Latest revision as of 17:37, 5 February 2008

Backstory

The once plentiful Gurahl have now nearly all gone to Gaia, and the birth of a new Gurahl pup would be cause for great celebration among the werebears . . .

. . . if they knew about it.

Robert Walker

Robert Walker was eccentric, a quality he embraced and shared openly with the world. As a successful-enough writer, whose literary fantasy novels had a cult following, and a sometimes professor of creative writing, he had the luxury of being able to live all alone on the edge of the woods, outside of a small town in eastern Washington, and do little but read, write, and make worlds.

It was strange for Robert to meet a Native American woman (a park ranger, no less) in a bar (he rarely hung out in bars), stranger yet that she invited herself home with him (conversations with women were not his strong suit), and beyond strange that she kept stopping by occasionally, finally staying long enough to become quite pregnant and give birth to their son: Christopher Robert Walker. But, Robert was generally pretty accepting of strange things.

The woman moved on (which seemed rather normal to Robert), though the toddler Christopher would occasionally come back from time spent in the yard (i.e., the woods behind their house) claiming that he had been playing with “bear mama”. Robert’s only real response to his son’s growing obsession with bears was to legally change his middle name to Robin on Christopher’s third birthday.

As Christopher grew up, Robert let him do essentially whatever he wanted. This was all for the best, since Christopher was remarkably mature & level-headed from an early age, not to mention seemingly immune to serious harm (he was a big, strong kid from the beginning). Christopher did his homework, broke up fights at school, and spent a lot of time tromping through the woods. Robert and Christopher got along well, and often hiked, made up stories, and played chess together. More than one of Robert's plotlines were drawn from the crazy things Christopher would get into his head after some time off in the woods.

Tragically, Christopher was killed by a rampaging bear in front of Robert's eyes during one of their hikes. Even his body was dragged away. Deeply saddened, Robert moved away from his longtime home and got a job teaching in Spokane. Fairly recently, he got married and started writing seriously again. Many fans are excited over his newest trilogy, dedicated to his son's memory.

Christopher R. Walker

Christopher's story is somewhat different than his father's, though not inconsistent with it (until the end).

Christopher was always quite comfortable living between worlds. He loved the forest as well as his father's collection of academic books. He enjoyed school, was smarter than almost everyone, and even played football freshman and sophomore years of high school. He spent much of his childhood attempting (and sometimes succeeding) in working out pieces of mystical lore and ritual based on bits of information gleaned from his werebear mother's infrequent visits, intense and recurring visions, and occasional hints from a totemic spirit he called Uncle Bear. You know, the usual northwest childhood.

For most of his youth, Christopher didn't know he was gurahl, just that his mother could change into a bear and that he shouldn't tell daddy. But when he was approaching the Change, his mother told him of his nature, and said that she would return to help him through the hard times. Soon after his sixteenth birthday, he Changed alone in the woods, and only Uncle Bear was any help in the transition that followed.

Needless to say, Christopher was a little angry when his mother showed up six months later (in bear form) while he was on a hike with his father. It is important to say, though, that Christopher's anger drove him to change (unconsciously, his control over himself not being yet firm) to Crinos, sending his usually accepting father into a state of semi-delirium. In this delirious state, Robert was convinced that his son was viciously attacked by a bear (and in some ways he was), but also began to connect the dots of some of Christopher's strange behaviors over the years. The cognitive dissonance was starting to drive Robert mad when Christopher's mother stepped in to perform the Rite of the Ban, locking any suspicions deep in Robert's mind and convincing him that Christopher was dead. She then went on to explain to Christopher that she had come back because she wanted to see him one more time before she went off on a crucially important mission (and no he couldn't come). Christopher hasn't seen or heard from her since.

Saddened, jaded, and as of yet unready to embrace his heritage. Christopher snuck off into the woods, spent some time getting used to being a bear (and half-bear, and the rest), then moved to Seattle. He applied early admission to UW, and graduated four years later with a dual degree in Religious Studies and Comparative Literature. He never had to pay rent in the summers, which he spent roaming around in the mountains, pulling up trees, eating salmon, and the like.

