MOOT 3-10-18

After his followers are finished dipping their hands in the water Left For Dead, a man pushing seventy with battle scars and a deed name that suggest he has one foot in the grave. Yet someone who has survived all of that must have sent countless others to their graves. He still looks intimidating despite his crooked spine, his missing ear, toe and punctured lung. Despite being a crescent moon, his rage: 7 is enough to make even weak willed kinfolk cautious or fearful to get too close to him. A regular human would likely just flee at the sight of him.

He goes last in the ritual of gnosis giving to the collection plate. He steps up the rocks slowly with the aid of a walking stick and pauses when his face hovers over the bowl. Taking a chance to look over his reflection before dipping his hands in. He chuckles at the dirt and grime collected from the dirty hands that generously gave to the spirits. It's clear he gives more than the others as he keeps his hands inside for a longer time.

When he is done, he looks to Sasha, Jo, Charlie, Mallory, Hok'ee, Sandy and all the others that took part in the donations. He snorts a chuckle to Charlie and Sandy who figures were the likely culprits for the sand in the water.

"Thank you all. Without this, there is no caern." he moves to address the audience gathered.

"I am Left-For-Dead, Athro, Homid, Theurge of the Uktena. I am one of the few Garou here on Gaia. The rest are at war and you all are tasked to pick up where they left off." he scans those assembled "I come to you to address what is going on from a world perspective. Though I am the eldest around, I can not be your leader. My task is to keep alive as many caerns as I can by leading moots like this one. Draws-the-Nights-Sky has already appointed his Steward to look over this sept in his absence. That Steward is Mallory Blackrock, his former mate still in good standing. She will tell you about this sept once I am finished addressing the matters of the world."

He must pause to cough through his punctured lung.

Once he recovers and is reminded that he can not be long winded "Your goal should be to protect this sept, the caern totem Cactus is a key energy reserve in this time of crisis. Cactus knows how to survive when there is low gnosis, just like it can survive with low water.

To preform the moot rite, we need stories. You get stories by taking action and that means protecting this sept by defeating it's enemies. It means figuring out what just happened and how it will effect the world. Speak to my assistant and daughter Kalea about any stories, it is through her that you can contact me. Sadly, with all that is on my plate, I will only be able to assist in the most dire of circumstances. But Kalea knows my will.

You can't count on the garou returning anytime soon. Divination from multiple sources across multiple tribes all point to the garou not being here at the beginning of the new year. That means it will take a year minimum. No divination has been able to tell an exact date that the war will be over, nor to confirm the cost of war. There are too many factors at play.

Those corporations you have seen fall? Those were all wyrm corporations called 'Pentex' which started as a oil company. They sacrificed themselves to kick off  what they hope will be the end times. They will fail, we must have faith in Gaia and our brethren.

No Pentex, no garou, and the biggest banes we know are also on that battlefield. Hard to imagine a world without them, it will require great wisdom to solve these new mysteries."

The news that it will take a year and there's no garou/banes/pentex makes people uncomfortable and a few whispers start, which Left takes as a time to regain breath.

"The umbra can not be reached, it would be suicide to cross over even if you posses the ability. Don't try until further notice. Large parts of the battle are taking place far away from Gaia and involves trying to intercept a meteor like bane collection headed towards earth. We don't have direct contact with them, the closest we have is a kinfolk who's pack - yes, in some rare instances kinfolk can join packs- is somewhat in contact. If anyone has a way to contact someone up there, let me know even if it is vague divination.

In fact, anyone with divination in general should contact my daughter." he clears his throat again

"Hold this place, make new stories, find out what is going on. Contact me through my daughter who will live here.

Any questions? Otherwise I will turn this over to Mallory." he looks around, knowing he won't be around long, nor can he assist this sept on a permanent basis.

Though he offered, many don't want to waste his time especially when his breath seems to hurt him.

Sasha hesitantly raises her hand

Sasha wrote:Sasha hesitantly raises her hand

Left for Dead: "Speak."

"Are we sure it's just a umbra meteor?" she asks with an embarrassed expression in case she's asking a stupid question "Are we sure there's no ... real one? As well? Ryah?"

There's an eerie pin drop silence as most of the crowd look to Sasha trying to judge if what she said was incredibly smart or absolutely foolish. A few stare wide eyed in shock that this could be a possibility.

