Black Furies
The Greek legend of Hyperborea, a paradise of perpetual sunshine, led to a steady trickle of Fury explorers as early as the 5th century B.C. Dissatisfied with the male-dominated cultures of classical Greece and Rome, they hoped to find a more egalitarian society in the far north, and some eventually made their way to the British Isles. (Others continued on to Scandanavia, where they were, to say the least, disappointed by the Garou they found there.) Only after the fall of Constantinople did their numbers in England amount to more than a handful, though, and, while they found some homid advocates for their ideas — persistent but unconfirmed rumors have it that Mary Wollstonecraft was Fury Kin — the steady destruction of Wyld places and the heavy Get presence discouraged most from remaining. Increasing immigration has brought a new wave of pragmatic Furies, who are now working to educate London’s various communities with the expectation that their students will bring their ways to their various homelands, and they are hard at work establishing schools, and forcefully discouraging crimes against women, among those communities. The tribe is still far from numerous in and around the city, though, and the Black Furies are considered an Uncommon tribe for character creation purposes.
Bone Gnawers
It wasn’t all that long ago that the Gnawers were one of the, if not flat-out the most numerous Garou tribe in London. (They weren’t the most numerous officially … but nobody believes the official rolls counted all the Gnawers in the city.) The city’s immense growth had spawned a multitude of spaces for them to make their homes, and they’d taken full advantage, up until something happened in the mid-1990s. The Bone Gnawers say an ancient vampire awakened, but no one really knows for sure, mainly because the only Garou who actually encountered whatever it was are all dead. Whatever really happened, it wiped out three-quarters of the tribe in a matter of days, and ever since then, London has had a dark reputation among the Gnawers. A few of them do still live there, and a few more live out in Hillingdon, but their numbers have not yet come close to recovering. The Bone Gnawers are considered an Uncommon tribe for purposes of character creation.
Children of Gaia
For the Children, the British Isles have been a source of frustration for centuries. The White Howlers against the Fianna, the Howlers and the Fianna against the Get, the Get against the Fianna against the Fangs and the Shadow Lords … Garou tribes spent more than a thousand years warring against one another over these relatively small territories. Even the few hundred years’ respite afforded by the Silver Fang hegemony was riven with constant infighting, and things have only gotten worse since the fall of House Winter Snow. What makes it even more aggravating is that the feuding tribes can work together; it’s just that they go right back to fighting with each other once the immediate threat has passed. Not helping matters is the internal discord between the more rural Children (who think their hippie brethren are a little too willing to excuse the other tribes’ excesses) and the hippie wing of the tribe (who think the rural branch are too impatient). Adherents to one view or another are always on the lookout for support for their side of the argument, and there’s suspicion that some may have manufactured such support by sabotaging other werewolves’ efforts. The Children of Gaia are considered a Common tribe for purposes of character creation.
Fianna
Despite their predominantly Irish image, the Fianna (more accurately, their Celtic forebears) have been active in England since long before the dawn of recorded Homid history. Indeed, they were the original Garou rulers of much of southern England and of France, and the more historically aware of the tribe are often amused or annoyed when they hear any Silver Fangs bemoaning the loss of their own”ancient” holdings. Their original territory has shrunk drastically over time thanks to the efforts of the Fangs, the Get, and the Shadow Lords, leaving them with only Ireland and some of western England as true strongholds, and their resentment of the tribes who’ve taken so much from them can be intense. In times of peril, they usually manage to swallow their anger for long enough to work together, but the Fianna have long memories. They’ve spent years trying to hamstring their rivals and push them out of the area — efforts that have begun to bear fruit in the Sept of the Spiked Pavise as the tribe has captured more and more of the sept leadership positions. More than a few are eager to see the Fangs and the Lords excluded entirely, and they miss few opportunities to make themselves look better at the other tribes’ expense. Fianna are considered a Common tribe for purposes of character creation.
Get of Fenris
The history of Britain ever since the Viking Age (if not before) is inextricably bound together with the invasions and conquests of the Norsemen, and the Get have always been a part of — and motivator of — those efforts. Their struggle with the Fianna, and later on with the Silver Fangs and the Shadow Lords, was a centuries-long seesaw battle with one group on top, then another. It’s to their credit that they seem to bear the other tribes involved no particular grudge over the struggle; the Fenrir seem to have a lingering respect for the Garou who gave them such a good fight, and even some nostalgia for the “good old days.” Then again, it wasn’t their home territory being fought over, so perhaps their attitude is less gracious than it seems. Nor does it keep them from craving a return to the days of King Cnut and his sons’ rulership over the English — the Get would like nothing better than to see the Fianna restricted to Ireland, with England becoming a sort of shogunate under strictly nominal Silver Fang rule, even though their odds of actually doing so get longer every day. While winning the battle against the Wyrm remains their main focus, they certainly won’t mind if the Fianna are embarrassed in the process. The Get of Fenris are considered a Common tribe for purposes of character creation.
