The blood of the highlands runs strong in the hills and valleys of Cape Breton. Conal MacNeil, from the line of the Barra MacNeils, is tall and gangly, with brownish-red hair and a bushy goatee. He always looks like he was just in a fight, always sporting various bruises and cuts. His fiddle is almost as battered as he is, but he still manages to coax a decent sound from it. He can play the harmonica and accordion too, all well enough to generate some income busking in subway stations, though not well enough to make a living.

His family has lived on Cape Breton Island for six generations, arriving from Scotland on the good ship Hector in 1773. (The Hector was closer to a wreck, but it got them across the ocean.)

The Highland clearances displaced many Garou, driving them to the new world. Conal's branch of the MacNeil's was one such clan, the original few concealed in the midst of tte other wretches in the bowels of the ship.

Unlike many, Conal's ancestors eschewed the burgeoning coal mines of Cape Breton, feeling the mining, and the subsequent burning, as an affront to mother Gaia. They spent some time trying to stop it, but their numbers were just too small. They fished, hunted, and trapped across the highlands, always giving thanks and the proper sacrifices to the Mother. In time, the clan moved from their Fiall allegiances to Children of Gaia. Unlike many Garou clans, they had good relations with their human neighbours, at least in the deep rural areas.

Like many youth on Cape Breton, Conal spent much of his time partying and getting into trouble. He was often the fiddler at kitchen parties, both for his friends, and for older folks. When he wasn’t partying, he spent his time driving driving around the island, stopping at the causeway and looking south to the world beyond. He never crossed it, though.

His first Change came when he was just 14, but his Clan elders had seen in coming, and were able to sequester him with a justifiably-terrified sheep. His Rage sated, the elders were able to help him gain control over his form.

When he was 18, a Wyrm cult settled into Sydney, the largest city on the island, drawn by the toxic effluent in the Sydney River and the pollution from the remaining steel mills. The air of desperation from its inhabitants was an additional welcome perfume.

The fight to rid the Island of the Wyrm Cult devastated most of the local Garou, who failed to work together effectively, and failed to take advantage of potential allies in local human environmentalists and anarchists. While the Wyrm was defeated, at least temporarily, in the course of the fight Conal caught a glimpse of Umbral connections between the Wyrm growing under Sydney harbour and something huge and vile south of the border,

With the Wyrm cult destroyed or dispersed, Conal went to waht was left of his pack and told them of the vision. Armed with letters of introduction for both Children of Gaia and Fianna, only the Children would listen to him, taking him in. The Fianna spurned him, as a memeber of a so-called 'rebellious' pack.