Synopsis
What if the metis "curse" is actually that--a curse? A possibly
alternate look at metis using parallels from Chaosium's Gloranthan
trolls (and their trollkin curse). Secondly Umbral HeroQuesting
into the realm of myth (pre-time) to break/modify the curse.

Disclaimer
My Werewolf:tA knowledge is poor. I haven't looked at the rules
or source material for a couple of years. As such my ideas may be
too much of a clash with the WoD paradigm or conversely have
already been covered better. However the idea is appealing to
me so maybe someone else out there might find use for it.

Motivation
How can it be *natural* for Gaia's defenders, the Garou, to produce
the deformed Metis when they inter-breed? Obviously its not
natural and a sign of external influences, Gaia's displeasure,
the approaching Apocalypse etc. (take your pick).

Is there anything that Garou can do to rectify the situation?
Maybe. Through heroic questing (via the Umbra) into the mythic
past the Garou maybe able to interact with the agents of the
curse and thus modify the curse.

Drawing from Glorantha 1--The Trollkin Curse
Chaosium (makers of Runequest, Pendragon, CoC etc.) have an
incredibly rich fantasy world called Glorantha. In particular its
mythology and how that affects play are extremely detailed and
evocative.

One of the races of Glorantha are Trolls. Don't think of Tolkien
or D&D trolls but a race of 2.5+ metre tall cave dwellers with
intelligence, society, skin that is damaged by sunlight, snouts, big
tusks for teeth, sonar and eye-sight and a taste for human, elf,
and dwarf flesh. Trolls are big (sorry about the pun) opponents
of Chaos (think Wyrm type evil/mutation) but also quite opposed
to Chaos' other main opponents, the Light Bringers (long story--
look at Glorantha if you're interested). 

Anyway to cut a long story short (and probably take quite a
few liberties :-) in the God-Time (time before there was time
and all sorts of Gods and heroes ran around fighting, altering
reality, and fighting) Kygor Litor, the great mother god of all
Trolls (Troll society is matriacal), was cursed by a Chaos
trickster god. The curse was subtle and nasty and known as
The Curse of the Trollkin. A new subspecies of Trolls resulted
called the Trollkin. They were horribly stunted (1-1.3 metres)
parodies of Trolls and in most litters of new "baby Trolls"
the Trollkin were dominant (in number). Thus Troll power has
faded and faded as fewer Dark Trolls (the "true" trolls) have
been born.

Drawing from Glorantha 2--HeroQuesting
Religion is a large part of the lives of the people of
Glorantha. The Gods are real and maybe more importantly
(immediate) their powers and those they grant to their
followers/worshippers are real. Priests and hero/lords of a
particular god wield significant supernatural and/or
spiritual power, as well as possessing more mundane abilities
at high skill levels.

However the Gods themselves are kept separate from Glorantha
via an accord (compact) which among other things created linear
time. So the Gods no longer directly intervene or participate
in the normal world and indeed are frozen (of sorts) in the
God-Time. This is not to say that participation does not flow
in the other direction...

Some truly powerful mortals choose to take the mystical path
known as HeroQuesting. Whether to gain further magical/spiritual
power, become closer to their god in deed and thought, or even
to achieve immortality, they all undertake a path of great
peril and heavy spiritual symbolism (often involving the
emulation of the deeds of the Gods).

These HeroQuesters walk the mythical path that follows the
deeds of heroes or Gods/spirits of legends. By copying their
deeds they acquire something of the aspect of the being they are
copying.

The common elements of these HeroQuests seem to be the following:
1) Ritual preparation--mental, spiritual and physical cleansing.
2) Travel--entering a realm other than the normal (Glorantha)
	and travel there in.
3) Encountering and Surmounting Challenges--this is the heart
	of the HeroQuest. The challenges maybe physical/spiritual/
	ethical etc. but often also have a symbolic component.
	The encounters are tied to the purpose of the HeroQuest
	and this is achieved (getting the encounters quested for)
	by the ritual preparation and travel. 
4) Return Changed--the HeroQuester returns to their home/community
	often bringing something back or being changed by the
	experience.

