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The Starcaller on four feet
Sheet
- Homid Attributes
- Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
- Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2
- Mental: Perception 4, Intelligence 4, Wits 2
Gifts
Rites
| Minor Rites | Level 1 Rites | Level 2 Rites | Level 3 Rites |
|---|---|---|---|
Fetish
- The Whole Gym Bag (Level 1, Gnosis 5)
- This battered satchel holds a mass of objects up to twice the actual size of the bag. Furthermore, the bag itself, including all its contents, count as one item when it is "dedicated" to the Garou. The Gym Bag appears as a stripe of fur (representing the shoulder strap) when the Garou changes to Crinos form. It disappears completely when the character is in Hispo or Lupus form. It cannot contain complex examples of the Weaver's handiwork: namely, guns and other weapons or working technological items. By contrast, broken or nonfunctional bits of technology can easily be carried. If these conditions are not met, the bag drags to the ground and spills its contents when the Garou shifts out of Homid or Glabro form.
Spirit Ally
Through long negotiations and granting of small favors, Stars has managed to coax a Heap gaffling into occupying a part of the old Tenacity pack house. This spirit acts mainly as an adviser, though it sometimes disgorges useful Stuff (yes, that's a capital letter) as well as sometimes healing those it feels friendly towards (most everyone, Heaps are cheerful sorts).
Specialties
- Intelligence
- Though his broken English often makes people think less of his brain, Stars is one of those crazy people to which Rubik's Cubes are an amusing distraction but no real challenge. Divergent facts come together easily for the lupus, his mind able to form connections and read logic-pathways without strain. It's his attention span that's the trouble.
- Perception
- Stars notices things. More often than not, this expresses as a somewhat crippling hyperfocus in which he notices something so strongly that a good deal of other stimuli are lost (hence his low Wits). But if something happens in the near vicinity, there's a decent chance it'll catch his attention.
- Spirit Knowledge
- Starting from his cubhood, Stars has been fascinated by the spirits of the world around him. Given the chance, he investigated them, learned all he could, and badgered people that knew more than he for information. He personally met Starlight during his Rite of Passage, for instance, and knows a good deal of lore about the Totems and their Broods. He's less well-versed on the darker side of the spirit food-chain, but knows enough to at least take a guess at what the thing chasing him is, other than "OHGODICKYTHING".
- Street Skills
- Stars has been ekeing out a transient life for nigh on four years now, and knows his way around the streets fairly well. He can recognize areas one Does Not Go, as well as knowing how to spot places likely to give handouts or other forms of help. He's also learned some basic breaking-and-entering tricks mostly out of innate curiosity. While not a locksmith, given time and the right bits of stuff, he might be able to convince a lock to open.
- Umbral Experience
- Many find the Umbra a strange and terrifying place, so vastly different from the reality they're used to. Not so for the Starcaller. He's well familiar with the dangers and threats of the Shadow, not simply knowing of some of the more dangerous denizens but a bit of the conceptual space of the threats that the Umbra poses. This isn't to say he takes them lightly, but simply that he knows what to look for and generally how to deal with it. Even if "dealing with it" involves running away screaming like a little girl.
Personality
A hyperactive loon of a Theurge that has a distressing tendency to simply show up in places he has no right to be in. Do not leave unattended with anything. This includes but is not limited to children, shiny objects, computers, sept members and food. Any and all items left in his care may find themselves subject to intense curiosity, hyperactivity, and bizarre logic, among other things. Please proceed with caution.
Miscellaneous
RP Hooks
- Stars can and often does simply appear nearly anywhere. This has gotten him into trouble before.
- Stars knows lots of rites, and is always looking to learn more.
- Lupus in the urrah!
- Stars is surprisingly comfortable in the Umbra, to the point that he's sometimes across the Gauntlet when most normal folks regard it as being too dangerous.
- Has lots of spirit-lore, as a byproduct.
- Open follower of the Mother aspect of Rat.
Views on Others
- Eli
- Very focused on the past. Does he also look to the future?
- Hayden
- All clenched down, what's she afraid of?
- Mouse
- What has her so wound up she attacks to kill without warning?
- Nik
- Nice man!
Gallery
Relevant Quotes
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
- Bertrand Russell
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
- Albert Einstein
Do not believe that he who seeks to comfort you lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life has much difficulty... Were it otherwise he would never have been able to find those words.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes
History
Early Years
Not all wolves are born in the wild. Some are kept in the cities for breeding, some as pets, others as curiosities for the strange, two-legged folk that live there. One such wolf was born in a zoo in early 2002. His ancestors had been zoo-wolves for nearly three generations, though some would say that's hardly a prestigious claim. And for all he was the runt of his litter, the pup seemed to be making up for his size in sheer exuberance, bounding around the enclosure and trying to find every nook and cranny he could possibly fit inside. And a few that he couldn't, much to the amusement of the zoo employees and the annoyance of his mother. They're still not sure how he managed to get stuck up in that tree.
