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Septs

Page history last edited by Hal! 1 year, 1 month ago Saved with comment

Septs

this is a page detailing several different septs and the caerns that they guard. Our pack is theoretically based out of the Glittering Dreams Sept, but they're engaged on a mobile quest, so they're going to encounter multiple septs as time goes on, and to have had contact with others in the past. So yeah.


Map

The delightful Søren Dalsgaard (our own Lars) made a nifty Google map of many of the world's known Garou caerns for a certain moderated online chat. Hal cheerfully ganked it and has modified it heavily for our use. Its tweaking is an ongoing process.

 

See the map here.

 

The below map shows the rough boundaries of the territories claimed by Garou Septs in the LA area, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

LA Area Septs

 

This map differentiates between caerns that are from canonical sources (which are generally assumed to be present in this chronicle also unless we specify otherwise) and those from fan-made sources. Hal is gradually reviewing the fan-made ones to see which he wants to keep.

 

The Glittering Dreams Sept

Caern: Pasadena, CA

Level: 2 (35 Garou. The United Front (4), The Tournament of Roses (4), the Dive Bombers (4), The Downtowners (5), Rat's Brood (4), Hang Fire (5), The Brass Monkeys (4), the player pack (3). 2 lone wolves: Autofire and Moon Shot.)

Gauntlet: 4

Type: Craftsmanship

Tribal Structure: Glass Walkers, with Bone Gnawers and Uktena (open)

Totem: Hephaestus

(source: Los Angeles By Night, p. 12, 46 & 52)
This is a powerful and successful Sept in the Los Angeles area founded in the 1920s. Its Glass Walker leaders claim Glendale and Pasadena as their particular territory, where it focuses heavily on the research at CalTech and JPL. A few of the Glass Walkers have made moves on properties in Malibu, where they have had some difficulties with the Black Furies over territory.

 

One pack of Bone Gnawers mixed with Uktena called The Downtowners that are also part of this Sept operates in downtown and South Central and has a small but active Hood organization. Until recently they were busily looking to find a suitable location for opening an urban Caern and Sept of their own someplace downtown or in East LA, but this group was devastated by the disaster downtown in October of 2010 and the Black Spiral raids that followed the disaster - This pack was badly reduced in number and almost destroyed, and their efforts to find allies to restore their crumbling dream of separation to build their own sept drew in the Bone Gnawer pack called Rat's Brood and that latter pack's erstwhile Ratkin allies while all parties were under manipulation by the Shadow Lords and Glass Walkers of the Hang Fire pack. This tangled mess nearly plunged the Glittering Dreams sept into civil war and dragged several of Los Angeles' Mage Chantries and even vampires into a free-for-all, but the Eye of the Storm intervened and defused the conflict.

Glittering Dreams Sept Territory

 

Geography

Bawn 

Glittering Dreams Bawn

This sept’s Bawn is a challenging one to watch over, including as it does the Caltech campus. There is a gated office park marked “GD&L Institute” just west of the school campus proper that is considered the main portion of the Bawn, however. Though they cannot keep tight tabs on everything going on at the school, the facility just west of it is considerably more secure, and has extensive security both mundane, technological and supernatural. Though they watch the entirety of the Bawn, this is the one portion in which they allow no supernatural intrusion at all, and contains all of the Sept’s other key locations such as shrines and the Caern Heart. Rather than howling at the edge of the Bawn as one might in rural Caerns, guests are advised to call or text ahead. 

 

A parking structure edged and surrounded with a great deal of hardy, drought friendly greenery stands just outside the boundaries of the college itself. There are a couple of armed security guards in the booth there that look guests over and man the gate, and radio in to the Warder for authorization to permit entry. Expected guests that are not coming via Moon Bridge are given prearranged temporary code phrases (Sept members have individually identifiable card keys). The complex is definitely in excellent shape, and it also has lots of greenery and a variety of sculptures and artworks in various degrees of abstraction. The main building is a beautiful, very modern structure with clean lines and well maintained yet verdant gardens surrounding it, and large planters just inside the glass front security doors. The facility interior is clean, gleaming and humming with technology. It is well lit, tastefully appointed with lots of mirror-reflective surfaces, marble, glass partitions and flat panes of neutral colors punctuated with brilliantly colored indoor flora. A stylish yet professional looking receptionist at a lovely front reception area that also houses another security booth. Beyond this reception area are the principal ground floor areas (an executive office suite, a large boardroom, a kitchen and some lab space and an elevator going both up to additional office, kitchen and conference room, and down into the principal laboratory and fabrication spaces. The lower floor has a security and reception station right by the elevator, adjacent a security command center containing banks of monitors and computer systems, as well as the Warder's office.

 

The Caern’s Bawn extends a bit in each direction from the heart, and a spur of it extends southeast to take in part of the Huntington complex of gardens, libraries and museums.

((200-350 acres is the typical Bawn for a level 2 Caern, and the Caltech campus is 124 acre, making up about half of the Bawn))

 

Caern Heart

The Caern heart itself is beneath the GD&L facility in a machine shop containing high powered kilns, fabrication equipment and powerful computer systems, and is a humming hive of spiritual and physical activity. Hephaestus is always engaged in one project or another, and his spirit servitors and modern elementals are always coming and going on trails of fire and electricity. At one end of this chamber is a round portal with an iris aperture, which is where the Sept prefers to open its outgoing Moon Bridges. Opposite the portal stands a shrine to Hephaestus, a large metal sculpture of him at work at his forge, with offerings spread around it.

