Bestiary

It’s easy to fall into the trap of crediting Banes with every form of human evil, but they’re not. In fact, they’re not the source of human evil at all. They’re just an insidi­ ous amplifier, playing up the darkness that already exists in humanity’s souls. Banes look for darkness that already exists and try to make it worse. They’re parasites, and are better suited to drawing out what already lurks in the human heart than creating it whole cloth. Humans are a breeding ground for negative emotions. Why go to the effort of introducing cruelty, hatred, or shame to barren ground when they can just fertilize the seeds of those emotions which already lurk in someone’s psyche?

Since, as with all spirits, a Bane is literally defined by its purpose, there are damn few repentant or morally gray Banes. Even if a Bane can be somehow purified, the spirit becomes reformed in both senses of the word. Corruption defines Banes — it shapes their forms, their powers, their sense of purpose. As spiritual representations of arche­ types, they are relatively one-dimensional (Gafflings and Jagglings, at least; the higher the spirit on the celestial food chain, the more independent personality it is likely to have). With Banes, the key element is the symbolism inherent to the spirit world, not the anthropomorphiza­ tion of a more humanlike enemy.

Banes can be extremely effective as a representation of the unyielding, unreasoning enemy that the Garou face. A swarm of almost hive-minded Banes is a terrible enemy that cannot be placated or reasoned with, only avoided or destroyed. However, they are also an extremely useful tool for a Storyteller to use when coloring the atmosphere of her setting: a very visual, symbolic, and dangerous cue that the situation is far worse than it looks. An elementary school may peaceful enough on the outside — but when

the Garou step sideways, and are nearly torn to pieces by a Bane swarm that’s grown fat and strong on the prem­ ises, the players become much more alert to the gravity of their situation. Throw in some interesting symbolism (the school’s Bane population looks like wizened children with the mouths of dogs or like animated books with rabid jaws that leave its victims stupefied) and the tone is set.

Storytellers are encouraged to create Banes to suit their chronicle; simple Banes of any negative emotion can be created using a few simple steps. In addition, samples of a variety of more complex Banes of varying types and power levels are offered. Feel free to customize the suggested Bane breeds, or to create your own using the following sidebar.