History Addendum: As the Payne County Pride see it | Rage Across the Bloodied Ground

History Addendum: As the Payne County Pride see it Aug 16, 2020 21:15:19 GMT -5

Post by cardinalmisdirection on Aug 16, 2020 21:15:19 GMT -5

Before The Big Leagues
(A Tale of the Western Nest/Payne County Pride)

"I'm alone, I'm eating and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: 'Hey, whatcha readin' for?' Isn't that the weirdest fuckin' question you've ever heard? Not what am I reading, but what am I reading FOR? Well, goddamnit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well . . . hmmm...I dunno...I guess I read for a lot of reasons and the main one is so I don't end up being a fuckin' waffle waitress.”

-Bill Hicks (asshole customer to a Ratkin'kin)

Goddamn it what fucking question are you even asking? Time is the Weaver's tool you uneducated piece of shit. Get some knowledge and listen. No wait, go away, but listen. Wanna know what happened before... what? What do you want to know about? Before... what asshole? Everything has context. History means nothing if you give me a date. Numbers are stupid. You wanna know what happened before.... FUCKING WHAT!!!!!! Now? Before you where born? Hell even if I told you, you wouldn't have any context! EVENTS DON"T FUCKING HAPPEN ON THEIR OWN! EVENTS ARE EVENTS BECAUSE THEY ARE THE OUTCOME OR IN PREPARATION FOR AN EVENT OF COGNITIVE CONTEXT!!!!

- A Rat, PhD Mathematical Theory

Lets just say before the Europeans?

So lets just agree that we all did somethings that we don't regret, cool? Ok. Great. An Auspice died. Next Question?

What does matter then?

The Corax are our enemies. The sons of bitches got so many of us killed we can't even count them. We miss them all. A wall was erected to them, and the Nam Vets, right outside of Frankfut. We scratched the names of every wolf that should die in the stone. In the parking lot. It is an amazing monument. You should see it. Everyone one of those motherfuckers are recorded and their families. It was terrible. Not the monument, the killing we didn't ask for. The killing we didn't ask for that was the Corax fault, I mean. There were other killings, but I am talking about that one.

We had managed an alliance with the Red Talons. Not all wolves, that would be stupid. But the Wolf Wolfs. Those guys, the Red Talons. Not all rats either. Just the Western Nest. That was Paw Pop the 3rd and he was a King you could love. He did what any good king would do, and lured the Wolves in with blood. Maybe it is a shitty deal to you Man Born, but to us, it was strategic genius. One small little town of nobodies in the middle of a civil war refugee camp, and we were in like Phlegm. Wolf and Rat, killing side by side, up and down the county line. We specialized in unarmed folks trying to make it north to escape the weavers captivity in those days. Only thing worse than a man putting chains on a man, is a man in chains that betrays his weaver master. Can't trust them fer bad cotton. Oh the cries of pain are fresh in the blood, and that alliance was so sweet.

Then that Wolf Bitch Caught the Flu cause she was a woman and her moon blood made her weak. So the next thing you know she caught the flu we spread. Stupid bitch. Well, that wouldn't have been so bad, but the knife skulkers we sent couldn't get close to her, cause she was pregnant for once. Well... We tried. Then those damn crows told the wolves WE sent the flu their way, as if we could have cared/decided who caught it. They made it out to be a targeted attack, even if she was the only one that caught it. One thing led to another, and The Ginger Wolves found the Knife Skulkers, and shit got hairy.

By the time we went to the Wolf Wolf's to explain, those fucking crow had already delivered the message that we MEANT to get the same bitch we sent assassins after sick. Can you imagine how stupid that is? Who sends assassins after someone they don't mean to kill unless they want to silence the rumor that they might have accidentally killed that person? Crazy, right? Well, once that misunderstanding, started by the ravens, I repeat, started by the ravens, spread... The Wolf Wolf's decided we needed to be in what ever shape the powerful wolves decided we should be. And boy, were we surprised, and hurt. We all showed up with legs, arms and other gifts to keep them chill, but no. They ripped us to pieces!!!!

We lost over three dozen Ratkin to that one meeting. One little, "whoops" and all those years of mutual destruction murder porn ended. I fucking cry when I think of it. Sure the next day another three dozen Ratkin tried to make it right. But no need to cry over them, it's only the first time that is worth remembering if my sister wife is to be believed. I guess for the Documentary though, we should chat. The second crew of rats was just a gentle reminder that we could also kill. You know, a little ball tap that would remind the wolf wolf's that we weren't total cucks. Well... let me tell you... they did not appreciate that locker room play. The few dozen that made it to Elephant Fury Caern and Craft Museum only got through a few dozen tourists and a hand full of wolves before the Wolf Wolf's got their jaws full of pure breed Owensboro Finest. Luckily, those crackers in Stags Hearth were less prepared, and we managed to rack up a few kids and Metis before their BONE GUARDIANS put us down. To this day, we gotta tell those Rat Traitors a time or two why they aren't allowed in the Rat Home. So a few more soft targets later, and we are made out to be the bad guys.... FAKE NEWS.

The following year, we might have actually captured a Corax on her way to Stags Heart. We might, have maybe, convinced her to tell us where the "meeting" was. We might have devised a ritual to send a spy in her skin to the 'murder' (awesome, and Ironic Name!) that was to come. We might have found a way to hijack their kin fetch, and we might have found our ways into their nests over the coming years. The funny thing was, the plot was so extreme, no one expected it. And when we found our way into the Corax Nests, we didn't crush the eggs, we just fucked them with blight! The stupid bastards just kept having families, and trying to start again. TRY HARDS!!!! Well, by the years end, there weren't any eggs left, and honestly... it was getting boring. All that crying and wailing over something they had to know was coming. Tit for Tat, am I right?

