Through a Garou’s eyes
Inspired by hours and hours roleplaying Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
Through a Garou's eyes
© Daerian Garou, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and World of Darkness © White-Wolf
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Try to feel the world around you; what you hear, what you smell, what is around when it is not obvious, when you cannot see what is approaching.
Open your eyes. Step away from your computer for a few moments. Look through a window. Try to look at the horizon, if that's possible. Try to see the world, beyond you, beyond your world.
Open a tap, let the water flow over your hands. Close the tap, but don't dry your hands yet. Put them in the Sun for a while. Feel the difference between the coolness of the water and the warmth of the fire.
When returning home, stop for a moment on the sidewalk. Step away from the flow of people coming and going. Look at them for a few seconds... close strangers, each person is immersed in their own problems, just as you are., so deep in their own world they won't even notice you. Or maybe not. Few things are as surprising as receiving a 'good morning', 'good afternoon' or 'good night' in the middle of a crowd in the city.
It is not strictly necessary to follow the advice in the above text, face it like a suggestion. Or then, as a good roleplayer, imagine. All my suggestions aim to remind you there are a lot of things of worth in the world, but we are usually too busy to pay attention to them.
What does this have to do with roleplaying?
Before you imagine yourself a Garou, remember what it is like to be human. You can believe or not in a God, or gods. You can believe, but you are not sure. You can feel good when putting your hand under the Sun. Scientists can give you the name of each blade of grass, thus completely ruining the grass.
Now, be a Garou.
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Try to feel the world around you; what you hear, what you smell, what is around when it is not obvious, when you cannot see what is approaching.
The image you have as you breathe is almost as perfect as the one that comes to your eyes. You feel... distant things, near things... it's like looking through the walls when you smell the most indistinguishable scent of someone you like that is near, and you simply know the person is arriving. The air around you is alive. Life sings around you. You don't really needs eyes to see...
Open your eyes. Step away from your computer for a few moments. Look through a window. Try to look at the horizon, if that's possible. Try to see the world, beyond you, beyond your world.
The city stretches ahead. The buildings and streets seem dead... they are dead, if you compare them with the majesty of a forest. The father of the city rests, asleep while he is not called upon. Some buildings glow, unfeigned even on the Umbra, for they are spirits, not only matter. Schools, hospitals, churches, houses that are homes; the city is alive and pulsing in front of you, and the shine of Helios or Luna in the sky aren't the cold glow of a massive thermonuclear explosion, or its reflection on a rock. You know their spirits actually have their own light.
Open a tap, let the water flow over your hands. Close the tap, but don't dry your hands yet. Put them in the Sun for a while. Feel the difference between the coolness of the water and the warmth of the fire.
The water flows and you feel the brush of your spirit, washing your soul along with the dirt from your hand. Helios' warmth strokes your hand, making the water disappear, but keeping the feeling of being well.
When returning home, stop for a moment on the sidewalk. Step away from the flow of people coming and going. Look at them for a few seconds... close strangers, each person is immersed in their own problems, just as you are., so deep in their own world they won't even notice you. Or maybe not. Few things are as surprising as receiving a 'good morning', 'good afternoon' or 'good night' in the middle of a crowd in the city.
Most of them are blind. They cannot see what you see, they destroy what they do not understand... You are one of the few who must decide if it's worth trying to make them learn or slaughter them before they kill more... They don't see what they are harming, but this doesn't change the fact of how destructive they are. For a few moments, you feel superior, the predator stalking its prey, the wise facing the fool, and then one of them gives you a 'good night' and smiles. Then you remember that in part, you are one of them too.
You are Garou. You don't believe in God. You know He exists. Spirits are all around you, all the time, on the other side of the mirror. You can see them, talk to them, touch them. You know each and everyone has a soul. You can see this soul. You know that not only people have souls.
You know Gaia exists, because you feel her with you. Stronger when you are in the Umbra, or at a Caern... but always present, even in the day-to-day routine. Beliefs are pale in front of the certainty you have.
Even if you never meet with Gaia herself, and cannot ask about her nature, you know that magic exists. You are the living proof of it. And you know the world is alive. You are just a mirror away from meeting with the spirits around you, and everything around you has its own spirit. The scientists don't know the names of the grass. You do. And you know that not only everyone has a soul. EVERYTHING has a soul.
And these souls are dying. The same way you can see the magnificent, the magic of the world, you also find yourself face to face with the rottenness and corruption of what should have been and no longer is.
Although cities have their very own song, it is lower than the forest, and it is fading. The spirit world increasingly moves away from the material world, and that means death for both. The greatest of all heavens that there could exist, our home, is being destroyed.
But you can do something about it.
Half matter, half-spirits, the Garou have a unique view of the world. A certainty that humans will never have: that magic exists. But more than this, that the world is alive, everything is alive and everything works together, something that should be in perfect balance, but ceased to be. It's the desperation of trying to fix that which moves the Garou, the wonder of being sure about the magic of life that makes them fight without giving up, even when the Apocalypse draws ever closer. There are those who see the Garou as killing machines, and this is a great image for a vampire to have of the "wolfkin", but not an image for a Garou have of himself. Garou are warriors, but the most important part of their nature is that they know perfectly well why they fight... it is for something far greater than themselves.
The Earth is alive. A Garou does not think that, he knows it. The Earth is alive, but dying. It is to prevent this death they fight. Being completely sure that everything is alive around them, and the world needs their help.
Wouldn't you fight too?