Paul Bode's Roleplay Game

Lexicon

 

The following is a brief lexicon of terms in broad use among the Garou. Garou have taken words from many different sources, and an etymological study of their language would unearth a veritable babel of tongues. However, any attempt to understand Garou and their culture must begin with their perculiar language they have created and with which they define themselves.

 

Besides their own language, Garou can also communicate with wolves and speak human languages that they know.

 

• Adren – a pupil or student who learns from a mentor; the rank between Fostern and Athro; Rank Three

• Airts – magical paths within the spirit world (i.e. Spirit tracks, moon paths, etc).

• Aisling – a journey into the spirit world

• Anamae – “soul friend”; most often a bond with a pack totem

• Anchorhead – Elusive spirit gates between the Near Umbra and the Deep Umbra.

• -anrae – suffix added to a name, used when addressing someone of lower rank. This is considered by many Garou to be a pointless term, but more traditional Garou might still use it.

• Anruth – an individual Garou or pack that travels from caern to caern but is bound to none of them

• Ape – slang term for a Homid or human.

• Apocalypse – the prophetic revelation of the end of times. In Garou mythology, it has come to mean the final battle with the Wyrm – a battle many believe they are destined to lose. It is generally accepted that the present time is the beginning of the Apocalypse.

• Athro – Teacher, mentor; The rank between Adren and Elder; Rank Four

• Auspice – The moon phase under which a Garou is born, and the path (“character class”) that is imposed as a result. Garou generally fit into their auspices naturally, but not always.

• Awen – the sacred Muse, the creative impulse; Moon Dancers periodically go on spirit quests for her, but she has never been found.

• Bane – A spirit in service to the Wyrm. Banes vary in power and abilities, but all are dangerous enemies of Gaia and the Garou.

• Bawn – The boundary area around a caern which is patrolled and monitored against intrusion, even by other Garou.

• Black Spiral Dancers – A tribe of werewolves that serves the Wyrm. Once the noble White Howlers, the Black Spiral Dancers represent the frightful danger of corruption. Many have bat-like features, such as long ears and membranous wings under their arms, and their tribal totem is Whippoorwill.

• Blight – a corrupted area in either the material or spirit world; these tainted areas spawn Banes.

• Breed – The species to which a Garou was born. Lupus Garou are born among wolves, Homid Garou are born among humans, and the infertile Metis Garou are born of the forbidden union between two Garou.

• Brugh – any sort of mystical place whether a Garou caern or a Wyrmhole. Often a glade or cave located deep within the wilderness

• Cadaver – derogatory term for a vampire

• Caern – A sacred location of much spiritual power and significance. A caern is usually defended by a sept of Garou, and is dedicated to a totem.

• Charach – A Garou who sleeps with another Garou or has done so in the past; often used as a word of anger or as an insult as to do so is to violate the first law of the Litany.

• Charms – spirit powers; the natural abilities of spirits.

• Chiminage – a form of “favors done for services renders”; a Garou might perform a task a chiminage in order to repay a spirit for the teaching of a Gift, or to repay a sept for allowing him to use a caern.

• Celestine – the greatest of all spirits, god-like in power. Those worshipped include Gaia (the earth), Luna (the moon) and Helios (the sun).

• Cliath – a young Garou, preceding the rank of Fostern; any Garou that recently accomplished their Rite of Passage.

• Concolation – The largest of Garou moots; the matters discussed at these great gatherings concern the entire Garou Nation.

• Concord, the – The compromise reached by the tribes of the Garou Nation which ended the Impergium; its traditions are still enforced today.

• Corruption – the Wyrm’s power of destruction, twisted into decay and depravity; also the resulting of the Wyrm’s actions. In the present age, it is common to refer to pollution and ecological ruin caused by humans as corruption.

• Crinos – the legendary half-wolf, half-man warrior form worn by Garou.

• Cub – A very young Garou, not yet of any standing rank and almost unable to fend for themselves.