Left just chuckles at the question and reaction "It's not the first time I've heard this suspicion, child. I have no evidence to confirm this danger, but I hardly see all of space." he looks around to see if there are other questions.

Rather than looking upset or disturbed, she looked incredibly interested. She didn't have any questions, so she didn't raise her hand. She was hanging on the Garou's every word, putting them to memory to access later when they might be needed.

Sinwon raises his hand, and assuming he is called upon "Not so much a question as a comment very quickly ryah.
I know some fera, and they too have gone into this fray." he steps back to show he's done talking, biting his lip nervously. It's hard to address such a large crowd with a ragey, half-dead elder garou.

LFD:

"This I have also heard. The Black Spiral left this world to join the wyrm team in the battle. The Pentex's ritual was to release the banes inside them so they could fight in the war. Mortal vessel dies and the spirit goes to fight the war. The exact details of each side are still being pieced together, it could be even larger than we suspected." he looks for the next question hoping to move this along.

Alan stood near Octavia, and listened closely, but had little to say at the moment.

((OOC: SIDE THREADS

https://deadmountainrage.forumotion.com/t230-moot-3-10-18-side-thread-questions-for-lfd#1684

If I skipped over you for something, like giving gnosis or talking to LFD, you can do so in a side thread. There's a lot of info and I want to keep things moving along.))

LFD "If there's no more questions, lets keep this moot moving. Now you hear from the caretaker of this sept,
Mallory Blackrock." he carefully creeps down the large rock, his missing toes not gripping right.



Next onto the stage is a blond woman who while old has taken good care of herself and you might not know she's almost 50 if you weren't up close (appearance 3), pure breed: 1.

"Welcome everyone. I know you have come from all over the globe, some of you seeking refuge here and some of you answering a call to bolster the defense here, and some, a combination of both. These are trying times and we must band together to protect and care for the legacy the garou have left behind. That means this land and this sept, but that also means you. Weather you are their brothers, cousins, mates or what have you in some way you carry on their legacy and have a chance to pass it along through your offspring.

I will do my best to protect each and every one of you, and this land offers some defense from would be attackers. But there are great evils still lurking about in the corners some who want to destroy the legacy of the True Born. To truly stay safe, at times we will not be able to merely hide from our enemies. We will need those who can fight to volunteer to strike at our evil enemies before they can harm us. Zeff is acting as head of security, if you are skilled with a weapon or have other skills valuable to a combat team, contact him. Sensory gifts and healing will be very useful in a combat scenario. Zeff is on my council of management, the others on this council are:

Artie Bright - activities director. Which includes housing.
Hok'ee Tsosie - spiritual council
Jayson LaMonte - technology council and my assistant
Kalea Okwana - ambassador to the Nation at large." she gives everyone a chance to stand up and introduce themselves.

She continues

Artie Bright is working on the housing situation. Right now we have plenty of livable space, though most of our housing is living in more natural housing than many out of towners are accustomed to. If everyone knew how to safely live within these means, we would be fine, and I encourage you to learn that skill if you don't already know it. However, for some of you this just won't work: perhaps it is because (like me) you have a job that requires more amenities,  perhaps you have a medical need to live with a CPAP machine or perhaps you just can not handle living inside a hogan. For any of those, we have the cabins and we have purchased six new mobile housing units. That can provide shelter for 36-48 individuals and provide more showers and bathroom. A special thanks to Sasha Viale for her contributions in this endeavor. If you would like to donate or help Artie make arrangements for more shelter, food and water speak with Artie. We expect hundreds more to come in.
Artie is working to make this place more livable and fun for everyone, as we know not everyone appreciates the lifestyle we have chosen here. You are, however expected to respect the local lifestyle even if it is not for you. This is their home, but we wish our guests to be comfortable.

Another note on the housing situation: hotels are dangerous, you are advised not to live there.
You may purchase your own house a short drive from here and it may be more comfortable for you, but it will not be as safe.

Moving on to Hok'ee, He needs a small team to assist him in communing with the land and spirits. Those mystically incline would be well suited as would those who can survive in the wild and those who can interpret the enigmatic words of spirits. Spirit Speech, spirit heritage, gnosis and herbalism are all pluses. It's the desert, to commune with the desert means to tax your body and open yourself up to the spirit world.

