Galliard

**Galliard** is one of the five Auspices under which a Garou may be born. Represented by the Gibbous Moon, the Galliard sings the soul of the Garou. They are the voice of the People, calling them to battle and inspiring them to greatness in life and in death. They are also keepers of traditions, carrying the lore of tribes all the way back to the beginning.

## Overview

The *Galliard*, also known as the *Moon Dancer* by the Pure Tribes, is one of the five Auspices of the Garou, and possessed of the second-highest starting level of Rage, bested only by the Ahroun. Their task is to preserve the legends, prophecies, and history of the Garou, a truly sacred responsibility in an ancient society that stresses oral history and performance. Besides acting as lorekeepers, historians, and prophets, they are also depended upon to act as a source of inspiration in times of desperate need, or for celebration in those rare and wonderful times of fortune. Those born under the gibbous moon are considered the most socially adept Auspice, and thus are used as emissaries. Their social ability stumbles a bit when it comes to humans and other mortals, as their high Rage tends to provoke the Curse and thus the fear and avoidance of said mortals. Among their pack, the responsibilities of a Galliard include stirring the emotions and energies of his or her packmates, reporting on and representing them at Moots, and providing a walking (and bellipotent) fount of knowledge.

Glory and Wisdom are the two forms of Renown most important to this Auspice, the former slightly more so than the latter. Truly mastering their Auspice can take long indeed, as they are charged with the responsibility of gathering and guarding knowledge, a task that is never complete. A Galliard of high Rank is doubly impressive, not only for their Renown and experience but also for their considerable social skills and charismatic presence. Sept positions that the bards are suited for include Master of the Howl, Talesinger, and Gatekeeper. They are most likely to enact Rites of Death and Rites of Renown.

Galliards of the Waxing Moon are said to have a more positive outlook and sing inspiring songs of victory and celebration. Those of the Waning Moon are said to be more dour individuals, singing songs and predictions of doom and sacrifice. The fire stirring within them is a dark and devouring one, rather than the white-hot flame of the waxing moon.

## Tribal Views

### Black Furies

Deciding truth and dispensing justice is a daunting and rather grave task. As Luna tires of speaking truth and sees how many tangles and snarls the truth and fact creates, she laughs, stepping forward into the light even more. Galliards are born into this laughter, and take up their lyres, looms, flutes, or voices in reverence to that sound.

Don’t think, of course, that all Galliards are comedians. Very few are, in fact. Laughter doesn’t have to be mirthful; it can be bitter or rueful as well. Sometimes, one Galliard told me, we laugh only because the alternative is to cry. Black Furies born under this face of Luna try to make sense of the facts and laws that the Philodox provides, and to make them accessible. Over the years, many stories have surfaced about love between Garou, about caerns falling or being built, about battles with great Wyrm-beasts, and so on and on. How many of these stories actually happened? How many were simply constructed to illustrate the dangers of breaking the Litany, or even to entertain one’s sept at a moot? It isn’t important. Take from a story the wisdom that is in it; one of humanity’s biggest problems, I think, is that many of them take their legends too seriously.

### Bone Gnawers

Bone Gnawer Galliards are known both for their very modern approach to street performances and their need to bring classical art to the world around them. Street musicians, keepers of country ballads and folklore, and public-park performers of Shakespeare are all allied within the same tribe. Yet they are also witnesses to the world around them, one that exists separate from petty Garou power struggles and spiritual hokum. They report on the world they see in brutal terms, often reminding werewolves about the world they are supposed to defend by portraying it in starkly realistic stories and art.

### Children of Gaia

"Children of Gaia Galliards are like that, too, I've found," murmured Samir, looking around carefully to make sure the sept's Gatekeeper wasn't listening. "It isn't that they aren't passionate, but dammit, they don't seem to get that we're warriors and that blood and guts are OK. Not everything has to have a happy ending. In fact, it probably won't. I think that their Moon-Dancers feed the tribe's general delusions about winning the War through non-violence. I admit I'm biased on that subject - too much time in the Middle East, I guess."

### Fianna

The Galliards are the keepers of our history. Some people like to keep it in books or on computers, but we like to keep it in the minds of our people. I tell ya, a good Galliard will beat a well-written book any day of the week. The real storyteller is the one who knows how to play an audience, not how to twist fancy words into mangled sentences. No lie: we have the best Galliards of the Garou Nation. And I wouldn’t advise arguing with that fact, lass, unless you want to limp yer way back to the Balkans.