 

Landmarks

Umbrascape

Though definitely Gaian, this Caern’s umbrascape crackles with the energies of the Weaver in a way that would set the teeth of most other Garou on edge. It is carefully and exhaustively kept harmonious rather than in stasis.

 

Graves of the Hallowed Heroes

The GD&L facility's lower floor contains a memorial hall, on the opposite end from the Caern Heart, facing out to the multi-level greenhouse and garden. This pristine marble room is lined with niches in which the ashes of many fallen Garou are kept, with plaques telling of their names and deeds. Many of these are paired with portraits, busts, artifacts or other memorials.

 

Living Area

The GD&L complex includes an outbuilding mostly devoted to dormitory space, enough to house the permanent residents, guardian packs, some Kinfolk and a handful of guests. The sept has grown beyond this living space, however, and cannot at this time easily accommodate its entire membership and their families on site without some crowding.

 

Shrines

Outside of the reception area and executive offices and assembly boardroom that are the Caern's main 'public' spaces, shrines dot the GD&L facility, mostly in the downstairs laboratory area and on the ground floor near the Graves of the Hallowed Heroes. Hung photographs and relics and collections are displayed, a modern interpretation of shrines to the totems that the sept's various packs follow. Some of these were done in such a style that they blend right in to the building's pristine decor, but several clash rather badly with the building's overall aesthetic. Rat's shrine is a jumble of found objects like rusty pipes, hubcaps and license plates in the rough shape of a rat, and another (quite new looking) shrine to the Monkey King is a small plinth on which stands a little Chinese-style brass figurine of a monkey holding a staff, in front of a framed, glossy poster of Son Goku from Dragon Ball.

 

Lab 117

This is the primary lab that adjoins the workshop that is the Caern's heart. It is a gleaming forest of chrome, fluorescent lighting, computer monitors and esoteric looking equipment, plus a large touchscreen "whiteboard". Across the hall from this lab stands a shrine to Shantar the Loom Maker: a life sized statue of a figure whose upper body is that of a smiling woman, nude other than a crown upon her head and other jewelry, her lower body a mass of octopus-like tentacles perching atop a loom. She holds in one arm a small rocket to her bosom much as one might display a babe in arms to visitors, and in her other hand she holds a trident. The door by which this statue stands has a placard: “Institute Director Lucrezia Leotta, PhD”. This is the door to Moon Shot's office, which she prefers to keep here rather than in the office suite on the ground floor so that she can be closer to her work and the Caern Heart.

 

Assembly Area

The Sept's assembly area is a large boardroom in a suite of executive offices on the ground floor, and visible from a balcony space amongst the second storey offices. With the Sept's recent growth, this space has become quite crowded during full-Sept moots.

 

History

The Iron Riders came to the Los Angeles area early in the development of the area, and their successors the Wise Guys and other Glass Walkers were actively involved in the rise of the city in the early 20th century. It wasn’t until the early 1920s, however, that they built a Caern in the area and founded an official sept, which they named for the glitzy promise that the area showed. They have been involved with CalTech since its inception, and in JPL since it was established, both during its Army years and after its transition to NASA, though that latter transition happened in the midst of a conflict with certain other interested parties that prompted the creation of GD&L Institute as an additional cover and affiliated yet somewhat autonomous agency.

 

The Sept

Rites

Being led by a Theurge as they are, this sept pays careful attention to its Umbrascape and the spiritual health of its environs.

 

Personalities

  • Sept Leader/Gatekeeper: Lucrezia "Moon Shot" Leotta (GW elder Theurge - packless. Personal Totem: Shantar)
  • Guardians: The Tournament of Roses pack (4 members)
  • Keeper of the Land/Master of the Rite: Richard "Roomba" Brand (GW Athro Theurge, roboticist, member of Tournament of Roses)
  • Master of the Challenge: Jane "Hard Light" Collins (GW Athro Philodox, alpha of Tournament of Roses)
  • Warder: Autofire (GW Elder Metis Ahroun - packless. Personal Totem: Clashing Boom Boom) 
  • Truthcatcher: Mike "Gearshift" Henderson (GW Adren Philodox, alpha of the United Front)
  • Wyrmfoe: Eric Bronco (GW Adren Ahroun, member of the United Front)

 

Packs

  • The Tournament of Roses (Totem: Cockroach)
  • The United Front (Totem: Sodals)
  • The Dive Bombers (Totem: Boar)
  • The Downtowners (Totem: Cuckoo)
  • Rat's Brood (Totem: Rat) - as of Story 7
  • Hang Fire (totem: Clashing Boom Boom) - as of Story 7
  • The Brass Monkeys (totem: Monkey King)  - As of Story 8
  • St. Elmo's Fire (The Unifier) - As of Story  9

 


 

Sept of the Boiling Earth

Caern: Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Level: 4

Gauntlet: 3

Type: Strength

Tribal Structure: Uktena, with Wendigo, Black Furies and Children of Gaia. Open to all tribes other than Fianna and Get of Fenris. (26 Garou in about 7 packs)

Totem: Tehama (Volcano)

Boiling Earth Geography

At the southern end of the Cascade Range in Northern California, a bit south of Mt. Shasta and east of Redding, can be found Lassen Volcanic National Park. This is the home of Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world, as well as several other volcanoes, mudpots, hot springs, fumaroles and similar geothermal sites. Most of this activity (and indeed Lassen Peak itself) takes place within the area once occupied by a now-collapsed and formerly much larger volcano that is referred to as Mt. Tehama. This area not only has geothermal activity, but also the highest precipitation of any region in California, which contributes to a flourishing old growth forest that is mostly in the same state that it was before European settlers arrived.

