Chantli Cuetlach-tli
House of Predators
Puebla, both the state and its eponymous capital, pose a dangerous land for the sons and daughters of Gaia. Here they must contend not only with the dangerous Sabbat vampires, who control not only the city but send nomadic packs of roaming vampires armed with silver into the wilderness. They also face the scions of the very same corruption and death that the Sabbat represents. While Pentex First Teams and Black Spiral Dancer werewolves are uncommon, Banes and Wyrm-monsters are incredibly frequent. And if the supernatural hazards weren’t bad enough, the carteles and other human criminals have long expanded beyond narcotic drugs. They steal any and everything that isn’t bolted down (and will bring tools for the things that are). They have begun seeking booty in the wilderness: pipelines that often run on the periphery of shapeshifter territories are frequent targets (to steal the petrol for the black market).
The Garou, Balam, Mokolé, and others find themselves constantly fighting for their lives. Chantli Cuetlach-tli is Nahuatl for “House of the Wolves”, but in truth, the Fera find themselves back-to-back against shared enemies. As it seems around the world, but especially in Puebla, the defenders of Gaia are vastly outnumbered.
Rules
The Fera of Puebla obey their Litanies with little question. There is simply no room for error out here.
Other Shapeshifters
In addition to the Garou, Mokolé-mbembe and Balam have strong presences in the region. A few Nuwisha and even fewer Gurahl run through the area. A Nagah nest of Zuzeka likely oversees the Khurah here, though would more often find themselves secretly defending their fellow Gaians from all the minions of the Wyrm here. Corax rarely fly here, though their talents would be greatly appreciated. Ratkin tend to keep to the city, especially Puebla itself thanks to its ancient tunnels (and they are covered in the urban Fera TUG, El Laberinto, as are Ananasi). Rokea are not present; Puebla is landlocked.
Sept of Azure Blood
The Sept of Azure Blood stood in the shadow of Mount Malinche for almost a thousand years. Founded by the native Garou of the Uktena Tribe, it has weathered internecine tribal warfare, Shadow Lord conquistadores, Sabbat murder sprees, and hell-spawned horrors. Its guiding totemic spirit is old, wise, strong, and powerful, as if it were Quetzalcoatl himself. The sept has attracted numerous Garou of a variety of Tribes, who long ago settled their differences (mostly) to oppose the external threats that the caern constantly faces.
Location
In the north of the state of Puebla (and the south of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala), this broad volcanic peak rises. It stands twenty miles north of the city of Puebla: quite visible on the city’s horizon. The mountainsides tend to be zacatonal (grass and shrublands) while the base fills a large forest of mixed deciduous and evergreen trees. It is deep within this forest park that the Garou dwell, even as the caern draws much of its ancient power from the active volcano. (Though Malinche is called an active volcano, its last eruption was over 3,000 years ago.)
Bawn
The forest is considered part of the Parque Nacional La Malinche, a popular camping and hiking resort for Mexicans. However, the deeper forest resists casual intrusion. Impenetrable thickets dissuade most humans. The possibility of stepping on a rattlesnake or coming across a wild coyote helps. And urban legends of cartel outposts (which aren’t entirely false) serve the Sept well in keeping its boundaries. The Garou claim the entire forest as well as the mountain itself, though rarely wander up the peak. On the northern side of Malinche, much of the forest has been cleared by Tlaxcalan farmers, which the Garou gave up resisting long ago. Many streams run through the forest. Some are pure and potable; others are (naturally) polluted with sulfurous content. A few streams and pools are even heated by the thermal vents of the active volcano.
Caern
The caern proper is centered around one such thermal pool. Deep in the Malinche Forest, a pond about four feet in depth spans clear of most trees. The Garou call it Texomixit: the Blue Cloud Pool. Steam rises from its naturally heated waters, which three separate streams feed. (The streams command a clear blue hue; hence the name of the sept.) The water is entirely safe to bathe in and even drink (and it is often used to fashion medicinal or hallucinogenic teas after adding the correct herbs). Indeed, washing oneself in the caern’s heart is how its power is experienced and absorbed. Stones etched with Garou glyphs surround the pool, each representing Tribal claims and trophies.
