DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/vampires.zip/LAZARITE.VMP

Internet Message Format | 1993-09-07 | 10KB

Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1993 14:02:26 -0700 (MST)
From: Brian A Campbell <[e-mail]>
Subject: New WW Tribe (long)

NEW TRIBE:  The Lazarites

        The Lazarites are a Tribe composed solely of Metis.  They
have no true home, but instead wander across the world.  Usually,
their pilgrimage will be restricted to one continent.
        The arrival of a pack of Lazarites is usually announced by
the Howl of Shame.  This dissonant, fearful cry is analgous to a
leper crying "Unclean!"  A rituals or occult roll can be used to
identify it.  (The different packs of Lazarites have a form of
heraldry for distinguishing the howls of their own packs.)  If a
pack of the Thirteen Tribes has been chosen by the Lazarites for
investigation, they had best beware.  If their Metis have not
been treated fairly, conflict between packs will ensue.
        Because this tribe cannot bear children, part of the reason
for the pilgrimage is to find new members.  Metis who are treated
with excessive disgrace or who cannot fit into their pack will be
recruited.  The Lazarites are cast-offs of all other Tribes.  There
are also a few members who are not of the Metis breed.
        Just as the Red Talons have had the philosophy of their Tribe
shaped by their Lupus origins, the Metis origin of most Lazarites
has effected their view of the world.  Most Metis of the other
tribes can cope; they've gone beyond self-pity.  For most Lazarites,
though, their harsh upbringing at the hands of uncaring kin have
given them a dark, bitter outlook on existence.  Only a wise few
use their self-recrimination as a path toward self-awareness.
        Within any Lazarite pack is a small elite called The
Enlightened.  These are members who have passed beyond the despair
of ostracism and deformity.  They are beacons of hope and inspiration,
and often leaders in a pack.  There are many within the pack who
will never reach this level of recognition within the Tribe,
choosing instead to wallow in self-loathing and misery.
        The outlook of the Lazarites has had a distinctive effect on
all five Auspices:

        Lazarite Ragabash:  You will never find a more demented,
darker, sicker sense of humor in any other Garou.  They are
truly gifted at the "art" of self-mockery.  This Auspice considers
sarcasm a Gift from Gaia.  In a more traditional tribe, a bard
or Ragabash will find humor in the notables of a pack, but present
this parody to alleviate tension.  A Lazarite can use humor like
a scalpel, both providing insight and humiliating his victims.
For these Garou, though the new moon might look new to others, it's
black to them.
        "Dead puppies?  You wanna hear a few hundred dead puppy
jokes?  Hey, of course, I've heard them all.  You find out about
these things when you're a living abortion..."
        The Enlightened of this Auspice have moved beyond this.
Presenting humility beforehand, they can make others more comfortable
in the presense of Metis.  Bringing laughter to others is a way to
alleviate one's own pain.

        Lazarite Theurge:  By confronting their own despair, they
are prepared to handle the most hideous manifestations of the
occult.  After confronting the horror within, they are prepared to
face anything.
        "You call that a Bane?  I've seen things worse than that
in my own pack!  Let's rip it apart..."
        The Enlightened of this Auspice have a different focus.
They are masters of healing and empathy.  Gaia is a force of life,
and the Enlightened Theurges can alleviate the suffering of those
who've been struck hardest by their curse.

        Lazarite Philodox:  A Philodox, it's been said, is like
a half-moon, half in darkness and half in light.  Within this
Tribe, a Philodox has an understanding of darkness.  She can
sometimes best understand the motivations of the Wyrm.  With this
partial sympathy toward "evil", she can even stand before a Pentex
board meeting and get them to compromise.  She will also give
caution before other maddened Garou charge headlong into destroying
the Wyrm.  This is one reason members of this Auspice cannot be
accepted in other Tribes.  A Lazarite is also fully aware of what
it means to be shut out.
        "You think the Fomori are that different from you, Lupus?
Look what you're doing to the Metis of your own Tribe!  You
sanctimonious bastard...."
        The Enlightened Philodox understands the forces of the Dark
well enough to explain to them the viewpoints of Life.  She can
draw the Wyrm-tainted back to the path of Gaia.  After all, many
Metis were once considered by their own path to be not worth saving.