• Deep Umbra – The Umbral world beyond the protection of the Membrane. The further a Deep Umbral traveler ventures into the Gaia Realm, the more tenuous “reality” becomes.

• Delirium – the ancestral memories of humans which cause madness and memory loss in those who look upon a Garou in Crinos form.

• Domain – a mini-realm in the Umbra, usually connected to a larger realm in the Deep Umbra.

• Fera – slang term for the Changing Breeds, short for “feral”;considered an insult to the Sanga (now commonly known as Bete).

• Feral – slang term for a Lupus Garou

• Fetish – a physical object with a spirit bound within it. Fetishes are highly valued by all Garou regardless as to tribe, and they often have special powers (called Charms) bestowed by the spirit within. Fetishes can be compaired to “magic items” from many other RPGs.

• Flock, the – all of humanity, particularly Kinfolk

• Fomor – A Wyrm-tainted human, possessed by a Bane and granted weird, often disgusting powers by the dark spirit. The plural is “fomori.”

• Fostern – A Garou’s pack brothers and sisters; those who are between the ranks of Cliath and Adren, Rank Two

• Gaffling – a simple servant spirit; Gafflings are rarely sentient.

• Gallain – the Kinfolk of Garou – those humans and wolves who are relations to the Garou but do not suffer from the Delirium, but are not actual Garou.

• Gaia – The Earth Mother; Nature; the world; the Goddess. “Gaia” can mean the personification of abstract ideas, or literally the world including its parts. The Garou seek to protect Gaia from the Wyrm, whose destructive power threatens to destroy Her.

• Garou – Werewolf; more specifically, a werewolf who serves Gaia. “Garou” can be singular or plural; as the plural, it can mean many werewolves, or all werewolves as a whole. Black Spiral Dancers are usually not included as Garou.

• Gauntlet – the barrier between the physical realm of Earth and the spiritual world of the Umbra. The Gauntlet is strongest in cities and areas of technology and weakest near caerns.

• Gifts – spiritual powers granted to the Garou through their connection with the spirits of the Umbra.

• Gremlin – a malevolent spirit.

• Guardian - The caern title 'Warder', in England the term Guardian replaces the Warder title and is given commonly to an ahroun or a galliard with the sole responsability of protecting the caern. The Guardian can even out-rank the leader in matters of caern defence.

• Harano – a state of bitter depression that afflicts werewolves. Garou in the grips of Harano are debilitated and often die if they do not recover.

• Hispo – the near-wolf form of the Garou

• Homid – Garou of human ancestry. Occasionally used disdainfully by Lupus Garou.

• -ikthya – “of the Wyrm”; a suffix added to a name; a greeting among Black Spirals someowhat equal to the Garou term “yuf”.

• Impergium, the – in prehistory, the period of 3000 years during which strict population quotas were enforced on all human settlements.

• Incarna – A class of spirits that ranks below the Celestines in power and includes the totem spirits of the 13 tribes.

• Jaggling – a spirit servant of the Incarna or Celestine; often sentient.

• Kenning – the empathic calling some Garou perform when howling.

• Kinain – the relationship among Garou who are related by blood through an ancestor; this is a term of endearment and pride never used when referring to a metis.

• Kinfolk – humans or wolves related to the Garou; preferred mates and the most likely to give birth to Garou cubs.

• Klaive – a fetish sword or dagger, usually of great spiritual power and always made of silver.

• Leech – slang term for a vampire.

• Litany – The set of laws that all Garou are expected to follow.

• Lupus – A Garou of wolf ancestry

• Membrane, the – the barrier between the Near and Deep Umbra. Travel through it must be done at an Anchorhead. Alternatively, the Garou can bypass the Membrane through the Dream Zone.

• Metis – sterile and deformed offspring of two Garou; generally reviled by Garou society.

• Moon Bridge – a path established between two caerns; it must be renewed with spiritual energy during moots and called open with either a Gift or a Rite when needed for travel.