 

A map of the park itself is available here. The official park website is here.

 

The Caern itself is located on a southeast facing slope between the peaks of Mt. Diller and Brokeoff Mountain (near the geothermal area known as the Sulphur Works), within what was once the caldera of Mt. Tehama. The Sept considers the entire park and much of the surrounding area to be its protectorate.

 

Bawn

The actual bawn of the Caern is expansive, taking up over 1,000 acres worth of the park (about 1% of the park's total acreage). Much of the eastward slopes below Brokeoff Mountain (the second highest peak in the park) and the southern face of Mt. Diller...

 

Caern Heart

The Caern's Heart (also known reverently as The Crater) is found in a crater in the side of Brokeoff Mountain. There is a fumarole here where the earth still vents steam and poisonous gases at terrific temperatures intermittently into the skies. The crater is significant enough in size that part of it can still be accessed when the fumarole is active if one will show proper care. The sides of the crater are steep and protect the almost-cave from easy outside observation, and a narrow and carefully concealed path leads up to this place from the treeline below. The entry to the crater, the only area that is consistently safe to enter, has been converted into a beautifully decorated shrine/vestibule where one can perform rites and commune with Tehama even in times when is not safe to approach him directly. The rest of the Crater is simple yet elegant, ornamented only with sacred glyph carvings in the stone and figures carved from volcanic rock hard enough to endure even the tremendous heat and acidity of the fumarole for a time. In time even the figures will break down and be replaced, but such is the way of Tehama.

 

This place is usually strangely quiet, even in the Umbra. Spirits come and go here constantly and swiftly, but most are silent about their errands and few are boisterous lest they draw the ire of solemn Tehama. Change is constant yet almost impossible to detect here: the Umbral walls maintain many more glyphs and cave paintings than do those in the material world, and these seem to shift and move when a visitor is not looking directly upon them. Sometimes the elders of the caern meditate upon these changes, looking for portents and signs.

 

The great Totem spirit Tehama is of course the living spirit of the now-eroded volcano of the same name, so he could be thought of as the ghost of a volcano if it weren't for the fact that, though collapsed into ruin, his mountain still burbles and burns, and is powerful enough in his ruin that even one of the edges of his former shell (Lassen Peak) remains one of the West Coast's mightiest and most active volcanoes. He is a Totem of Respect who demands that all respect the power and honor of the Wyld, resolutely advocating change, righteousness and conviction. Adapt to what is needed, he counsels, and when you do so, proclaim yourself boldly, nobly and without shame. This spirit is strong-willed, forceful and often difficult to reason with, but those that will show patience and attentiveness to him will find great treasures of wisdom from the boiling heart of the earth.

 

Landmarks

  • Tehama's Dish: This is the assembly area of the caern. This place is a natural amphitheater with a cliff face to its back. The sept holds moots, councils and challenges here regularly. The amphiteater was formed by the erosion and collapse of an extinct fumarole.
  • Graves of the Hallowed Heroes: ...
  • Shrines: This is a large and powerful Caern with a number of associated packs, so naturally its grounds are dotted with shrines to various spirits. The totem spirit of each pack and represented tribe has a shrine devoted to it, as do, Tehama, Dragonfly and Tehama's brother Earthquake. A couple of the shrines present actually have totem poles, carved by Wendigo members of the sept as a reminder of their tribal connection to lands further northward.
  • Living Area: The sept maintains an inholding near Forest Lake containing several sets of cabins tucked away in the woods to make up a loose village where Garou and some of their closest Kinfolk dwell. It is a very rustic place with few amenities, but it is well suited to the sensibilities of the Uktena and Wendigo that dominate the Sept. Most of the Sept's Human Kinfolk reside either in the several small towns or reservations (such as the Susanville Rancheria and the Nomi Lackee Indian Reservation) in the vicinity of the park.
  • Medicine Lodge: On the edge of the inholding that houses those Garou who dwell within the Bawn itself is one of the most sacred and heavily-defended portions of the Caern - the Medicine Lodge. This is where the Theurges of the Sept keep the mystical items and lore that they have accumulated. Warlocks' grimoires, Bane-Fetishes, catalogs of spirit broods, the Ironhammer once wielded by the late Jarl of the Cleansing Path sept and numerous other things besides are stored here for study and research. The lodge is covered in glyphs, magical symbols and more esoteric wardings, and a veritable cloud of guardian spirits silently watch over it - but only from the outside.
  • Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center: This is not part of the bawn, but is relevant because a fair percentage of its staff are Kinfolk and the Sept uses it as a useful point from which anybody using the park's Southern entrance (the nearest to the Caern proper) can be observed and potential enemies identified.