        Lazarite Galliard:  an artist with a truly unique vision has
difficulty being accepted.  The members of this group have found
a way to express what most others will not even acknowledge.  The
pain and loneliness of being an outcast of Garou society, a second-
class pack member, or part of the disenfranchised is given form in
a work of Lazarite art.  What no one else will talk about, a
Galliard can show.  They flaunt in their work all that is taboo.
        "Don't turn away!  It's the Truth!  Right there!  Look hard,
because that's what's really happening within you!"
        The Enlightened of the Lazari do not use a confrontational
approach.  They can coax the emotions of sympathy and tolerance from
their audience.  The Tribes must realize that the Metis bear the
"punishment" for what others have done.

        Lazarite Ahroun:  violence is shocking, brutal, and ugly.  So
are you as a Lazarite Ahroun.  A human scientist once said that
depression is violence directed inward.  These Garou take all the
pain and direct it outward.  They inflict all the hurt they feel
and use it as a weapon.  Rage is sometimes their only friend.
        "You can't stand to look at me?  Then I'll rip out your
Wyrm-tainted eyes!!"
        The Enlightened have found peace through strength and the
perfection of their martial art.  The mastery of skill brings about
the mastery of one's self.

Notable Lazarites:

        Heals-the-Heart, Lazarite Theurge-  this Enlightened Garou
was the founder of the first Lazarite Tribe.  Those of other breeds
refused her ministrations, so she began working to heal the suffering,
both mental and physical, of the other Metis of her Tribe.  Soon she
convinced five other Metis to leave with her.  They travelled at
night to protect their Theurge:  her mark was albinism.  Together
they sought others rejected by their own families.  Empathy and
Medicine are her highest skills, and she possesses several unique
healing Gifts given to her by Gaia.

        Walker-of-Seven-Hells, Lazarite Theurge-  Walker's journey
among the Lazarites took an unexpected turn when he led a group of
Ahroun into the cabin of a lone Mage.  The magus was a master of
demonology and fled by creating a portal to the very depths of
Hell.  Walker instructed his apprentice Theurge to take all the
notes he could and go back to the pack for help.  Closely followed
by three Lazarite Ahroun, he charged into the hellfire.  Destroying
every Satanic entity in their path, Walker and his followers eventually
fought their way back to the realm of Gaia by way of the Umbra.
The mage was never found.  Now, however, with the help of his Lazarite
pack and the aid of the Magi's tomes, Walker leads campaigns to save
the Umbra from the forces of the Underworld.
        His skin is a bright pink, since the few patches of fur he
possessed have long since been singed by fire and brimstone.  Mage
Lore, Demon Lore, Occultism, and Survival (Umbra) are his highest
skills.

        Claws-in-Darkness, Lazarite Ahroun-  His parent's sins left
this warrior with a brand of shame in a world where only the fittest
survive:  Claws was born without eyes.  Two deep pits sink into his
face.  Growing up in the Get of Fenris Tribe, he was forced to
participate in the rites and rituals of all who are born beneath the
full moon.  Through countless training sessions, he was throated and
beaten.  A disgrace to a Tribe that could not bear to remember the
incest of his parents, he was ostracized.
        In the wilderness, Claws had to learn or die.  He became a
master of tracking and survival, and, over the years, he fell upong
the techniques of blind fighting.  At the age of twenty, he met the
Lazarites.
        Within his pack, he has taught others these skills.  A
leader of ronin, he cares nothing for the deformity of their bodies,
trusting instead to the skill of their claws.  Whether fighting in
the tunnels of the Ratkin or the sewers of the Vampire's cities,
Claws has an edge to his technique, and the backing of own
of the most impressive squads of Ahroun.


Using the Lazarites
        The Lazarites can be used in any number of encounters with
your pack.  If a Metis in your group is feeling out of place, a
meeting with this group can help to focus his character.
        Any pack, Tribe, or Moot is fair game for a wandering pack
of Lazarites.
        Playing them as PC's takes a lot of work.  It can be an
intense catalyst to acting.  Feeling the pain of an outcast is
magnified in a Lazarite.  It's a chance to push your emotions to
extremes and can be a challenge to a good roleplayer.

        There is room for everyone in Gaia's plan.  The Lazarites
play their part as well as any tribe.

[Hope that came through all right, and that it wasn't too long.  Now I'm
looking forward to reading the "Book of the Wyrm"...]

                                                Enjoy,
                                                Brian Campbell

[e-mail]--- "Chainsaw"----------------------
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