On this page you'll find the background and description of important NPCs. Anything on this page can be considered public knowledge that anyone in the sept would have access to. In addition, knowledge of the information about NPCs Adren Rank or higher can be considered public knowledge, as their deeds are generally famed throughout the Nation.

The Remaining Elders

Klaus Skull-Splitter, Rends-the-Foe-With-Claws-of-Iron, Homid Elder Ahroun, Grand Elder of the Three Rivers Sept - The Wounded

Description

Homid: Klaus is every bit the old wolf that he is often affectionately called. His face is craggy, deeply lined and tanned where it's not hidden behind a massive white beard that, unbraided, hangs down to his chest(though it is nearly always braided) and long silver hair braided and done with beads, one for each breed and tribe, made of various materials - bone, glass, and, in one case, metal. Rarely wearing anything more than buckskin pants or blue jeans and old, battered boots, his iron-muscled chest and arms are a road map of pain, a network of deep scars crisscrossing them speaking of a lifetime in combat. There is something genuinely congenial in the old man's face, a grandfatherly sparkle in his blue eyes, that makes him hard to dislike. He's quick to smile, but, despite his approachability, there is something there - something hard and terrifying, a promise of grisly death to any who oppose him, that makes the old man a figure of dread at the same time he is a figure of affection. He is rarely found without his massive Jarlhammer Trollbreaker, a masterful silver-headed hammer, carved with glyphs and scenes of Garou battling misshapen creatures on an iron-shod black haft.

Crinos: There are simply no words to describe the sheer monstrous horror of the Grand Elder's warform. Standing nine and a half feet tall if he's an inch, his physical presence is dwarfed by the aura of awesome Rage and power surrounding the massive beast. There is no doubting his tribe - the Grand Elder is every inch the son of Fenris, with the same steel-grey fur and utterly merciless expression in the eyes. His lupine muzzle looks more than capable of shearing off limbs, his huge black claws like steak knives able to rend flesh as easily as paper, and his massive barrel chest is heavily and powerfully muscled even for a Garou. Scars line the monster's flesh, demonstrating a life of hard combat and countless battles won. He is rarely seen in this form without his silver-headed Jarlhammer Trollbreaker clenched in one hand. To look upon the Grand Elder is to see something primal and monstrous and awesome in the - a physical embodiment of a the wrath of a goddess. It is easier to imagine standing against a hurricane than to stand against this monster among monsters.

Lupus: A timberwolf with a coat of steel-grey and dark, intelligent eyes, the Grand Elder is remarkable and unmistakable even in his lupine shape. His shape is powerful, all corded muscle and thick fur, hide covered in a path of scars. Beads are worked into his mane, matching those from his Homid form, and frequently a stylized tattoo can be seen on his shoulder - the mark of his Jarlhammer Trollbreaker melded with his flesh.

Background

The life of Klaus Skullsplitter, called Rends-the-Foe-With-Claws-of-Iron, has been long and eventful, a rise from relative obscurity to become one of the foremost Garou in his nation and tribe, a name known across the world for fairness, justice, and heroism. For many years he has been one of the leading voices of reconciliation and unity, a surprising ally to King Albrecht, and friend to a surprising number of those who share his vision of a united Garou Nation, including Children of Gaia, Glasswalkers, Red Talons, and even sympathetic Fera. Many know his name, even outside of the Garou Nation - he has fought alongside and against wizards and shamans, battled vampires in their black strongholds in the Carpathian mountains, killed hundreds of lesser Wyrmlings and no few greater ones(including the slaying of no less than two dozen Black Spiral Dancers, a massive, misshapen war-beast crafted by twisted vampires, a Thunderwyrm, and the banishing of the ancient Nexus Crawler K'tkhtagpaptpnvxz'jkal), and driven off capricious fae intent on claiming the souls of Get of Fenris Kin. There can be no doubt that he is one of the true heroes of the Nation, in these, the last days. Yet, recent events have shown that he has not always been a paragon.

Indeed, what were once whispered rumors have now been acknowledged by the Grand Elder - He was once a member of the Swords of Heimdall, a neo-Nazi camp long since scattered and destroyed by furious Fenrir. In his misspent youth, he was a violent racist, who tried to enforce his camp's ideas of blood purity even on other Garou. Yet, through the actions of Alia Chases-Luna, an Iranian Silent Strider Adren who fought side-by-side with him and eventually gave her life to save his, he came to cast off the repugnant beliefs of the Swords, and by the time he was an Adren, his beliefs had been repudiated utterly, replaced by Alia's utopian vision of a Garou Nation unhindered by competing ideology and united against the Wyrm - united in Gaia's service.