Christopher Steps-Forward

After college, Christopher was re-motivated to seek out the secrets of his Gurahl heritage, but didn't quite know where to start, so he headed off into the woods again. After much rambling, and some prodding from his totemic spirit Uncle, he came across a small sept of Garou, mostly Children of Gaia. It was with this sept that he learned the Garou language, customs, some rites (though he had figured out a few already), made close friends with a Ragabash name Once-Again (with whom he spent the playful Arcas part of his life), and got some lessons in scrappin'. He was never fully accepted (not like he is with the pack now) but had the one friend and the respect of an older philodox who taught Christopher a fair amount of the Litany and a few Rites.

It was here also that Christopher got his name. Frustrated that he couldn't step into the Umbra like the Garou around him, Christopher worked out the Rite of Rending the Gauntlet on his own (with some Past Life vision help). At the sight of a triumphant Christopher tearing through the gauntlet and marching into a hole in the world in Crinos form, Once-Again proclaimed, "Damn. Christopher doesn't need to step sideways, he just steps forward". In typical Child of Gaia fashion, the name stuck.

This time in Christopher's life was idyllic for a while, and he cherished his one friendship and his mentor. Eventually, though, Once-Again (who Christopher has now renamed Ganelon) began acting strangely. His tricks became more vicious and his worldview became bitter. Christopher was worried, but still often took his friend's side, trying to calm his friend and repair his relations with the rest of the sept. One day, Ganelon convinced Christopher to go off with him in the woods, for he had something to show him. Before long, Christopher smelled an odd sent in the air, and decided, curious as always, to try out a new rite he had learned from his mentor: a rite to sense the presence of the wyrm. To his shock, he felt the wyrm's presence all around him, and his fear drove him to change instantly into Crinos. Luckily, this saved his life, for at that moment exactly Ganelon was leaping to tear Christopher's throat out as his last test before becoming a Black Spiral Dancer. Christopher ran and was able to distance himself from Ganelon (using tricks that he had learned with him) and raced back to his sept. Upon arriving, he found that the Black Spirals had attacked, taking all of the Garou that Christopher had loved from this world. Despondent, Christopher disappeared into the wild, filled with rage and grief.

Sometime later, at a fated hour, Christopher Steps-Forward smelled the taint of the wyrm on the wind, and chased it in war form. He arrived on the heels of a chaotic battle, just in time to part a Black Spiral Dancer's spine from his ribcage and save what was left of Frank's life. Unfortunately, there were still other Black Spiral Dancers left. Fortunately, there were also other Garou nearby . . .

Character Sheet

General Info

Name: Christopher R. Steps-Forward
Breed: Homid (Gurahl)
Auspice: Rishi (Half-Moon/Philodox; formerly Arcas/Ragabash)
Tribe: Forestwalker
Pack Name: Wahkan's Pack (?)
Pack Totem: Bear

Appearance: Christopher is a big man (6'5" - approx. 285 lbs), built rather like a weightlifter (the actual kind with a fair amount of fat, not a bodybuilder). He has wild head of black, wavy hair and a full, bushy beard. Peeking out from all of this hair is a pair of gold wire-rimmed glasses framing brown, friendly eyes. His skin has a fairly dark reddish hue to it which makes you suspect that he isn't all white man. Christopher usually wears rugged woodsman's clothes (carhart pants, a long-sleeved work shirt, boots, and a bulky coat) but he is also well-known for hanging out around the caern barefoot and shirtless, smoking his pipe and reading. Generally somewhat reserved, when he does come forward to speak he is surprisingly eloquent and likable.

Secrets Page

Attributes

Notes: 5 freebie points spent to raise Dex up one. Strength goes up by one because of Bear totem.

Abilities

Note: I spent 2 freebie pts. to raise my Brawl to 3, 4 to raise my Primal-Urge to 2, and 2 to raise my Enigmas to 4. [-8 freebie pts. total]

Advantages

• Rites:

Rite of Rending the Gauntlet [lvl. 1]

Breath of Gaia [minor]

Greet the Sun [minor]

Rite of Cleansing [lvl. 1]

Rite of Talisman Attunement [lvl. 1]

Note: I spent 4 freebie points on Backgrounds (since Gurahl only start with 3 background points), I spent 1 freebie point to gain an extra Rage, and Gabe granted me a 4th Gift.

Languages

• English
• Gurahl
• Garou
• Latin [I may change this if another language would be more appropriate]

Flaws

• Compulsion (wyrm-taint cleansing) [1] • Soft-Hearted [1]

Renown

Succor [1]
Honor [2]
Wisdom [0]

Forms

Note: these numbers differ from the player’s guide (I got them from the white wolf character sheets on-line)