Common Parlance
Ahroun: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Ahroun is the Warrior, born under the Full Moon.
Anchorhead: A spirit gate between the Near and Deep Umbra. See "Membrane".
Apocalypse: The age of destruction, the final cycle, the birth of death, the everlasting corruption, the end of Gaia - a word used in Garou mythology to describe the time of the final battle with the Wyrm. Many consider this time to be the present, especially because of men nesting upon the moon.
Auspice: The phase of the moon under which a particular Garou was born; commonly thought to determine personality and tendencies. See "Ragabash", "Theurge", "Philodox", "Galliard" and "Ahroun".
Bane: Evil spirits that follow the Wyrm. There are many different kinds of Banes.
Bastet: The term the Garou use for the Werecats, they are infrequent civilians nowadays and are running dangerously close to extinction.
Bawn: A boundary area around a Caern, where mortals are closely watched. Patrolled and protected by Garou of the Sept affiliated to that Caern.
Blight: Any corrupted area, in either the spirit world or physical reality.
Breed: The ancestry of a Garou, be it wolf, human or other Garou.
Caern: A sacred place; a meeting spot where Garou can contact the spirit world.
Celestine: The greatest spirits; the closest things the Garou have to Gods. Examples include, Luna (The Moon) and Helios (The Sun).
Concolation: A great Moot, wherein many Tribes gather to discuss matters that concern the entire nation of Garou.
Concord: The agreement all the tribes reached nearly 9,000 years ago, after which the Impergium was ended. The Litany is one part of this and the traditions of the Concord are still obeyed today.
Corruption: The act of destroying, devolving or debasing life; also, the oftenoverwhelming effects of the Wyrm's actions. In the present age it often specifically refers to the ecological effects of the humans wreak upon the environment.
Crinos: The half-wolf, half-man war form of the Garou.
Deep Umbra: The aspects of the Umbra that lie outside the Membrane. Reality becomes more and more fragmentary the further one travels from The Realm.
Delirium: The madness suffered by Humans who look upon a Garou in Crinos form.
Domain: A mini-realm in the Umbra, usually connected to a larger Realm in the Deep Umbra.
Feral: Slang term for a Garou of Lupus ancestry.
Fetish: An item of great spiritual significance. Fetish's have many uses and always have a spirit bound into them.
Gaffling: A simple spirit servant of a Jaggling, Incarna or Celestine. Gafflings are rarely sentient.
Gaia: The Earth and related Realms, in both a phsical and spiritual sense; the Mother Goddess.
Galliard: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Galliard is the Moon Dancer, born under the Gibbous Moon.
Garou: The term Werewolves use for themselves.
Gauntlet, The: The barrier between the physical world of Earth and the spirit world of the Umbra. It is strongest around technological (Weaver) places and weakest around Caerns.
Glabro: The near-man form of the Garou.
Gurahl, The: The term Garou use for the Werebears, another creature that number's are faltering.
Hispo: The near-wolf form of the Garou.
Homid: A Garou of human ancestry. Occassionally used disdainfully by Ferals (eg, "You fight like a Homid").
Impergium, The: The 3,000 years immediatly following the birth of agriculture, duing which strict population quotas were maintained, by the Garou, on all human setements.
Incarna Avatar: A type of lesser Incarna, a Jaggling equivalent, affiliated to a Pack of Garou and representing that Pack's links to a totem spirit, of which the Incarna Avatar is itself representative.
Incarna: A class of spirits; weaker than Celestines, but still greater spirits by any measure.
Jaggling: A spirit servant of an Incarna or Celestine.
Kenning: The empathic calling some Garou perform when howling.
Klaive/Grand Klaive: A Fetish dagger or sword, usually of great spiritual potency and nearly always made of silver.
Language, The: The language of the Garou which relies as much upon body language and tone as upon actual words.
Litany, The: The code of laws kept by the Garou. Part of the Concord.
Lost Cubs, The: Those who are Werewolves but who for some reason have never been collected by their tribes and instructed in the ways of the Garou. These individuals are often driven insane by the unexpressed Garou side of their nature, or they suffer from and die from severe depression.
Lupus: A Garou of wolf origin and ancestry.
Mages: Humans with special innate capabilities. Some are allied with the Garou, others do nothing but rape Garou Caerns of their power.
Membrane, The: The barrier between the Near and Deep Umbra's. To breach it, and Anchorhead must be found. Alternatively, the Garou can travel through the Dream Zone.
Metis: The sterile and often deformed offspring of two Garou. Generally reviled by Garou society.
Mokole, The: The term Garou use for the Werecrocodiles.
Moon Bridge: A gate between two Caerns; it most often appears during Moots.
Moon-Calf: Idiot, simpleton.
Moot: A Sept or Tribal conclave that takes place at a Caern.
Mule: Slang for Metis Garou. Often used disdainfully, but one of the lesser insults used for Metis Garou.
Near Umbra, The: The spirit world surrounding the Gaia Realm.
Pack: A small group of Garou bound to each other by ties of friendship and mission as opposed to culture.
Penumbra: "Earth's Shadow''; the spirit world direct surrounding the physical world; many, but not all, terrain features will be the same.
Philodox: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Philodox is the Judge, born under the Half Moon.
Protectorate: The territory claimed and patrolled by a Pack or Sept.
Ragabash: One of the Auspice's of the Garou. Ragabash is the Trickster, born under the New Moon.
Ratkin, The: The term the Garou use for the Wererats.
