Changing One's Stars

The moon Carme is another example of space debris, dignified as a moon only by its orbit around Jupiter. It is not often talked about, its environs or its spirit, and even bitterly opposed courts and factions will steer from the subject or rebuke the over-inquisitive. But no crackdown has ever completely killed a rumor, especially one with such a fascinating basis.

Ananke's arrival into the system is not precisely dated; these things can be fuzzy in the spirit world, and the Aetherial Realm's celestial workings have such a scape and intricacy that they are difficult to correlate with tellurian history. It is known she has been here a long time, and known of Anthelios' significance from the beginning. Some speculate that she used this information to find a place in Jupiter's court. Others say even the mighty Celestine was afraid of this outsider. Hard to tell; Jupiter isn't talking now. But not too long (as Aetherial denizens reckon it) after Ananke's appointment, someone (guesses vary between Praxidike and Lysithea) discovered something in one of the rocks tumbling through Jupiter's space. It could be seen and sensed, barely, but could not be touched or affected by mundane or spiritual means. All the moons, meeting in Saturn's rings, had some kind of opinion on it, ranging from calling it a weapon to speculating that it might be some odd form of life. Europa thought it felt like a seedling. Leda thought it seemed familiar and began to speak of a vision, then broke off and left the gathering suddenly. Ananke spoke quietly to Jupiter, only continuing after he dismissed the rest of the court and talked with her alone.

"I have heard stories of these things; they sometimes appear during times of great upheaveal or disaster. They are more quantum possibilities than discrete objects, initially, up until they fruit. Then and only then do they coalesce enough to interacted with. The fruit itself can change Fate; it grants the one who consumes it the chance to take another's future circumstances as their own." Ananke hesitated, then continued on. "This...can be useful, if the one consuming the fruit is doomed to be destroyed. They need merely choose, say, a king's destiny, or the life of their executioner. Events would reshuffle, and they would become ruler, or have the executioner's head on the chopping block instead."

Almost immediately after the meeting, Jupiter announced his plan to install a spirit as Incarna of the germinated moon. He chose one of the defeated warror-spirits of the now-shattered original fourth planet of the Solar System. A titanic struggle with the Wyrm had shuttered that world and maddened its spirit beyond all sanity, banishing and scattering many of Rrorg's once-proud defenders. One group of remnants, known as the Trojan asteroids, had eventually drifted into Jupiter's orbit. Why Jupiter chose to revive the spirit that would eventually be called Carme instead of one of his own is not entirely clear. Perhaps he did not want to be accused of favoritism among his existing boord, or he didn't trust his own court to safeguard such power. Some have muttered resentfully that Carme might very well turn the strange plant over to its original patron, but Carme seems to have given full allegiance to Jupiter. Perhaps it realizes that giving maddened Rrorg a choice of destinies would not be much help in the end.

At any rate, Carme is primarily charged not to let anyone or anythng near the site of the Fate-plant. As a war-spirit practically without equal, Carme has thus far proven fully capable of this duty, easily fending off enemy agents and curious explorers alike. Anyone that even approaches is attacked immediately, without warning, before they would even get close enough to make out the contours of Carme's moon. The spirit does not speak or answer questions either, so despite the rumors, Carme's complete orders or treasures are completely unknown.

