Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

forgotten how the world works. Patrolling the Shadow and
safeguarding one’s own territory requires plenty of vigilance,
strength and self-sufficiency without having to additionally
play a game of diplomacy and compromise. A system where
packs would be expected to leave their own territory for
days at a time to assist some other, weaker pack hundreds of
miles away would do more harm than good.
Though Roman considers it tantamount to a betrayal,
Snow’s rejection of his ideals does indeed reflect
how the world works, or at least the local Forsaken. Some
have claimed territories in Denver, while others restructured
and reorganized their packs to recoup losses. Some
survivors and a handful of newcomers pay lip service to
Roman’s ideal of more widespread cooperation, but most
simply licked their wounds and returned to their territories
to carry on just as they had before he came along. Most
refrain from actively working against Roman, though,
and some have even gained a newfound respect for the
power of widespread (if temporary) werewolf cooperation
as a result of what the Iron Master accomplished. Rachel
Snow, however, sees Roman’s dream as misguided and
potentially dangerous in the long term, and she opposes it
for the good of the People. Doing so, she makes an effort
to earn the respect and awe of new packs that come to
Denver looking for territory. When she has it, she makes
certain to tell them a few key words about self-reliance.
Many local werewolves feel conflicted about the
Roman/Snow rivalry. Young newcomers, still attempting
to think of things in a more human mindset, often
find Roman’s approach more appealing at first, confident
that communication and cooperation helps stave off the
stagnation and self-indulgence that afflicts werewolves
who are too inwardly focused. Others see the logistical
near-impossibility of imposing a large social structure on
a race of creatures whose instincts compel them to care
for their pack and their territory above all. The conflict
has the potential to rage on interminably unless (or until)
some other widespread threat raises its head and tests the
faith of werewolves on either side of the argument.
EXTERNAL CONFLICT
Although the Forsaken currently enjoy unprecedented
freedom and opportunity throughout the Rocky
Mountain region (and in Denver specifically), their
actual enemies haven’t lost their fangs or claws. The
werewolves of the Pure Tribes remain more numerous in
the American West than they are anywhere else in the
world, and the Bale Hounds profit from the pain and
misery that Gurdilag’s alien agenda wrought all across
Denver. The native spirits here have been slow to recover
after the idigam’s ministrations as well, and the Beshilu
and Azlu are subtle enough that the true extent of their
presence is often difficult to determine.
THE PURE TRIBES
With the success of Max Roman’s crusade in Denver,
the Pure of the Rockies have had to pause and think care-
fully about how to proceed. Their hatred of the Forsaken
is as strong as ever, though, and with so many territories
being left untended around the region as their rivals
jockey for newly available ones, they have an opportunity
that wasn’t available to them before. They’ve begun
to insinuate themselves into temporarily abandoned or
as-yet-unclaimed territory in Denver and elsewhere around
the region as quickly as they can manage. In doing so,
they hope to build up a significant power base from which
to launch attacks against their treacherous cousins before
the werewolves of the Tribes of Luna realize what’s going
on. They plan to capitalize on the disarray inherent to
the current reclamation just as they did once before in the
wake of the Brethren War.
Leading this rapid colonization effort are the Ivory
Claws, who work more closely with their fellow Pure here
than they do elsewhere in the country. They are orchestrating
a surprisingly effective campaign against younger
packs in the wilder territories outlying Denver, for
instance, using the Fire-Touched to confuse and demoralize
them and the Predator Kings to hunt down stragglers
who venture too far from safety. They’re also working to
destroy Max Roman and Rachel Snow directly, as their
packs are easily the most powerful ones in the area. Aside
from working resentful spirits up into fits of uncontrollable
fury in the territories those packs claim and attacking
various pack members directly, more cunning and calculating
Ivory Claws spy on the two alphas for more deeply
hidden weaknesses that can be exploited.
The fanatically dangerous children of Rabid Wolf
are also causing problems in the Rockies, where their
words are subtle venom, swaying the minds of young and
old alike. The Rockies represent a treasure beyond price
for the Fire-Touched, and they hate the thought that
Forsaken Uratha are dominant there despite everything
that’s happened to beat them down. Their top priority
now is to reclaim the locus at Sakendar Isi, which they
held briefly during the 1990s, and this territorial gold
rush could be an opportune time. Many werewolves who
took that territory back from them years ago have since
died fighting Gurdilag’s agents or left the territory to
carve out a niche on their own. The defenders who are
left have filled out their ranks with relatively inexperienced
werewolves as a result, which is a weakness the
Fire-Touched intend to exploit to the fullest. Beyond
that, the Fire-Touched aren’t primarily concerned with
gaining new members. They don’t turn honest converts
away, but the foremost goal of their efforts is to weaken
the resolve of the Forsaken tribes before they can get
their act together. In so doing, the Fire-Touched will
punish the Forsaken as Father Wolf’s murder demands.
The Predator Kings are easily the most fearsome
threats the Rocky Mountain Uratha face, if not the
subtlest. Guided by the calculating minds of the Ivory
Claws and inspired by the passionate convictions of the
Fire-Touched, the Predator Kings come into their own as
Conflict in the Rockies
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