Tribes & Fera

If the Bunyip’s fall was the most senseless and the Croatan’s the most noble, the fall of the White Howlers has been the most damaging to the Garou Nation as a whole. Their corruption and rebirth as the Black Spiral Dancers has given the Wyrm a clear advantage in the war. But in their heyday, the White Howlers were a ferocious and implacable tribe of warriors, rightly feared by the forces of the Wyrm.

The White Howlers were closely tied to the Pictish people of what is now Scotland. They would sometimes venture across the Channel to the mainland for a glorious Rage, but they didn’t linger there for long. Their tight bonds to their land limited their numbers, but their hold over their territory was absolute. To claim even a single hill of Howler territory was as difficult as driving them into the sea. Many Theurges have attempted to reconstruct the rituals and spiritual practices of the White Howlers. They were reputed to be excellent trackers, and had ties to strange and secretive spirits of dark holes and mist-choked nights. A certain morbidity crept into their spiritual traditions as well. They hunted ghosts for sport, challenged death-spirits, and some White Howlers even spent time lying in cold barrows, meditating on their own mortality.

The Children of Lion were wild and passionate, even by the standards of their nearest Fianna and Fenrir neighbors. They exulted as wildly as any Fianna, but their dearest loves were battle and the hunt. When they couldn’t find any forces of the Wyrm to stalk, chase, and rend limb from limb, they staged extensive ritual brawls with one another to hone their skills and release their Rage. These battles could get quite bloody, but the Howlers’ tribal bonds were too strong to let any resultant grudges tear them apart. They also ventured frequently into the Umbra on extensive hunts, searching for worthy prey that could not be found in the physical realm.

But their exuberant bravery and their tight-knit bonds were also their downfall. When some of their finest trackers brought back news of a path into Malfeas, the tribe ignited with dreams of surpassing glory. To fight the Wyrm in its lair — to defeat it there! They rallied one and all, for the entire tribe would be necessary for such a task. Then they set out into the Pit. There they danced the Black Spiral. There they fell. Only one, Cororuc, escaped his brethren and made it to a nearby Fianna sept. He warned the others of what had happened before he died as the last of the White Howlers.

Today the White Howlers are a warning and object lesson taught to young Garou, a caution against too much pride. The Bunyip died tragically but through no fault of their own, and the Croatan died in noble sacrifice, but the White Howlers gained nothing from their fall while the Wyrm gained a great deal. Still, some Garou can’t help but wonder if this is truly the end. The Black Spiral Dancers’ line is still extant, and Lion is still active. The elders growl that hoping for a “last White Howler” is a fool’s game, but a few cubs in every generation wonder.