He came to Three Rivers at about this time, a thirty-year-old Adren in 1954. In those days, the sept was run by William Crowned-by-Falcon, a tyrant Silver Fang Elder Ahroun who brooked no insolence, tolerated no threats to his power, and had been nearly consumed by his lust for further and greater influence in the Nation. This offended Klaus' new sensibilities, and when he finally managed to gain enough Rank to challenge the Grand Elder, the maddened Silver Fang chose Gamecraft, thinking his opponent a dullard. Klaus surprised his opponent by thriving, beating him in a contest of riddles. The Silver Fang went mad, and Klaus earned his deed name, dashing the Fang's brains out against a tree after a battle that left him badly wounded and, ultimately, scarred and with a slight limp. The new Grand Elder had risen, and the sept entered into a long golden age that has yet to cease, though, recently, troubles have clouded these good years. Alia's former packmate, a Judge of Doom named Mila Bonecracker, bent on vengeance for her death, came to the sept to try Klaus for Alia's murder. Thanks to the quick thinking and hard work of a young pack led by Keisha Ballard and stirring oratory of Darva Kokoshka-Novak, he was eventually cleared of the charges, leaving the Judge of Doom to flee the sept in disgrace, along with a traitorous packmate of Klaus's, the former Master of the Challenge Mikhail Fools-Loki.

Klaus is loathe to speak of his personal life, but everyone in the sept, past and present, knows the story of his mating to Maureen Sullivan, Kin to the Fianna and love of his life. Klaus was smitten by the beautiful redhead from the moment he first saw her his first night at Three Rivers, resolving then and there to take the woman as his wife, despite the objections of her somewhat dour younger brother Eric, a Theurge and the Grand Elder's eventual packmate and fast friend. However, her disposition matched her fiery hair, and there are many affectionately-told stories of their stormy courtship. A favorite tale, often related at moots after the drink is flowing and the Grand Elder is retired, begins with the earnest young Get Ahroun presenting Maureen with a dozen roses, and ends with the mighty warrior chased around the clearing by a woman half his size, being hit with his own gift. Indeed, an affectionate nickname for old Klaus - used mostly by other Get, and even then only when they're sure the old man isn't in earshot - is "Slapped-by-Roses".

Despite this stormy beginning, the Kin was eventually won over by Klaus's persistance, gentleness, and good heart, and the two were married. They spent nearly every day together from that point forward, and even the Get relate tales of Maureen's courage - the Kin wasn't content to be on the sidelines, but took up arms alongside her love, the two of them fighting the Wyrm together, she with shotgun, pistol, and the occasional barstool, he with claw, fang, and Jarlhammer. A perfect pair, the two are said to have never fought a day in the marriage except against the Wyrm, though Maureen never lost her sharp tongue and inability to keep quiet when she thought she saw injustice. Not even her pregnancy slowed her down, though she is said to have lost the child, and, indeed, no child is said to have ever issued from the mating.

Eventually, Maureen, bearing her own scars and grey clearly visible in the fiery red of her hair, was unable to fight next to her husband. They both settled into something more domestic, Klaus turning the lion's share of the fighting over to the young and becoming the Grand Elder he is today - leading from the front only when absolutely necessary, and other than that content to be a figure of leadership. They continued like this for many years. Maureen was much loved in the sept, a sharp-tongued spitfire of a grandmother to all the young Garou and the Kin, a tireless advocate for the rights of Kinfolk, and unafraid until her last months to wallop even the stodgiest, most terrifying Silver Fang with a branch, wooden spoon and, in her later years, her cane. But, as in all things, nature takes its course, and in 2005 at the age of 72 Maureen lost her last battle - not with a Wyrmling, but with the cancer that ravaged her body and turned her into a frail shadow of her former self. The Grand Elder was beyond any consolation, sitting by her side every night in the hospital and leaving the sept to be more or less run by his strong right hand, Maureen's brother and the Ritemaster by now, Eric Sullivan, now called Salmon-Eater. His howl of grief at her death was said to be audible across the city. She was buried a hero in a small grave with the other heroes in the heart of the sept, her burial place marked only with a small stone hand-carved by Klaus. The Grand Elder has never been the same since her death, becoming harder, less nurturing, angrier. Every day, rain, snow, or shine, he visits her grave and sits with her for an hour, and no one in the sept is foolish enough to disturb him during this time - not because of fear, but because it is so deeply disturbing to see the old wolf look not like a strong, vital leader, but a broken old man instead...

