Editing Werewolf: The Apocalypse (section)

==Breeds==
Breed refers to the natural state of a werewolf. Some Garou are 'normally' in human shape, and others not. Werewolves that are sleeping or unconscious always revert to their breed form (unless they have the Merit Metamorph which allows them to retain whatever form they want). Their breed form is the shape they are born in, and are stuck in while they grow up.

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| [[File:Homid.png|50px]] || '''Homid''' <br> The result of [[Humanity's Last Stand| Being born from a Human or Homid mother]]. These are almost always the typical player choice. Homid werewolves grew up as regular members of humanity, because apparently the Garou can't keep track of all their kids, and even if they did, most of them don't turn out to be werewolves.  It doesn't help that a werewolf parent does not automatically create a werewolf child.  These children who are not werewolves are Kinfolk, they're people who lack the ability to shape-shift but can often still have Gifts and are welcome among the sept... they are highly sought after because the chances of having a werewolf child are greatly increased if one of the parents is a Kinfolk.  Note however that they're not usually treated as equals; many tribes treat their kids as servants or second class citizens for a while. Instead, they wait for the kids to go through their first change, inevitably [[rip_and_tear|slaughtering]] their schoolmates, high school sweetheart, best friends, family, or whomever they happen to be around at the time. Remember, this is White Wolf so it's either an obviously-stupid position to take as a dying race or the logical result of things not being warm and cuddly... it's the World of Darkness after all. Many people may have Garou in their lineage and have no knowledge of it, and thus the change can be quite a surprise. || [[File:Homid.png|50px]]
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| [[File:Metis.png|50px]] || '''Metis''' <br> When [[furry|two werewolves love each other very much...]] they end up pretty screwed up. Garou society forbids werewolves to breed with each other. In some tribes or groups the punishment is a harsh shunning, and in others it can be [[grimdark|outright death for parent and child]]. The reason is, depending on who you ask, that Gaia wanted to ensure her soldiers had to stay connected to the human and wolf races and couldn't reproduce without them, or that werewolf genes are ''so'' powerful that these children are born horribly deformed and inbred because of too much concentrated greatness. Either way, a Metis always has either some severe mental issue, a physical deformity or both. These children are born in the half-man, half-wolf, known as Crinos. Fully grown werewolves in the Crinos shape stand up to ten feet tall, so a baby starts out pretty fucking big, potentially representing a threat to the mother's survival during delivery. As a general rule metis kids are raised in Caerns, never leaving them till they reach "adulthood" (around 8 years old), so they tend to be sheltered and know very little about the worlds of men or wolves, but knowledgeable in the ways of Garou society. Also growing in a war-from filled with rage and armed with deadly claws adds a bit to a can of worms that is metis psyche on top of being social pariahs and freaks. Metis often make good warriors though, as long as the fight isn't in the streets of some human city. Even though they're supposed to be anathema, more and more are being produced as the world heads into the end times. There's even some groups of werewolves trying to increase their numbers for the last battle of the Apocalypse. All metis are sterile, which is another reason they're looked down on... when your race is dying, having sterile children does not help. Being a metis gives a PC some raw hitting power, but it also gives them a boatload of social disadvantages and at least one physical or mental deformity. And thank Gaia for that, because the so-called "Perfect Metis," one born ''without'' any visible deformities, is supposedly, in some sense, a sign of the End Times. Whether for good or ill, none can say, because ''Apocalypse'' offered opportunities for both interpretations. While they aren't really intrinsically evil, a whole lot of metis get treated like shit so much that they end up falling to the Wyrm anyway, a vicious cycle that, hitting a major theme of the gameline, almost none of the Garou have learned anything from in thousands of years. Also In Real Life "Métis" refers to a group of people in Canada and the Northern US who descend from both Native Peoples and French Fur Traders. || [[File:Metis.png|50px]]
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| [[File:Lupus.png|50px]] || '''Lupus''' <br> Born of a regular wolf or lupus kinfolk. As most player opt for a Homid for easy roleplay and a relatable background, some go for the challenge of being a wolf. Lupus are born as wolves, and live as such until they change. Even then, while they can take human shape and they aren't as dumb as a typical animal, they're still very wolf-like in thought and action. You need to remember that the change happens alongside puberty which means that your Lupus character is only a year or two old.  So don't expect your Lupus to be driving a car, holding down a job or even speaking a human language well.  Play them as they are, if they are in a city, they will likely be very uncomfortable and will not have concepts that most Homid characters take for granted.  They can be a challenge and extremely rewarding.  Storytellers should limit these to experienced players and for games that would allow for a lupus to add to the game etc.  It's not a bad idea to learn about wolves and their behavior before playing as a lupus character... in other words, they are wolves, not dogs. Of course, for all the legitimate roleplaying challenges to be had in playing a lupus, they have ''never'' escaped the stigma of the fact that they are the result of ''literal wolf-fucking'' - that's a step too far even for the average [[furry]]. || [[File:Lupus.png|50px]]
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| [[File:Kinfolk.png|50px]] || '''Kinfolk''' <br> Most non-metis werewolf couplings don't actually result in werewolf children, but their kids are still kinfolk. Kinfolk are basically normal humans and wolves who are immune to the werewolves' Delirium (panic and memory wipe after seeing werewolf in Crinos) and Curse (unconscious fear and loathing of werewolves in any form). Tribes keep them around because having kids with kinfolk is much more likely to produce werewolf children, and because they're the only way for most werewolves to have functioning families without the Curse fucking it up and limiting garou love life to one-night-stands. The full implications of this have been milked for all they're worth across countless septs, but here's the gist of it: some kinfolk-garou couples are good matches between people who love each other, despite the tension between their warrior ethos and living a normal life. Some garou believe that breeding with any kinfolk they want whenever they want is their "right," and that kinfolk should be grateful for the opportunity. And most of them fall somewhere in-between, with garou family members who try to be good to their kinfolk but either patronize or fail to keep their Rage in check around the people they love, leading to tragedy all around. Mistreatment of kinfolk has led many to fall to the Wyrm, or to murder their Garou kin, others even becoming "Skinwalkers" in an effort to become garou themselves, Wyrm-tainted abominations with many werewolf powers and a terrible desire for revenge. Kinfolk are a challenge to play, since you're essentially a normal person fighting things that can kill a garou in Crinos. There's a reason that a lot of Tribes are leery of cavalierly throwing kinfolk into the fray, [[Imperial Guard|since they know that many of them, maybe even most of them, will never return]]. Of course, there ''is'' potential for a non-combat campaign, but that lovely war-form would just be sitting around if you did that!  The Kinfolk book has many Gifts, rites etc that are unique to kinfolk and make them far more than just baby making machines. There are even rules for Supernatural kinfolk. A changeling that happens to be kinfolk?  Not a problem! || [[File:Kinfolk.png|50px]]
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