Bone Gnawers
BG.gif

I may be dirty, I may be poor and I may be ugly. But when it comes down to the wire, I'll lay my life on the line for Gaia and any of those under her auspices. Your high horse talk doesn't do a damn bit of good if you don't have the gumption to back it up.

- Grandfather Bannion, Bone Gnawer Ahroun

Overview


Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers are the two tribes that dare call the scab like cities their homes. However unlike the Glass Walkers, the Bone Gnawers don't have money, they don't have wealth, they don't have high connections. They barely have enough to survive, but that suits them just fine. The Bone Gnawers are seen as the lowest of the low among the other tribes in the Garou Nation. Seen by most as filthy cowards who would turn in their own mother for a warm meal and a change of clothes. However, this is far from the truth when it comes to Rat's children. For the Omega Tribe, a little kindness can go along way. Yes they are dirty, yes they are smelly, and yes they will most likely scrape as much money out of you as they can. But they are Survivors and they are devoted to their Kinfolk. You can count on a Gnawer when it comes to a fight, and they aren't afraid to fight dirty. You can rely on them for information, cause they have their ears attuned to the streets. And it is this attitude that helps them find Gaia in the slums and ghettos, hell it may be the very thing that will keep them alive through the Apocalypse.

Appearance
Bone Gnawers wander the streets of mankind's major cities passing themselves off as drifters, blue-collar types and homeless drop-outs. Even in Homid form, they often appear mangy, scrawny, starving and feral. Using this subterfuge, they patrol the streets. In Lupus form, their coats are a mishmash of clashing colors, stains and smells. Some try to pass themselves off as stray dogs or lost mutts, but any human can sense a Bone Gnawer's muted rage and pain instinctively. Although some have bred with stray dogs to create strange hybrids, a desperate Gnawer can't pass himself off as anything other than a feral and dangerous animal that's more wolf than dog. Better call Animal Control, just to be sure.

Kinfolk
Gnawers often congregate in urban packs for their own protection, adopting runaways, street kids, drifters and the homeless into their streetwise gangs. Some of these allies and contacts are Kinfolk; others are just victims in desperate need of protection. Kin can be found among any race or nationality in the world, but most such lost souls come from squalid, or at least struggling, backgrounds.

Totem


Rat: Totem of War to many other tribes, Rats are small weak creatures. Cowardly and always hiding. After all wolves eat rats. But to the Bone Gnawers, rat is a cunning war totem, surviving in wait, striking when the time is right, and doing so even when cornered.

The Rat totem however has two aspects, those who turn to the war path often turn to Father Rat. He is the one that will bare his teeth, and claw at his enemies, spreading plague and sickness in infected wounds. But there is also a nurturing aspect of rat, Mother Rat. She is the one that helps her own, takes care of her babies, and helps all survive. As if to add to the confusion there is also The Rat God. A foaming, screaming beast that calls out to its children to tear down the walls and wage war on the enemies of the Mother.

Whichever the aspect of Rat that one follows, he grants his packs more willpower, for they will need it. Rat teaches his followers the best ways to bite, making it easier for them to inflict wounds when attacking this way. Rat's stealth isn't ignored, and packs under Rat seem to be as quiet as mice. And whiles Ratkin always hate Garou, they will be slightly more tolerant of those packs that do follow Rat.

Whether you are in a pack dedicated to Rat, or in Rat's tribe: Rat requires that you never, ever harm vermin. Particularly rats.

Tribal Advantage/Disadvantage


The Barking Chain: Because Gnawers have such a strong connection with their kinfolk, they can pick up any information on the streets. Along with that they are able to send information in their networks of kinfolk. It is really hard to intercept a message that you can't translate. And a group of dogs barking is little more than a nuisance to most people.

Social Outcasts: +1 difficulty on all Social rolls involving other tribes.
The rest of the Garou Nation just doesn’t have much respect for the Bone Gnawers. Even when a Gnawers achieves a remarkable feat, the praise often bears the unpleasant tone of “He did very well indeed… particularly for one of his tribe.” As a result, Bone Gnawers generally suffer a +1 difficulty modifier to any Social rolls made to impress, intimidate or otherwise deal with other tribes. This Weakness is generally overcome on a case-by-case basis, as other werewolves learn to respect and even admire the Bone Gnawer in question.

Camps


Deserters:
Gnawers who were sick of the physical world and and took to exploring the Umbra. However once they came back they found out a horrible truth. There is No Where to Run, No Where to Hide.

Frankweilers:
This eclectic, sometimes excentric group of Gnawers finds refuge in the museums and historical sites of the city. Preserving its history and keeping records.

Hillfolk:
The true "redneck" Bone Gnawer, this camp maintains traditional ways whiles keeping away from modern evils. However this only puts them into the perspective being ignorant hicks who are hiding in the woods.

Maneaters:
A camp that is only seen as an "Urban Legend" among the other tribes, only the Gnawers wish that it was really so.

Rat Fink:
Need information about the secrets of that Pentex subsidiary? What about those damn leeches living underground? Or corrupt political figures? Sure they'll give you information on them. For a Price.

Road Warders:
These wanderlust stuck Gnawers see themselves as the scouts for the Garou Nation. Searching the planet for the Wyrm's influence in places were it spawns and remains unchallenged. They aren't as quick as the Striders, but they are willing to take the long road to find what they might not.

The Hood:
Robin had it right. Steal from the rich, give to the poor. Do unto others as they would do unto you, and make sure you don't get taken advantage of.

The Swarm:
People think the Gnawers run, they think they hide. But not The Swarm. They are biding their time, stockpiling food, ammo, explosives and other things for the final days.

See Also: Gifts, Garou Information

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License