Glass Walkers

*"Look, a city's like any other spider web. There are sticky strands, and there are clean strands. If you stay on the clean strands you don't get caught -- and you have a good foothold in cae you need to cut something loose."*

The Glass Walkers are werewolves unlike any other. They have largely abandoned the ancestral ways in favor of a cutting-edge, always-adapting blend of technology and shamanism. They actually prefer urban life to the wilderness, and defend the Scabs as centers of a vibrant ecology all its own. Even if that ecology is often wounded or diseased, it can be made healthy, the Glass Walkers argue. The other tribes often call them urrah, or tainted ones — but the children of Cockroach won’t give up the advantages of modern achievement just to repair their reputation.

The name “Glass Walkers” makes reference to the vast skyscrapers of the modern world. Before there were cities of glass, the tribe was known as Iron Riders, having embraced the trains and machines of the Industrial Age. In the times before then, they were the City Warders, associating themselves with urban life throughout the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance eras. And before there were even cities, they were the Warders of Men, a tribe that gathered where humans did and watched what their cousins would do next. Other tribes say this proves they have no pride in their identity — but the Glass Walkers’ identity lies in adaptation.

The Glass Walkers’ fascination with human achievement carries through to their tribal customs. They borrow political structures from human government and corporate organizations, bind spirits into technological devices to create techno-fetishes, create artworks that incorporate fashionable trends and techniques, even preserve some of their tribal lore in shamanically-encrypted hardcopies rather than keeping to the oral traditions. These practices can give them a much-needed edge — after all, most of the forces of the Wyrm, including the Black Spiral Dancers, haven’t adapted quite as well.

But their focus on humanity and its works has also weakened the Glass Walkers in some ways. They have few wolf bloodlines left to them —some of their lupus children find the tribal tenets too confusing and seek refuge with another tribe. They treat their metis well, but the number of metis in the tribe speaks to an all-too-human tendency to make bad romantic decisions. They have more enemies than most tribes: vampires are thick in the cities, and don’t care to have urban werewolves muscling in on their turf. Glass Walker Theurges are often over-specialized: they’re masters at dealing with spirits of electricity and the Weaver, but have more difficulty with older spirits of Gaia or the Wyld. If the Garou as a whole have trouble balancing their wolf and human natures, the Glass Walkers are a particularly skewed example.

Some say the tribe’s in danger of forgetting that they’re Garou. It may even be true for some — but the rest make very dangerous enemies of the Wyrm. They establish urban caerns that give their territories a centralized, organized source of spiritual power. They’ve made an art of sabotage, and delight in “monkey-wrenching” companies or organizations that prey too heavily on Gaia’s creation. They followed enough data streams and paper trails to assemble a more complete picture of Pentex and its activities than any other tribe possesses. They know how the system works. They know how to pull strings. And when the time’s right to hit the Wyrm with high explosives, silver bullets, and anti-personnel ordnance, they still remember how to use their fangs and claws as well.

## History

According to tribal legends, the Glass Walkers began as monitors of Humanity on orders of the Silver Fangs, who became intrigued by humanity's creativity and guile. Naturally, given the skeptical outlook most of the tribe possess, they are seen as allegories at best and utter rubbish at worst. Most Glass Walkers also tend to think of the Impergiums as allegories of werewolf activities back in these days.

### Early History

In their earliest incarnation, the Glass Walkers were known as the **Warders of Apes** (or sometimes Warders of Men) and inhabited the region in the Middle East that would eventually become Palestine, hiding themselves in the Jewish population. Evolving side by side with the human inhabitants, the tribe further adapted to city life. When the great Western civilizations like Rome and Carthage arose, the Warders moved in and adapted further, relishing the Greek philosophies and competing with both the Silver Fangs and the various vampire factions for power. This attracted other members of the tribe, resulting in a major migration from the Levant to Italy. The Warders mainly focused on the Roman military and its expansion into the barbaric lands.

At some point in ancient times, the Boli Zousizhe split off from the Warders in China and lost contact with their Western cousins, eventually developing into a distinct culture.

### Dark Ages

During this period, the Glass Walkers were called the **Warders of Men**, **City Warders**, or simply **Warders**. The City Warders insinuated themselves into the Church in order to protect themselves from the powerful Leeches that dominated the cities and prospered in the learning centres of medieval Europe. Various Glass Walkers also tried to make the Church more "Gaian", introducing icons of Mary as icons of Gaia and even extended into rural landscapes in the form of monasteries as places of peace and reflection. Other Warders, like those living in the Levant, adopted Islam instead. The religious connotations of the tribe easily overlapped with their duties as Gaia's fangs and also tied the disparate Warders together in a common purpose.

