Wendigo

OOC:
Since this is a little different from our usual rumors in the Cacophany section, I'm going to try to provide a little clarification.

Like all the other rumors in this section, this is an open plothook available to anyone with the inclination to investigate further. These rumors aren't merely atmospheric or clever little background, they're open invitations to all of you. Sadly, few have taken advantage of these opportunities thus far. Dean and I are hoping to address this, not only by putting out our largest hook yet, but by tweaking the format slightly.

What follows in this post is a general rumor, a Kindred bogeyman to the neonates of Detroit, if you will. This rumor requires nothing more than a couple nights socializing with other Kindred of Detroit to learn. You get a basic idea of this thing thats been operating in Detroit for some time. In a second post which will go up later, you'll find an assortment of other tidbits and speculation that are circulating about this creature. Each of those tidbits will have their own requirements for them to be known. Its doubtful your character will have the skills necessary to know all of them. But its pretty likely that they'll get to know at least some of them, which is the whole idea. And make no mistake, these tidbits are presented in-character, and are often stories heard from a friend of a friend, or are pure speculation by NPCs. Some of them are completely true, some get at least a few pieces right, and some are outright fabrications and couldn't be more wrong. But we're not going to tell you which is which. That's for your characters to discover, once you've expressed an interest in delving deeper into the truth surrounding this bit of urban folklore.

Hope that we've managed to catch some of y'alls interest with this, as it'll be the first part of a series if this approach proves successful. So lets get to the rumors already!!


IC:

The Wendigo? A curious bit of Detroit folklore. A rather infamous draugr thats long blighted our decaying city. You're familiar with the total degeneration that inevitably takes hold of us all, of course?...Good, that I needn't bother expounding on that. The Wendigo is a rather tenacious specimen of that de-evolutionary cul de sac of ours. There's been rumors of Kindred remains turning up around Highland Park and the surrounding area for almost a decade now. Infrequent sightings of some bestial female Kindred, and I've got notes on three confirmed incidents where there was a draugr epidemic breaking out that required containment.

Do you know the origin of that word, 'Wendigo'? Its part of Algonquian lore....Yes, Algonquians are 'native american dudes,' you insipid twat. Please don't interrupt me again unless I make it clear that I'm asking a question rather than merely being rhetorical. So yes, the Wendigo...it was a cannibalistic spirit among those native cultures, believed to be able to infect or possess humans and turn them into twisted monsters obsessed with consuming human flesh. It was strongly associated with starvation and famine, and lent its namesake to a form of psychosis known to periodically afflict residents of the northern territories tormented by terrible blizzards that would cut off access to food supplies. As food dwindled, the truly mad and debased would butcher their fellows in desperation. And some would develop a taste for such fare, even after the thaw came. Sounds pretty similar to our own condition, wouldn't you agree? Yes, still rhetorical. Anyway...

Facts on our dear 'Wendy' as the gutter filth have taken to calling her, in their usual lowbrow fashion, are in rather short supply. We know she is a female Kindred, and its highly probable that she nests somewhere in the Highland Park area, which helps disguise the worst of her predations, as no one cares what happens to the refuse in the care of little Dale McLarney. Nothing concrete on which clan she might belong to, though the Savages have a noted inclination towards that sort of degeneracy. The various fables passed around about encounters with her ascribe a myriad of abilities to her, ranging from the prosaic preternatural physical abilities, influence over animals, the terror-stricken abilities of the Nosferatu clan, to the more....esoteric. Madness, disease, pyrokinesis, if you can think of it, some neonate who probably fled his own shadow near Hamtrackt has spun a yarn about our most uncivilized Detroit resident managing it.

Why the interest, anyway? Are you planning on making a trip to Highland Park, to capture the foul creature? If you manage it, you'll certainly make a name for yourself. She's renowned for good reason. Our esteemed prince declared a bloodhunt on the draugr responsible for several Kindred deaths in that area several years ago. No bag limit if the draugr is found to be reproducing either, though the consumption of such a debased specimen is not exactly recommended. Don't go getting cold feet now. The majority of the Kindred who've gone missing over the years were so young that their last meals probably hadn't finished digesting yet. And our kind go missing with far more regularity than you'd think; either skipping town, dropping into the long sleep, or an outright grudge and nasty confrontation with a fellow. There's no question that she's been given credit for far more deaths than she could rightly claim. She's survived this long on cunning, not on being a simple brute. Were that the case, she'd have been a trophy for the prince's enjoyment already.

It would seem I've given you a bit of a fright. That is a terrible shame. I've been wanting to get that Lick under my knife for quite some time now. Obviously I don't think she'll provide any great insight into Ascendancy. But when you've only got a vague idea of the direction you're heading in, it doesn't hurt to have a better idea of the direction you're trying to avoid. And I've got no plans for ending up like that one night. So if the prince's reward for her capture isn't enough, it would certainly be worth a boon to me were it to be accomplished. Moreso if I could be notified of the capture before the sheriff and his brute squad, naturally....

~Dr. Forbes Horgan Vockersby, Detroit Scholar of the Occult and Paranormal
Rumor heard by all residents of Detroit within a few nights of arrival