Jayson LaMonte will assist me in an investigation and threat assessment into well armed militias. We need to find out their motivation and if they are more than what they seem to be. They have a website and a name and they do take in new recruits. The current plan is to infiltrate them and find out what they really are up to, but that may change based on the skill set available to us. Ability to run background checks, investigation skills or gifts and stealth skills or gifts are pluses here.

Kalea Okwana go to her if you have stories to share or want some information spread.

Finally Zeff has an escort mission to secure those who are asking for sanctuary here. Where they are now is hostile territory. We got this call for aid earlier today and his team will leave as soon as possible.

The housing and stories can be done at any time.  

Zeff needs a combat crew, Hok'ee needs a spiritual crew, I need an investigation crew. If you want to volunteer, we can talk after the moot is finished."

"Alright, lets keep this moving. The rules:
w
The litany: yes it is technically for Garou not us kinfolk and there are parts that do not apply. Here are the rules that DO apply to you:
The veil, this should be obvious.
Respect the territory of another. Just because a garou is gone does not mean you can disrespect their territory. A notable territory,
the Casino is mine.
Ye Shall Take No Action That Causes a Caern to Be Violated. Again, this should be obvious.

Sex. Those who have vows and pledges of mating should remember them and violations will be treated harshly. Other than that,
just do not cause problems, I really don't want to have to adjudicate your love life.

Federal law: we are effectively a micro-nation with a lot of legal protections and ability to keep others outside. Those drop for certain federal crimes, so if you have any priors or commit any, this is a very serious matter and you must speak with us.
If you tell us about it, we can work with you. If you hide it from us and are caught, the punishment will be severe. If you are followed by any supernatural threat, the same rules apply: let us know about it now so we can deal with it.

We are in fact a micro-nation within the greater Colorado River Indian Nation. Their reservation (most notably Fort Mohave) is much larger and technically we are a part of that too, just this area we own exclusive rights to through our families. We generally want the reservation to do well and we want to make sure it is free of crime that could bring in federal attention.

Especially, and this is important: there are rumors that there are supernatural organizations working within the FBI. FBI are to be considered compromised. Not on every level, or every agent but enough to make it considered compromised.

Bullhead city is the nearest large city, we use it for most of our shopping and a few have houses there. We know it has leeches and other threats and we don't have as much control over it as we would like.

I have digressed from the subject at hand, the rules....
As part of respecting the territory, do not build on this land without first getting clearance from Artie or myself.
Don't steal from or harm anyone here and don't insult another tribe. We need to all get along here, or at least realize it's the size of a small town and we can just avoid those we dislike.

Finally, it's against the rules if I say it is. These are just what I have spelled out, there's a list too long of things that will make me pull out the punishment rites. Don't be a ragabash that claims I never said you couldn't.... I don't know, spread ashes over the roulette table. I can't possibly list ever single rule." the ashes part sounded a little too specific, like it might have happened at one point.

And in stepped that husky dog as he wandered up. A pause as he saw all of the people...so many people! A shift from one paw to another before he wandered closer and began to sniff a few of the closer kin that he had approached. When it seemed like everyone was focused in on someone else, he turned and sat down on his haunches with his ears perked and a tongue hanging out.

That concluded the rules portion, Mallory wishes everyone safety and comfort.  If there are any questions for her,  she welcomes them (and you can ask in the questions thread)

Now comes the time for stories. 

Kalea approaches 

"This is the talesinger portion, where we let the spirits know who we are and what deeds our names carry. Don't be shy, if you have stories to tell, now is the time. I will tell mine at the end "

She keeps it simple as she knows the moot is going long and heard a mission was waiting for the end of the moot.

(Post here or make a side thread for your story)

Alan stood up and looked around. "Guess I'll start this off. My name is Alan Rales, I'm a trauma surgeon, I've got more tales than I care to think about, most about death or near death. I've helped train surgeons for the Army, because working at a Level I trauma center is a lot like treating patients in a warzone, right down to helicopters coming in with people staying alive more out of force of habit and modern medicine than anything else. But my story involves my own trauma and how I met Octavia. Who is totally not my wife."

He smirked and glanced over at Octavia. He was sure she was going to be annoyed with him later, but that was neither here nor there.

"It's weird waking up in your own surgery, and weirder still to know the people working on you. In between the haze of the painkillers and shock, and confusion the rational part of your brain is trying to assess your own injury and process what others are saying, and trying to decide if that was the course of action you'd take. The nurse said I was trying to help with the process, which is funny in retrospect, but the truth was I was dying. I'd taken three rounds to the chest, one had punctured a lung, one had lodged itself dangerously close to my heart, and one had lodged itself into my sternum. I survived that, but what makes this tale interesting is how Octavia worked out why I wasn't just the victim of a random shooting/robbery attempt."