### Renaissance

During this period, the prevailing Camp was that of the **Tetrasomians**. The Tetrasomians were alchemists, first formed at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in Sicily. The Tetrasomnians were heavily influenced by Humanism, wanting to create a "Garouism" for werewolves that would champion the rationality and responsibility of the Garou. By balancing the various aspects of their souls, which were modeled after the Greek gods and the Triat, a werewolf would understand both the struggle he had to wage and his place in it. The tribe was modeled like a mystery cult during these days.

The Tribe also began to drift apart during these days, as more and more Tetrasomnians traveled to the New World to make their fortune. Inspired by the ideals of Enlightenment, many of these called for a dissolution of the concept of tribe, seeing it as distracting from the purpose of combating the Wyrm. The Tetrasomnians later perished when they sacrificed themselves to defeat a powerful Bane that had awakened in the industrial landscape of England.

### The Victorian Era

During this period, the Glass Walkers were known as the **Iron Riders**, referring to the railroad they used to travel the frontier west.

Rising to prominence due to their involvement in the colonies, the Iron Riders finally found common ground with the rest of the Garou Nation in fighting the native tribes. Following the Industrial Revolution, many Iron Riders dedicated themselves to reducing the harm caused by new technology, and the new banes they created.

### Modern Nights

In 1895, the Iron Riders changed their name to **Glass Walkers**, following the discovery of the City Father of London. Dedicated on finding more urban spirit Incarna and securing their aid against the Wyrm, the Glass Walkers weathered both World Wars. In 1999, it was discovered that one of the camps within the tribe, the CyberDogs, had indulged in cybernetic experimentation with unwilling Lupus. The situation quickly escalated into violence, resulting in a near-extermination of the camp and the advent of the Random Interrupts as the dominant power group within the tribe.

## Appearance

Glass Walkers have the easiest time blending in with other humans, but even they have a predatory presence that bleeds through from time to time. They have no Pure Breed, and their wolf forms are frequently mottled, multicolored, or brindled.

## Kinfolk and Territory

Glass Walkers tend to treat their Kin almost like “human resources,” with all the subcontracting and delegation that implies. They breed almost exclusively with humans that catch their eye, save for a few protected packs of wolves on privately-owned land. Naturally, their territories are almost entirely urban, usually tied to some human source of power — corporate, scientific, or even criminal.

## Tribal Totem

Cockroach may not be pretty, but it’s an avatar of adaptation and survival. The Glass Walkers honor Cockroach and its brood of technological and adaptive entities such as Gremlins, Scab Birds, and the bizarre financial Mula’Krante or “money spiders.”

## Character Creation

Glass Walkers favor modern skill sets, such as Drive, Firearms, and Computer. Mentor is a discouraged Background: the Glass Walkers don’t believe much in the old ways. Their restricted Backgrounds are Pure Breed (which they stopped cultivating centuries ago) and Ancestors (their lack of interest in the past has eroded their spiritual ties to its wisdom). Most have at least a dot or two of Resources.

**Initial Willpower:** 3

**Beginning Gifts:** Control Simple Machine, Diagnostics, Persuasion, Plug and Play, Trick Shot

## Organization

The Glass Walkers have few unifying offices. Given the shifting nature of the tribe and its adaptability to human culture, most of the practices stem from the dominant Camp within the Tribe.

## Camps

While many tribes consider camps to be splintering influences, the Glass Walkers see them as avenues of specialization. As the five auspices do, camps allow each Walker to focus more fully on their strengths, while allowing others to pursue complementary works. Historically, various camps have risen at one time or another to dominate the leadership roles of the tribe. Usually this is a reflection of the value that camp is adding to the tribe’s goals at that given point in time.

### City Farmers

Dedicated to bringing the Wyld into urban environments, the City Farmers are capable of creating veritable jungles on rooftops, in abandoned lots, and within city parks and green spaces. They believe that not only does city gardening (including growth in underground, indoor, or “found” niches like flower beds) integrate city populations with the power of the Wyld in ways many would not otherwise experience, but that properly done, it can halt urban expansion into what little wilderness still remains pure.

### Corporate Wolves

This camp is a vast network of Glass Walkers devoted to using big business as a tool to defeating the Wyrm. As a highly political organization, members of this camp maintain a strong hierarchy (easily demonstrated through flow charts and departmental trees) and utilize local, national, and multi-national corporations as both carrot and stick when encouraging their desired behavior from human society. Corporate Wolves have frequently been the dominant camp in the tribe from the mid-1970s onward. An uptake in technology brought the Random Interrupts into greater power, but the Corporate Wolves have rallied of late, gaining strength as the corporation as a concept exerts more control over the world.