Eric Salmon-Eater, Homid Athro Fianna, Master of the Rite - The Leader

Description

Homid: Where many Garou tend to get more burly as they age, Salmon-Eater is a wiry man, all lean muscle and whipcord sinew. His features are sharp and hard-edged, not particularly pleasant nor unpleasant, simply as sharp as the man himself. His long brown hair hangs to his shoulders, usually unkempt and wild, sometimes bound in place with a leather cord. His clothing is always simple, leathers or simple home-woven shirts and pants. His skin is perpetually dark from a long time spent in the sun, fingers stained green from his long work with his beloved plants. It is rare to find him without a small hand sickle, used to tame the wild plant growth and keep the chaos controlled.

Crinos: Though it is far from his favored form, Salmon-Eater wears the warform well. He could almost be mistaken for a Silent Strider upon first glance - he shares the lean, sharp features and sandy coat with the stereotypical members of that tribe. He is far from burly in this form as in his birth form, and while he's dwarfed by his packmate's massive Crinos form, he is wiry where others are strong, his reflexes shockingly fast in this shape. He rarely carries anything in this form, but can be seen from time to time bearing fetish or talen weaponry plucked from his arsenal.

Lupus: A smallish, sandy-furred wolf, there is an undeniable sparkle in his dark eyes, a glimmer of amazing intelligence and mirth. He seems filled with joy in this shape, happy to be closer to the natural world.

Background

Eric Sullivan is a Pittsburgher, born and raised. His parents were Kin assistants to the Keeper of the Land, and they taught him from birth a deep love for nature in general and plants in particular. From the time he could walk, the boy was working in the soil - always quick to be digging, to work with the plants, to assist his parents in any way that he could. The sixth child and first male from his family, Eric was also the only Garou, changing early, at the precocious age of ten, after snapping thanks to cruel taunts from other children in the sept. He would have killed them, except for the quick intervention of his septmates. His change was celebrated, and he quickly became a favored student of the local Master of the Rite, a rheumy-eyed and half-senile old Uktena named Favored Son of the Stars. The old Uktena quickly recognized Eric's keen intellect and voracious hunger for learning and fanned it, teaching the boy all he could, and sending him to learn from others when he couldn't.

Eric was twelve when Klaus took over the sept in 1954, and seemed to almost instantly dislike the Get of Fenris. This dislike was only fanned when the young Garou learned that Klaus was pursuing his eldest sister, Maureen. Maureen was nine years older than Eric, and Klaus was nine her senior. Despite this difference in age and Rank, Eric was famously said to have threatened Klaus with castration should the elder Get lay a hand on his sister. Klaus was amused. Maureen was not, thrashing the cub soundly and in full view of the sept.

Eric left the sept in 1956 after his Rite of Passage, travelling the world in search of knowledge and adventure. He never took a pack during these travels, but fought alongside Garou of almost every tribe. His most famous exploits took place in Africa and Europe, the 'troubles' he's heard to obliquely refer to from time to time. In Africa, the young Theurge, a Fostern by this time, was nearly killed when the vicious cruelty of the colonial governments to the locals awakened an ancient Wyrm-spirit whose true name must never be spoken, a monstrous spirit of decay the locals referred to fearfully as the Plague Wind. It could have killed hundreds, or thousands, or worse had Eric and a pack of Silent Striders not fought the thing, the Silent Striders holding off hordes of plague zombies while Eric performed a ritual that bound the Plague Wind into the pure earth, dispersing the beast's power and binding it for all time.

After becoming an Adren for his actions in battling the Plague Wind, Eric travelled to France and helped some of his tribemates drive off a small pack of Ratkin who were threatening to commit some heinous acts against the human population of a small backwater town. They killed none of the rat-shifters, but instead convinced them to turn their anger against a local Hive of Black Spiral Dancers, which they set upon almost immediately and crippled before being more or less wiped out themselves.