Umbrascape

Appropriately enough for an Uktena-controlled Caern whose Totem spirit is deeply associated with the Wyld, the Boiling Earth sept's Umbrascape is a vibrant and potent place, riddled with mysterious paths, airts and means of accessing the Near Umbra as well as the esoteric domains therein. Ancient and primal spirits like Basalt and various spirits of Elemental Fire, Wind and Earth are commonplace. Spirits of many sorts come and go constantly, on this or that errand for the sept or the broods of the various totem spirits honored here. Of course, Uktena's enigmatic brood is especially well represented, and in the icy winters the brood of Wendigo make a notable incursion. Many places in the Caern's umbrascape where long-term bindings have been laid in the material world blaze with glowing ghost-fire glyphs carved in stone or trees, or laid upon the ground here

 

BE History

 

The Sept

Rites

Personalities

  • Council of Elders: As might be expected, three of the four members of this sept's Council of Elders are Uktena and the fourth is a Wendigo.
  • Gatekeeper: Nina Howls-Down-The-Avalanche Colbert - Homid Uktena Galliard (Elder) - member of the Council of Elders. She focuses her efforts largely on mentoring and teaching the cubs and Cliaths of the Sept since her duties keep her in the inner portions of the Bawn and the Caern heart, but give her the time to teach.
  • Guardians: The Caern has a large Bawn, and so it has two full time guardian packs that report to its Warder, and it also tends to require any Anruth that come to the Sept to serve as Guardians for a time as Chiminage. The Spear Dancers pack (Totem: Hummingbird) and the Fire Walkers pack (Totem: Volcano) are the current permanent Guardians of this Caern.
  • Keeper of the Land: Judith Angelou - Metis Black Fury Theurge (Adren)
  • Master of the Challenge: Wemilo Sun-Chaser - Homid Wendigo Philodox (Elder) - member of the Council of Elders
  • Master of the Rite: Soaring Condor - Lupus Uktena Theurge (Elder) - member of the Council of Elders
  • Warder: John Burning-Mountain - Homid Uktena Ahroun (Athro) - member of the Council of Elders
  • Sept Leader: Songan Rides-the-Winds - Homid Uktena Philodox (obviously, he is an Elder and the senior council member)
  • Truthcatcher: Mapiya Sacred Hoop - Homid Uktena Philodox (Adren)
  • Wyrmfoe: Mingan Leaps-Like-Cougar - Homid Uktena Ahroun (Adren)
  • Talesinger: Henry Farsight Gunson - Homid Child of Gaia Galliard. (Adren)

Packs

  • The Elders of Mount Tehama (totem: Volcano) - (5) - Songan Rides-the-Winds (UHP5), Soaring Condor (ULT5), Nina Howls-Down-The-Avalanche (UHG5), Wemilo Sun-Chaser (WHP5), John Burning-Mountain (UHA4)
  • The Warpath (totem: the People) - (3) - Mingan Leaps-Like-Courgar (UHA4), Theodora Isthmenos (BF HP3), Mary Laughs-Like-Coyote (UHR3). Formerly Joseph Chases-the-Dream and the late Silent Medicine were part of this pack.
  • The Spear Dancers (totem: hummingbird) - (4) - Guardian Pack. Willow Roaring-Ghost (UHA 2f), (ULP 2), (WMG 2), (CG LR 2)
  • The Fire Walkers (totem: Volcano) - (3) - Guardian Pack. Mapiya Sacred Hoop (UHP3), Henry Farsight (CG HG3) & Judith Angelou (BF MT3)
  • The Horned Serpents (totem: Uktena) - (4) - (WHT 2), Mercedes Blizzard (WHA 2f), (UHT 2), (UHR 2)
  • The Black Wings (totem: Raven) - (3) - Rain-of-Icicles (WHR 2), (UHT 2), (UHP 2)
  • The Wyvern Rampant Pack (totem: Wyvern) - (4) - includes the Silver Fangs Marcus and Zoe (former PCs), the Uktena Jared and the Wendigo Gina. Marcus Falcon’s Resolve (SF HA 2), Zoe (SF HT2), Jared (UHG1), Gina (WHR 1)
  • The Hope Springs Pack (totem: Sulis) - includes former group members Guillermo, Wil, Kijika, Alexis and Maria. This pack consists of sept members, but is presently stationed at the Cleansing Path Sept, and is not counted in this total.

 


 

The Cleansing Path Sept

Caern: Winema-Fremont National Forest east of vicinity of Klamath Falls, Oregon

Level: 2 (Was once higher, but has declined)

Gauntlet: 4

Type: Healing

Tribal Structure: Get of Fenris, Fianna. Open to all tribes. (12 members in four packs; 8 get of Fenris, 4 Fianna)

Totem: Elk

 

Cleansing Path Geography

Bawn

The caern's bawn includes a village outside Chiloquin, Ross Bridge (population less than 200), inhabited entirely by the Garou and Kinfolk of the sept, a couple of miles down the mountain from the clearing that marks a cave near the caern heart. The way between is a road that crosses a river but then narrows to an animal path. It is a relatively wide path for it is heavily used, but is never driven by vehicle. The usual wet climate is part of the caern defensive plan - this path is wide enough for vehicles, but usually muddy or snowy. Here and there at the edges of the bawn are small cairns of stones that cover the heads of slain enemies that Purewater has subjected to the Rite of the Foeman's Vigil to act as additional sentries.

 

Most of the bawn consists of forested hillsides and mountain, but at the base of this area near the village is an area through which a small creek runs in summer, but which widens into a fair sized stream in the winter rains that render much of the flatland outside the village marshy and quite impassible for vehicles of almost any type.

