Bestiary

Silent stalkers of human and Garou alike, Harpies circle the sky, scanning for any sign of dissension and jealousy upon which to feed. Unhealthy rivalries soaked with envy attract the Banes, who then find an adequate place up high and out of sight in which to build their nests. From their vantage points, they spy on the goings on about them, leaving their nests to steal small items of value . The trinkets end up back in their nests, where the spirits wait for opportune moments to place them in strategic locations to implicate others in the theft, sowing distrust in even close relationships.

Rage

Charms: Incite Rage, Innocuous*, Materialize, Peek * Innocuous: Harpies excel at hiding in plain sight. By spending one point of Essence, witnesses overlook a Harpy and its nest. This Charm doesn’t make the Bane or its taint invisible, but rather keeps anyone from no-ticing it. Only those specifically looking for something out of place will have a chance of seeing the spirit, and even then an observer must succeed at a Willpower roll (difficulty 9) to overcome the effects of the charm. The effect lasts for one scene.

5, Gnosis 7, Willpower 10, Essence 22

Image: Harpies appear as falcons with mangy green feathers that never sit flat. Thick overgrown talons clasp at their perches as they constantly shift, never quite able to hold their balance. A Harpy’s eyes glow brilliant toxic green in the darkness, shining with malicious intelligence. Their nests are crafted from branches and leaves of nearby foliage, gnawed from still living limbs. The bark twists and withers from the agony of its final moments of life, loop-ing in with other dead branches to create a woven wall. Such nests hide various tokens of import that the Harpy has stolen; letters, thumbdrives, talens, and the occasional fetish have all found their way into a Harpy’s talons.

Background

Carved from the essence of captured Falcon spirits, Harpies are terrors for Garou to behold, especially the Silver Fangs. Harpies prefer to nest high in the Umbra above septs or on the top of office buildings

where they watch for victims. Pentex employees have fallen to the corrupted falcon spirits more than once, and the corporation finds the Banes to be a nuisance at best. Black Spiral Dancers, however, take a wicked glee in observing a sept over which a Harpy has nested. The birds steal whatever they can from the Garou, taking utmost caution when doing so. They then place the valuables with others, inciting blame for theft. When tempers start to flare within the sept, the Harpy waits for an opportune moment to throw as much of the sept into chaos as it can. The Bane is fond of turning Garou against their elders, and its favorite targets are the strict hierarchies of the Shadow Lords and Silver Fangs.

Storytelling Notes: Harpies target any sept that has dissension boiling within its boundaries. Items go missing, Garou blame one another, and Harpies are patient enough that the descent into chaos can take weeks or even months. If a pack has been doing particularly well and is basking in its success, a Harpy might start turning others in the sept against them, especially the younger packs. A packmate could find himself framed for numerous thefts, leaving it up to his fellows to clear his name and find the true thief.