As he grew older, the wolf was moved to his own enclosure, then later to another zoo altogether, this one in the human territory called "North Carolina." By this time he was a little over a year old, fully grown to his mind, though he still had a bit of the gangling hyperactivity of a pup. But this place was new! New smells! New sounds! New two-legged things! New places to get stuck in!
However, it was not fated to last. The wolf-child was garou, born of wolf. Somewhere back before they had been captured for display to humanity, his ancestors had entered the ranks of the Kinfolk, though exactly when this happened is, by the very nature of wolves, fuzzy. It was at least five breedings back, though. Maybe longer. Not many of Gaia's warriors came from this line of wolves, and little notice was taken when a few of their number were taken to this human thing called a zoo.
He had grown increasingly restless as he passed the eve of his second year. Twitchy, snapping at people that he had known and trusted for months, jumping at things that weren't there. Many of the zoo personnel were mystified, but a few began to wonder if perhaps there were more to this wolf than most. You see, several of the workers at that zoo were also kin to the wolf-shifters, though of a different sort than those that had birthed him. Some were even shifters themselves. And so one night, as Luna was just starting to peek around the shadow that hides her face and the wolf wondered why he wasn't asleep, he spotted something in his enclosure, something moving. He didn't know what this odd little creature was, but it intrigued him, so he chased it. It led him this way and that, but finally dove into a crevice that was not quite large enough for the lupine that dove in after it. Frustration gave way to consternation, and then panic as the wolf discovered that not only could he not move forward, he was too firmly wedged to wriggle free. And something broke loose within him. Something... wondrous.
The confusion and panic of his First Change would have probably destroyed more than just his enclosure had not those local shifters been quick acting. Luckily, the Change caught him long after the zoo had closed for the night. Brought down without serious injury, the fledgling garou was taken from the zoo, the kin there spreading a story of illness to cover his disappearance, and a tarp to cover the wreckage of his sleeping area. Sad, they said, the poor thing passed on, carried away by the disease. It was only a little stretching of the truth, after all.
Changing Leaves
It took time, once he was removed to the security of the local Bawn, but the wolf-child began to learn the strange new ways of this strange new world. Walking on two legs, speaking this thing called "English," wearing clothes... Luckily, he took to the lessons with gusto, practically ecstatic for all the new things to learn, his mind hungry for everything it could get. It seemed a part of his basic personality, this hunger and joy for knowledge. He was the sort of cub that would take something apart merely to see what was inside, and gleefully do his best to reassemble the poor thing when he was done. And though he was intelligent, almost dangerously so at times (somebody should have explained that locks are a request for privacy, not a challenging new toy), some things continued to elude him, and probably always would. Humans are a strange folk, after all, and their language is an odd one as well. One of his many cubnames stemmed from that, being "Brilliant Idiot" (the others tended towards things like "Spaz" and "Unable-to-Keep-Fingers-to-Self"). Once it was ascertained that he was a Theurge, and he was made to sit still long enough, his lessons also began to cover the rituals and traditions of the garou people, and their interactions with the spirit world. Such a wondrous place, the Velvet Shadow surrounding this Caern of the Changing Leaves...
Finally, it was time for his Rite of Passage. A simple Rite, though by no means an easy one, was devised for the young lupus, designed to test his dedication, his ability to see a task through to the end. After all, a garou that would leave his tasks at the first distraction was not worthy of Gaia's blessings. A fetish had been lost within the Umbra in ages past, not stolen but simply lost. None knew of its location, though many knew of it. The spear of a great garou hunter, cast in battle and not retrieved. The sept had grown complacent and distracted from the battle against the Wyrm, turning inwards with petty jealousies and infighting. They needed a symbol to bring them back together to face the true Enemy. It would be the wolf-child's task to bring them this symbol, to prove that he could reach beyond the whim of the moment to something greater.
He dove into the Velvet Shadow with a smile and a laugh, as always, eager to begin, eager to try. Success was not thought of, nor failure. The quest itself caught his heart and spirit, dragged him on. But he quickly discovered finding his prize was more than a simple task of turning over rocks and checking in holes. He would need aid. He thought to ask a local spirit or three, to enlist their assistance in his search. But none seemed to know, or care. Disappointed, though hardly disheartened, the fledgling Theurge decided to try a new track.
He hadn't been taught how to do this. Wasn't even sure if it could be done. But that had never stopped, or even slowed him before. Those same little spirits he had asked before were again approached, not to search, but to watch and be sure he was not struck down as he attempted his new idea, for the Umbra is a wild and dangerous place. As the little spirits stood watch and Luna drifted overhead, he began to dance, to call his need to the watching stars above. And, as the night waned, he was answered.
He did not know the spirit that came to join his dance, the spectral woman of light. But he did not hesitate in asking her to join him, a laughing invitation born of wonder and joy at this new development. Only as the dance ended and the sun threatened to peek above the horizon did the spirit speak of his request. She would help him seek his goal, and himself, for she was Starlight, and journeys of discovery were her breath and life. The wolf-child slept through the day, gathering his strength and his resolve. As night fell once more, he looked to the sky, and saw a star gleaming there, bright and clear and lovely. He began to walk.
