Welcome to the
Werewolf Lexicon!
This page is for learning the in-game terminology and historical Lore for Werewolf players.
This page is for learning the in-game terminology and historical Lore for Werewolf players.
COMMON PARLANCE: Common terminology among the Garou
All Garou know these words as the most common vocabulary within the Garou Nation. All Garou, through their upbringing or through their cub years, are taught these words in order to function in everyday society amongs other Garou.
VULGAR ARGOT: Slang from the younger generation of Garou
The younger generation of Garou use these words to distinguish themselves from elders of the Garou Nation. Some elders find this manner of speech very impolite, especially amongst traditionalist Garou.
OLD FORM: Archaic & traditionalist meanings of ancient Garou culture
All Garou know these words though they might not use the archaic definitions anymore. These words hail from the ancient past and some have new meanings in the modern age as the Garou Nation enters a new era in fighting the Wyrm and defending Gaia.
COMMON PARLANCE
A spirit gate between the The Near and Deep Umbra. Used for breaching The Membrane.
The age of destruction, the final cycle, the birth of death, the everlasting corruption, and the end of Gaia. A word used in Garou mythology to describe the time of the final battle with the Wyrm. Many consider this time to be the present.
The phase of the moon under which a particular Garou was born, whish is thought commonly to determine personality and tendencies.
The Auspices include:
OLD FORM
A pupil or a student who learns from a Mentor.
The magical paths within the spirit world also known as the Umbra.
Examples: Spirit Tracks, Moon Paths, etc.
A journey into the spirit world.
"Soul-friend"
Most often a bond with a pack Totem.
A Garou who travels from Caern to Caern but is bound to none of them.
Teacher, Mentor.
In the modern day, it is the 4th Rank of Renown amongst the Garou.
The sacred Muse, the creative impulse. Some say she is a spirit, but she has never been found. Moon Dancers (Galliards) go on quests for her periodically.
COMMON PARLANCE
Evil spirits that follow the Wyrm. Many different kinds of Banes exist.
Example: Scrags, Kali, Psychomachiae, and more.
A boundary area around a Caern, patrolled and monitored carefully.
Any corrupted area in either the spirit world or physical reality.
The ancestry of a Garou: wolf, human or other Garou.
OLD FORM
Any sort of mystic place, whether a Garou Caern or a Wyrmhole. Often a glade or cave lcoated somewhere in the wilderness.
COMMON PARLANCE
A sacred place; a meeting spot where the Garou can contact the spirit world.
"Ignorant of the Garou"
Term for Kinfolk or Garou who were not raised by Garou or within Garou society. These individuals are brought into the culture and the Garou Nation as a new "citizen".
The greatest spirits; the closest things the Garou have to gods.
Examples: Luna (the Moon) and Helios (the Sun)
A form of “favors done for services rendered.” A werewolf may perform a task as chiminage in order to repay a spirit for teaching him a Gift, or to repay a sept for allowing him to use its caern.
A young Garou, not yet of any significant rank. The 1st Rank of Renown.
A great moot, wherein many Tribes gather to discuss matters that concern the Garou Nation.
The agreement all the tribes reached nearly 9,000 years ago, after which the Impergium ended. Its traditions are still obeyed today.
The werewolves would leave humanity to its own devices, retreat from an overt presence in the world of men and try to guide and check them from the shadows. Garou would not kill with impunity, but instead maintain their own society separate from that of humanity. They would continue to take mates from the brightest and strongest humans, but they had faded into the collective unconscious of mankind.
The act of destroying, devolving, or debasing life; also, the often overwhelming effects of the Wyrm's actions. In the present age, it often refers specifically to the ecological ruin humans wreak upon the environment.
The half-wolf, half-human war form of the Garou.
Typically, a young Garou who has yet to do their Rite of Passage or is below the rank of Cliath.
VULGAR ARGOT
Derogatory term for a Vampire
OLD FORM
A Garou who sleeps with another Garou or has done so in the past. Often used as a word of anger or a derogatory term.
COMMON PARLANCE
The madness and memory loss suffered by humans who look upon a Garou in their Crinos form.
A mini-Realm in the Umbra, usually connected to a larger Realm in the Deep Umbra.
COMMON PARLANCE
A lesser spirit than a Gaffling
COMMON PARLANCE
Garou term for shape shifter other than werewolves such as the weretigers, Khan, or the werebears, Gurahl. There are many other Fera but most of them do not have good relations with the Garou.
Slang term for Lupus.
The first time a Garou changes into a different form than they were born with, either shifting into Crinos or into Lupus or Homid.
First Change varies between Breeds. Most Lupus and Metis Garou have more peaceful first change events. Meanwhile, Homids, especially those who are Callow, have violent First Changes with multiple casualties.
(singular: Fomor)
Former humans who have turned to the Wyrm and draw power from its corruption. Fomori are also common enemies of the Garou.
VULGAR ARGOT
All of humanity, particularly those humans from whom the Garou recruit their own members.
OLD FORM
Your packmates; your comrades. Brothers and sisters and family by your own choice. Now known as the 2nd Rank of the Garou.
COMMON PARLANCE
A simple spirit of a Jaggling, Incarna, Celestine, etc. Gaffling are rarely sentient.