Glass Walkers
With the other tribes are in decline, or absent from London entirely, the Glass Walkers thrive. Having spread to England, and the rest of the Europe, along with the Catholic church during the Dark Ages, the Walkers managed to weather the English Reformation with equanimity, with their power growing in leaps and bounds over the past two centuries. London is the site of one of the tribe’s great triumphs, the discovery of the first City Parent totem, and only their focus on urban areas has kept their influence from becoming even greater. The city’s Glass Walkers are heavily influenced by the Corporate Wolves, the camp to which Alpha Meadwell belongs, and they are heavily involved in various schemes to damage Pentex and bring other particularly destructive corporations to heel one way or another. The Random Interrupts are stronger in the Sept of the Spiked Pavise, and there are even a few Wise Guys around, mainly involved with East End gangs, though their strength has long been on the wane. The Glass Walkers are considered a Common tribe for purposes of character creation.
Red Talons
The Talons have no presence in London, and little presence in the British Isles at all. The last wild wolf in Scotland was supposedly killed in 1680, and well before that in England and Ireland. While the Garou know better, the general lack of wild lupine Kinfolk combined with the sheer scale of London ensures that Red Talons rarely come anywhere near either of the two local septs, and don’t last long when they do. Red Talons are not available as PCs.
Shadow Lords
Although the Lords were relative latecomers to the British Isles, not arriving in any force until the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, their influence has been substantial. The tribe’s original plan to turn England into a semi-independent protectorate (ruled by them, of course) was foiled by the Silver Fangs’ decision to make it the seat of a new kingdom instead. The Lords and their kin still held great power as the Fangs’ right-hand Garou, especially in what is now Hillingdon, where they were key figures in the establishment of the Sept of the Spiked Pavise. As the kings slowly declined, their advisors grew stronger … although they were not quite strong enough to take over in the aftermath of House Winter Snow’s fall. Though their relative power has declined somewhat as that of other tribes in the London area has grown, they’re still highly influential in the western reaches of the city, now the stronger partner in a coalition with the Fangs as they attempt to roll back the Fianna’s recent gains. They have their fingers in a great many pies, and keep very busy trying to keep ahead of their Silver Fang “allies” while simultaneously undermining the Fianna’s base of support. The Shadow Lords are considered a Common tribe for purposes of character creation.
Silent Striders
There are few places in the world where the children of Owl haven’t been, and London is certainly not one of those few. By the same token, though, there are few places where the Striders are numerous, and London is not one of them, either. If an unusually large number have passed through this city over the centuries, well, that’s a natural consequence of being a place that an awful lot of information flows both to and from. But the Striders are not known for staying in one place for long, and while a few have resisted that stereotype — the present Warder of the Sept of the Glass Towers being one — it’s unusual to meet one who’s been in London for longer than a month or two. They come, deliver their messages, tend to their personal business, and leave again, just as the Striders always have. The Silent Striders are considered an Uncommon tribe for purposes of character creation.
Silver Fangs
The Fangs were the winners of the three (or four) way struggle over medieval England, defeating the Fianna, the Get, and the Shadow Lords in the process. Ever since that long-ago triumph, however, they’ve been a tribe in a long, slow, steady decline, worn down year after year by the intriguing of the other tribes and the seemingly never-ending gains made by the Weaver and the Wyrm. House Winter Snow remained in power even after the rebellion launched by King Everstone’s attempt to force the Get and the Fianna into obedience using a magical artifact, but the struggle had fatally weakened them. Today Winter Snow is gone, having faded away more than two centuries ago, and the majority of the English Fangs are of House Austere Howl, with the remainder spread thinly but evenly across the other surviving Houses. They still wield considerable influence in the Sept of the Spiked Pavise, as one of its founding tribes, but both their numbers and their power are steadily dwindling, and they’ve been forced into an uneasy alliance with the Shadow Lords in an effort to keep the resurgent Fianna from marginalizing them. It would take some truly heroic deeds to put them back in the driver’s seat, and some of the younger Fangs are brave — or reckless — enough to spend their time searching for just such deeds. The Silver Fangs are considered an Uncommon tribe for purposes of character creation.
Stargazers
No longer a particularly numerous tribe, if indeed they ever were, the Stargazers are not a common presence in the city, but with the expansion of British influence into northern India, there have been a small number of curious visitors from the Raj. The steady increase in the Indian population of England has meant a corresponding increase in the number of Stargazer Kin who’ve made the journey as well (although the ratio of Kin to non-Kin is still far lower than it is in the tribe’s home territory), and so there have been a handful of native-born London Stargazers as well. The numbers have never been large enough for them to have any real influence as a tribe, although a few individuals have acquired local notoriety. Stargazers are considered a Rare tribe for the purposes of character creation.
Uktena
There have been a handful of Uktena who’ve visited London in the past, usually to search for some bit of arcane knowledge needed for their work, or to barter with one of the local elders. None of them have stayed for longer than necessary, and they seem largely content to leave the Wyrmcomers’ homelands to the Wyrmcomers. Uktena are not available as PCs.
Wendigo
If a single Wendigo has ever been to London, it would be a major surprise. The Wendigo are highly territorial, highly sensitive to any potential trespassers in their homelands, and don’t trust any of the European Garou any farther than they can throw a Gurahl. This is not a combination that lends itself to crossing the Atlantic, much less staying on the far side. Wendigo are not available as PCs.