• Moot – a gathering of Garou for any social, political, or religious function; often takes place at a caern

• Mule – slang term for a Metis

• Near Umbra – the spiritual world surrounding the Gaia Realm, just beyond the Penumbra.

• Pack – a small group of Garou bound together by ties of friendship and common goals; the basic unit in Garou society

• Penumbra – “Earth’s Shadow”; the spirit world directly surrounding the physical world. Many, but not all terrain features have reflections here.

• Pericarp – the Near Umbra around each Realm

• Phoebe – an Incarna of Luna, representing the Moon

• Praenomen – the guardian spirit of a pack

• Protectorate – territory or individuals under the protection of a pack or sept.

• -rhya – “greater in station”; a suffix appended to a name

• Rank – one of five stages of social standing for Garou society. Those without rank are cubs, Ronin, or Legends.

• Reaching – traveling to the spirit world

• Realms – the worlds of consistent reality within the Tellurian.

• Renown – method of achieving rank in Garou society; the more Renown a Garou has, the higher rank they are.

• Ronin – Garou who have chosen to leave Garou society or one that is forced out. They are not acknowledged by tribe or sept and must walk the realms alone.

• Run – a ritual hunt that takes place at the end of a moot; slang term used by younger Garou only

• Sanga – Garou term for shape shifters other than the werewolves, many thought to be extinct. The term is somewhat archaic in nature and rarely used.

• Sept – A large group of Garou devoted to one purpose, often defending a single caern.

• Sheep – humans

• Stepping Sideways – entering the spirit world

• Spirit – A “creature” of spiritual matter, dwelling within the Umbra. Spirits generally serve either the Wyld, Weaver, or Wyrm, and their power and abilities vary widely.

• Talen – a kind of temporary Fetish that can only be used once before the spirit within the item is released.

• Tellurian – the whole of reality

• Throat – to best another in ritual combat, used as a verb (and as slang, as in “I throated his sorry butt!”).

• Totem – A powerful Incarna spirit that has adopted a group of Garou. Totems may adopt packs, septs, or entire tribes. Totems do not generally visit Garou directly, but send representative spirits called avatars.

• Trait, the – the Wyrm, the Wyld, and the Weaver; the trinity of primary cosmic forces

• Tribe – A cultural unit of werewolves. There are thirteen tribes of Garou, and the Black Spiral Dancers are the fourteenth. Every tribe has its own totem. Nearly all werewolves fit into a tribe; those that don’t are called Ronin.

• Umbra – The spirit world; the Shadow; the mystic inner workings of reality. Spirits dwell in the Umbra, and Garou may enter it at will by passing through the Gauntlet, the barrier between the Umbra and the physical world.

• Urrah – Garou who lives within a city; also translates to “the tainted ones”

• Veil, the – a poetic term for the Delirium and the protection it affords Garou

• Ways, the – the traditions of the Garou

• Weaver – The personified force of order, structure, stasis, and technology. The Weaver is considered an unwitting ally or a slave to the Wyrm by most Garou, and so is a sort of blameless cause of Gaia’s trouble. Consequently, most Garou view the Weaver with suspicion, a useful but dangerous aspect of Gaia. At worst, the Weaver is responsible for the Wyrm’s madness.

• Wyld – The personified force of creative chaos. The Wyld is associated with freedom, wilderness, randomness, and uncontrolled energy. It can be dangerously chaotic, but its diminished power in the modern world is considered even more dangerous by the Garou, as the Weaver and Wyrm have overpowered it.

• Wyrm – The personified force of death, decay, disease, and corruption. The Garou consider the Wyrm to be evil, driven mad by entanglement in the Weaver’s webs, and threatening to Gaia.

• Wyrmhole – a place that has been spiritually defiled by the Wyrm, invariably a place of great corruption

• -yuf – “honored equal”, a suffix appended to a name.