Without Callirrhoe's orbit around Jupiter, the undistinguished rock chunk would be just another bit of space debris. The little moon has almost nothing astronomically distinguishing. Spiritually it is only somewhat more important, home of another Garou spirit moored far from the time and space of their birth.
Dark-haired and brown-pelted Callirhoe receives visitors in a cave under the surface of her small demesne. She's obviously on decent terms with Jupiter's most creative daughter because part of the cavern is flooded with water rich with Europan silt and previously Europan spirits, most of whom have now bonded with Callirrhoe's tenant.
The woman who would be Cellirrhoe's consciousness was born Chumani Flood-of-Courage. She was a Dakota of the Isanti, a part of the Native American most commonly called Sioux. She lived in Minnesota, Mille Lacs Lake, part of the subtribe known as the Mdewakantonwan. She was also a Garou, a homid Uktena Galliard who had achieved fostern among the Garou. In 2005 she was working to secure federal recognition for her tribe from the American government, using her auspice's skills to improve the lot of her people. River Thompson, a government employee, showed up supposedly to further Chumani's goals. In actual fact River was a Mage, a Dreamspeaker increasingly desperate in a world steadily more skeptical of magic or 'deviance'. A vision revealed something at the Mdewakantonwan ancestral site as significant, powerful, and River hoped to exploit whatever secret the lake hid.
When River brought up the matter of this hidden power, trying to enlist the Native American's help with words of compromise. Chumani was wary. But Uktena's people were always interested in new lore, and after some discussion the Garou reluctantly agreed to help the Mage in this quest. Flood-of-Courage, as beta of the pack Veins of the Serpent, convinced the alpha to accept River's help in divining the ancient lake's significance. Torrent was wary, distrustful of Namebreakers, but Chumani was very persuasive.
Mille Lacs Lake had a unique feature; it had the thinned Gauntlet and energy patterns of a caern, but the key to the spiritual node was centered below even the water of the lake, buried too far down in the river bed to manipulate. Shifters had been trying to fully open the caern for centuries, but every attempt had thus far been unsuccessful.
The Garou pack and their Mage ally meditated for almost a week, anchoring themselves to sink to the depths of the lake and using tribal gifts or Tradition spheres to breathe water instead of air. River saw the omen first, the stones sticking out of the lake bottom like a sinuous curve of spines and scales. Torrent and his pack dug through the silt and, when the serpent-guardian of the site reared up, let the beast swallow them as part of their trust in their pack and tribal totem. River came with them to the pocket realm so revealed long enough to steal the meteorite the Uktena-serpent had been keeping, pausing only to deal Torrent and Chumani horrific blows before fleeing.
The pack pursued, alpha and beta alike struggling past their wounds as they fought to catch up with the Namebreaker. In the end the brave pack killed the Mage and retrieved the meteorite, gaining rank and power through their success and exposure to the meteorite. But River had managed to tamper with the energy of the relic, and the power so released was dangerously close to completely destabilizing the entire area. Chumani chose to sacrifice herself, risking the dissolution of her very spirit as she absorbed the leaking power. The implosion threw Chumani out past any Gaian Gauntlet, sending her through the water of the lake and out into the sea of stars that is the Deep Umbra. Jupiter was moved by the Uktena's honor and gave her the moon now Callirrhoe, stabilizing her spirit into its minor Incarna.

Callirhoe, as the spirit now answers to, has no firm political ties to either side of the star vs. status quo argument. However, she sometimes admits to being fascinated by what might happen if he should exert his power; curiosity in matters of the occult are often a weakness of the Uktena tribe, and Callirhoe's spirit is still no exception. She is also tenuously allied with Pasiphae, intrigued by the other moon's past and mystic knowledges.

Skeptical individuals might ask why so many Garou are out among the planets instead of helping Gaia. The answer is simple, if depressing. Gaia is already lost, though not to the Wyrm; the Five Metal Dragons have taken her over almost completely.

The expected Apocalypse may have not have happened, but other events marched on only a little delayed. One of these incidents was the consolidation of an Asian organization called the Five Metal Dragons in 2011, dedicated to the control of the human race and the eradication of the supernatural. They bought out Pentex, shutting most of it down, and absorbed the more totalitarian remnants of the Technocracy. Then the megalithic company turned its sights on the world.
The Garou, too long focused on the mad Dragon's activities, were unprepared for the ruthless assault. Within ten years they'd lost over three-quarters of their caerns to sterile Weaver 'progress', the land purchased and bulldozed over and its defenders destroyed. The Gauntlet continued to thicken around the world, making the spirit world almost unreachable and further grinding the human race into deadened submission. Eventually the Garou (and other supernaturals, such as the dream-dependent Changelings) had nowhere else to go for recovery and gnosis except outward, to the horizons and Umbral realms that the Weaver's arm had not yet subjugated. The only ones who remained behind were the BSD and the Stargazers, reluctantly working together in an ironic fight against those Glass Walkers who had fallen to the One Song.
The Glass Walkers are much diminished in power, and their members who advance in rank tend to succumb to the Weaver's static influence. Most Gaian Walkers are third rank at best and thus restricted in Gifts, and therefore sometimes less useful to the Gaian cause than even the BSD. After all, the Black Spiral Dancers are perfectly happy to rip the Spider's Web apart and face no hurdles in doing so. Their horrific madness has been restrained somewhat, grounded in the face of the coming conflagration. Of course the Gaian tribes and the BSD have different hopes for what end means, and the tenuous alliance against the Weaver's tools will most likely dissolve in complete carnage when Anthelios actually looms in the sky. But until then, the struggle against a world gone cold and tired or the exodus to more spiritually hospitable realms continues.