The Earth and related Realms, in both a physical and spiritual sense; The Mother Goddess
The term werewolves use for themselves
A common language that can be used in Glabro, Hispo, and Crinos forms. It is mandatory for cubs to learn it. The Garou Tongue often involves instinctive actions, accented by pheromones, growls, and whines. Some words require partial transformations by the speaker. Derived from the older Primal Tongue.
The barrier between the physical world of Earth and the spirit world of the Umbra. It is strongest around technological places (in reference to the Weaver) and weakest around Caerns.
The near-human form of the Garou.
Hieroglyphic language system to represent the spoken Garou High Tongue
VULGAR ARGOT
A malevolent spirit
OLD FORM
The Kinfolk of Garou
COMMON PARLANCE
The inexplicable gloom, inexpressible longing for unnamable things, and weeping for that which is not yet lost. Some say it's depression caused by contemplation of Gaia's suffering. Essentially werewolf specific existential dread/depression which has mechanical debuffs against a player's actions.
Also known as the Garou High Tongue
The near-wolf form of the Garou
A Garou of human ancestry. Occasionally used disdainfully by Ferals. Also the human form of the Garou
COMMON PARLANCE
The period of time following the birth of agriculture which lasted about 3,000 years. During which, the Garou kept strict population quotas on all human groupings, typically by culling them.
A class of spirits; weaker than the Celestines, but still greater spirits by any measure.
OLD FORM
A Garou who guides another through a Rite. An Inceptor is also called a Ritemaster.
"⸺ of the Wyrym"
A suffix appended to a name.
COMMON PARLANCE
A spirit servant of an Incarna or Celestine.
COMMON PARLANCE
The status of people who are born into the Garou Nation, or knowing of the existence Garou while being from that culture.
The humans and wolves who are related to Garou and are not prone to the Delirium, but who are not actual werewolves.
A Fetish weapon, typically in the shape of a sword or dagger, that is of great spiritual potency and nearly always made of silver.
OLD FORM
The relationship among Garou who are related by blood through an ancestor. This term of endearment and pride is never used when referring to Metis.
COMMON PARLANCE
The of code of laws kept by the Garou
A Garou of wolf origin or born as a wolf. Also the wolf form of the Garou.
VULGAR ARGOT
Same as Cadaver
COMMON PARLANCE
The barrier between the Near Umbra and Deep Umbra. To breach it, an Anchorhead must be found. Alternatively, the Garou can travel through the Dream Zone instead.
The sterile and often deformed offspring of two Garou; generally reviled by Garou society.
A gate between two Caerns; it most often appears during Moots. A Moon Bridge used to travel to a battle is called a "War Bridge".
OLD FORM
Idiot; Simpleton
COMMON PARLANCE
The spirit world surrounding the Gaian Realm
None so far
A small group of Garou bound to each other by ties of friendship and mission as opposed to culture.
Found in the Umbra, Pathstones are often the objects of questions. They are extraordinarily rare stones that resemble flat pearls with the imprint of a wolf's paw on one side. It is possible to steal a Pathstone from a Caern, but such a theft is considered a blasphemous act, and it may well result in a war between two Septs. They are a primary requirement to open a Moon Bridge. The Pathstone is the key to controlling a Caern.
Also, another term for a Moongem
"Earth's Shadow"
The spirit world directly surrounding the physical world. Many, but not all, terrain features have reflections there.
The territory claimed and patrolled by a pack or Sept
OLD FORM
The Near Umbra pocket around each Realm
An Incarna of Luna, representing the Moon
The guardian spirit of a pack; the totem spirit usually.
None so far
COMMON PARLANCE
Traveling into the spirit world
CThe worlds of "solid" reality within the Tellurian. Earth is often referred to as "The Realm", implying its primacy
A Garou who has chosen or been forced to leave Garou society as a whole. It is a harsh fate to become a "lone wolf" as Garou are most vulnerable to their enemies while alone.
VULGAR ARGOT
A ritual hunt or revel that takes place at the conclusion of a Moot
OLD FORM
"Greater in Station"
A suffix appended to a name to denote respect for a superior.
COMMON PARLANCE
The grou of Garou who live near an individual Caern and tend to its needs and maintenance.
The term for entering the spirit world. Many Elders consider this flippant and disrespectful terminology
VULGAR ARGOT
Humans
COMMON PARLANCE
The whole of reality
A spirit joined to a pack or trible that is a representative of its inner nature. A tribal totem can have an Incarna version of itself as well as a Celestine version to denote its power, including a Jaggling equivalent.
VULGAR ARGOT
To best another in ritual combat. Used as a verb.
"I'll thoat him if he gets into my face again."
COMMON PARLANCE
The spirit world
OLD FORM
Garou who live in the city. It means "the tainted ones".
COMMON PARLANCE
A poetic term for the false assumption that the supernatural does not exist, which the Delirium reinforces.
COMMON PARLANCE
The traditions of Garou society.
The manifestation and symbol of order and pattern. Computers, science, logic, and mathematics are examples of the Weaver's influence on the material plane.
The manifestation and symbol of pure change; the chaos of transmutation and elemental force.
The manifestation and symbol of evil, entropy, and decay in Garou belief system. Vampires are often considered manifestations of the Wyrm, as are toxic waste and pollution
A place that has been spiritually defiled by the Wyrm; invariably a location of great corruption
None so far
OLD FORM
"Honored equal"
A suffix appended to a name to denote someone of equal Rank.
None so far