Denizens of the Worlds

The Pure Tribes

The Pure Tribes follow three of Father Wolf's children who had nothing to do with the death of their patriarch, and who blame the loss of paradise on their brothers and on Mother Luna. They don't have Auspices and tend to run a lot lower Harmony than the Uratha - they don't follow the Oath of the Moon for the one thing, and often make agreements and alliances with strange, alien spirits to give them a bit of an edge against the Forsaken. The fact that there are more of them worldwide doesn't hurt either.

• the Pure Tribes; Fire Touched ~ Ivory Claws ~ Predator Kings

The Tribes of the Moon

The Forsaken (or Tribes of the Moon) follow 5 of the 6 children of Father Wolf and Mother Luna who slew their father, and try to do his job in his place, mostly. The sixth has no children - the act of patricide, of such a powerful spirit, caused the sixths death. The Uratha are generally not liked; the Spirits for their half-blood state and for trying to police them, by Luna for their part in the slaying of her lover, by humans who remember their part in controlling that which was paradise - as not just spirits fell beneath Father Wolf's claws. The Pure despise their Forsaken brothers more than any other, and will gladly slay them if they have the chance.

• Tribes of the Moon; Blood Talons ~ Bone Shadows ~ Hunters in Darkness ~ Iron Masters ~ Storm Lords

Other Werewolves

Not all Werewolves find a tribe which suits them, those who do not are called the Ghost Wolves. Some swear the Oath of the Moon and join a pack, others live alone and are said to go slowly insane - after all Werewolves are social creatures. Those who do join packs are welcomed by the Totem of the pack, so the denizens of the spirit world do not hold any lack of tribe against them.

The Bale Hounds aren’t a tribe. They don’t follow one of the Firstborn or hold to the Oath — though they might pretend to. Most are recruited from within the ranks of one of the eight tribes, and they might still feign loyalty to that tribe. Their true allegiances, however, lie with spirit patrons darker in nature than even the most savage wolf-spirit. These foul werewolves are Bale Hounds and their rancid touch can make even Pure and Moon tribes work together to destroy them.

• the Tribeless; Ghostwolves
• the Traitors; Bale Hounds

The Hosts

The Hosts are the remains of powerful spirits which Father Wolf ran down and nearly (but not quite) destroyed. Father Wolf sought the Plague-King whose poisons and disease struck down dozens, hundreds, but the mighty Rat-spirit fled, putting parts of his essence into true rats as he passed near them. With his scent so spread and diffuse Father Wolf could not find him, and he escaped. When the Gauntlet came down these different shards were cut off and became the rat-hosts; the Beshilu. They try to chew down the Gauntlet to get back into the Hisil and to merge, becoming the Plague-King once more.

The Spinner-hag was different - called demon by some, queen by others - she carved a domain in the spirit wilds covering both the physical and spiritual (as they were side by side at that point). Father Wolf found her and the Spinner-hag fled, spinning herself into hundreds and hundreds of eggs as she ran from Father Wolf. These eggs hatched after the Gauntlet came down, growing into the spider-hosts, the Azlu. These foul creatures still remember their matriarchs fear and seek to seal up the Gauntlet so that nothing may get out to eat them.

• Shartha, the Hosts;
  • Azlu, the spider hosts
  • Beshilu, the rat hosts

The Spirits

The Spirits who live in the Shadow are varied and many, they are spirits of things come alive - of cars and computers and cameras, they are spirits of animals with alien intelligence - of cats and cobras and caribou, they are spirits of emotion and of things - of compassion of confusion and corruption. They are worse who prey on spirits which they shouldn't - becoming a spirit of car and cobra and corruption...becoming Magath. At their weakest Gaffling spirits can be an annoyance, or a threat. More powerful spirits, called Jagglings, can test even a pack and the mightiest spirits - the Incarna and Celestines - are beyond any Uratha to face in battle.

• the Spirits; Spirit Courts
  • Court of Cogs
  • Court of the Elements
  • Court of Malice
  • Court of Smog
  • Court of Sparks
  • Court of Teeth
  • Court of Urges
• the Exiles; Idigam

The Ridden

Sometimes Spirits cross the Hisil and come into the real world - they either hide near a Locus to steal the Essence or they try to link with something or someone. When its a person or animal that is called a Ridden - they can be fairly troublesome. To start with the spirit merely instructs the person to do things, but at the end it is a total merge of body and spirit - and they can be as tenacious as any Werewolf. Worse, if the spirit is really powerful they can take on an entire Pack. The Uratha try to keep the Ridden from the physical and force the spirits back to the Hisil, but it can be a great struggle, and one in which the host rarely survives.

The Humans

You may be forgiven for thinking that mere humans would be of no threat to us - you would be wrong to do so. Not only do they exist in such enormous numbers that attrition alone makes them dangerous, for some reason they are the single most influential thing to the Shadow. This means that Spirits will try to influence them, or to take possession of them directly. Despite that we need them; humans, can't live with them, can't eat them and bury the bones in the back garden.

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