This tiny stone of a moon has no inhabiting spirit, although forty-five years ago Jupiter had offered it to a Black Fury Adren named Adreia Successor-of-Graces. Born under a waxing half moon on two legs, she also took great interest in spirits and their realm. Her opinions were always calm and thoughtful without being cold, and she never shied from truth or fell back on rhetoric to make a decision faster or easier. For this she gained great honor.
This reputation, along with her physical beauty, attracted Jupiter's attention. He sought her as a member of his signature pack, Heaven's Crown. The members of this elite group were all at least fourth rank, with the Alpha and the Beta being of full Elder Status. They were also almost all Silver Fangs, save for the one Get of Fenris.
Adreia was not interested in joining this stratified band; she did not agree with the more extreme aspects of Silver Fang tradition, and she was leery of submerging herself into a pack that might embody the worst of those. More importantly, she wanted to fight for Gaia instead of leaving the Mother for the ultimate patriarch. Eventually she proposed a duel; if Jupiter's champion won, she would join his pack. If she won, he and all of those under his hand would cease pursuing her.
The fight would be with weapons and self-improving gifts, though nothing that affected the other combatant. It was to incapacitation only, with automatic loss in the case of Frenzy. Jupiter chose the alpha of his pack, Darrin Claws-of-Swift-Decision. He was an Ahroun, born under the waxing aspect of Luna's light in homid form, and heavily burdened by his tribe's weakness. And he was known to Adreia, she realized as she took her place on the fairing ground of the yet-empty moon's surface, its still calm a sharp contrast to Jupiter's banded and stormy limb showing at the horizon. Someone had anonymously left at her sept an unconscious member of the scorned Bone Gnawer tribe. The woman was suffering from pregnancy complications, and Adreia had helped deliver the Garou's metis child. To the end, she who had renamed herself Honor-Among-Ashes was very defensive of her father's child and almost worshipful of that unnamed individual, defending his honor as more important than her own reputation. The woman had died without revealing his secret, and her metis son had been adopted into the Black Furies.
Adreia had caught a glimpse of the man who had left his illicit mate in their hands, and seen fully his face when he had watched them from the Umbra as they tried to save her. She had never known his name and never tried to find out, pitying the love and anguish she saw in his expression. She would not have spoken it even then, knowing it could permanently dishonor him in Jupiter's eyes and end the matter right now. But Darrin saw the recognition on her face and fell victim to his derangement. His paranoid schizophrenia escaped his normally iron control and convinced him, in a lightning-flash of false revelation, that she would turn him in. He gutted Adreia in a Wyrm-Frenzy, her eyes still wide with compassion and horror, and was destroyed by Jupiter in turn.
Jupiter left the moon empty as a memorial to the tragedy, letting her ancestor-spirit rejoin her tribe rather than bind it to the bloodstained locale. He did, however, interr her corpse there, burying her under stone and leaving a single huge polished diamond from his own core as a marker. Starlight or planetlight sometimes shine across the surface of the uncut gem, like an eye glimmering from tears unshed.

Pasithee is a minor moon, another one of Jupiter's unremarkable natural satellites. Discovered only within the last fifty or so years and not given much scientific attention even during that time, only someone very familiar with spirit politics around the gas giant or attentive to Ganymede's machinations would have much in the way of engaging information.

