Use of The Term tribe in The Game
The werewolves in the game, calling themselves Garou, are divided into different groups, called tribes. Membership in a particular tribe is partly derived from upbringing, often by a parent or near relative, but also drawn in part from spiritual influences.
There is an implication in the background of the game that Garou souls are reborn into new bodies (in earlier editions players could even choose to give their character the ability to tap knowledge of previous lives, however this isn't part of the game any more since it latest edition and characters should instead have been able to tap into the knowledge of Ancestor spirits) and thus the soul may have a default tribe to which they belong.
Most tribes value heritage very much, so only children of Garou from the given tribe are introduced into the tribe. The Silver Fang, Fianna, and Get of Fenris are among those who especially value heritage; in these tribes a young Garou would not be allowed the proper rites and trails to join the tribe if he was not of appropriate heritage. The tribal totem is the ultimate judge of whether a particular Garou will be accepted into the tribe, although it is a rare and shameful thing to be rejected. Very rarely Garou find that their native tribe is not suited to their philosophy, and may either reject the tribes utterly, or attempt to join another tribe. The Children of Gaia and Bone Gnawers are the two tribes most open to Garou that have left their original tribe.
The Black Furies and Red Talons take a special place in this order, since they only allow special Garou among them (check their description below).
Every werewolf character belongs to one tribe. Usually the player picks a tribe during character creation. This determines other game relevant stats, like tribal gifts (magical powers) and the starting level of willpower, as well as optional aspects like tribe-specific merits and/or flaws as well as a tribal weakness (and, in the LARP variant, a tribal advantage). Since changing the tribe is extremely uncommon, the tribe chosen very much determines the characters future. In addition, most characters at least partly live up to the tribal archetypes.
The Tribes are listed below. Several tribes have joined into greater alliances. These alliances are mentioned after the tribal descriptions.
Read more about this topic: Garou Tribes
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