Get of Fenris
Tribal Totem
Fenris
History
The mythic history of the Get of Fenris reads to outsiders as a twisted representation of Norse mythology. The Get, however, know that it was the humans who got everything wrong, and who cast Great Fenris in the role of a monster. According to myths in the Garou Nation, Great Fenris was the Ahroun of the First Pack. Drawn to battle the giants of the Wyrm in the far Northern reaches of the world, Fenris refused to bring offspring into the world, for he felt that no mortal woman was strong and pure enough to be worthy to be his mate. In battle against the gigantic Jotunn, he beheld the first woman to ever catch his attention: The giantess Sigun of the Vanir people. Fenris pursued her into her homeland, where he proposed to her. Sigun told him that she was already betrothed to a frost giant, and Great Fenris, infuriated, challenged the giant to a duel. After a long and hard battle, Fenris proved to be victorious, but fell into unconsciousness. After being nursed back to health by Sigun, Great Fenris tested her honor, her wisdom and her courage, before taking her as his mate. From their union, Sigun bore Fenris three sons: Garm, an unrivaled skald; Rábjórn, heir to his father's fighting prowess; and Frode, who was the wisest among them. From these three, the Get of Fenris, named the "Fenrir" during these days, would be born. Tales of other tribes that the Get of Fenris are descended from a line of Silver Fangs are regarded angrily as propaganda and lies. The traditional homelands of the Get of Fenris are considered to be northern Europe, where they lived with their kinfolk, the Germanic, Scandinavian and Norse tribes. The Get tell that they did not support the Impergium at first, after all, no true Get wants to take a mate from a race of victims. After adopting the practice, however, the Get became viciously effective at holding their human tribes under control. During the War of Rage, the Get regarded it as a manner of hierarchy: As the strongest of Gaia's children, the other Fera were subordinate to them. When they challenged this situation, the Get turned on them to put their cousins in their place. Since they were superior to them, the Fera were decimated in battle until nearly no one was left. The modern Get of Fenris accept that this was behaviour unworthy of Gaia's defenders, but maintain that the Fera are also to blame and should make amends. During the Bronze Age, the Get of Fenris battled against the minions of the Wyrm that crept from the earth and had survived the Ice Age. The Fenrir worked to repopulate their protectorates, sowing forests to strengthen the Wyld and making alliances with its children, the Fae, in particular the Trolls. During these days, the capital Caern of the tribe was Heimhalla in the Ural mountains, the residence of the Vanir and home to Fenris and Sigun. During these days, the Get of Fenris in Heimhalla were locked in war with the Jotunn kingdom of Utgard and the Aesir kingdom of Valhalla. Valhalla was led by a being named Odin, whose blood-brother was Loki Sky-Walker (later remembered as Loki False-Sayer), who desired to rule both Valhalla and Utgard. To achieve this goal, he enticed Odin to make war against Heimhalla by showing him fake visions of the Get of Fenris planning to invade Valhalla. In response, Odin marshalled his forces and attacked Heimhalla while the bulk of the Get were in a campaign against the Utgardian forces. Aided by two traitors, Freke and Gere, Odin burst through the Caern's defenses and massacred the Get's Kin. Sigun fought valiantly, but could not stand against Odin. Her sacrifice, however, saved the heart of the Caern, as the entire structure collapsed over the invading forces. The surviving Get, lead by Great Fenris himself, vowed vengeance and turned westward, settling in the lands of modern Scandinavia. Multiple great Caerns were founded in these years. The Get were infuriated by the dilutions of their Tribal stories among their Kin, but accepted teeth-gnashingly that they could not correct them without breaking the Concord. Instead, they focused on their battle against Odin and his Aesir. In the battle at the Fimbul-Winter Sept, the Get called upon the essence of Great Fenris, allowing him to walk the mortal realm in their flesh. Great Fenris ripped through the Gallow-God's armies and defeated him. During this battle, a young Danish Fenrir "Get-of-Fenris-slays-Grendel," better known as Beowulf, won accolodations and became a mighty Jarl of the Tribe. From him, the future name of the Tribe would be taken.Organization