Her manifestations are beautiful, gorgeous even beyond some of the other satellite Incarnas, with pointed ears and an exquisitely sculpted face and body. It matches her origin as a Sidhe, a story she herself confirms if asked. She would continue in a Dutch accent to tell of her poor, blameless father, besieged by savages and commoner Kiths and eventually thrown out of his Freehold, destroyed by the cold winds of the mundane world. Grieved by his loss, she wandered down strange paths of the Dreaming until she took her rightful position of favor in the celestial courts.

Of course, her detractors offer a different version of the story; Thebe especially has garnered some extra details in the course of her gossip, especially when investigating the Artist's Quarter of Farhope Station. Some of the Changelings there have recounted victories of commoner Kiths against autocratic oppressors, among them a story of a South African freehold in the early 1990s. The presiding Sidhe was a rich white European whose parents had been active supporters of apartheid, and his bigoted viewpoint was a reflection of this. Commoners were treated arrogantly, and any dark-skinned or native African fae were outright abused. Eventually, however, an Eshu fomented rebellion and outright war, recruiting local spirits and dreams as well as as the fae themselves to drive the usurper out of the gates of the Freehold. The Eshu and other skilled individuals then used their highest arts and most potent practices to bar his alien blood from their domain. Eventually the Sidhe was jailed, albeit briefly, for child abuse; he had been Ravaging people for their Glamour, and the mortals interpreted it as violation of another sort. In the end, even a few weeks were enough to Undo him. He was survived by granchildren, among them a beautiful young Sidhe. Soon after his incarceration she disappeared from the mundane and fae world, though for a bit people talked of a figure walking the more distant and dangerous paths of the Dreaming.

The other members of the court can fill in the missing pieces from there, explaining how Ganymede found her half-mad from Bedlam and lost in the Deep Dreaming. Enchanted by her beauty, he brought her to court to show her off before she burned out as one of his maenads. No one expected Jupiter's intervention; he had been and still is sunk in a strange and distant reverie, distracted by something and almost completely inactive. But the Sidhe girl's comeliness roused him for a brief moment, and in that span he bound her to the moon Pasithee before dropping back into his absent maunderings.

Pasithee as a spirit is arrogant and prejudiced, dismissive to most Garou and even hostile to Glass Walkers for their Banal leanings. She is also unpleasant to the Silent Striders, seeing in them an echo of the Eshu she so despises, which makes politics between her and some partisans of Himalia especially fractious. As a Changeling remnant she is flatly hateful to anyone of commoner Kith or descent, and thus hates the Artist's Quarter and everything it represents. She actively lobbies to see it destroyed, throwing her into argument against the other moons who wish to preserve the station for kindness or practicality. After all, Europa and Thebe have soft spots for the humans, Pasiphae considers it useful for her packs, and Kronios of Himalia does not wish his workplace destroyed. Ananke argues that endangering even part of the station might cause a chain reaction among some of the weapons and systems, and even Iocaste does not want to see another maelstrom unless she can control it personally. And while most of the other Incarnae are uncertain, their inclinations are still against loosing so much death and energy so near to their realms.

Still, Pasithee considers that more encouraging than flat-out vetoes; she's hoping she can change their mind. And she has some quiet allies; Praxidike is tired of the humans by now, and Metis is not unhappy at the idea of death and carnage. Metis is a master of subtlety, she may be able to swing things in Pasithee's favor eventually...

Praxidike is just another almost-asteroid, graced with astronomical importance only by its status as a moon to the largest planet in the solar system. Of course it has its own spirit, even if the ethereal consciousness is not native to the rock.

There is nothing in the material realm to serve as an entrance, although one would be successful if they checked the spirit world instead. Praxidike has not left much room to maneuver in the single narrow tunnel into the moon and its only audience chamber. It's all dark grey or greyish-brown stone, completely smoothed over and with no pattern other than its natural rough grain. On a shelf set into the rock of the small chamber, a head sits in judgement of any pleas entered before it. The features are androgenous, the head that seems firmly rooted into the stone three times normal human size. There are scales on its cheekbones, and the eyes are slitted and serpentine. Its voice echoes, as if three people are speaking at once. Of course, getting a word out of that spirit-seeming is rare unless one is a partisan or acquaintance of Ananke, in which case the head utters one word. "Guilty". Then the head would disappear, even as something heavy seems to coalesce and slither through the walls towards the location of the intruder. No one remembers what happens after that, waking up somewhere else in Jupiter's system. There have been no known deaths of visitors to Praxidike's moon...yet. But Praxidike is known to destroy almost all of the shuttles that seek to explore Europa without a qualm.