Here one may commune with the caern’s totem spirit, Quetzal. This divine bird-spirit manifests to his Garou children at every proper moot. He urges his children to defend their sacred lands but to never give into the Wyrmcomers’ vile ways to do so. Ambushes are fine but targeting non-combatants is despicable—the sort of thing the Sabbat does. He’s a Totem of Respect but here serves as a proud icon of nature itself. This is a Level 4 Caern of Will and Leadership both.
Other Landmarks
The Grave of Hallowed Heroes can be found in a separate grove linked by a rough trail from the caern center. Some of the cairn-piled graves are as old as the caern itself, dating back to the 13th-century. The Pathstone lies at the bottom of the thermal pool caern center. Plenty of thicket undergrowth provides ample den space for individual Garou and their lupine kin. Many bed down near the connecting streams.
Tribal Structure
Uktena and Wendigo dominate despite the arrival of the Shadow Lord conquistadores centuries ago. Over the centuries, no small amount of conflict raged between the tribes. But to the Shadow Lords’ chagrin, other European Garou rallied to the Pure Land defenders early on here in Puebla, namely Black Furies and Children of Gaia. An accord was eventually settled, and the Shadow Lords now work alongside their fellow Garou. Granted, their inherent ambition causes them to often jostle for greater power in the sept, but the constant external threats keep that to a dull roar. To prove their right to rule through heroics and valor, Shadow Lords often live recklessly. So, they tend to be among the first to fight and the first to die. Other tribes are quite underrepresented.
Guardians
The natural hazards of Malinche include poisonous snakes and spiders. But more deliberately, Quetzal lends his spirit-kin. Powerful Serpent-spirits slither through and Raptor-spirits soar above in the Penumbra, manifesting in the Gaia-realm only when the caern itself comes under direct threat. The relationship between these non-mammalian spirits and the Uktena help that tribe maintain its leadership.
The Sept of Azure Blood has not joined the Dominion of the God-House. The Garou overall feel suspicious of any kind of undead, even native immortals like the Tlazopilli. However, a couple of Uktena and Wendigo packs have shown interest or even pledged allegiance to this new sect.
Den-Realms of Micohuayan
El Paso de Cortés leads across central Mexico. In the state of Puebla, it passes by Cerro Tecajete, a volcanic mount. Tecajete lies about 20 miles east of the city, well past Cholula. The mountainside was long strip-mined of its volcanic stone for the purpose of construction. But the sprawling scrublands and forests still attract visitors.
Some of them do at least. Some sections of the woodlands have earned a reputation for murder. Most people assume cartels. The authorities have not bothered to investigate. In truth, regular people and carteles are found mutilated (or not at all) in this patchwork of trees and thickets. Some believe large predators, possibly jaguars, have found their way into the region. These sections of Tecajete’s forestry, south of the mountain, have earned the name the Dens of Death.
Several Balam, who live independently of each other but pride up in defense of their homes, claim these lands. (The eldest, Miahuamina Huemac, is treated as the Pride’s spokesman.) The proximity of their dens and cooperation does not bode well for their enemies. Furthermore, they proved open to joining the Dominion of the God-House, providing that dark organization some of the most powerful and terrifying shock troops any supernatural army could ask for.
By rumor of a treaty brokered by a Bubasti, the Micohuayan did join the Dominion of the God-house.
Tepazolli Wallow
The Tepazolli Wallow, located on the stretch of the Almoloya River that cuts through the region of Sierra Norte de Puebla, hosts a clutch of Mokolé-mbembe. Due to the mountain ranges casting a rain shadow, the region enjoys a humid subtropical climate, suitable to the weresaurians and their kin. (Crocodiles are not common in the elevated highlands of Central Mexico, but this particular area provides an environmental exception.) Both Gendasi and Ambalasokei live together in this Clutch; American crocodiles (Varna: Piasa) and spectacled caiman (Varna: Syrta) are the most prevalent. Other Varna may join the clutch, often as Wanderers.