So we eventually got caught. No more Rats allowed to poison nests and wombs. No more Wolf Wolfs ready to kill with us. No more revenge... Turns out, revenge is a great way to put off pain. So then the pain started. Remember when I said no more revenge. OH SHIT, it hit hard. Something in the blood, something we ignored came to haunt us. Something on the magnitude of 117 rats dead in one year. Something in the magnitude of 5 generations of new swarms lost. OH SHIT. AGAIN, OH SHIT. It hurt. We couldn't look at a newborn in the eyes without seeing their dead fathers and mothers. We couldn't look at a swarm mate without seeing their brothers, sisters, and children dead. It was some horrid trick of the Blood Memory, but every single dead from that year stared back at us. Even those of us that survived that year started feeling the mind poison, and wondered why they couldn't be brave enough to die next to their pack mate, or why they couldn't be there to save the rats with promise and a family waiting at home. It was a true, and real curse.

Something is haunting the Western Nest. It is in our blood, and we pass it to the new generations with each story we tell, and each memory we keep silent. Our fathers send their children off to do Rats will, and their stomach churn with uncertainty. Our soldiers wake from slumber screaming the names of the Crow they killed and the Pack Mates they lost. The next generation asks us of our battles, and all we can tell them is what the dreams are like, the smells are like, and how the sight of a dead foe's eyes will forever burn their way into the insides of your eyelids, so even when you blink, they see your soul. It makes the young uncertain, and it scares them. Fear is dangerous to a rat. And all that survived those days brought fear back with them, added it to their nests, and now it is in the blood. No rat should lose sleep over a dead foe, no rat should feel their stomach churn when they think of dead packmates, and no rat should fear the touch of their nest, their family, their swarm (even if it means spreading the mind curse).

This is the wolves fault. It must be. Our only option is to dive into the memories of our nest, the lives they lived and the events they died for. Only by reliving those moments of murder and blood can we possibly understand how to lift the curse placed on us. They must be why we can't sleep. They must be why we can't breed, why we can't rule, and why we can't look upon one another without the haunting memories of the dead. The only thing that fought off this feeling in the past was revenge, maybe we can lift the curse upon the nest with some more of that...

History Addendum: As the Payne County Pride see it Aug 17, 2020 0:59:16 GMT -5

Post by cardinalmisdirection on Aug 17, 2020 0:59:16 GMT -5

OOC for the players benefit.

The Payne County Pride is a Nest of Ratkin which is run predominately by the traditional, female, rodens Rats. They live and control all rat lands in 'Western' Kentucky. If that sounds nebulous and uncertain, then your on the right track. The entirety of the Nest is 'conservative' rat, and has little time for homids with big ideas. Further, the New Queen has risen to power in the wake of her latest husbands death. Keep in mind, this is two kings, and two husbands that have died on her, and finally she has just decided to run things. There are numerous smaller nests scattered around rural Kentucky that claim allegiance to the Western Nest as a whole, however, they are being robbed of competent female Ratkin by the Queen, and these smaller nests are starting to fail.

Further, the Nest is Cursed. They labor under some unknown curse that no seer nor king has ever heard of. The fallen of the past, and the victims of the nest both haunt the Nest through the Blood Memory. The fallen Rats of the Red Talon betrayal haunt and scream through the blood. Further, the rats that carried out the genocide of the Corax for two years still scream and chitter through the blood of the western nest. It is something no other nest has had to face, but it keeps warriors up at night, affects families, and turns mates against one another. Even as this curse punishes the nest, they become more and more entrenched in blood memory occultism, with various mystics offering new and more extreme cures to the curse.

The Queen has grown tired of the curse, and has decided to just out breed it. In her modern politik, the idea has become that it is a male only problem, and the women of the nest can just breed and control their way around it. Often, those afflicted by the curse are thrown aside or striped of status and standing within the nest. If they are gone, eaten, or ignored the curse will go away. This approach is new, and unproven, but the new queen is 100% behind it, and has created a small group of Metis enforcers to carry out her plans on any Male caught under the curses influence.

IS THIS NEST FOR YOU?

The Payne County Pride is the perfect nest for a player looking to explore the fundamentals of what it means to be a Ratkin. Not the Freak Aspects, not some other strange Wyld strand, but just pure, wyld, strange Ratkin. That doesn't have to be the only way you play with this Nest, however it is what the Nest IS. Female Characters that wish to play the breed, fight, and kill archetype will find easy renown and station here. Male characters that are willing to stick it out will see a few opportunities arise for them, but most are arcane and specific. It is more likely that a Male Character will be defined by the mate they secure, and not their own achievements.

Nest Rules:

Players from this Nest gain an extra Dice when activating Blood Memory.
Upon the Rank of Fostern, a Payne County Pride Rat can go back to the main nest and regain a Willpower each week.
Upon the Rank of Fostern, a Payne County Pride Rat can easily acquire a mate and start a family, reaping all the benefits there of.
Payne County Pride Rats gain a free rage the first time they see a Garou each week.
Payne County Pride Rats make a Frenzy Roll the first time they see a known Corax for the first time each day.
ALL PAYNE COUNTY PRIDE RATS, start the game with a Derangement or 2 Points of Flaws which represent a Haunting Mental Disability.
(ST's and Players can work out the Details of how this 'Curse of the Fallen' Manifests)