Near The Hall: A Memory of the Neutral Nation

Not many Garou come to the caverns near the Hall of Heroes. It's far off the beaten path, and those who visit the Hall itself generally leave shortly thereafter.

Therefore, it's probably not surprising that many of the caves down here are less "finished" than the ones above. Some are damp, or have rough, natural walls; many have tree roots growing into them.

It's in one such cave that Wishbone has labored for the past several months, painstakingly using the gifts Gaia has given him. Now, he steps back, and speaks a single sentence in the language of spirits:

<< It is done. >>

If wolves made art, what would it look like? The cavern is transformed, but the end result looks alien to human eyes. Beautiful, yes; the roots of the trees have been sculpted, reshaped more adeptly than a master gardener could hope to accomplish--as if the trees themselves had been persuaded to grow just so. But at first glance, the shapes seem abstract; they have a sinuous, wild beauty to them, but it's meaningless.

Further contemplation, though, reveals hints and suggestions of form. That tall root there suggests the shape of a man holding aloft a young child; the bent root nearby, perhaps a woman bent over some task. Suggestions only, hints, one flowing into the next...until light shines upon them. Then the images seem to come to life, the shadows that they cast completing the suggested forms. Suddenly, a vista unfolds--a vista which moves and shifts as the light shifts, seeming to truly live. It tells the tale of a living, breathing people--a people who worked and fought and lived and loved and had children and died by the shores of the great river. The images tell the tale of their wisdom, their foolishness, their joy and their sorrow, as if to say "All this they were."

The final portion of the cavern tells a more tragic tale: the coming of the Destroyer, and the sacrifice of the Nation. The Destroyer itself is never depicted, save by implication--a looming darkness, the destruction left in its wake. The shadows tell the tale of a people who gathered together to oppose the creature, who stood united against it--and fell in that opposition. But even here, the message is one of honor: they were broken, but unbowed; they were slain by evil, but did not yield to it.

The tale of their sacrifice merges again into the beginning of the shadow-cycle, as if to remind the observer of what it was they sacrificed to fight the darkness. At the door, an inscription in Garou reads simply:

"The Ongiara. Honor them always; remember them always, Garou of Falling Waters."


Wishbone gazes around the room. << Thank you, brothers, for helping me in this. >> Perhaps he's speaking to the spirits of the trees; perhaps to someone else.

beautiful does not do it justice, but it is a thing of beauty nonetheless.