Location
Almoloya River is largely unnavigable by humans in the elevated Puebla region. Plenty of natural scrub and forestland flank the winding, rocky river as it cuts across the northern area of the state on its way across Central Mexico and towards its drainage in the Gulf of Mexico. Extensions of Almoloya north of the Sierra Norte are notoriously polluted (the source called the Lerma River in particular). However, when the river slithers across the old volcanic peaks, it’s exposed to thermodynamics and upriver sediments that stop much of the pollution. Of course, as the rivers pass other human industrial settlements in Puebla, new pollutants are often introduced. This is why the clutch calls its home east of the town of Chignahuapan (70 miles north of Puebla City) on a thermal spring they call Tepazolli: the Tangle.
Wallow
Tepazolli provides a tangle of thicket and shrubs that helps conceal the spring from tourists. Prior to the thermal pool’s formation, small cliffs jut out amidst the trees. The rocks frame a healthy and burbling stream. Here the crocodiles (kin and otherwise) bask themselves openly (and keep humans away). The spring itself is rich with sulfur that may not be potable but provides a fine source of healing nutrients to those who bathe in its heat.
Guardians
Beyond the Mokolé themselves, their crocodilian Kin serve admirably as guardians against casual intrusion. In the Umbra, Crocodile-spirits dwell contentedly (though do not even seem to notice Innocents, should such ghosts happen by purposely). The weresaurians also discovered that rocks heated in the thermal spring seem to be especially effective against vampires, provided they are thrown within a minute of being removed from the pool. They burn the undead not as superheated rocks but as pieces of Sun Himself. Fortunately, they have rarely had to rely on such defenses. The Sabbat are not particularly interested in small tourist towns like Chignahuapan.
By the hand of a diplomatic Entoban Wanderer from the Nile Valley, the clutch of the Tepazolli also joined the Dominion of the God-House.
Special Events
Special events are annual (or more frequent) holidays or special ritual days that the main group or groups observe as a whole community. Attendance and participation are often expected of all members, and sometimes required. The three major Fera factions (of this TUG) all celebrate indigenous festivals in their own, sometimes gruesome way.
Tlacaxipehualiztli
This ancient Aztec festival was a war rite in which the warriors would sacrifice prisoners of war, cut out their hearts, flay them, and wear the human skins for a month, reenacting the battles. Traditionally, this 20-day festival occurred after the harvest (and battle season), throughout the month of October. The Garou of the Sept of Azure Blood condensed it to one full night on the full moon of October. The greatest hero (most Renown earned) of the year was granted the right to flay an enemy of the Garou and wear its skin for the night, during which frenzied dance-like reenactments of the battles took place. The enemy in question was often captured only days before the event. He would be sacrificed on the peak of Malinche and his skinless corpse cast down the mountainside to rot.
Quecholli Festival
The Mokolé of Tepazolli celebrate this hunting festival near New Year’s. The Clutch all celebrate their predatory nature by spending the night in hunt, then shar tales of their exploits all year long around a fire. Fetish creation is especially blessed on this night’s celebration.
Feria de las Flores
The Balam of the Dens of Death adapted this festival into a Taghairm ritual (Level 3 Rite). Practiced in Puebla (especially the eastern town of Huachinango) only recently as a commercial holiday to celebrate the harvest of flowers (gardenias, azaleas, hydrangeas, and more) for Lent. But it has much more symbolic value to the werecats, who use only scarlet blossoms to represent the blood they shed for Gaia and Selene. It is a reaffirmation of their oath to destroy the enemies of their mothers, solemn and retrospective. Ayahuasca is ritually consumed. Quiet music and singing ensues. It is both beautiful and terrifying.
“This land is overrun with demons and parasites, sorrow and disease. We are the cure.”
-- Itzpan Quetzalzoc, Master of the Rite of the Sept of Azure Blood
