The Hunters in Darkness are the quintessential werewolves, at least as popular culture imagines them. Beasts cleverer than any wolf and more savage than any man, they tolerate no intruders in their territory. They stalk and harry, picking off the weakest and most isolated first, building the rest to a fever pitch of terror and a headlong dash through the night. It’s not enough to simply drive interlopers off. The //Meninna’s// hunt only ends one way, for long ago they swore an oath: //Nu Mus Halhala//. “Let No Sacred Place in Your Territory Be Violated.” Consider that scene in the slasher movie, the one where the teenagers have been hounded and picked off one by one as they’re chased through the forest by a lunatic with a chainsaw and a leather mask. They find what they think is a sheltering cabin where they can regroup and hide, but then they see the wind chimes made of human pelvic girdles and they realize //oh shit, we’re not safe at all. We’re right where that bastard wants us//. The Hunters in Darkness are the guy with the chainsaw. All werewolves claim territory. The smart ones treat that territory with respect, but the //Meninna// take it to another level. Their territory is theirs, and by virtue of being theirs it is sacred. The First Tongue term the Hunters use for their territory is //mus-rah//, or “holy killing ground,” and that should tell you all you need to know about their views on territory. Any violation of //mus-rah// must be avenged on the same ground: Letting the prey slip the borders before it’s slain is a violation of the oath. As such, Hunters in Darkness prepare their territory with all manner of devious traps, switchbacks, and dead-ends designed to keep the prey from escaping. The Hunters in Darkness revere //Hikaon-U//rr//, Black Wolf, whom they also name the Silent Mother or Mother Wolf — a fact that doesn’t always sit well with the other tribes, who hold that title as one of //Urfarah’s//. The most withdrawn of Father Wolf’s children, she was nonetheless accounted as the finest hunter among the Firstborn. Her children praise her with every silent kill, with every carefully laid trap, and with every glimpse of the hunter that drives the prey to the killing ground. The Hunters in Darkness hunt anything that violates their territorial boundaries, but they reserve special ire for the most dangerous prey: the Hosts. Shards of the Essence of ancient Shadow gods, these creatures are blasphemy incarnate: Not quite spirit, not quite flesh, they are a reminder of Father Wolf’s greatest failing. That their infestation fouls the spiritual side of a Hunter’s territory is only further insult. ---- The //Meninna// are the Tribe with the smallest number in Paradise City. //Hikaon-Ur// favors places that are wilder and more isolated than what the dense, urban sprawl of Paradi affords. She doesn't forbid her adoptive children from Hunting within it though. To the contrary, given how hard it is to carve out a territory within it, the few //Meninna// who choose to do so can be some of the most aggressively vicious about keeping their territory safe and secure. There are small pockets of wild places in Paradi for them. Not in the Flesh, no. Nature has been subverted, controlled, and put on selective display in the material world. There are several Places-That-Aren't, however, or Places-That-Were, which a cunning werewolf can find or which a more experienced werewolf can steer them towards. Pocket realms in the Hisil, they show other versions of the land on which Paradi now rests. A wild, untamed wilderness. The city overgrown with trees and vines. These few pocket realms are havens for any surviving nature spirit which can find them. Leading a nature spirit to one is also a prime way to earn that spirits trust and gratitude. It may be tempting for a //Meninna// to lose themselves in such a place but spending too much time in the Shadow can disrupt the Harmony of their soul... and the Hunters in Darkness prize Purity above all. //Meninna// often come into conflict with Others. All werewolves are likely to encounter other denizens of the nights on their hunts, but for a tribe which takes the notion of territory so seriously, they find it the hardest to co-exist. Even without directly accessing the Shadow, the Others cause disruptions by dint of their very presence and actions. Their deepest Rage is reserved for the Hosts. The Rat and Spider monsters which would erode the very barriers between worlds. These creatures are the antithesis of the //Meninna// worldview and are to be shown no mercy, rooted out wherever found.