Why are they so good? It’s because they know that there’s more to their role than just remembering the stories o’ the past. Battle is as much about psychology as it is tooth and claw, if ye ken what I mean. Scare the shite out of the enemy and you’ll have as good as won before you start. It’s a trick the Wyrm Howlers picked up from us before they fell, but we’re a wee bit better than them at it, if ye ask me. Ye’ll know a Fianna pack going into battle by the howls and songs that precede the charge. Our Galliards can lead war cries that’ll put the fear of Gaia intae anyone. On those fine days, too rare in this day, when a whole bunch of us get together to give the Wyrm a good kicking, you’ll hear horns and trumpets and the pipes. If you’re really lucky you’ll get the works tomorrow, lass. Our really good Galliards are skilled at keeping several packs coordinated by a combination of howl and song.

### Get of Fenris

The Skald - The Gibbous Moon. In many ways, the Skalds are even more the epitome of Great Fenris’ strength than are the Modi. They laugh, and sing, and love, and yet when the time comes they fight like demons and never surrender. Where the Forseti remind us of why we are, the Skalds tell us who we are, and what it means, and why it is important to us. They remind us of the legends of the past, of the heroes of the future, and of the great struggles which have plagued us in the past and present both.

Skalds are most often musicians or singers, but they are also poets and storytellers, loremasters and artists. Whatever the source of their inspiration, they pass it along to the rest of us, and use it to fuel their rage at the destruction of Gaia’s firmament. They give voice to the righteous fury and indignation we all feel in the face of tragedy, and they invariably give us the strength to go on when the world’s gone to hell. Unlike the bards of other tribes, however, the Skalds inspire us by example as well as in principle. Rather than speak of the glory of tearing the heart from the Wyrm, the Skalds go out and do it, showing us just how glorious it is. Who could help but be inspired by such acts?

### Glass Walkers

The one spot where Philodox get a break is when it comes to organizing communications. While it’s still one of the critical points in ensuring we run a tight ship, Galliards are traditionally the Garou in charge of getting messages out (think howling) and it kind of gets held over into our tribe as well. Since we’re not going to be sitting up on top of skyscrapers howling out commands, it serves us well to be knowledgeable about such things as secure transfer protocols, scrambling devices and other helpful trivia. Galliards also get “public relations” duty as a by-product of this. If the excrement hits the oscillating unit, expect us to be manning the phones and issuing denials by way of any fronts we have.

But it’s a different focus than that of the Philodox. Where the Philodox spend their time making sure the pack or sept is healthy, we’re in charge of making it look healthy. We’re professional smokescreen artists, the policeman who says, “Move along, nothing to see here.” Sometimes we’re better than them and we make them believe it, other times we just use the same trick as they do and make it not worth the trouble to try and see past us. Is this useful? You bet it is. It’s called “counter-intelligence” and when you’ve got pesky Ragabash trying to work out where to hit you, we’re the first line of defense.

As always, the more traditional duties of the auspice also get a good work out. Praising the hometown kid who done good is our job (as is cursing out the hometown bumbler who screwed up,) and the motto here comes straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan: Make the punishment fit the crime. There are times to be subtle and times to ram it home, times to be traditional and other times to be flamboyant. I’ve personally been more at home with subtlety, whispering in the right ears how so and so has been quietly and stoically taking on stuff that needs doing, and thus ensuring that he and his pack get a crack at some more high-profile stuff, a chance in the limelight. What he did was honorable, and that’s how you recognize it. On the other hand, I knew one Galliard who put together a music video from stolen security camera footage of one Ahroun surgically taking apart an enormous fomori. She (the Ahroun, I mean) promptly forced our sept to watch it about fifty times over the next week. It was the perfect way to showcase her moment of glory, and I couldn’t have done it better myself.

Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, we’re the tribe’s historians. This extends from the largest events down to the smallest details. Kinfolk’s place robbed? Write it down and file it properly. One of our packs massacred in a brutal ambush? Write it down, file it properly, and make sure you write a fitting obituary to them as well. One of our Theurges creates a powerful fetish? Write it down, file it properly, and construct proper praises for the Theurge’s wisdom.