 

Caern Heart

The heart of the Cleansing Path caern is inside a chamber within a natural cave system in which a spring reputed to have powerful healing powers can be found. A few months ago, attacking Black Spiral Dancers and Endron-paid mercenaries dynamited the entryway to this cave system, collapsing the entry and killing several Garou. The Caern heart is a powerful and calming place, yet its decline is palpable, filling the cavern with an air of sadness mixed into its compassion. Elk is seldom seen here now, for he is weakening along with his Caern.

 

Landmarks

  • The Wall -After the recent attack collapsed the entrance to the caverns, the rubble was cleared and was made into a low semicircular wall around the new entrance to the cave system. This wall was constructed in order to allow defenders to take cover in case of having to fall back to this point in the event of an attack. There is a keystone arch at one point, the one opening in the wall, and upon the keystone there is a plaque commemorating those who died in the collapse. Steve helped clear the rubble and begin construction on this wall. There is always an honor guard at this spot. This is the most common place to see Michael Smites-the-Mountains, the sept's Keeper of the Land. There are a number of stakes atop this wall, upon which Purewater has planted the heads of slain attackers, prepared as he did with those buried at the borders of the Bawn. Ivy has been planted at the base of this wall and is beginning to climb its surface.
  • The Village - Most of the knowing Kinfolk affiliated with the Sept live here. This place was hit hard in the attack, and many here are still in mourning. What with repairs to the bawn itself occupying so many of the Kin, much of the damage to the village itself still remains.
  • Assembly Area - the assembly area of this sept is a glade at the mouth of the cave that leads into the caern heart.

 

Umbrascape

 

History

The Cleansing Path Caern was originally in the care of Wendigo that were associated with the Klamath and Modoc tribes of Native Americans, but a coalition of Fianna and Get of Fenris took it by force sometime in the late 19th century. In 1981, the Sept tried to do the same thing to the Sept of the Boiling Earth, but they were badly defeated and lost most of their leadership, a loss from which they have never recovered. It was only the furious negotiations of a then-young Philodox named Purewater that kept the Uktena and Wendigo from almost immediately counterattacking and destroying the ragged remnants of this Sept then annexing their Caern in turn. These two destructive conflicts and the aggressive way that the Get of Fenris that make up most of the sept membership have been conducting themselves has caused the Caern itself to languish and wither in strength, leaving it a shadow of its former strength. Sept leader Purewater has been trying to moderate these influences and nurture the Caern back to full health, but it has been an uphill battle.

 

The Sept

This sept is unusual in that it is almost entirely made up of inexperienced and under-trained Cliaths and a few Fosterns, with only one Garou that has achieved the rank of Elder (and no Athros). Trying to get these young, fractious and cocky werewolves up to speed keeps the older Garou extremely occupied. Steve is a former member of this Sept. Every sept member not listed among the sept officers below is a Cliath. ( 1 elder, 1 Adren, 4 Fosterns, 6 Cliaths)

Rites

Personalities

  • Sept Leader: Kenny Purewater Fitzroy - Cleansing Path Sept elder. Fianna Homid Philodox. This is the overworked leader of the sept, and he made a previous appearance during Extinction Event after the battle on the bawn, and arranged for a Moon Bridge to help the Overwatch team get back to their Chantry in a hurry. Kenny is one of those men that seems like he's lost and confused most of the time, but is in fact an incisive thinker. There is no Council of Elders in this sept because there is only one Elder and there are no surviving Athros to take up the balance of these positions. Instead, Kenny sits in council with the holders of all of the major sept offices, which comprises the entire body of experienced Garou in the sept anyways. Kenny is aging and past his best years but his will remains strong.
  • Gatekeeper - The Sept Leader handles these duties.
  • Guardians - presently, two out of the sept's four packs are devoted to guardian duty, and there is no little grumbling about it. The Hounds of Cernunnos (totem: Stag, 2 members) and The Chain-Biters (Totem: Fenris, 3 members, including the Warder, the Keeper and a Fostern Get Ragabash) are the current guardian packs
  • Keeper of the Land: Michael Smites-the-Mountain Jenkins - Get of Fenris Homid Skald (Galliard), Fostern. Michael is the Warder's key ally in the sept, and works tightly with him. Some would say that he is sycophantic with the Warder, but doing so to his face would be dangerous.
  • Master of the Challenge: There are no philodoxes higher than Fostern rank in the sept other than the sept leader, so he handles this himself.
  • Master of the Rite: James Spear-of-Llieu Stewart - Fianna Homid Theurge, Fostern. James is trying hard to learn all of the rites that he's supposed to know to fill this calling, but he's really in over his head, and he knows it.
  • Warder: George Heart-of-Fury Sigurdsson - Get of Fenris Homid Modi (Ahroun), Adren. George is the leader of the Sept's Get of Fenris, and has never made it any secret that he intends to lead the entire sept sooner rather than later. He is always insistent on his right as Warder to dominate matters of Caern defense, and he and Steve have never gotten along well at all. Due to the size of the sept and dearth of competent help, there is no separate Wyrmfoe position, leaving these responsibilities in Heart-of-Fury's hands as well.
  • Truthcatcher - these duties are handled by Frances Broken-Lyre O'Leary, Fianna Homid Philodox Fostern

 


 

The Shaking Hills Sept

Caern: Angeles National Forest, north of the San Fernando Valley

Level: 2

Gauntlet: 4

Type: Courage

Tribal Structure: Get of Fenris, Shadow Lords, 2 Silver Fangs (formerly Zoe was a third SF member) (open)

Totem: The Big One (Earthquake)

There are also a couple of packs of Shadow Lords and Get of Fenris operating out of the Angeles National Forest (see Los Angeles By Night), but there is no indication in the text of what sept if any they are associated with: this is it. Zoe was once one of the three Silver Fangs associated with this sept.

