History TabletopGame / WerewolfTheApocalypse

** In terms of specific times, the Black Spiral Dancers are far more evil and savage than most Gaian Garou, as are the Red Talons (who consider humanity part of Gaia's problem). {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s such as the Get of Fenris and Wendigo tribes often skirt this as well, sometimes ''quite'' closely.
* ScienceIsBad: Kind of. The Weaver is the patron of science, and she's a reckless nutcase who is largely responsible for the Wyrm going crazy and evil. Still, ''Book of the Weaver'' makes it clear that Science is actually her least maleficent aspect, and in fact it being choked out by Dogma (blind faith) and Technology (which isn't curious about the world at all) is a symptom of her increasing despair and ControlFreak tendencies.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The Mokole can transform into dinosaurs. Or rather, ''dinosaur-themed'' MixAndMatchCritters which might combine the size of a sauropod with the tail of an ankylosaur and the teeth of a tyrannosaur. And pretty feathers. And gills.

** The first edition introduced the Seventh Generation, a world-spanning conspiracy of Wyrm-worshipping pedophiles who were presented as the Defiler Wyrm's foremost instrument on Earth. While they were occasionally mentioned in later editions, their relevance and reach were toned ''way'' down, with the role of "the main reason why everything is so fucked up" being taken over by Pentex.

** Werewolves themselves use it as well. Their finest and most legendary weapons are Klaives, essentially silver swords with a spirit of war bound to them. They're mostly used for dealing with the Black Spiral Dancers, but do come out unfortunately often when Garou duel over grave insults or positions of leadership. Certain tribes have other silver weapons, the best-known of them being [[DropTheHammer hammers]] for the Get of Fenris and [[AnAxeToGrind Labrys]] (double-headed axes) for the Black Furies, but there's also the african Hakarr, a hunga-munga or throwing iron (well, silver) that is used by Bastet.

* MultipleEndings: ''Gehenna'', released as part of Time of Judgement, details several potential endings to the MetaPlot.

* PoisonousFriend: The original role of the Shadow Lords was that of the eternal Beta, the ones that do the things that are necessary, yet sufficiently atrocious that their Alpha (nation-wise the Silver Fangs) can't be seen doing them. By now, part of the tribe sees this devotion as misplaced due to the Silver Fangs being considered inept, so the tribe has some factions that stay with the traditional Beta role and some that try and make a grab for power themselves.

* ILoveNuclearPower: Wyrm minions do. Nuclear explosions are considered sacred to Furmas, the elemental Wyrm of Balefire. The balefire burning in Black Spiral Dancer caverns is radioactive, producing mutations in some of the werewolves who reside therein.
** One of the Black Spiral Dancers' holiest caerns is a nuclear testing site in Alamagordo, New Mexico, where a colossal Thunderwyrm nests underground. The original nuclear blast blinded one of the Trinity Hive's elders, and hive members who guard Grammaw are frequently hairless and pale due to the effects of residual radiation.

* AnimalisticAbomination: In olden days, Banes would possess animals, creating bestial horrors that would be sent against the Garou as siege engines. This is where legends like the manticore come from. In modern days, human fomori are preferred because they're a bit less conspicuous.

* CrapsackWorld: As with all ''[=WoD=]'' games. In this case we know why it's a crapsack; because of the Wyrm. Although the question of whether the Wyrm causes human evil or just feeds on it can become sort of a circular chicken and egg debate. And of course every Changing-Breed and Garou tribe has their own story about just why the Wyrm is so fucked up in the first place. If the ones involving the Weaver's descent into madness are even partially true, it takes it UpToEleven: of the three primal forces of existence, two have been driven insane and the third arguably already was in the first place.

## Ahroun are inherently HotBlooded, driven to take the already-extreme aspects of their ProudWarriorRace UpToEleven.

* AdultFear: The Seventh Generation, a cult that kidnaps and abuses children.

* ILoveNuclearPower: Wyrm minions do. Nuclear explosions are considered sacred to Furmas, the elemental Wyrm of Balefire. The balefire burning in Black Spiral Dancer caverns is radioactive, producing mutations in some of the the werewolves who reside therein.