Details would, once again, have to come from the gossip-monger Thebe. Ananke might also fill in some of the backgrpund, if one can reach her. They both speak of Praxidike as having originally been a triad of Nagah, keepers of Gaia's laws. Two had the merits to be able to travel the spirit world, and the third had gained it by specific means. They journeyed outwards with humanity, policing the Garou and destroying tainted things in their path. Eventually man's spread reached Jupiter, and the Nagah were drawn into the court there. The three eventually had to merge into one in order to defeat an invading comet-spirit, and Jupiter rewarded their efforts with a moon. They protect him now, or at least his interests, by protecting his most favored moon Europa from the chilling cold of human exploration. They also somewhat protect the Veil on the station.

Their part in court is fairly minimal, mostly in association with Metis. They speak to that one occasionally, trying to get information on Ananke. They seem convinced Ananke is up to something horrible, guilty of crimes or at least intentions towards Jupiter. Metis has informed them of Ananke's outsider status and Jupiter's fear of her, of course. The entity known as Praxidike doesn't have proof yet, but they will find it...

Pasiphae is yet another rock of a satellite, elevated above asteroid status only because of its association with Jupiter. The inside of the tiny moon is fissured with caves and passages, with the walls of this maze carved in sqared spirals and wave patterns. No one in recorded Gaian history has found its center, but fortunately the Incarna is willing to show herself even if one does not pass that test. She is not shy about that, even willing to send some of her brood to Farpoint Station.
Pasiphae's spirit is a solidly-built woman in her younger years with kinked black hair, slightly slanted dark eyes, and olive skin. She does not wear anything over her breasts, leaving them bare, but is otherwise garbed in a flowing many-colored skirt. Those with some knowledge of history might recognize Minoan influences (or perhaps her influence on them) in her garb and choices in spirit brood. She keeps a small number of snake and bull spirits, small serpent representations and sharp-horned bovine manifestations. Most of the hulking bull spirits walk on their hind legs, and have human eyes. But they seem angry if referred to as minotaurs, and Pasiphae gets up in arms at even the intimation of such a term. "He is too horribly corrupt to even be mentioned in my halls," she comments icily, folding her arms over her bare chest. "It is...the only thing I am happy about, in being cast out," she then adds in faltering tones. "That I do not do not have to deal with him over the same domains, symbols, and referents. Once, he and I had some views in common. But I could not stand his brutishness, or his slights against Gaia." She will not go into why she was exiled, however. "I still love Gaia, and I still miss Her. I just think She is not allowing the full use of resources that could aid Her in the fight against the forces that beseige Her. This is why I think Jupiter should take any measures he can against the coming Red Star; he should do anything and everything he can to protect himself and thus be able to protect others as well."
It would take a great deal of work to get more than this general information from her, though Black Furies and especially Children of Gaia have the best chance. Still, it takes very specific sympathies and views to attain her full confidence. One might also be able to make inferences from some of her visitors that disappear into her maze, seemingly making it to the center. They tend to have very patchy fur, and are usually carrying ritually preserved pelts...

Metis can teach any general ritual up to level 3. Her ban is twofold: respect kinfolk as people rather than just as breeding stock, and never suffer a follower of Minotaur to live.
Pasiphae also has a secret, unknown to most Gaians; she willingly accepts Skindancers under her mantle, taking their taint from them. She then passes the corruption points onto Metis, unaware of that moon's sinister nature; what Metis does with the points is not known even to Pasiphae. But in order for Pasiphae to 'cleanse' them in this fashion, Skindancer supplicants must agree to follow her Skindancer's Litany:

Garou Shall Not Mate with Other Garou
Skindancer shall not sleep with Skindancer, and shall not sleep with or create metis with other Garou.

