Mokole'

The Changing Breeds

Where Are All the Dragons?

The Mokolé are a Changing Breed based on a group of reptiles. Most of these reptiles being all forms of alligators and crocodiles, however some smaller reptiles such as monitor lizards and Gila monsters have made it in the the Mokolé breeding stock. Created by Gaia and the Wyld, they are the first Changing Breed, and no matter what scale they come from they were given a task to hold above all others.
To Remember.
Acting as Gaia's memory, a Mokolé's Mnesis, their memory, shows them things that may have happened in the past century to the age in which dinosaurs roamed the earth. It isn't any wonder that they tend to mistrust, or even out right hate the Garou. For them, the days when the Eggsmashers defiled their nests and attacked them in the Wars of Rage were only a day away in their minds. After all they remember everything.
Along with the Mokolé's impressive memory, is also an even more intimidating form. For when the weresaurians under go their first change, their Crinos or Archid as they call it, does not take but one form. But many. They Dream this form into existence, thus it gives them the claim to their rightful secondary name; Dragon-shifters.

Overview

The Mokolé serve the role of the memories of Gaia through the practice of Mnesis. There are no surviving turtle or tortoise Mokolé, and the snake varnas are now Nagah. During the Age of Kings, the Mokolé Lizard Kings were the dominant shifter species on Earth, until the event they call the "Wonder-Work" arrived and changed all that. Their society never truly recovered and later they were nearly wiped out by the Garou during the War of Rage. Although they can be very social with their own kind, these shapeshifters are generally distrustful towards outsiders because of this troublesome history,

A trait that all Mokolé share is the Mnesis ability, which allows them to remember thousands to millions of years into the past. The more dots invested in this ability, the further back the werelizard can remember. All Mokolé inherit knowledge of the language of the dragons, even if they have no other Mnesis. The Dragon’s Tongue was the common language of the Earth during the Age of Kings. Most could read and write its elaborate script as well. Many old-fashioned Mokolé refer to it as "the Speech" and will refuse to admit that "rat's chitter" is capable of fluent expression.

Mnesis brings knowledge of the Speech when a new Mokolé dreams her shape. If the newly Changed one has never heard the Dragon's Tongue, she will understand it but be hesitant to speak until she has heard more. Expression is idiomatic in the Dragon's Tongue, and figures of speech are common. "She has dug her nest" means that someone has made up her mind, while "to lash my tail" means to move towards a goal.

The Speech can be written phonetically, but is more often written using the original claw-print script. In classic tales, hand and body motions accompany the speech. The Dragon's Tongue is also the language of Mokolé in Archid, and even Suchid form allows some halting, primitive conversation in the Speech. Shrouded Sun adepts tell their students that the original form of the language was as a dance. The hand and body movements are called the Language of Claws and must be learned separately. Someone who knows this language can speak volumes without making a sound.

Mokolé, like most of the Changing breeds, have a vulnerability to a particular metal tied to a spiritual aspect. However, they are weak to not only one but two metals. The first of these is Gold. Like the Corax, the Mokolé are tied to the Sun, and thus are weak to this metal. However, the Mokolé born at night have maintained a tie between the Dragon Breed and Luna; and at any rate, the Mokolé are filled with Rage, called Luna's Gift. Therefore, they are also vulnerable to Silver.

While Mokolé can enter the Umbra, they cannot step sideways without the assistance of Gifts or Rites. Even then, most do not due to the danger that is had there. The souls of the Unfortunates unborn metis, called the Innocents, wait for their parents there. For this reason, most Mokolé venture into the High Umbra rather than the Spirit Wilds that other Shifters normally visit.

History

Through their use of Mnesis, the Mokolé remember the time of their rule. During the age of dinosaurs, the Mokolé were at their peak of evolution, having built a culture that rivaled that of mortals in their prime. But something went wrong -some blame the Wyrm for this, other claim that the Lizard Kings grew too proud and that Gaia's favor switched to the warm-blooded creatures- and the Age of Kings, the one true civilization in the eyes of the Mokolé, came to an end. The Mokolé began to sleep as the sun vanished from the sky and such began the Age of Sleep. The evolution of humans interrupted the slumber of the weredragons. As the sages say, Gaia made the first humans as breeding stock, so that all of the Fera could survive. The Mokolé took humans as their Kin and began to withdraw themselves from the Fera in order to preserve their memories. Soon, the mammalian shifters grew suspicious of their monstrous forms and their strange rituals, until the suspicion escalated into aggression and the War of Rage began. The Garou, who triggered the War, killed many Mokolé and destroyed many Clutches, for which the Mokolé have never forgiven them. The survivors fled into the swamps and jungles of the tropics, and many began to flee into their memories. There they lived nearly undisturbed, for the primitive mortals feared and worshipped them and the other Fera lived far away. The River Pact between the Silent Striders and the Mokolé of the Nile guaranteed them a period of peace and of contemplation.

Today, many Mokolé concentrate simply on surviving the Apocalypse, spawning enough clutches and breeding enough young Mokolé. They have seen the omens that heralded the end of the Age of Kings in the Dragon's Dream, and now hope to survive the coming mass extinction again. The Mokolé are the Memory of Gaia, and each one carries within him a myriad of ancestral names and faces. This tumult of inner voices makes it a wonder that the Mokolé ever get anything done at all, but in fact they have a complex social order, one traditional since the time of the Kings.

