Ratkin

The Changing Breeds -- Ratkin of St. Louis

Ratkin are one of the Changing Breeds. Like most of the Breeds, Ratkin were given a mission by Gaia, and that mission was to control the human population by eating their food and spreading disease and pestilence. It worked until the Garou attempted to impose their dominance on the other Breeds in the so-called War of Rage, and nearly drove the Ratkin to extinction. In the aftermath of the War, the Ratkin were forced into the margins of human society; however, because of the rapid urban growth, they recovered and once again are in ascendance. Ratkin are feral and brutal creatures, mainly because they are Wyld-touched, which means that not only can they frenzy like other changing breeds, but also hallucinate in a state called Rapture.

Ratkin are still very distrustful of Garou even now, not least because one of their aspects was completely destroyed during the War of Rage - the Bards, equivalent of the Garou's Galliards. However, before the last Bards were slain, they foretold that in the final days the Ratkin would come back from their secret refuges.

The Ratkin are divided into 8 Aspects, much like the Garou's auspices. Four are considered the 'standard' Aspects, while the other four are the so-called 'Freak' Aspects.

The four original Aspects are:

• -- Knife Skulkers: Honored assassins of the Ratkin who work by contract only. They also act as judges and mediators, much like a Philodox.
• -- Shadow Seers: Shamans and spiritual guides, much like a Theurge.
• -- Tunnel Runners: Wandering scouts and spies, who link Ratkin Warrens around the world. Similar to Ragabash.
• -- Warriors: As the name implies, fighters and killers, the first line in combat, much like the Garou's Ahroun.

As mentioned above, the fifth Aspect, the Bards, were destroyed in the War of Rage.

The four Freak Aspects are products of the Ratkin's growing connection to the Umbra and the Wyld, freakish mutations with a deeper connection to the Wyld within than the rest of their kind. This comes at a cost: each Freak Aspect has its own particular brand of insanity.

• -- Engineers: Scientists, inventors and tinkerers, who love to deal with technology.
• --Munchmausen: Swashbuckler Ratkin, grandly deluded, one and all.
• --Plague Lords: Masters of disease and corruption.
• --Twitchers: Anarchists among anarchists, Twitchers are insane and unpredictable demolition men.

There are also nine great Ratkin Plagues, who claim a particular geographical territory as their own.

• --The Borrachon Wererats: Based in South America
• --De La Poer's Disciples: Based in Antarctica
• --The Gamine: Based in Europe
• --The Horde: Based in Eurasia
• --The Nezumi: Based in Japan
• --The Ratkin Ronin: Not based in any terrestrial region, instead associated with seafaring and the oceans.
• --The Rat Race: Based in North America
• --Rattus Typhus: Based in Africa
• --Thuggees: Based in East Asia