Get of Fenris are usually led by the strongest local member. Any Get that wishes to obtain a higher rank has to beat his opponent in a challenge. Tribal moots are full-moon affairs, beginning with a vicious gauntlet-running to determine who's worthy to participate in the rites of the tribe. Rites of Renown entail bloody runes carved into werewolf hide; even mystical rites dealing with spirits involve ritualized combat between rite-master and spirit as often as not. Even their belief in an afterlife reflects the concept of Valhalla, a grand battlefield awaiting its heroes. Many Get of Fenris embrace very elitist attitudes, not just to strength and valor, but even to sex and ethnicity. This has been a source of internal conflict within the Tribe for many years, and has not done the Tribe's reputation among the rest of the Garou Nation any favors. Although it is not easy for outsiders to see, the Get do possess admireable virtues beyond their courage. Women and Metis might have to work three times as hard to prove it, but as long as they can prove their strength, they can earn as much Honor and Glory as anyone else. Many Get also care very deeply for their Kinfolk, taking family ties exceptionally seriously. Wisdom and cunning are also valued to the Get, but as a compliment to might, not a substitute. When the Get of Fenris split into camps, it is less often due to their vision of their individual roles or duties, and more commonly along lines of each individual's particular intolerance and hatred. One group, focusing on the core tenets of Get philosophy, is unwilling to be distracted by the presence of someone or something that a fringe element feels is intolerable, and a new Get camp is born. Despite this fracturing along lines of prejudice, however, not all Get camps are bigots; intolerance of those who prey upon children is still intolerance, and hatred of corrupt warleaders, cowards or wife-beaters is still hatred.Camp
Camps represent special interests within the Tribe, for the most part. Some camps are badges of honor, epitomizing the tenets of Honor, Glory or Wisdom that the Nation prizes so highly. Others are forbidden, secret sects and societies practicing Gifts and Rites that border on blasphemy taught to them by forgotten and often horrific spirits that hide deep in the Umbra.- Fangs of Garm: This camp seeks to better integrate the Get of Fenris into the Garou Nation and seek to mend bridges with the other Tribes, so that at the time of the Apocalypse, they can stand together. They also think in the long term, believing in fighting the Wyrm by preventing it from sinking its roots into humanity. They organize watches, teach self defense, and educate people on the natural predators in the wild. Other Get may see them as weak, but the Fangs of Garm believe themselves to be the Get of the future.
- The Glorious Fist of Wotan: A camp of predominantly Lupus Garou, they see the Nation's protection of the human race as weak at best and self defeating at worst. They are fairly secretive by nature; most Homid Get have no tolerance for the Fists' agenda. But if a given Get's plan includes coincidentally destroying as many humans as possible while still accomplishing other goals, there is a good chance they belong to this camp.
- Hand of Tyr: There are precious few members within this camp, and they are all executioners, hunters who seek out and destroy the enemies of Gaia. They focus on the horrible results of the Wyrm's corruption of humanity: rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and terrorists. Because they target the symptoms rather than the core cause of this corruption, other Get sometimes claim the Hand is remiss in their true duty to the Tribe (such claims are usually made where the Hand cannot hear them).
- Loki's Smile: This camp seeks to topple the Silver Fangs leadership of the Nation because they believe themselves to be more worthy. The camp only admits those who have somehow crossed current Get leaders in trying to challenge the Silver Fangs' leadership, but they will work with almost anyone. They seek to embarrass and shame Get and Silver Fang leaders by finding their weakness or shameful secrets and exploiting them.
- Mjolnir's Thunder: This ancient camp consists of those who have lost or cut all ties with the world around them and dedicated themselves solely to destroying the Wyrm. They care for nothing else: not humans or wolves, spirits, the Veil or even Garou society as a whole. These are the monsters that other Tribes sometimes picture the Get of Fenris to be, having traded all shreds of compassion, empathy, and common sense for their single minded sociopathic dedication to the Wyrm's demise.