* ScienceMarchesOn: ''Rage Across the Heavens'' deals with Garou astrology and assigns each of the 13 tribes and a patron spirit to the most significant planetary bodies in the Solar System. However, it relies on concepts that have been outdated for years. Namely, the Uktena's patron planet is Vulcan, a theoretical body on opposite end of Mercury's orbit, to explain how it revolves so fast, but it's been proven to not actually exist. The book also states the once-popular theory that the Asteroid Belt is the remnants of a destroyed planet, which we also know is not the case (Pluto gets a pass, since the Planetary Incarnae don't necessarily have to represent full-size planets). One could argue that the Garou zodiac system was set up centuries before modern astronomy, except you can actually ''visit'' Vulcan despite its nonexistence on the physical plane.
** This is less the purview of ''Werewolf'', but reality levels get a ''mite'' thin once you get past Earth's atmosphere (and get ''really'' thin when you past the Asteroid Belt). There probably actually ''is'' a physical Vulcan somewhere in the World of Darkness' solar system, perfectly content to keep existing despite being disproven.
** Following the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet, its planetary incarna Meros departs from the Solar System.
** In-universe, this is entirely fitting, as The Technocracy (a group of [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension mages rather than werewolves]]) more-or-less run the human world since the Renaissance. The Technocracy wants ''order'' and dislikes vampires, werewolves, other mages, and anything supernatural; and since mages run on ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve, they are entirely capable of wiping the planet Vulcan out of existence by convincing ordinary humans that it doesn't exist. The Technocracy Marches On.

->''Choose no life. Choose no career. Choose to live at the Caern. Choose a totem. Choose a fucking big klaive, choose breeder banes the size of washing machines, Black Spiral Dancers, weaver spiders and corrupted naturae spirits. Choose no sleep, high rage and mental instability. Choose between dedicating jeans or boots. Choose no friends. Choose challenging a Sept elder for your fucking right to exist. Choose the Umbra and wondering why the fuck you are slogging through arse deep Wyrm toxins on a sunny morning. Choose walking through a Scab looking at brain dead, spirit-stunted homids, fisting fucking junk food into their mouths. Choose being butchered to pieces at the end of it all, giving your last in some miserable Wyrmhole, nothing more than a legend to the selfish, fucked-up, Weaver-ridden spawn replacing the beloved defenders of Gaia. Choose your future. Choose to Rage.''

Garou are born into one of three breeds: Homid (werewolf & human parents), Lupus (werewolf & wolf parents), or a Metis (a forbidden union of two werewolf parents, which is sterile has an inherent flaw of either a physical, psychological, or spiritual nature); non-Garou children of at least one Garou parent are [[{{Muggles}} mundane]] Kinfolk (who themselves have a rare chance of having Garou children). The lunar phase under which the Garou is born determines their Auspice (class) and their spiritual power: TheTrickster Ragabash (New Moon), the spiritualist and crafty Theurge (Crescent), the well-balanced Philodox (Half), TheBard Galliard (Gibbous), and BloodKnight Ahroun (Full). Further, the Garou are split into Tribes based on their ancestry, of which thirteen remain:

* EqualOpportunityEvil: The Wyrm isn't picky about those it recruits into its ranks. Corrupted shapeshifters, spirits, and humans of diverse backgrounds can be found among its minions. Compare this to various Garou tribes that limit membership due to breed, class, sex, or ethnic background.

* MixedAncestry
** Members of the Siberakh tribe are descendants of Silver Fang Garou who bred with Wendigo kinfolk.
** Get of Fenris who belong to the Ymir's Sweat camp are descendants of ancient Get who had children with Inuit partners. Because of their indigenous ancestry, they are not well-regarded by other Get of Fenris.
** The narrator of the Nuwisha tribebook observes that red wolves are the result of interspecies breeding between wolves and coyotes, implying that Garou-Nuwisha hybrids may exist.

** The Gurahl tribebook strongly implies that the ancient Bear King was {{King Arthur}}. It also states that the prophet Elisha was a [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade vampire]] who controlled an umfalla (werebear abomination) named Sarah Childslayer. This was a reference to [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A23-25&version=NIV 2 Kings 2:23-25]] in the Bible, in which bears slaughtered a group of children who were teasing the prophet Elisha.