5. Other Species, in Toronto =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Trying so hard to cleanse myself, I was turning into somebody else. I was trying so hard to be myself I was turning into somebody else. --The The Out of the Blue (into the fire) 5.1 Bastet (Were-cats) There are four known Bastet in the Toronto area, and possibly many more. Those that are known, if they are going to come into play, will be primarily Pumonca. There should be only one Qualmi. The Qualmi has ties with the Gangrel, the Wendigo, and the Cult of Ecstasy. The Pumonca, on the other hand, has ties with the Uktena and the Dreamspeakers. The Bastet in Toronto do not actively seek to maintain a low profile, but they are so interested in information and knowledge, that they often go for months, sometimes years without returning to Toronto. 5.2 Corax (Were-Ravens) There is one known Corax in Toronto. Her name is Kelly Castinel, and she is the owner of "Sanctions, Ltd", a private investigations, investigative technology clearance house. She is directly involved with the Hermetic Society of Swift Light. it is said she has some ties to the Order of Hermes in Toronto, specifically with Krysia Chydyk, the head of Septon Industries International. She has also found some allies among the Shadow Lords, who respect her as a messenger from Grandfather Thunder. Castinel tends to be somewhat irritating, and smug in her knowledge. She is currently actively seeking out more information about Kindred/Garou alliances. Hence her being in Toronto. 5.3 Gurahl (Were-Bears) The Gurahl have been in the region for a very very long time. There are usually three or four Were-bears in the Toronto area at any time. There are two known Gurahl in the Ottawa Valley. There is a story among the Gurahl, that says that one of the elders, one of the Gurahl who fought in the War of Rage sleeps in hibernation somewhere beneath the city. The story states that he will awaken not during a specific cycle, but when certain conditions are met. The conditions are, however, unknown. 5.4 Ratkin (Were-Rats) It is beleived that there are no Ratkin in Toronto. However, careful searching will reveal a number of bolt-hole entrances throughout much of the old Cabbagetown area, and the wharfside docks of Lake Ontario. If there are Ratkin among the supernatural denizens of Toronto, they will have developed an alliance with the Bone Gnawers and the Nosferatu. 5.5 Nuwisha (were-Coyotes), Mokole (Were-Crocodiles) & Rokea (Were-Sharks) The Nuwisha do not have a presence in Toronto. Although ther eis at least one Nuwisha who has been sighted in the area, none has been known to be here in over fifty years. The climate of Toronto is innappropriate for Mokole or Rokea, and as such, they have no presence in Toronto. Nor have they ever been in Toronto. 5.6 Aqueous (Aquatic Vampires) These were once real creatures, but they've long since passed into myth. Man has succeeded in killing them, unknowingly, with poisons and toxins dumped and pumped into Lake Ontario. Once a proud and ferocious people, known to the Hurons and Iroquios as the Water-Death, the Aqueous were a variation on the traditional vampire. The myths, as they had it, were such that a woman, with hair as white as snow came to a small group of Iroquois, camping on the portage route (later, Toronto), and shared their fire in the evening. She told them tales of the birht of the earth, and the war of the gods. She spoke of alliances broken, and betrayals of children by an uncaring father. She slept that night with the mightiest of the warriors among them. But she did not accept his seed within her. In the morning, the ground on which his seed fell crawled with worms. It is said she went into the lake, and made no sound as she drowned. Years later, the warrior she slept with, drawn by a compulsion he could not control, returned to the site, bringing his family with him. They ate the fruit of a strange tree (on the exact site of his liason with the strange woman), and began to change. They followed her into the water, making no sound as they drowned. Where the tree was, or what happened to it is unknown, but it is known that the Wendigo and Uktena, and later the Stargazers and the Silver Fangs had a treaty with the Aqueous that defined hunting territory. Word was sent to the Aqueous of the signing of the 1834 Toronto Supernatural Non-Agression Pact, but none came forward to sign. No sign of the Aqueous has been revealed since these legends. It is said they lived on the bottom of Lake Ontario, and fed from wreckages and fish, mated from sailors and dock-rats. The Aqueous is now, however, a dead race. 5.7 Anansi (Vampire/Were-Spiders) There is a known Ananasi presence in Toronto, though who, and who many still elude most investigators. The Ananasi have few allies. Those they do have, in Toronto include the Nosferatu Elder, the Euthanatos Order and the Akashic Brotherhood. Most Kindred however, will feel threatened by their presence, and seek to destroy them (to protect hteir own hunting grounds), while most Garou will not trust them, for their long association with the Wyrm. 5.8 Skin-Walkers (Dopplegangers) There is one Skinwalker among the Supernatural Denizens of Toronto, but her presence is unknown. The skinwalker can devour and "memorize" her preys life-pattern. Her prey's appearance, mannerisms, voice, skills, and even some of their disciplines/spheres/gifts become her own to use. Life Garou, she has a gnosis rating; like Kindred, she has a blood-pool. Once every twenty years, she must kill ten people for every century she has lived, according to a very specific proscribed ritual. Please see Robert Kelly's excellent Skinwalker supplement. Most of the supernatural elements of Toronto are completely unaware of the existance of anything resembling a Skinwalker.