Fianna
The roots of the Fianna tribe run deep into Celtic soil, and bloom into epic adventures, rousing musics, good food, strong drink, and unquenchable passions
Description: Many onlookers suspect that the blood of the Fair Folk runs in the veins of the Fianna tribe; these Garou share an ancestral home with the legendary fae in the British Isles, and have the same love of a good song and strong drink as those mythical creatures. The Fianna are master storytellers - a good Fianna yam, whether true or not, will set you back a case of beer and half a night, and you’ll wonder where the time went as you stumble to the door.
The other tribes see the Fianna as merrymakers and drunkards, but that’s not quite the whole story. The Fianna are famed for their wild mood swings and may spend weeks in a melancholy bordering on Harano before cheering.
A Fianna’s mood can just as quickly turn to anger; their frenzies are no less frightening than those of more openly warlike tribes. Of all the tribes, the Fianna are certainly the most sociable, but they also provide most of the material for ballads of unrequited or tragic love, especially for humans and other Garou.
Some Fianna in North America and Australia try to get away from the stereotype of the drunken Irish brawler or bard, but it is hard to eliminate a stereotype that the other tribes seem so determined to see within them. New World Fianna work as activists within homid communities rather than holding themselves apart from humanity. Certainly cities with large Irish population have more Fianna than others do, but the tribe is, like most of the other of the Garou Nation, truly global entity in these days. The rise of the Celtic Tiger economics boon in Ireland and the fight for peace in Northern Ireland has begun to tear a rift in the tribe, as the youth seek the benefirs of the movement and the elders deccry the lost of traditions.
Tribal Totem: Stag -- the lord of the forest, a guardian of the boundary between light and dark, Stag's ties to the Fae and the wilderness bring balance to his tribe.
Advantage: Bards and brawls typify a Fianna heritage. Choose two of these four Abilities: Brawl, Expression, Melee, Performance. You begin with an extra Trait in your two chosen Abilities. Your normal maximum for these two abilities is six.
Drawback: A creature of passion, your moods are as mercurial as the fae. You are two traits down in all challenges to control your emotions, resist Frenzy, or resist powers that influence emotion.
Restrictions: None
Beginning Tribal Gifts: Faerie Light, Persuasion, Resist Toxin
Starting Willpower: Three
Wolf Form: When in Lupus, the Fianna are terrifying to unprepared homids: They seem to be the dire wolves of old, with shining red or black fur. Their howls can rend the heart for their beauty and sadness.
Organization: At the local level, Fianna septs elect their members to “Chairs” of various performing arts: There is a Chair of Poetry, a Chair of Song and a Chair of Stories. These Chairs lead moots for the local sept. On a global level, a high king or queen, known as the Ar-Righ, leads the Fianna. The traditional seat of this office is at Tara in Ireland, though not all Ar-Righ hold court there, some preferring their own homelands (be they Sydney or Boston).
Habitat/protectorate: In older times they preferred the moors, forests and peat bogs of the “auld sod,” although they have traveled across the globe with their Kinfolk. They are most commonly found in the British Isles, the United States (especially Appalachia), Canada, New Zealand and Australia. They usually settle close to their Kin, whom they protect with great ferocity.
