If breed determines a werewolf’s blood and auspice determines his destined role, then tribe can be said to determine his family. A tribe is more than a simple ethnic or idealistic classification - it s a social unit of werewolves bound together by blood, ideals and spirit. Tribal affiliation brings with it many responsibilities and even unasked-for rivalries - but it also offers a kinship of purpose.

A werewolf’s tribe is not a matter of genetics - it is a societal bond made stronger by the patronage of a powerful totem and often by blood ties. A werewolf usually joins the tribe of his ancestors, although sometimes that isn’t an option - a Silver Fang born to a less than purebred bloodline may have to seek acceptance among the Glass Walkers, or a bitter lupus can reject his Children of Gaia ancestors to join the Red Talons. When a cub undergoes the Rite of Passage, the totem of the tribe initiating him chooses whether to accept him or not - if the tribal totem approves, then the cub is part of the tribe, finally a full-fledged Garou.

It’s said that the Garou Nation wasn’t always divided into tribes - that the controversy of the Impergium split the One Tribe into sixteen. Over the millennia, the tribes have dwindled; one has fallen to the Wyrm, two are dead and the fourth has left the Nation. Still, the twelve tribes that remain are tightly knit groups, dedicating to waging the war of Apocalypse until their last breath, for the sake of generations yet to come. The tribes do theur best to maintain their tribal heritage, but they are forced to cooperate even more closely with one another in these trying times - or else there will be no heritage and no generations to give it to, only desolation and extinction.