It may sound cold and impersonal, but it’s not. We’ve got as much pride in our written history as other tribes do in their oral history, and ours is much more detailed. We’re archivists as well as historians, and if we do our jobs right, working out why we’re fighting who we are should never be hard. It should all be there, written down, filed properly. More importantly, our history is who we are as Garou, as Glass Walkers, as a sept and as packs. I know I rambled on a bit, but I’m proud to be a Galliard, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

### Shadow Lords

Garou born under the gibbous moon are taught to be taletellers and historians, the ones who remember the great deeds of Garou long gone and who act to inspire us in the here and now. This is as true of the Shadow Lords as it is for the Garou of any other tribe, but our Galliards also take great pleasure in reminding us of our past misdeeds. If ever a clever Ragabash exposes the plots of an overly ambitious pack leader, you can be sure that at least one Galliard will never let any of us forget the fact. Call them muckrakers if you will, but they nevertheless have an important role to play within the tribe — to a greater or lesser extent, they do a lot to keep us honest. We are a tribe who knows the value of secrecy, and the Galliards serve to emphasize that point.

Within the pack, Galliards often serve as a means of keeping pack members united and working together. They inspire us, tell us how even the most insane-seeming plans just might work, and show us the failures of those who have come before us. They are valued allies, so long as you can keep them on your side. Should you fall from their graces, however, they will become the worst enemies you have ever known.

### Silent Striders

Vik once told me that the only thing the past is good for is enriching the present. If it can’t teach you something, if it can’t inspire you, then it’s just so much excess baggage. That’s what Galliards do. We teach and inspire. Both of those roles are absolutely vital to us as a tribe. Without our ancestors, we have no direct connection to our tribe’s history. Our history exists only within the hearts and minds of the living. Without Galliards to make sure our history and culture passes on from one generation to the next, using stories and songs, our history will die out and be gone forever. For us, the Galliard’s role is a most sacred trust. And it’s one that our Galliards — myself included — take very seriously.

Our responsibility to inspire is equally sacred. For thousands of years, we’ve been barred from our homeland, cut off from our ancestors and hounded from place to place by the ghosts of the dead. We could have given up, fallen into Harano and faded into oblivion. But we haven’t. We’ve kept going and we have no plans to quit any time soon. Our history inspires us to keep struggling. It doesn’t matter if its the need for revenge against the Cult of Sutekh, the desire to live up to the standards set by those who came before us, or simple pride in who we are. We keep fighting, no matter how difficult the odds may be.

### Silver Fangs

The bards serve as Falcon’s beak, crying out the message of honor to the entire world, but also skewering falsity with piercing insight and action. Their courage to speak their minds no matter the cost is in honor of Falcon, who can never be silenced. He rarely speaks, but when he does, all beings listen. And so too with our bards; they perform less often than Galliards of other tribes, but their tales are ornately wrought, designed to last the ages.

Galliards do not often sit upon a throne; those who do serve as kings often prove themselves to be well liked and popular among their subjects, hated by their enemies.

The squires of the Sun and Moon Lodges are always Galliards. They are the lorekeepers, most given to cataloguing the heroes and fetishes of the tribe, and giving voice to their deeds.

### Uktena

Kakai rolled onto her stomach, propping her chin in her hands. “I take it you’ve spent some time at powwows, or whatever it is the mainland Kin call the native gatherings.” Erishka nodded. “Then you already know that stories aren’t told idly. They’ve got a right time to be heard, and a right person to tell them. The Galliards can sense when a story is ready to be heard, and if the occasion is right for speaking it. I’m not sure if fable or allegory is the word I’m looking for, but all their stories have a reason for being told. Maybe it’s to teach a lesson, or pass on a secret. Perhaps it’s to cheer hearts that are sad and lonely. But a Songkeeper never speaks without a purpose. Most of the ones I’ve met understand that words are both special and powerful. To let them loose with no care is foolish. So you should mind anything and everything they say because there’s always intent behind their talk.”

### Wendigo

They are our memory. If not for the Galliards the Song of Lends-His-Breath would be lost. The Tale of Stone Water would be forgotten. If not for them we would not know how Rabbit lost his tail. They hold our history, our wisdom, and our lore. Without them we are cut loose to drift on the winds of time without any root to bind us to our purpose. They are the warriors that defend our culture from the relentless juggernaut of white banality. Guardians of our history aside, the Galliards wield some of our most potent weapons as well. There are languages, ancient tongues that only live in a handful of our singers. They guard these words as they do their very hearts for they are the keys to the most potent spirits of the farthest north. There are admonitions that can break the very ice of the poles, but only if spoken in the proper tongue. There are words that break the spine of a great bear and songs that summon beasts out of time, but they are known only to those that speak the language of the our ancient ancestors. We have lost many already to the whites and their English. I pray that we lose no more.