Combat Imbalance Whenever and Wherever it Occurs
While corrupt Wyrm is a threat, Pasiphae is also wary of letting the Weaver's influence spread too far. Her partisans are expected to nurture a balance of the Triatic forces.

Accept an Honorable Surrender
This one is considered very important; Skindancers have acquired the spirit of the wolf, but they were not born with its knowledge or upbringing. Many are not prepared for the intensity of Rage or the depth of lupine predatory behavior, and become threats as they lose themselves in their change. Pasiphae does not allow this.

Respect Those Who Have Proven Themselves Worthy
Submission to those of higher station is expected under this, but sometimes a lower-ranking individual may be better equipped to handle a situation. Pasiphae expects her packs to truly work together, and for her alphas to remember that even those lower on the *ahem* totem pole should be listened to even if not obeyed.

Ye Shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans, Wolves, or Shifters
For obvious reasons.

Respect All Who Respect Gaia and Do Not Strike Them Down
Gaian Garou and Shifters shall be respected, and those humans who respect their Mother even without supernatural knowledge shall be encouraged and treasured. Her animal children should also be treated with reverence appropriate for their part in the cycle of existence.

The Veil Shall Not Be Lifted and the Skin Shall Not Be Shed
Werewolf existence shall be kept as secret as possible from the humans and from other supernaturals, and Skindancer existence and activity should be kept quieter still from all others including other Garou.

Do Not Be a Liability to Your Folk
This is the tenet Pasiphae encourages in place of any language about sickness, though that is implied. It also includes behavior that might not rend the Veil but is still risky and attention-drawing.

There Shall Be No Challenge Without Meaningful Cause
Even during peacetime, conflicts can cripple a pack's future effectiveness. A Skindancer who challenges purely for dominance rather than benefit of the pack is distasteful in Pasiphae's sight.

Do Not See Kinfolk as Chattel
They shall not be traded as items or abused as breeding stock, and no Skindancer shall challenge for another's mate without regard to the feelings of the kinfolk in question.

Ye Shall Take No Action That Causes a Caern to Be Violated
This includes co-opting a Gaian Caern, or attempting to harm or drive out its defenders.

Skindancers, of course, also receive the totemic benefits Pasiphae grants to Gaians under her patronage. Along with those extras and their taint for becoming a Skindancer taken away, they can also get Pack Tactics. All that adds up to a good bonus for those otherwise spurned by the dramatis personae of the Shifter world.

"As humanity spreads into space, it forces its shape upon the further reaches of the Solar System. Dead human souls made the Shadowlands cold places of despair all on their own before that realm was destroyed by the release of fallen angels, and they have taken startlingly little time to recreate more spiritual abattoirs around off-Earth settlements. The situation of human dead is often rendered even more desperate by how Spectres, the darker sides of their souls, are stronger in the presence of the vast Oblivion between the stars.

Jocasta, as she calls herself, was once a powerful Wraith exalted among the ranks of the Hierarchy, personally known to the Quiet Lord of Despair. She was thrown out by the Maelstrom that loosed the Demons, cast into the Umbra into the orbit of Jupiter. Why that Incarna gave her an anchored spirit form and a place among his court is unknown, as are most of Jupiter's motivations these days.

Jocasta often appears as a young woman of average build and face, a scarf pulled too tight around her neck. She seems as unspectacular as her broken, tiny rock of a satellite and not entirely sociable, barring most visitors. The deceased woman is especially discriminating against those who would 'hold him back', those in the camp that Jupiter should stay as he is. She also seems very hostile to the presence of Silent Striders in her business, and for their part most Garou of that tribe are happy to oblige. The moon always feels crowded to some sense of theirs."

Of course, this could be due to the unknown fact that she has gathered the spirits of Farpoint Station and nearby space travel's deaths into her orbit, offering them them something other than their Shadow to listen to. She lists the ability of Soul-Forging among her formidable powers, and is making bricks for /something/ out of the more passive souls. The ghost has been heard to speak of the power of that all-destroying Maelstrom, and how a controlled variant could be used for so many things. Like tearing apart the essences of ghosts as fuel for a star, or destroying approaching malevolent spirits...