### Cyber Dogs

Founded by some of the most brilliant Garou the Nation have ever known, the Cyber Dogs sought to create a perfectly integrated balance of spirit, body, and machine: the ultimate weapon for Gaia. However, they were (for the most part) disbanded after the camp-leaders forced cybernetic body parts on lupus Garou, killing many of them. Remaining members of the camp still research cybernetics and other forms of transhumanism (despite starting with material that’s not quite “human”). They now speak of moderation, cautious progress, and (at least in public forums) the necessity of full disclosure to — and permission of — those involved.

### Dies Ultimae

Half doomsday cult, half mercenary camp, Dies Ultimae offers “elite small-scale forces for short-term, delicate missions.” They use the funding gained from mercenary contracts to launch attacks on Wyrm targets, utilizing both Kinfolk and Garou paramilitary soldiers. Dies Ultimae’s leadership believes that the end times are upon the Garou Nation. They recognize themselves as, essentially, terrorists for Gaia, and use any and all tactics — guerilla warfare, assassination, arson and structural destruction, urban combat, propaganda, and more — in order to accomplish their goals.

### Mechanical Awakening

Believed by many to be an urban legend, this camp reportedly attempts to rally forces for the right of the Machine to be free of its enslavement by humanity. Legends say that Mechanical Awakening is (or was) predominantly membered by lupus Garou, whose goal was to release the Incarna of The Machine from humanity’s control, and thus allow it to take its natural place in the ebb and flow of the spirit world.

### Random Interrupts

Dedicated to using computers to turn the tide of the Apocalypse, the Random Interrupts include everyone from hackers to sysadmins: all who see technology as the latest (and greatest) tool of the Garou Nation. The Interrupts organize themselves loosely around projects which run the gamut from information-gathering to wholesale destruction. Although sometimes labeled “Luddites” because of their early attacks on technological targets, they believe in freeing information (and the Net) from the hold the Weaver and Wyrm have on it, and using technology and information as tools to aid the Nation in its goals.

### Umbral Pilots

Umbral Pilots are united by their love of exploration and discovery, and dedicated to investigating the far fringes of the Umbra and its mysteries that lie terein. Many have created Umbral transport vehicles of bizarre design, dedicated the entire machine to themselves, and used it to explore not only the Near Realms, but the Deep Umbra as well.

### Urban Primitives

Perhaps more accurately labeled a movement than a true camp, the Urban Primitives struggle to unlock the feral side of the City, diving deep into the spiritual heart of the urban environment to connect with its technological heart-beat. They build tribal societies (both in the Nation and amongst humans) and commune with technology spirits, while decorating themselves with tattoos, piercings, scars, and brandings — embracing neo-ritualism and a retro-modern symbolism that only their camp seems to truly understand.

### Wise Guys

Strongly tied to the Mafia and other forms of organized crime, the Wise Guys utilize money-making endeavors of all sorts to finance and support their war against the Wyrm, and to take down Wyrm-tainted rival businesses. Until they were replaced by the Corporate Wolves in the mid-1970s, the Wise Guys dominated the power positions within the Walker tribe for several decades. Their members demonstrate ruthless ambition, inspiring fanatic devotion from their packmates, Kinfolk, and minions.

## Glass Walker Caerns

* Sept of the Council for Universal Trade (Hong Kong)
* Sept of the Learning Hall (Moscow, Russia)
* Caern of the Solar Barque (Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt)
* Open Arms Sept (Corcovado Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
* Smiling Buddha Caern (Corner of Hastings and Main St., Vancouver, Canada)

## Tribal Culture

As the tribe most attuned to the ebb and flow of a cosmopolitan urban civilization, the Glass Walkers resist most efforts to categorize them culturally. They do not have a "source culture" in the same way that the Fianna or the Wendigo do, and as such a Glass Walker sept in New York is likely to be entirely different to a Glass Walker sept in Istanbul. However, some generalizations can be made.

### Political Culture

The Glass Walkers history and their culture are inextricably intertwined, since as a progressing tribe, their notions of political organization, their goals, and their social roles have all changed. However, the Glass Walker camps drive the political change of the tribe. One camp at any time is considered to hold "dominance" in the tribe by weight of sheer power and success. This is not a formally awarded title and is often applied only after the fact, but it nonetheless represents the way the Glass Walkers work. The dominant camp creates a model for younger werewolves within the tribe to imitate, and thus you see a lot of shifts in the culture of the tribe.

