Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It
Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It
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