Elara's realm is broken stone, with whole caverns in a state of fragile equilibrium that shatter in spectacular displays according to her emotions. A few pockets of radioactive material also streak the walls, but the isotopes have long since decayed to the point where banes and Wyrm emanations are no longer an issue. Elara herself appears as an older humanoid, perhaps forty or so as mortals reckon it, with long and prematurely grey hair. Her figure is stocky and her clothing is unflattering black and grey, with only a scarf of robin blue to relieve the somber garb. Still, one can occasionally catch the glint in her manifestation's eyes that points to some Wyld past.

Her affect is fairly quiet as well, if a little maundering in speech and attention span. She seems very motherly, offering rites to safeguard the not-yet-born and children. No one's tried her suggestions yet, though some Gaians have done research into their possible efficacy. In the process, a few Galliards with heavy amounts of lore have discovered some interesting connections.

Elara seems to know about the caves of liquid silver called Erebus, or at least she bars anyone from her tiny realm who mentions the place. She also seems to have a strange love/hate/envy attitude towards Callisto and Callisto's lost kin. And lastly there is a ancient giant trapped in Erebus, an incredible Garou of huge size and terrible strength. His crimes seem to have been of lust and violence, from the stories Charyss's brood related to one who has been to the shifter Purgatory. His mother, the brood guardian mentioned, had been a strange, newly-arrived spirit of Wyld potential. She followed Callisto's lead, engaging with a Silver Fang and having a child. However, her son did not turn out nearly so well. Low on willpower and high on power, he assaulted a beautiful, high-ranking kinfolk with powers of her own. When the Silver Fangs attempted to punish him, he fought back and struck down an incredible number of his own tribe. After that he fled, dancing the then-recent Spiral. Eventually Elara's son regretted his actions, but there was no way to accept him back unless he could cleanse his taint. Thus, his journey to Erebus.

Needless to say, this sad background might make interactions between Elara and any of Callisto's kin interesting. Affection and sick longing can be a dangerous mix. She's not an incredibly potent player in the political game, but Jupiter obviously has a tolerance for her continued presence. She is also somewhat close to Metis, almost fawning over to the enigmatic consciousness because of some 'promise'. What that is, no one has been able to discover...

Her moon is undecorated and plain, even in the spirit world, another chunk of rock. Some of the rubble looks like it could have been something once, statues or buildings, but any real outline has been completely eradicated. It fits her battered refugee status, one of a group of four spirits from outside the Solar System including also Elara, Himalia, and Lysithea.

Leda's chosen manifestation is similarly weary, a tall and slender figure of oddly-structured white wings and feathers. Instead of hair she has long, wispy plaits of platinum-blonde plumes. Her eyes are solid grey-blue without any white or pupil to them. There's something subtly different about the proportions of her torso and the joints of her narrow hips, and her feet are webbed and clawed. Her voice is quiet and subtly intoned and she has a tendency to stare into mid-air, her words trailing off as she focuses instead on some intimation of time or current of destiny.

She doesn't particularly trust Jupiter and might even make a reference to having tried to escape his orbit once, bitter that the attempt didn't work. She's also adamantly on the side of him staying a planet and not a conflagration, not wanting to face another disaster. She has had visions of his Red Spot cracking open, like a bloody sore, and horror streaming forth from the newly transformed Aetherial realm to decimate any survivors of Anthelios' passing. Whether this nightmare is a possibility or a certainty she doesn't know, but it scares her. She also does not like Andrastea, blaming her for the loss of Himalia's original gestalt. In all the spirit seems traumatised, a consciousness mistreated by entities of greater power; the few times she has mentioned her previous system, a Celestine comparable to Jupiter but much more twisted dominates the recollection.

Those willing to agree to her politics, or listen to her riddles and prophecies, might be able to ask gifts of her. She can bestow the gift Spirit of the Bird, as per the Uktena gift, and a violent awakening of the merit Oracular Ability.