For example (total fabrication not drawn from Glorantha),
Watanashu is the tribal head of a large mountain village
beset by a sudden (unnatural) wasting sickness. Watanashu is a
priest of Kulnori a God thats major aspects are Wisdom and
Knowledge with minor aspects of rulership and healing. One of the
myths relating to Kulnori is that he defeated Araneza the mistress
of disease in a game of wits and as prize learned many healing
arts from her. Watanashu, being old and wise but powerless to
combat the disease, decides to HeroQuest and attempt to
emulate Kulnori's triumph over Araneza in the hope of gaining
a cure to save his villagers. Fasting and meditating on his
quest, Watanashu completes his ritual on the night of the
third day and steps into a roaring bonfire, instantly
disappearing from sight. He enters a blighted, darkened realm
(representative of the blighted village) and is soon beset by
mishappened, red-skinned, pot-bellied creatures that are the
disease attacking the village. Using a combination of magic and
long dormant combat skills Watanashu easily defeats the creatures.
However they quickly re-animate and attack again to be once
more slain. This is Watanashu's first real test and is of
Wisdom. He cannot defeat the disease simply by combating its
minions and must seek its source. Realising this Watanashu
flees the village environs and follows the tangible trail of
waste across the landscape. His travels take him through further
adventures such as being forced to adjudicate the dispute between
two entities that are blocking his trail (a test of Wisdom,
Knowledge, and Rulership) before Watanashu finds a shriveled
man with a huge mouth sitting in a wasteland of rocks while
playing a game of chance and being endlessly fed by a sea of
the disease creatures. Seeing violence will not
succeed Watanashu is forced to challenge the being to a game
with his life (just as Kulnori has done) as the stake. Through
luck, wisdom and knowledge Watanashu must defeat the disease
being and return with a cure (maybe an endlessly flowering
plant, or a seed, or...).

Tying it all in with Werewolf
OK, the parallels between the curse of the trollkin and the
metis curse should be fairly clear. If an appropriately mythical
explanation is found for the metis curse we're all set for
the second stage. Possible alternate explanations are: A great
council/moot of other shapechangers angry at the Garou's "uppity"
ways and who either perform a great ritual or petition Gaia
directly, Or maybe a great Wyrm curse from the past.

HeroQuesting in the Werewolf sense is entering the Umbra and
most particularly those challenging/dangerous parts of the
Umbra that correspond to older legends and myths-->when things
were more vibrant, deadly, magical, and heroic. This region of
the Umbra must reflect and preserve (possibly in symbolic form)
the legends of the great heroes of the Garou and indeed all of
the Garou's mythical world-view.

The Heroquester then enters that old legend, re-enacting the
role of one of the protagonists and by a sort of sympathetic
magic acquiring (possibly permanently) some of the characteristics
of the being imitated. Alternatively, and far more rarely the
legend can be entered and a change made and this change may
affect "reality". Of course its *very* hard to alter a legend...

Story Example:- Star-Crossed Lovers
Two Garou are in love. Their love is deep and strong and pure
in a world where all else seems flawed. However by Garou law such
a relationship cannot be...unless they can change the very reason
for the law.

The two Garou must Heroquest to change the very Metis curse.
The tone should probably be bittersweet and almost like a lovers'
suicide (its is *extremely* unlikely that they'll succeed); sort
of a Swansong ("...our only chance: it is better to die together
than live apart...").

Depending on your chronicle's rationale for the Metis curse the
quest might go like the following:
* characters research history of curse
* characters enter Umbra to find time/place of curse
* various encounters, thematic and strange - longtime enemies,
	members of rival clans, strange Umbral residents.
* the characters find the great shapeshifter council/moot which
  enacted the metis curse
	- players must defeat/get-past the guardians
 	- characters must plead their case before the entire
	  council

The pleading before the big council would be the heart of the
matter. Here are two representatives of the very species that has
been oppressing them and come to ask "for another chance". The
council members are no doubt justifiably stern and have little
empathy for any troubles of the garou. This is a great opportunity
to "put the garou as a species on trial" and have the characters
have to defend them and even justify all their excesses etc.

In the end (for my chronicle at least) the woes and bitterness
of the council are too real and justifiable for them not to
enact their curse. However *if* the characters can capture the
empathy of one or two of the council members (and here the load
is on the storyteller to create real, distinct and interesting
council members who will react to the characters in different
ways) then maybe they alone will be excluded from the curse and
be able to raise a "normal" [Crinos form with no deformity?]
garou child.

---------
Well, this has become incredibly long and yet I seem to have
said little. I don't even know for sure whether WW has already
covered this idea or whether anyone will find it useful.

I welcome comment, suggestions, and responses to the above.


						Spike
					    Bun Bu RyoDo
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Michael Barlow		spike@speech-sun15.ntt.jp
Human Interface Labs.		Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
Tokyo, Japan.