Note: this sept's protectorate includes the portions of the Angeles National Forest that were affected in the September 2009 Station Fire that killed Jagjit Singh, Amrita's late husband, a year and a half prior to the chronicle's beginning.

Geography

Bawn 

Caern Heart

Landmarks

Umbrascape

 

History

The Sept

Rites

Personalities

  • Sept Leader/Warder: Sigurd Hammer-Hand (Elder GoF Ahroun)
  • Gatekeeper: Antonin Cackling Crow Grozny, ShL Ragabash
  • Guardians
  • Keeper of the Land:
  • Master of the Challenge: Ivan Frostmane Sidorova, SF Philodox (Zoe's father)
  • Master of the Rite: Raul Maskbreaker Gonzalez, ShL Theurge
  • Council of Elders: (one member is Natasha Gambit Sidorova, SF elder Ragabash and Zoe's grandmother)
  • Truthcatcher: Matthew Fangs-From-Sky Jensen, Get of Fenris Philodox
  • Wyrmfoe: 
  • Emissary: Jack Stormcloak Carter, Shadow Lord Galliard (Fostern), member of the Night Sky

Packs

  • The Night Sky (3 members: Jack Carter, )
  • Midnight Run (Alpha is Frostmane)
  • The Crow's Feast: (includes Mora Crownmaker Rodriguez, ShL theurge, Adren)

 


 

The Loom of the Fates Sept

Malibu Canyon, Malibu, CA.

Tribes: Black Furies (Closed).

Level 3 Caern

Type: Visons

(source: Los Angeles By night, p. 12 & 46)

This fiercely insular Black Fury sept guards a Caern of Visions, a type that their tribe prizes above nearly all others, which is a major reason for their standoffishness.

 

Geography

Bawn 

Caern Heart

Landmarks

Umbrascape

 

History

The Sept

Rites

Personalities

  • Sept Leaders/Triumverate:
  • Warder:
  • Gatekeeper:
  • Guardians
  • Keeper of the Land:
  • Master of the Challenge: Nike Floros, Athro Philodox

  • Master of the Rite:
  • Other Notable Garou: Susan Visions-of-Burning (Adren Theurge), Harriet Severs-the-Webs, (Adren Ahroun of the Freebooters camp), Death on the Leaves (Elder Ahroun, mother to Iron Rain)  

 

Packs

  • (17 Garou in 4 packs)
  • Hidden Glade Pack (4 members, all Claiths, including Monica Alvarez, Shark-Rider (Ragabash), and Bridget, a Galliard)

 


 

Sept of the Neon Strip

Caern: Las Vegas, Nevada

Level: 3

Gauntlet: 3

Type: Plenty

Tribal Structure: Glass Walkers, Bone Gnawers (18 known Garou in 5 packs)

Totem: O' Mighty Dolla' and Easy Credit

Geography

Bawn

This caern is located within the renowned Mirage Casino on the glitzy, overdone Las Vegas Strip, and specifically is contained within the 13th floor of the main hotel building - more than half of that floor is taken up with the bawn, and the remaining portion is used for functions that the Garou would like to keep prying eyes away from but which ought not happen within the bawn itself. There are numerous protections in place for the site both material and spiritual, and The Rite of the 13th Floor is always active to keep visitors where they belong and from wandering the halls of the wrong part of the hotel.

Caern Heart

The Caern heart is a vault built specifically to accommodate O'Mighty Dolla'...

Landmarks

Umbrascape

 

History

In the late seventies and early eighties, Las Vegas was on the wane, and so were the fortunes of the city's Glass Walkers, who were almost uniformly of the declining Wise Guys camp which had arrived in the wake of the likes of Bugsy Siegel looking to make a mint in the newly forming Sin City. They founded a Caern in a building just off the strip and used it to fight for control of the rackets that ran the city's gambling and vice industries, locking horns early and often with vampires as well as other shadowy forces that wanted a piece of the action in Vegas. Then in 1982, the Syndicate decided that the werewolves had to go, and with the support of several heavily armed Void Engines to bombard the site from the Umbra, they launched a truly massive offensive under the cover of police raids on the organized crime elements that were well known to be present in the neighborhood.

 

The relatively few surviving Wise Guys scattered like cockroaches to take cover, lick their wounds and plan for the future. Eventually a number of the sept's survivors were able to attract support and funding from the then-ascendant Corporate Wolves to help push the funding of a new venture to transform and revitalize their old playground while getting their feet back in the door on The Strip. The result was The Mirage, which opened its doors in 1989, one of the biggest and flashiest casinos in the world, and the first funded via junk bonds. By the time The Mirage opened, the Sept of the Neon Strip was already entrenched in its inner workings and they were well prepared to perform the Rite of Caern Building on opening day to invoke the blessings of O' Mighty Dolla' on their venture. They were determined not to see a repeat of their previous failure in the city, and they dug their heels in deep indeed.

