The Northern Star
Role Play of the Seas
Uktena
The Uktena tribe is one of the two remaining “Pure Ones” tribes; they, the Wendigo and the long-vanished Croatan lived in North America for thousands of years until the invasion of the so-called Wyrmcomer tribes of Europe some 500 years ago. Despite fierce fighting by the Uktena and Wendigo to help their Kinfolk preserve a traditional way of life, the Wyrmcomers and their Kinfolk swarmed across the continent like a plague.
The Wyrmcomers’ Kinfolk, called the Wyrmbringers, slaughtered and confined the Native Americans over the next few centuries until
eventually Native Americans were restricted to reservations spotted across the United States and Canada.
There were two possible responses to this great change in the population of the continent: fight it to the last, or accept it and integrate with the newcomers. The Wendigo chose the former road and the Uktena the latter, especially embracing those Asians and Africans the whites brought in as slaves.
In the 21st century, the Uktena is one of the most ethnically diverse tribes in the world; Uktena have Kinfolk from Vancouver to Miami, Halifax to Los Angeles and just about every place in between. The majority of Uktena come from oppressed or lower-class social groups.
In the ancient days, the Uktena were the shamans, and they have never lost this talent; indeed, it has grown as they and their Kinfolk lost power in the physical world. They have good relations with most nature spirits, and excel at creating fetishes and talens. They are considered some of the most talented and powerful shamans and occultists in the Nation. Uktena have an insatiable thirst for discovering ancient secrets, and once discovered, at hiding and holding them. Some few Uktena, called Bane Tenders, choose difficult and possibly corrupting task of monitoring foul Banes and Wyrm-beasts to make sure they remain bound and somnolent. While such knowledge has proved useful - the Uktena are exceptionally skilled at scouting out the presence of the Wyrm and other blight - it has come at a terrible price. Members of many tribes whisper the Uktena have gotten too close to the secrets the Wyrm and that they themselves might soon walk the Black Spiral to join the forces of corruption.
The Uktena take their name from a Native American water spirit with the features of a serpent, cougar and deer known for its love of secrets and disguising its appearence
Tribal Totem: Uktena
Advantage: Uktena are so attuned to the hidden ways and spirits that they can peek into the Umbra from the real world using the same rules as peeking out from the Umbra.
Drawback: The Uktena have always been harvesters of secrets. An Uktena Garou hates to let secrets remain hidden away from her (though she is perfectly good at hiding them once she’s gotten them). Once the character learns that a secret lies in reach (either another person knows a secret, or the character is faced with mystery) she will be unable to concentrate until the secret is uncovered. This is will amount to a one point increase to the difficulty of static willpower tests.
Backgrounds: No restrictions
Wolf Form: Due to the diversity of the tribe there is some unpredictability when it comes to their appearence. Most have reddish brown fur and have an unsettling capability to stare at what they encounter.
Organization: The end of each season, the elders of the tribe will gather for the Great Council and will deliberate on matters of importance for the entire tribe. The tribe must vote unanimously for anything to take effect for the entire tribe. This happens all but rarely, the entire council is made of elders, who are set in their ways and loathe compremise. Thus the Great Council becomes much more a place for the tribe to share information. Locally smaller tribe councils will deal with the deeds and needs of those of the septs, hold great weight within their settlements, but nothing outside of it.These councils are bound to have younger garou than that of the great council. But their composition is not dictated from the higher councils.
Habitat / Protectorate : The Uktena posess many caerns on Native American soil, but no small proportion of their territory is in lands controlled by the United States since the native peoples were forced from it. Since the first days of the Wyrmcomers, the Uktena and their Kinfolk have bred with the oppressed members of homid society, and the tribe and its human charges can now be found from Native American reservations to urban neighborhoods to the Amazon rainforest and Pacific Islands.