Head Canons & Home Brew

[Black Fox]

One interesting thing about the Nuwisha in the first edition Player's Guide (I can't recall if other sourcebooks repeat this) is that there is a story that the Nuwisha once had auspices, but because Coyote/Trickster once angered Luna she took them away. This possibly points to the Nuwisha once being a Garou tribe (as opposed to created ex nihilo as a Fera breed), although perhaps the change occurred before the Severing when the Realm and Penumbra were one and thus before "real" history began.

In order to accommodate that (and that Silent Striders with Pure Breed are obviously werejackals - at least what is now called the golden wolf and possibly the golden jackals, but possibly not the side striped or black-backed jackals), I hold in my chronicles that the Garou are more like were-"sub-set of canis" rather than the more limited werewolves (were-"canis lupus"). But I draw the limits to anything outside of that (including certain other canis species like dholes and African painted/wild dogs). This isn't a true scientific distinction, but I have to draw the limits somewhere while keeping to established lore. I definitely exclude any dogs - domestication killed the "gene" even if the dog breed goes feral afterwards.

If I had to rule in game, I'd probably say that a wolf-dog hybrid could not change, but a wolf could have a hybrid as an ancestor, and it would not prevent its descendants from changing.

[Gryffon15]

Yeah, it honestly kind of reminds me of the Stray Breed that someone posted here a while ago and makes me wonder if perhaps somewhere in the line between Strays and Garou is where those sorts of Wild Dogs would end up as rough kin of the garou, maybe of similar social status to a Gnawer.

Those musings aside, I am in the same vein of thought regarding the Nuwishu and I do tend to have the Pure Brothers treat them like a little sibling or cousin. Whether or not they’re truly related is up for debate and the truth is probably from before the Gauntlet rose so who even knows.

[Gryffon15]

It’s too late to get into it this very moment but I’m making a post here as a reminder for myself and hopefully I’ll add to it tomorrow.

Essentially the recent discussion about what role wolf-like canids should play in relation to stuff like the Garou, Nuwishu, Smiling Dogs, Dingos and the like has me thinking; how exactly to handle these animals given that their is material tying them into being Changing Breeds.

I know a lot of people think the game has too many breeds already, so this would be material I dub particularly optional even as homebrew goes, but it’s something that I’ve been thinking about and I feel some inspiration welling for something in this territory so hopefully I’ll have a post up soonish about Jackals, Dhole, and Wild Dogs.