Breeds

The Mokolé only have two breeds, the default homid and suchid breeds. Metis children always die before they are born and become angry spirits known as Innocents, which haunt their parents and mourn their lost chance at life.

Forms

Mokolé have three forms: Homid (human), Archid (draconic), and Suchid (reptilian). Their legendary Drachid form (a humanoid form capable of complex tool use) was lost in the Wonder-Work and no Mokolé since has been able to achieve it. A few Mokolé learn to assume a "Reptoid" form between Homid and Archid (similar to the Garou Glabro form) through careful practice and communion with spirits.

• Homid - Mokolé in human form will look similar to the rest of the human population where they are originally from. They may sometimes have shared characteristics with their animal form, such as having slightly scaly skin or being 'brutish' in appearance.

• Archid - The war form is considered to be the "true shape" of any individual Mokolé. Through Mnesis, they dream about the reptiles, birds, and dinosaurs from the past, which determines the characteristics of the Archid form.

• Suchid - The Suchid form is typically that of a crocodile, alligator, gila monster, or similar large reptile. The Suchid form reflects on the varna of the Mokolé.

Stats in this form vary depending on the size of the animal in question. A saltwater crocodile will have a much greater strength rating than that of a Gila monster. Likewise, Gila monster and Komodo dragon Mokolé are poisonous. Auspices

Similar to Corax, the Mokolé take their auspices from the sun rather than the moon.

• The Rising Sun - Called "Striking", these Mokolé are warriors against the forces of the Wyrm and of darkness (such as Kindred).

• The Noonday Sun - Called "Unshading", these Mokolé are the judges and law-keepers of the dragon-folk, and are born when the sun is at its highest point.

• The Setting Sun - Called "Warding", these Mokolé are often found defending sites of significance to the Mokolé, and are born at dusk.

• The Shrouded Sun - Called "Concealing", these Mokolé are cunning shamans, and are born under a cloudy sky.

• The Midnight Sun - Called "Shining", these Mokolé are tricksters similar to the Garou Ragabash, and are born at night.

• The Decorated Sun - Called "Gathering", these Mokolé are leaders responsible for directing the wallows and keeping their people organized, and are hatched or born under solar halos or "sun-dogs."

• The Solar Eclipse - Called "Crowning", these very rare Mokolé are the unquestioned leaders of their people. They are born during a solar eclipse, and are considered royalty by their people. Often mother Mokolé will try and have their children in time for an event such as this.

• The Kinfolk - Sometimes known as the Eighth Sun.

Stream

There are no "tribes" to command the loyalty of Mokolé. Mokolé are neither pack creatures like the Garou, nor solitary like the Bastet. Instead, they are united into clutches, family-like groups of Mokolé and Kin. The clutches are localized and preserve the Memory of a certain area. Wanderers pass between them to unite what remains of Gaia's Memory. Clutches ally into streams, the four great "rivers out of Eden" which are the Mokolé.

The four streams are:

• Gumagan - the stream of fire, who inhabit Australia and Oceania, a stream represented primarily by Aborigines and Melanesians. Known as the Stream of the Forerunners, they are well-respected by other Mokolé for their insights into the spirit world, particularly the Dreamtime. Unlike other streams, all Gumagan are capable of entering the Umbra. They are known for their extensive and primeval Mnesis: their memories of the earliest days of the Earth.

• Mokolé-mbembe - the stream of earth, traditionally have stalked the swamps and waterways of Africa and the Americas. The Stream of the Fighters are by far the largest of the four streams, and as the current End Times approach, their numbers are steadily growing. The African ones are allied with the Ahadi.

• Zhong Lung - the stream of water, who inhabit the Middle Kingdom and are allied with the Hengeyokai. They are known as the Stream of the Philosophers. Although they have inherited the millennial Mnesis of countless scholars and teachers, because of their association with the Emerald Courts, they have the fewest memories of conflict with other shapechangers. Throughout the Middle Kingdoms of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, they have endured as the stream least harmed by the Garou. Known for their epic patience, their aspects are measured by the season in which they are born.

• Makara - the stream of air, who inhabit the Indian sub-continent. The Stream of the Folk have been heavily influenced by human politics, religion, and mysticism. The Makara consider themselves diplomats to the other Changing Breeds. Their four auspices are determined by the seasons, and are further subdivided by the caste systems of their homelands, to such a great extent that outsiders rarely understand the finer distinctions between them.

Varna

Each Mokolé has a Varna, which is the species it can produce offspring with.

Mokolé-Mbembe Varnas

• Champsa: Nile crocodiles
• Halpatee: American alligators
• Piasa: American crocodiles
• Syrta: Caimans
• Unktehi: Gila monsters and Mexican beaded lizards, the smallest of all the Mokolé

Gumagan Varnas

   Karna: Saltwater crocodile
   Ora: Monitor lizards, such as the perenty and the goanna

Makara Varnas

   Gharial: Gavials
   Karna: Saltwater crocodiles
   Makara: Mugger crocodiles

Zhong-Lung Varnas

   Karna: Saltwater crocodiles
   Lung: Chinese alligators
   Ora: Monitor lizards, particularly the Komodo dragon

Vanished Varna

   Ao: turtles and tortoises.
   Snake varnas: now a separate Changing Breed, the Nagah.