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Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

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296<br />

Appendix II: <strong>The</strong> Rockies<br />

thy for the other on the other’s relatives rather than violate<br />

the fratricide prohibition of the Oath of the Moon. As<br />

this conflict plays out, certain patterns of preference have<br />

begun to develop instinctually along tribal lines.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Blood Talons, for instance, tend to prefer strong<br />

and disciplined people with aggressive philosophies.<br />

Locals have gravitated toward police officers, survivalist<br />

types and descendants of Arapaho warriors among others.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bone Shadows look for kin with a religious or spiritual<br />

bent, from “naturalist types” to descendants of the<br />

Utes. Hunters in Darkness also gravitate toward Arapaho<br />

people, as well as nominal city-dwellers on the fringes<br />

of society. <strong>The</strong> Iron Masters can be attracted to almost<br />

anyone, from the strongest specimens of the urban lowerclass<br />

to heirs of the railroad barons who kept Denver on<br />

the map. (Max Roman’s family is one such example.) <strong>The</strong><br />

Storm Lords are equally diverse, seeking out mates at all<br />

levels of local society — from contractors working for the<br />

US military (such as one offshoot of the Snow family) to<br />

ambitious mystics among the native peoples of Colorado.<br />

Aside from family-related concerns, though, werewolves<br />

must also be wary of the social dynamics that<br />

motivate the Uratha in the heart of the Rockies. Nowhere<br />

are those dynamics more keenly felt and important to the<br />

daily life of the local <strong>Forsaken</strong> than they are in Denver,<br />

which has just undergone such upheaval. More than any<br />

other city in the West, Denver is home to a surprising<br />

number of Uratha. Not that the werewolves are suffering<br />

from population problems, of course — plenty of territories<br />

are still open within the city limits alone — but the<br />

fact remains that neither the surviving locals nor fresh<br />

newcomers operate in a vacuum in Denver. Many neighboring<br />

packs are available to support them in times of<br />

direst need (as the overthrow and destruction of Gurdilag<br />

demonstrated), but also waiting for them to show signs of<br />

exploitable weakness so that they can swoop in and take<br />

over the territory. Rivalries and constant posturing to<br />

show strength are fundamental aspects of life, and when<br />

an important hot-button issue arises in local circles, it<br />

can polarize werewolves into bitterly opposed camps. <strong>It</strong>’s<br />

happened plenty of times in the Rockies’ history, and<br />

since Gurdilag’s defeat, a new such issue has come up.<br />

<strong>The</strong> latest conflict revolves around the basic idealistic disagreement<br />

between Max Roman and Rachel Snow — the<br />

leaders of the crusade that opened the Denver territories<br />

once more.<br />

After purging Gurdilag’s taint from Denver, Max<br />

Roman hoped that the victory he had engineered would<br />

be the first step toward his goal of greater Uratha unity.<br />

In his idealized vision, the <strong>Forsaken</strong> across the continent<br />

could work together to destroy any menace and collectively<br />

assume the duties Father Wolf’s murder had left undone.<br />

To Snow, however, this was the talk of a dreamer who’d

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