Reaching: Travelling into the spirit world.
Realms: The worlds of "solid" reality within the Tellurian. Earth is often reterred to as The Realm or the Gaia Realm.
Revel: Performed at the conclusion of Moots, the revel is the shifting of all participating Garou into Crinos, to participate in a ritual hunt of everything in the Protectorate which might threaten the Caern.
Ritemaster: See Inceptor.
Ronin: A Garou who has chosen or been forced to leave Garou society. It is a harsh fateto become a "Lone Wolf,'.
Sept: The group of Garou who live near and tend an individual Caern.
Table Rock: The historical meeting place of the Garou at which a Concolation was held and the tenets of the Litany were agreed.
Talens: Minor fetish's, which often can only be used once or a very limited number of times.
Tellurian, The: The whole of reality.
Theurge: One of the Auspices of the Garou. Theurge is the Seer, born under the Crescent Moon.
Totem: A spirit joined to a Pack or Tribe and representative of its inner nature. A Tribal Totem is an Incarna, while a Pack Totem is an Incarna Avatar.
Triat, The: The Weaver, the Wyld and the Wyrm. The trinity of primal cosmic forces.
Tribe: The larger community of Garou. Tribe members are often bound by similar totems and lifestyles.
Umbra, The: The spirit world.
Vampires: Lords of the cities and the Garou's etenal foes.
Veil, The: Part of the Delirium. An effect which induces madness in humans, rather than force them to accept visual evidence of the existance of Werewolves.
Ways, The: The traditions and abilities of the Garou. The way of Stepping Sideways, the way of fiery Rage, the way of changing shapes, the wisdom ways and the way of Gaia.
Weaver, The: Manifestation and symbol of order and pattern. Computers, science, logic and mathematics are examples of the Weaver's influence on the material plane.
Wyld, The: Manifestation and symbol of pure change. The chaos of transmutation and elemental force.
Wyrm, The: Manifestation and symbol of evil, entropy and decay in Garou belief. Vampires are often manifestations of the Wyrm, as are toxic waste and pollution.
Wyrmhole: A place that has been spiritually defiled by the Wyrm invariably a location of great corruption.
Vulgar Argot
The younger Garou use these words to help distinguish them from their elders.
Ape: Slang for human or Homid. If the speaker wishes to indicate true contempt for the subject, she may use the word "Monkey" instead.
Cadaver: A derogatory term for a Vampire.
Flock, The: All of humanity, particulary those humans with whom the Garou mate and recruit their members.
Gremlin: A malevolent spirit.
Leech: See Cadaver.
Run: A ritual hunt or Revel that takes place at the conclusion of a Moot.
Sheep: Humans.
Shift: To change form from one to another. Used as a verb, eg, "To shift into Crinos".
Stepping Sideways: Entering the spirit world. Most elders consider this term flippant and disrespectful.
Throat: To best another in ritual combat. Used as a verb' to throat (eg, "I throated his sorry ass").
Old Form
These words hail from the distant past of the Garou and display their Fianna origins. They are no longer used frequently. However, all Garou know these terms.
Adren: A pupil or student who learns from a Mentor.
Airts: The magical paths within the spirit world. Examples are Spirit Tracks and Moon Paths.
Aisling: A journey into the spirit world.
Anamae: "Soul-Friend"; most often a bond with a Pack Totem.
Anruth: A Garou who travels from Caern to Caern but is bound to none of them.
Athro: Teacher, Mentor.
Awen: The sacred Muse, the creative impulse. Some say she is a spirit, but she has never been found. Moon Dancers periodically go on quests for her.
Brugh: Any sort of mystic place, whether a Garou Caern or a Wyrmhole. Often a glade or cave located somewhere in the wilderness.
Charach: A Garou who sleeps with another Garou or who has done so in the past. Often used as a word of anger, or an insult.
Chiminage: Traditionally, a Sept can make a request of any Garou who uses its Caern; "chiminage" is the term used for this request.
Cliath: A young Garou, not yet of any standing rank.
Darkling, The: An abomination, the life that should not be, the spawn of nothing, the spawn of darkness. A creature combined from all facets of the Triat, yet belonging to none.
Fomor (plural Fomori): Humans who have turned to the Wyrm and draw their power from it. Rarely, this term can apply to Wolves and very rarely to Coyotes. The Fomori are servants of the Wyrm and enemies of the Garou.
Fostern: Your Pack brothers and sisters; those who are your family by choice.
Gallain: The Kinfolk of the Garou - those humans and wolves who are related to the Garou and are not prone to Delirium, but who are not actually Werewolves.
Harano: Inexplicable gloom, inexpressible longing for unnameable things, weeping for that which is not yet lost. Some say it is depression caused by contemplation of Gaia's suffering.
-ikthya: "Of the Wyrm"; a suffix appended to a name
Inceptor: A Garou who guides another through a Rite. An Inceptor is also called a Ritemaster.
Kinain: The relationship among Garou who are related by blood through an ancestor. This term of endeannent and pride is never used when referring to Metis.
-luf: "lesser in station"; a suffix appended to name. Can also be an insult, in a few cases.
Pericarp: The Near Umbra around each Realm.
Phoebe: An Incarna of Luna, representing the Moon.
Pracnomen: The guardian spirit of a Pack.
-rhya: "Greater in station"; a suffix appended to a name.
Urrah: Garou who live in the city; also, the tainted ones.
-yuf: "Honoured equal"; a suffix appended to a name.
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