The journey was not easy, nor short. He would have to weather hunger, exhaustion, danger and misdirection along his path. But he never gave up hope, never even considered laying down his task and returning in defeat. Not out of pride, but out of delight in the search, in the journey itself! Indeed, when he crested a rise late one night and saw the spear lying amid the stones, gleaming in the light of the stars and Luna, it was almost a shock. The prize had been reached. He had found it! Exuberant thanks were sung up to his guiding star, a dance full of delight and joy telling her of his happiness, his pleasure at her company through his ordeal. And then, prize in hand, he set off for home. And though the spear was received joyously and as intended upon his return, it soon fell into the grip of the power-hungry, turned into yet another pawn. Luckily, such things were outside the world of the new Cliath.
He finally had a name, a True name, with which to call himself; Calls-the-Stars-to-Dance, for his exuberance and untainted joy at the wonders of the world as well as the events of his Rite. Though he never did really decide on a human name for himself... Maybe he forgot.
His city birth combined with the cub's innate tendency to rummage through everything within reach conspired to land him squarely within the Bone Gnawer tribe, there being relatively few Glasswalkers in his home sept, and none that took an interest in the cub's training. But this was fine with Stars. The Gnawers knew so many fascinating ways into places, so many fascinating places! And they found the neatest things... The exuberant lupus ended up declaring nearly all the Gnawers in the city his friends (whether they wanted him to or not) and knew them all by scent, sight, and sound, the tight little community of back-alley shifters becoming more than mere compatriots to his mind. They were family.
Wanderings
He's not really sure how it happened (maybe he fell asleep in a baggage rack or something), but one day Stars found himself on a freight train heading west. This was simply the beginning of the new Cliath's fascination with yet another aspect of the human world: trains. Indeed, for the next year or two the Theurge didn't even stop to ask for residence at the caerns he blew through, following the train lines in a joyous whirl of discovery. He paused only twice along that route, once during the flooding and riots in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and once because he got distracted by this marvelous thing he saw one of the local homids carrying around, called an Em Pee Three Player. But that latter pause didn't last so long, and he was back on the trains again within a month.
The Starcaller's journey was not a quiet one, often landing him in all sorts of interesting trouble. Once while within the Penumbra of the Great Plains he spotted one of the great, old tornado-spirits that made the place their home, and for some reason (not even he really knows why) had the brilliant idea to try flying a kite in said spirit. It took exception and chased him halfway across the Plains before deciding he'd learned his lesson. Other episodes were less amusing. In Missouri, he had the misfortune of awakening a nest of Banes within the city through dint of being too curious for his own good. They chased him through the Shadow, the Theurge managing to survive and prolong the chase long enough for the rest of the sept to set up an ambush, and was then summarily Scorned for nearly violating the Caern with his carelessness. In time, he was able to give penance, and the whole experience taught him many things. Indeed, it has been theorized that if a punishment rite exists (short of Satire), the Starcaller has experienced it at least once.
When he was staying in San Francisco, the Starcaller encountered a certain Zeke Hess, a Fury metis, and learned from him about a somewhat odd sept called the Hidden Walk. Curiosity piqued, he followed the boy back to Saint Claire, and then things started to get really interesting. Black Spiral Dancers, a dark prophecy, banes... and that was just on the outside! Almost before he finished his chiminage, he was asked to join the pack Tenacity because of a bit of aid he gave them in scouting a festering hellpit in nearby Spokane, known as the Traitor's Grove. That Grove would prove the focus of a good deal of the pack's efforts in the days to come, culminating in a terrible battle to which the Starcaller brought the aid of a stone elemental he had met earlier: Grr'ak, the Stone that Walks.
And though victory came to the Hidden Walk, Tenacity seemed to be withering. Some of its members had died in the events leading up to the battle of the Traitor's Grove, or in the battle itself, and those that remained started to question their purpose. Their original totem, an incarna of the East Wind, was abandoned in favor of Bear. The Starcaller wasn't entirely happy with this choice, but was willing to go along with it if it would help the remaining members of his pack come to terms with themselves. In the end, however, little came of it, Tenacity's totem spirit going missing within the Umbra for some unknown reason not long after they had shifted their allegiance. In the quest to find the spirit, the pack began to fragment further, their own inner demons taking strength within the Umbra, and it was with sadness that the Starcaller watched them, one by one, leave to pursue their own agendas, abandoning the quest. To this day, he continues to wander the Umbra, searching for... something. Just what he's looking for, perhaps not even he knows, but his search has taken him far and wide.
Time passes strangely, deep in the Umbra. Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction. They are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. The Starcaller cannot be sure just how long he spent in contemplation of the grand spirit-orrery in the Sept of the Stars, how long he spoke with the garou that lived there. To the denizens of the Hidden Walk, it may seem like only a few years have passed since they last saw this particular wolf. But the truth may be stranger than even he realizes...