- The Valkyria of Freya: Get philosophy dictates that a warrior is exactly as cunning, strong, wise of honorable as he or she has shown, no more and no less. However, even within the Tribe, there will always be those who claim female Get are not capable of the same prowess and bravery as their male counterparts. The Valkyria, an all female camp dedicated to glorious battle, prove otherwise. Some see them as redundant, but the Valkyria say until there is no Alpha who refuses a female Ahroun the chance to fulfill her rightful role, this camp will continue.
Tribal Culture
The prime focus of the Get of Fenris is heroism; all members must act against their enemies, particularly the Wyrm. There is no room for cowardice or indecisiveness among the Get, and retreat is not in their vocabulary. Blood alone does not make a Get of Fenris. A cub could have the finest pure breed, but if they cannot make it through the bloody tribal Rite of Passage, they are of no use to the Get. Some cubs do not even survive the first test. Harsh as it is, the Rite of Passage reflects the grim and falaistic nature of life among the Get, for the battles against the Wyrm will be no gentler. For all their faults, the Get produce many heroes. Their creed of strength is simple, but not simplistic. It teaches many Get to master their Rage, to serve as examples of courage to the rest of the Nation, and to win battles that others would lose or abandon. They are remarkably loyal to those that earn their respect, and their harsh standards encourage other Garou to fight harder if they wish to keep the Get's allegiance.Homids
Usually taciturn and stoic, the Homids prefer to prove themselves with their deeds. They fight without fear or regret, never backing down in the face of loss or pain. Authority and respect is earned through strength, feats of leadership and courage, and a mastery of their Rage.Lupus
The Get revere Lupus finding their natural instincts to be the example towards which warriors should strive. Their most ancient tales speak of the true Fenris, a mighty wolf spirit that they believe loves the Lupus members of the Tribe best. Closer to pure wolf, their connection to the Wyld and their keep perception earn them greater respect and higher status, so long as their deeds also live up to the Tribe's demands.Metis
Most Get adhere to the Litany with an iron will and consider the Metis as a whole to be abominations. This situation is not, however, seen as the fault of the Metis who simply have the misfortune of inheriting their parents' sin. The parents should be punished, the child simply must survive on its own or be left to die. The Get might consider them naturally inferior, but if one can live long enough and prove that it has worth, a Metis can earn the grudging respect of the Tribe.Political Culture
The Get of Fenris, as a rule, disdain the politics of the Garou Nation, instead preferring to focus on tangible war efforts and Wyrm incursions. Nevertheless, they see the waning strength of the Silver Fangs, and some believe that it may be the time to support a new Alpha for the Nation, who can command the Get more efficiently.Religious Culture
One of the most common practices of the Get is the recitation of epic tales of past Garou who have proven themselves worthy of heroism. Most Get also strongly believe in fate, believing they are destined to die fighting for a worthy cause. The Get of Fenris revere the Triat as Edda the Weaver, Móthir the Wyld, and Jormungandr the Wyrm. Edda keeps Jormungandr at bay, while Jormungandr devoures Edda's strands to keep them from entangling the entirety of Móthir. The dissonance came when Edda named Jormungandr, trapping it in a form rather than existing as a force of nature. It is the duty of the Get of Fenris to destroy Jormungandr's physical form during Ragnarök so that the original balance can be restored. In addition to the Glyphs used by the rest of the Garou Nation, the Get of Fenris use a rune-system derived from Futhark runes to inscribe their Fetishes. These runes are also used for foretelling the future via Rites. The Tribe also makes use of mighty Jarlhammers instead of traditional Grand Klaives.Tribal Weakness
Intolerance: Must choose a specific Flaw: Intolerance during character creation. This may not be bought off and provides no freebie points. (Storyteller approval required. May not choose “The Wyrm”)Backgrounds: Contacts are discouraged
Physical Characteristics
Get of Fenris in Lupus form appear as massive gray wolves, aggressive and war-like in demeanor. It is exceedingly rare to find a Get without scars or markings of some sort, as they live both dangerous lives and are one of the few Tribes that practice scarification. |
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