the Wyrm have found ways to pass messages to either Rokea or members of another Changing Breed, encouraging them to slay a Balefire

Shark whose indiscriminate destruction and overt pollution has gotten in the way of some of the Wyrm’s plans.