He looked over to Octavia, because that was her tale to tell, but it needed his first.

(Are we waiting on Octavia story? Should we do a side thread?)

((TPO Octavia has a rl thing come up, just post your stories and we can pretend she went now))

Kit felt like this used to be something she did. All of this seemed familiar but distance at the same time. When she spoke, it was so quite that most people there wouldn't hear her less they had keen hearing or looking right at her. Fingering her fox pendant necklace she gave what she had to add. "I am one without a tale... Sandy and Erin found me and gave me a name... This is all vaguely familiar but as if I was on the sidelines of it."

Sandy patted Kit to let her know it's okay. Then she gets up to speak.

"I'm not a galliard. But you asked for how we all contributed in the past.


My family has had a farm for two generations. It was first built when nuclear threats became a reality, it would be a fall out shelter, where we could survive whatever may come. We weren't the only ones who prepared for this terrible option, as many were afraid of these new weapons and the Russians. And they didn't even know about Pentex and the wyrm. 


They would say: why not just use the sept and caern , it's guarded by the spirits and the warriors. My daddy would tell them you can't count on no-one.  No disrespect to the garou, but they can't be everywhere. It's much better for you to be able to take care of yourself. 


Well... I just got to say, my family with the guidance of rat kept building despite the ridicule and those that said we should just let the warriors do their job. They couldn't picture a world without a caern or the protectors.  Now that day has come and I want to thank my family and rat for teaching me to survive on my own.




Okay... And in case that's not the type of story you wanted. Maybe you want a little more action... well, by making my own bunker I new how to look for other bunkers. I found a leeches place and let the garou know. They killed that sucker dead."

The new eerily beautiful arrival comes in late, her motions are just a little stilted and unnatural in a way that's hard to pinpoint. She stays quite, her eyes unfocused but listening to the stories.

Ezra shares a story of helping displaced people in Sudan find a new home and life for themselves after drought and war other issues forced them from their homes. She talks about starting out as a volunteer through her mosque with no medical training, but rising quickly in the ranks through experience alone.




Mallory herself is the next to step forward

"We have cameras inside the casino and just outside that can detect thermals, they aren't one hundred percent accurate in finding a vampire or anything else without a heartbeat, but this time they recorded the extreme abnormally.  I call it in immediately to the garou, this is in the middle of a crowded day at the office yet this thing has the nerve to come into our territory.

I am on the way to the more secure doors downstairs, when I see it through the monitor, it looks at a closed door and suddenly it's coat falls to the floor limp and something starts crawling through the small crack of the door... I couldn't see it on the monitor but it was small insects. It was some kind of fomori made up of worms and insects held together by a coat and able to walk among civilians. I saw it's friends, two of them staying behind the door as back up while it presumably searched. I could see the direction it was heading, and it was straight towards our secure locations and myself.

The garou were minuets away and this was looking like an invasion, with fomori that could crawl through most doors, though not even water can get through our most secure room. I knew that was safe and I knew I had to get to the safe door before it did. Fortunately, I knew the place better than it did, it was still looking around after each door it crawled through, sniffing around. It also needed extra time to re-form after each time it slid through a door. It's a little like a horror movie, and I have to time getting past it AS it's re-forming under a door. It was the only way to get past it.

I'm moving as quickly and as quietly as I can, not sure how much it can sense. It temporarily looked like it had no nose, ear or any other human feature. I guessed, based on observation that in those moments it could no sense well, as it kept sniffing AFTER it re-formed and I thought I heard something about them from before. It was a hell of a gamble.

I get past it and through a door, but I think it heard me close the door. When that happens it's less about stealth and more of a all out sprint.

But here's the thing... I knew there were TWO doors I needed to get through. I slow just a little to make it think it has a chance, I cry out like I am terrified. And, because of perfect timing, I am able to trap it in between the two security doors. I'm safe, and Jayson has the control to shut and lock BOTH doors.

So, when the garou finally do come, I have effectively managed to trap one of them, lowering their numbers. Of course there was still the matter of getting them somewhere away from humans, which was done by a stare-down by my son and Road Rage, adren Glasswalker, the only two able to respond in such a short time."