Bestiary

Gray men are the fomori created by the unpleasant union of Gray Mass Bane and human, though they can also be created from virtually any living creature. These monsters, like their parasitic masters, exist solely to spread their blight to every living thing they encounter. They are little more than animated lumps of fungus, capable of combat and a limited amount of rational thought. Their slick gray skin appears almost greasy, and the slime they produce carries a highly contagious infection that continues to spread Gray Mass spores to everything alive. When killed (an unpleasant but not difficult task) the bodies of the fomori explode like a giant puffball, releasing the millions of the spores that created them.

Most of the Gray Men are little more than ambu-latory fungal forests, though a few are rumored to be capable of intense thought and can, in time, achieve a powerful connection to the Wyrm. Theoretically, some of them might be able to live for centuries — if so, there might be ancient Gray Men with great bases of power and almost godlike abilities.

Fomor Powers (pp. 429-439): Fungal Touch, Immunity to the Delirium

through their hosts, the Gray Men (see above) that they become obvious.

Background

Once they broke down the dead, re-cycling the dead mass of the spirit world and making it anew in the name of the Wyld. Now the Gray Masses are creatures of the Wyrm, and they ignore the dead to infest the living. In the Umbra these corrupted spirits are little more than a nuisance, a bad smell that festers as it waits. But these fungal Banes slip easily into the physical, normally carried along by whatever else breaches the Gauntlet, unnoticed because they are small. When they reach the Gaia Realm, however, they grow at a frightening rate.

Within hours of arriving, the Fungal Masses — which Materialize as spores identical to those passed by regular fungi — find a host and make themselves at home. Within a day, they produce more spores, carrying their entropy as far as the winds permit and starting the cycle again. Their purpose is simple enough: replace the life that exists with their own form of life — a Wyrm-tainted, fetid growth that is far more virulent than most diseases.

The Gray Masses have no allies, even among other Banes. More than 99% are destroyed by spirits, shapechangers or other threats. But when the remaining one percent gets through, the results can be horrific.

What happens to a Garou infected by the spores? Can the werewolf s regeneration fight off or delay the infection?

Nobody knows for certain.

Storytelling Notes: The parasitic nature of most fungi is key to using the Gray Masses effectively. The vivid image of a living thing caked with their horrific presence can be very effective. These Banes are fast-growing and voracious; they have no subtlety, only a need to consume and pervert whatever living matter they touch. Though the Possession these Banes create is not as strong as most — the hosts still have their own memories and agendas — the effects are still powerful. Entire communities or forests can be overwhelmed by these Banes in a matter of days.

Obviously, the Gray Masses and the Gray Men should only be encountered rarely. There are Gifts and rites that can counter the effects of the Masses’ possession if performed soon enough. A pack might encounter one of the older and far more powerful Gray Men who has survived long enough to re-develop a real sentience, and changed into something far, far worse than a walking infection. The Gray Masses are such a threat that the pack might even find itself fighting alongside a band of Black Spiral Dancers to end the menace — a sobering prospect indeed.