Shartha; the Hosts

Legend holds that in the time of Pangaea, Father Wolf hunted down many powerful spirits that violated the physical without permission. Most of them were caught and either banished to distant prisons beyond the sky or destroyed
outright. Some, however, discovered a way to escape Father Wolf in the physical world by scattering their essence into many hosts. But when the Gauntlet came crashing down, they became stranded. They forgot much of who and what they were, but the separate pieces of their essence have since evolved into something stronger than what they were. Gradually, these shards draw together, seeking one another out. These are the shartha — the Hosts.

A Host is both one creature and many. Each shard of the original spirit tends to reside within a small animal, like a Ridden. But as the shards gather and reunite, they merge. Two shards in the bodies of rats become one, larger
and smarter than it was. A shard imbedded in a spider the size of a basketball devours another, smaller shard, and it too increases in size and intellect. Eventually, the Host grows to human size, and acquires a humanlike intelligence. It might then decide to disguise itself as a human — and the only way to can do so is to devour everything of a human but the skin, then pour itself into that skin. Though a stolen skin does not last forever, it grants the shartha the ability to move among human society, granting it an additional measure of defense against those who would hunt it down.

Even when slain, a Host might not die entirely. Its body breaks down into a flood of dead animals of ordinary size — if a pack of werewolves kills a Rat Host, the only evidence of its passing is a pile of dead rats. And yet, one animal among the swarm inevitably remains alive, with a living shard within it. If the werewolves do not quickly locate and kill the shard-bearer before it
can escape, the Host will eventually return — and likely remember who did it harm.

The Uratha regularly clash with two significant breeds of shartha: the Beshilu
Rat Hosts, and the Azlu Spider Hosts. Over the millennia, enough werewolves have shared enough information that the picture of the Hosts’ history has begun to take shape. Now many werewolf elders believe they understand the origin, nature and goals of the Rat Hosts and Spider Hosts to some degree. But
other Hosts are said to exist, creatures neither Azlu nor Beshilu — swarms of locusts that follow African famines, or men with nests of snakes in their bellies. The elders consider it very likely that other forms of shartha exist in the world, but with different compulsions that allow them to devote most of their efforts to staying hidden from the werewolves.

The Hosts in Great Britain

The Hosts are here, too, and, just like everywhere else, they’re a plague upon two worlds. But plagues can manifest in different ways. As the spirits whose heritage the Hosts share, the Land has changed them subtly. An American Uratha visiting the country who fell foul of one of these creatures would probably be surprised at how different they are.

The weakness of the Gauntlet around the British Isles is both an influence on the Hosts, and a testament to the way the Rat Hosts have gained their ascendancy. The Azlu, on the other hand, struggle to survive at all.

A Third Host?

The Uratha have long shared rumors of a “Third Host,” another malevolent half-spirit, half-physical creature at large in the physical realm. The werewolves of Britain have their own theories as to what the Third Host might be, claiming on occasion to have met Bee Hosts, Cat Hosts, Raven Hosts, Weasel Hosts and even Slug Hosts.

They can’t all exist. Odds are, there are equally plausible alternative explanations for most or even all of these phenomena. But still, there remains the possibility that another breed of Host preys on the people of Britain. Perhaps, sometime soon, someone will get to the bottom of it.

More detail on the Hosts

• more detail on Azlu; the Spider Host
• Wight Spiders
• Spitting Spiders
• Spinner-Hag; the Queen of Poison

• more detail on Beshilu; the Rat Host
• Thisrah; the great prophet
• Plague King; the Great Rat

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