Storytelling is an intrinsic part of Garou life, and though they rely more on oral than written conveyance there are times when the claws must serve as the voice. Songs are sung or carved for a variety of reasons, from territorial markers to grand accounts. Lamentations and cautionary tales are written as reminders or in the wake of tragedies - or fools - while accolades provide a proud testament to the deeds of those deserving of renown.
Though the Silver Record contains the greatest of tales, many Septs (and anruth Galliards with poor memories!) keep their own records in glyphs.
We are the Daughters of the Earth and the Moon,
Seed of hope sown by Goddesses,
Fertilised by the nourishing light of Helios and Phoebe,
Born of soil wetted by blood,
Secondborn Daughters still lead by the First,
You cannot burn at a stake,
That which is immaterial,
The hunger, the need, the desire,
For vengeance, for justice and ultimately peace,
Daughters of Earth and Moon we are,
We are the Daughters and we witness,
We are the Daughters and we judge,
We are the Daughters and we kill.
HEARKEN TO THE TALE OF THE PACK, FLITS AMONG LILLIES AS THEY BATTLE A FELL WITCH OF THE ELDER SERPENT!"
Struts with Birds takes his sheathed weapon and pounds it on the rock rhythmically as he speaks. "The pack had three members, Judges Banes, Athro Philidox of Older Brother. Strikes with Ice Adren Ragabash of the Younger Brother, and Dances with Cattle, Fostern Theurge of Older Brother. They followed Wise Dragonfly. It came to pass that there was a Witch, defiling the stone buildings of our ancestral people, performing a ritual to summon a great Wyrm thing from the earth. So these three stalwart Garou rushed to the site of the ritual to stop the one who breaks names. The Witch had caused the very stone to rise up and try to protect it's foul deed. But even beasts of Stone can stand against the Grandmother's warriors! Spear lunged! Arrows flew! And mighty war club rained down!"
As Struts tells the tail of the battle he dances around on top of the rock, swinging and thrusting with his sheathed weapon. "Judges Bane quickly grew tired of the battle, and so used the gift granted to him from the spirits that gives him strength of of the Lords of the Earth, and used his bare hands to tear apart the golems of clay and mud!"
Struts with Birds raises his weapon above his head and strikes the rock forcefully. "Onward the three children of Dragonfly went. They burst into the room of the Ritual, but the Witch was ready. It summoned enslaved spirits to attack them, but Judges Banes summoned an army of spirits of his own. The Umbra shook with their battle! Judges Banes and Strikes with Ice sprang forward to battle the foe, but the witch had its rituals up, and they found themselves frozen in space. It would appear that they were in full control of the witch!"
He pauses and holds his weapon pressed to his forehead, looking full of sorrow and shame.
Struts with Birds continued, "But an Older Brother Theurge is not without tricks." He lifts his head and grins. "Dances with Cattle, though a Fostern was a wise and old Garou. For 50 years he had walked the Turtle's back as a Fostern of the Nation. When asked why he had not advanced in rank, he replied that he was to busy doing Gaia's work for such foolishness. He set to work on a ritual. Crafting it on the spot. As part of the Ritual, he drank a bottle of Fermented Peyote oil."
Struts with Birds weaves across the rock drunkenly as he continues. "When the Ritual was finished he stumbled up to the Witch, and despite it's wards and protections, he weaved forward." He stumbles off of the rock and approaches the alpha in a drunken Fashion. "Closer still he came to the witch. Slowly! Crookedly! But steady like the Sidewinder across the plains he advanced!" He also moves closer to the Alpha.
"He leaned and put his face right in front of the vile witch and met eyes with the Worker of Will!" He follows suit with his actions. "And then he..."
Struts with Birds pauses in the story and then belches loudly in the Alpha's face before straightening and leaping back to the rock. "With such a loud and odorous assault the Witch was not able to concentrate on it's ritual! With a loud scream, the ritual began to fail around them! The Wards fell, and the pack could move again! Thinking quickly, Strikes with Ice flung his packmates from the room with a blast of wind as a glyph burned bright in the floor and lightning striked around the room. He used the gift of mighty Younger Brother to give him the strength of the might pine and stabbed his mighty Fetish Spear into the glyph. With a heavy explosion, the room collapsed and was sucked into the Wyrm Creatures stomach!"
"When Strikes with Ice was found, his body like that of Ice, buried under rubble. Know this story so that when you face those who would shape the world to their wishes that you do not doubt their strength, and also so you do not doubt the strength and guile of a pack of Gaia's warriors!" He shifts to Crinos, and unsheathes his Macuahuitl and lets out a howl of Victory as he raises the sword above his head.
Johnthan looks absolutely impressed at the bravo and ability for this Galliard to tell a story! So caught up in the way that this story is told that he himself shifts to his war form and Howls With Struts!
Struts with Birds sheathed his weapon and slings it over his back in Crinos as he looks to the Alpha.
"When it's asked about the name and story of this klaive, usually the first name is used... It is a legend of impossible love and yet that it had a tragic ending at the hands of the fallen tribe... it is a symbol of the fight... of the resistance against evil and it should be used to defend the innocent against the corrupt... for the one who made it made it after losing his loved one at the hands of one of the Dancers...
The real story... only told in very rare occasions and from elder to child as the blade is passed on since otherwise would be considered almost heresy is that one time... and against all odds and possibilities love was found between two who were never supposed to fall in love. A Fianna of those of Gaia... and a Black Spiral Dancer of those of the Wyrm. The love... prohibited as it was made them both flee... and as love brings the desire of life, it was she who renounce to his former master and embraced Life once again...
He promised to help her clean her soul, as her corruption was not easily erased... And they traveled... and they fought... and they hoped...
But tragedy never lies very far... one day while he was away hunting food, and as she had still the mark of the corrupter, was found and attacked by garou... The pack didn't hesitate and attacked... and knowing they were of Gaia, she didn't even fight back.
When he returned he saw the dead body of her lover and his brothers surrounding her. They cheered him for founding him. They thought he was captured...
He couldn't even shed a tear for her as he returned to the Sept... and soon after he made this Klaive... never to forget that love can change a heart... and that Light can be found in Darkness. He would not cry for a Black Spiral Dancer, but for a White Howler... for that was what she was..."
"High above the Twined Cities, I howl with no voice my pain.
Rides the Falling Waters my good friend has died.
Not in Glorious Battle, Not in honorable sacrifice,
But at the Claws and Teeth of another Gaian Garou!
One who's name shall be stripped of him in this Record!
He Violated our Litany when Rides bared his throat to him!
He did not allow for a honorable surrender
and tore out Ride's throat
when he heard the call of the Wyrm and gave into his Rage!
Strip him of his Honor!
Strip him of his Wisdom!
Strip the Coward of his Glory!
With his Judgment, he will be forced to help any Gaian Garou by putting Himself in danger!
And let his other name, One of Shame, One that be shouted loudly be known!
Johnny Jumps the Gun! You took a Wise Teacher from us! You took a great Storyteller from us!
Your punishment is not mine to make, but I take comfort in knowing Your Fate will be Just!
Rides the Falling Waters, Let this story of your death put your spirit to rest, return to the cycle my brother, return Gaia, and Return to Us once again my friend."