When the first tribebook was published in 1998, the Wise Guys were considered the dominant camp in the tribe. They created a highly formalized, rigid tribal culture that organized politically organized into four "Houses". They were:

* **Central House**: The Central House were the major leadership house within the tribe. Their duties included selecting the new sept leader (or "Don",) upholding and enforcing the will of the Don, and keeping track of growing Wyrm-taint within a city.
* **House of Technological Advancement**: Focused on monitoring and creating relationships with new technology spirits within a city.
* **House of Urban Defense**: Composed of Theurges and Galliards and devoted to the exchange and teaching of rituals down through the tribe, as well as the ritual cleansing of the city from Wyrm-taint.
* **House of Rightful Justice**: The warfare house of the Glass Walkers, the House of Rightful Justice are responsible for major military operations against Wyrm targets in the city and beyond.

By the time of **Glass Walkers Revised** in 2002, the Random Interrupts were considered the dominant camp, bringing with them a more fluid tribal structure whose political culture shifted from sept to sept, with most septs being able to be classified as "traditional" (similar to the Wise Guys based structure above), "contemporary" (Corporate Wolf influenced septs based around board meetings and other corporate America influenced practices), or "radical" (Random Interrupt influenced, highly flexible structures with little formal leadership).

Other camps that have been dominant throughout history include: Warders of Men, Tetrasomians, and Iron Riders. The current state of the tribe is a bit strange, as from 1895, it is not called with the name of a previous camp but with a generic name, indicating its current tumultuous situation, since no camp is really prevailing over the others.

### Religious Culture

To the other Tribes, the Glass Walkers are dangerously close to falling from Gaia, turning wholeheartedly to the Weaver. The Glass Walkers themselves, however, maintain that they are the ones that work to keep the Weaver's work clean from the Taint of the Wyrm. Much of the Tribe is in denial how they are slowly losing contact towards the Wyld, and how Camps dedicated to technologies and the Weaver's song are threatening to overtake their Tribe.

Because of their tight connections with human societies, the Glass Walkers have always held closer connections to human religions than most tribes. Much of this began as camouflage for their own Gaia worship, but as time went on, more formal syncretism came about, including at least one full-blown heresy created by legendary Glass Walker Theurge Gianluigi Lucci. There remains even in the modern tribe a leniency toward such syncretism so long as Gaia is maintained as the only figure whom the Glass Walker serves.
Within their more traditional religious activities, the Glass Walkers honor several unique rituals:

* All Machines Day/The Little Rite: In the first tribebook, All Machines Day was a celebration of technology and The Machine, seeing Glass Walkers cleaning (both literally and spiritually) the machines of their own homes and caerns and then extending to throughout the city. However, the Revised tribebook effectively retconned the idea, replacing it instead with The Little Rite which instead had Glass Walkers performing 'random acts of kindness' to the spirits and people throughout their lives that they often ignore but cannot live without. Both rituals were held on or around the 15th of March each year.

* Memorial Day: Held on various days depending on country, this ritual was designed to honor the Glass Walkers' fallen heroes.

* Promethean Daze: Held toward the end of the year, this Rite crossed New Years bacchanalia with attempts at seer-like prognostication for the oncoming year.

## Stereotypes of the Other Tribes

### Black Furies

We’re all for helping you with the troubles in the human world. But you have to come out of the Wyld places and focus on human society to make lasting progress.

### Bone Gnawers

It’s hard to believe they’re down in the gutters by choice. They’re either very brave, or completely crazy. Probably some of each.

### Children of Gaia

You have to respect the willpower it takes for a Garou to try for compassion instead of Rage. It’s like quitting smoking every day of your life.

### Fianna

Usually pretty reliable, even if they lean on storyteller’s logic more than the real thing.

### Get of Fenris

I guess we need all the weapons of mass destruction we can get, but I’d honestly prefer not to have a hair-trigger on a nuke.

### Red Talons

It’s not my damn fault you didn’t adapt, and I’m not going to let you wreck my home and murder my Kin just to cope.

### Shadow Lords

They’ve got their heads in the right place when it comes to pragmatic solutions. I don’t know about their hearts, mind.

### Silent Striders

If it’s information someone put into a computer, you don’t need a Strider for it. But they’re good at finding the other stuff.

### Silver Fangs

Are we seriously still pretending that a hereditary monarchy has some sort of intrinsically superior value? Blood will get you only so far.

### Stargazers

I don’t know if you guys noticed, but the war’s going on in the material world right now.

### Uktena

They study all kinds of things we barely even know about. That’s respectable, and also enough to give me the cold sweats.

### Wendigo

I always feel they’re looking at me like they’re imagining my head on a pike. Makes it hard to extend the olive branch, you know?