Finally, after ten years of wandering, Eric returned home, an Adren, battle-scarred and tested. He returned to find his sister wed to Klaus, and, after loudly voicing his disgust, he joined the two of them on their Wyrm-hunts - he claimed it was to "keep his sister safe from the bumbling Get". It was during these hunts that Klaus managed to kindle a spark of respect in Eric's heart, and, over time, that spark was fanned into friendship, and in a year or two, the pair were not only blood brothers, but packmates as well, united in their dedication to the sept. Though others joined the pack over time, Klaus and Eric were ever the core, the solid foundation on which the pack was built. Indeed, they could be called the bedrock of the sept.

As Eric settled into his role as Master of the RIte, two things became clear.

First, he was, and remains today, an exceptional teacher, able to break down complex metaphysical concepts into easy-to-understand and practically applicable lessons. His encyclopedic knowledge of Rites and spirits, and his ability to communicate these lessons, have led him to become mentor to a great number of promising Theurges. Many of his students have gone on to become quite prominent in the Nation, all of them without exception using their knowledge for good.

Second, despite this exceptional aptitude, he is a hard teacher to learn from. Eric has always had an acidic tongue and cynical mind. He almost always has some cutting comment to make, and has an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what to target and when to target it. Many come to him to learn in a given year - and many leave, often in tears, unable to handle his caustic wit and famous lack of tact. He accepts few students to begin with, and many of those he does accept leave, but all have found that he is rarely cruel without reason - even the most hideously embarassing comment or cutting barb teaches a lesson, though the unfortunate recipient may not realize what he was trying to say for many years. This all combines to make studying under him quite the impressive feat to the Nation at large, even moreso to those who succeed at their studies.

He is also known for several other character quirks. As with any other Theurge, over time he has acquired a laundry list of strange personality traits, manifestations of taboos agreed to in return for favors and as payment for pacts made long ago. His most famous quirk, one that most Garou in the Nation are aware of, is his inability to do anything for free for any but his pack or family. A deal made long ago with an Epiphling of Commerce in exchange for teaching has made it so that he can accept only the most minor daily interactions without having to require payment. The amount of payment is up to him - he has, indeed, accepted only token payment for major services in the past - but he is also unable to say exactly what he will accept. Someone who would ask him for nearly anything, from teaching to healing to even the smallest thing, must be prepared to offer him something of their own choosing in return. He has religiously kept this taboo, as well as others(he cannot abide the eating of venison inside the sept except on feast days, and has been known to eject violators from the sept grounds for months at a time), and for this reason he is well-respected among spirits, known as a man of exceptional integrity.

Eric's personal life through all this has remained a mystery. He has never taken a mate, nor shown any interest in doing so, calling himself a "confirmed bachelor" and leaving it at that. Though, as a child of a fertility spirit, this might be looked upon with suspicion in normal circumstances, Stag himself seems to have no problem with Eric's lack of offspring, and most of his tribe are proud of his unwavering dedication to Gaia, some claiming that he's keeping her number one in his heart. Others whisper that it's not so much a matter of competition - it's just that the fairer sex isn't where his interest lies...

Eric took the death of his sister well, his powerful and unwavering faith in Gaia's goodness helping reassure him that her death was for a reason. Though he tried to help save her, the spirits were unable to do anything except make her more comfortable, as her own body turned against her. It was thanks to Eric's efforts that a Jaggling of Unicorn was with Maureen as she died, keeping her from pain and fear and letting her die with dignity, and though he would never say it aloud, a part of him believes that the spirit sheparded her soul to the Summer Country.

Now, Eric finds his world has been turned upside down. Klaus has always been a father to him, but now, he finds that he is the one that must take care of the Grand Elder. It is a dirty but not particularly well-kept secret that Eric is Grand Elder in all but name. The Get, the strongest tribe in the sept, have kept Klaus in power thanks to his awesome force of personality and the fact that he is invariably a good leader on matters of import, but on a day-to-day basis Salmon-Eater is the sept's true power. Eric is uneasy with this setup. He has no desire to be Grand Elder, and, indeed, were he offered the position officially he would refuse, as he feels his place is as Master of the Rite. Yet, he is forced to navigate the tricky corridors of Garou politics out of duty to the Klaus, screeningthe Grand Elder from all but the most important matters. He knows that the old wolf has been wounded deeply, irreparably, by the loss of his beloved mate, and works to keep the knowledge of just how deep that wound is from the Nation at large so that the sept is not fallen upon by jackals seeking to feast on the remnants of Klaus's fair leadership.

Eric is afraid, these days. A growing fear has been creeping up on him since his sister's death - the fear that, on that cold, dreary day in June two years ago, he lost not only his sister, but his packmate as well...