 

This sept is now known for its defensively oriented, clannish and inward-looking strategy, and for the harshness with which they clamp down on any opposition. They strive to be self-sufficient and to keep outsiders from looking too deeply into their business. They use their considerable wealth and influence to make their Caern as nearly unassailable as possible, leaving them free to pursue further wealth and power while leaving the rest of the Garou Nation to worry about its own affairs as much as possible.

 

The Sept

Rites

Personalities

  • Sept Leader: Don Tomas Castiglieri AKA Motorcade Tommy (Elder Homid Glass Walker Philodox. Corporate Wolf, but he was originally a Wise Guy). Don Tomas is one of the few Garou that survived the fall of the original Las Vegas-based Caern twenty years ago and was involved in rounding up Corporate Wolf support to help get Garou in the ground floor of the upcoming Mirage project. He was a young turk at the time, one of the last generation of real Wiseguys, but he saw that ship sinking and adapted with the times, though he still enjoys a few of the trappings of his former affiliations such as the honorific "Don," and is reputed to keep the knowledge of some of his old camp's Gifts alive as well.
  • Gatekeeper
  • Guardians
  • Keeper of the Land
  • Master of the Challenge
  • Master of the Rite
  • Warder
  • Council of Elders
  • Truthcatcher
  • Wyrmfoe

 


 

Other Known Septs

These are septs that are mentioned in White Wolf books (or the old NB chats) to exist in the regions where the Chronicle or its background have taken place. Most of these are mentioned briefly and little detail exists on them, and Hal has made up some of the relevant info. The Sept of Aeolus' Shroud is based on the urban sept from the Immortal Vigilance chat, for which Marcus was originally designed.

 

Sept of the Western Eye

Muir Woods National Monument in the Bay Area Protectorate, CA.

Level 3 Caern (Wisdom), Children of Gaia and Uktena (Open) (Source: Caerns: Places of Power P.37. This sept has a detailed writeup in the source book)

 

The Golden Gate Sept

San Francisco, CA. Level 1 Caern, Bone Gnawers (Closed)

This Sept's Bawn is among the homeless tents of Golden Gate Park (Caerns: Places of Power p.44). Amrita's former home and her father's current residence are within this sept's territory, and Joseph's relations in the Western Eye persuaded them to keep an eye on Dr. Kaleshwari's place after a Black Spiral pack came nosing around him.

 

Ever-Shifting Network Sept

Silicon Valley, CA

Glass Walkers (Closed) (Source: Caerns: Places of Power p.44)

A sept devoted to pushing the boundaries of Umbral cybertech, these guys have taken a serious beating in the tribe's recent purge of the CyberWolves faction. This Caern's heart is actually mobile - it can be moved to any computer on the vast network maintained by the sept.

 

The Horrid Hole Hive

Death Valley, CA Level 2 Pit, Black Spiral Dancers (Obviously closed)

Mentioned by Charles Manson in his ravings. (Source: Caerns: Places of Power p.44, also the post script of Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth starting on p. 93 repeatedly mentions it since that is where Charles is escorting Frater I*I during said post script.)

 

The Sept of Aeolus' Shroud

Caern: A rather nondescript warehouse in the middle of the Deepriver docks-district of Seattle.

Level: 4
Gauntlet: 3

Type: Stealth

Tribal Structure: Open

Totem: Aeolus

Geography/History

Deep within the middle of the Deepriver Docks area of Seattle sits the Sept of Aeolus' Shroud. Access to the Caern Heart requires a swim down, below the docks, in murky, deep, cold water, past a ferocious spirit-Shark and under the Warehouse. While open to all tribes, this Sept has a large Glass Walker and Bone Gnawer membership. Getting his start in this Sept, Marcus will tell those that ask that the packs lay territorial claim to a good portion of the city which lies on the south side of the river, while a few of the more venturesome upstart packs have dared venture across the river and attempt to police some areas of the north. Reports of heavy Leech and Namebreaker opposition trickled back in - which until recently were declared by the elders to be unfounded.

 

Recently a foolish Namer attempted to harness energies it was not prepared for, causing reality to cave in upon itself and a significant explosion to result in the Riverside Docks across the water from the Sept. The Weaver and all her minions descended upon the smoking crater that remained. For a while, the Sept was on High-Alert, but after it seemed clear that the Weaver was content in dealing with the Namer-SNAFU only, posture relaxed, and the elders declared Riverside Docks OFFLIMITS to all Garou in hopes to avoid attention from the Weaver.

 

Meanwhile, in the heart of Brookfield the Sept had been dealing with a powerful Blight forming under the direct supervision of minions of the Wyrm. With the matter of the weaver on the back-burner, the Sept set its sights on rooting out the Blight. It is here that Marcus lost his pack, in the great fight to fend off the Banes while the Spirit Healers cleansed the area. Many Heroes fell defending the Theurges, but the Sept was victorious. With the matter resolved, and no more pack to celebrate with, Marcus drifted around the sept for a few months, trying to find a new group - ultimately falling in as a de-facto bawn Guardian. Eventually he decided it was time to leave - to put the bitter taste of his lost pack behind him in hopes of finding a new group elsewhere. Only recently since his relocation to Lassen Park has word begun trickling in that Aeolus' Shroud's sister-Sept to the north, buried deep within Indian Reservation Land, has been claimed by an unknown force. Almost all the Garou that fought to defend her were slain in the process - the survivors retreating to the Urban Jungle. Rumors have it that whatever force lay waste to the Sept in the north has sights on Aeolus' Shroud next.

 

Elder: Thrice-Drunk, Elder Homid Fianna Galliard. He comes off abrasive at first - more likely to scream than to talk first. He's had his fair-share of ineptitude and oafishness to fend off to get his Sept in the shape it is, and now with the influx of Garou from the rural area, he has his hands full keeping everybody from everybody else's throats.

 

The Sept of the Painted Sands

Mesa del Lobo, Navajo Indian Reservation, AZ. Level 2 Caern (Stamina/Strength, Totem: The Hero Twins, Monster Slayer & Child of the Water), Wendigo (Closed)

(Source: Caerns: Places of Power P.137. This sept has a detailed writeup in the source book, but according to the Revised Uktena tribe book it has been destroyed.)

 

The Sees-Far Tortoise Sept

Ute Reservation, UT, Uktena (Closed)

Rivals to the Sept of the Painted Lands. (Source: Caerns: Places of Power P.142).

 

The Roadrunner Sept

Based south of the Cow Springs rock formation, close to Zihi-Dush-Jhini Peak in meandering lands that touch both Navajo and Hopi reservations.

Level 4 Caern of wits. Tribes: Uktena (almost exclusively). Source: Uktena Tribebook (Revised)
About 50 members. Had a decent relationship with the Sept of the Painted Sands until that sept fell to the Wyrm's forces. Now about 1/3 of sept has gone there to guard the fallen caern. Many farmer/rancher Kin. This Sept also is goingto play host to the Spring 2011 Grand Council of the Uktena Tribe.

 

The Anteater Sept

Irvine Business Complex, Irvine CA. Glass Walkers (open), Level 1 Urban Caern. (original to this Chronicle)

 

The Klaivestrike Sept

Limestone Canyon Nature Preserve, near "The Sinks". Orange County (Silverado unincorporated area), CA. Silver Fangs (Open, with a fair number of Fianna also), Level 2 Caern of Will. (original to this Chronicle)

This is the seat of a local lord of House Unbreakable Hearth, one of King Cyrus the Bald of Chicago's chief vassals in the western US. This sept maintains close and largely harmonious ties with the nearby Anteater Sept. Most of this sept's Kinfolk reside in the prosperous Orange County towns of Newport Beach, Yorba Linda, Dana Point and Laguna beach.

 

The Red Hand Sept

There is Also a Bone Gnawer, CoG, Uktena and Glass Walker sept somewhere between Covina and Redlands. Perhaps Riverside?

 

The Soaring Pine Sept

The Uktena have a Caern in the San Bernardino Mountains, not far from the San Manuel reservation, roughly between Highland and Lake Arrowhead. Its territory extends considerably West, including parts of San Bernardino

 

The Western Cascade Protectorate

Caern: Near the Seven Falls along Mission Creek, Santa Barbara, CA. Tribal Structure: Open, led by Silver Fangs, with a King of House Wyrmfoe. Uktena associated with the Chumash tribe and an enclave of Fenrir based near Solvang are also present in this Sept. Though none of the members live on the Channel Islands, the Sept also considers the islands and the Channel itself as their responsibility, and the Uktena are furtively looking for a lost former Caern there. 

 

The Santa Muerte Sept

A now-destroyed Caern in Baja California (original to this Chronicle). Formerly had Glass Walker, Bone Gnawer, Shadow Lord and Uktena members. Some of the survivors fled to the...

 

The Sol del Niño Sept

Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. Glass Walker, Bone Gnawer, Uktena and Shadow Lord Sept. Level 1 Urban Caern. Heavily dialed in with both legitimate and illicit business in the region. (original to this Chronicle)

 

The Smokey Valley Hive

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA. Level 2 (?), Black Spiral Dancers (source: Los Angeles By Night, p. 13 & 44)

This Pit is deep beneath Griffith Park, and its corruption spreads up across the Los Angeles area and especially Hollywood in a very diffuse but widespread way because of its depth. Though this is a fairly weak Pit, the Hive that it supports is disproportionately powerful, and its Three Heads of the Hydra (ruling council members), named Mir'Athi the Mother-of-Horrors, Nine-One-One and P'Ya'Ray, are a renowned pack unto themselves known as The Devourers. This pack personally led the efforts to make sure that the street-dwelling Garou in Downtown Los Angeles were hit and mostly wiped out while still weakened from the disaster at US Bank Tower.

 

The Dragon's Bile Hive

Site 22, in the vicinity of New Bremen, GA, Black Spiral Dancers (Obviously closed)

This was the Hive that Linda's family was associated with, but it has been destroyed.

 

The Razor Alley Sept

Razor Alley Ghetto, New Bremen, GA. Level 2 Caern (Streetwise. Totem: Father Matthews, City Father of New Bremen) Glasswalkers, Bone Gnawers & Shadow Lords (Open membership)

This was the Sept that Bronco was a member of. It has been destroyed by minions of the Weaver.

 

The Mended Past Sept

The shores of Spruce Lake, in Spruce National Forest, near New Bremen, GA Level 4 (Totem: Heron). Silver Fangs, Get of Fenris & Fianna (open membership). Formerly the Broken Caves Sept.

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