the prophecies of shadow

Dear Grandmother of Howling Island,

In 1230, a Red Talon Theurge named Songs of Shadow emerged from the Umbra and traveled across Europe, stopping at every sept he passed and delivering 10 prophecies for 10 tribes. At the time, the Prophecies of Shadow didn’t seem immediate or important — they referred to dire events in the future, but Songs of Shadow wasn’t clear on when in the future these visions would be relevant or, indeed, on any details at all. He merely repeated them and then left, and was never heard from again.

In modern times, a few Garou historians remember that these prophecies existed, and historians of the Silver Fangs and Shadow Lords supposedly have transcriptions of all ten. But no tribe or sept can agree that the Prophecies ever came to pass, that the tribes did what they were supposed to do, or that the Prophecies were ever valid in the first place. As the Wyrm grows ever more powerful, though, a small but vocal subset of werewolves wonders if some answers might not be found in these visions.

Here are transcribed, as promised, the full tales of all ten prophecies.

1. Wings from Glass (Glass Walkers)
Born heretofore unknown of her heritage will rise a child built from sadness and despair, who beyond the bounds of her first change will grow to hate the ways of the Nation. She is born without the protections that keep us from the blood of the Wyrm’s children, and suffers for that. Her life, filled with broken dreams and crushed hopes, will amount to shattered glass forming prismatic wings from its shards. Brass Dragon sleeps long. Waiting. Watching. Her chosen child rises from the dust left behind by the Wyrm.

2. The Lost Child (Children of Gaia)
A kinfolk is born, kept severed from her nature as kin to the tribe. She is sent far away from the homelands of the Children of Gaia. She craves the affection of a family, but is held at arm’s length from her flesh and blood. Thus, she turns to the beings of the night as her blood betrays her. The light of Helios dims within her, drawing her to the Wyrm’s waiting jaws, be it not for those beings. Her sunfire shall burn that which she deems unworthy of walking Gaia’s earth.

3. The Sundering of Blood (Red Talons)
Human society, the Wyrm, has birthed a looming pyramid of blood and Wyrmish magic. This Pyramid aims to crush the single sole light in the damned bloody sea of the leeches that the monkeys allow to prey on them. This Pyramid aims to control the world and the blood of all who walk the earth, such as expected of a fiendish child of Weaver and Wyrm. Twelve Angels wait in the dark of night to sunder the dark blood and bring the Pyramid of Blood to its knees, and the light will rise above its dark tomb once more.

4. The Solemn Statues (Black Furies)
Woe betide the Black Fury who shuns the male for his gonads alone, for she knows not the future. A maker of guardians, of steel and flesh, born a son of the Wyld and trapped by the Weaver. He is removed of his memory, and subject to a torment as he crafts these soldiers to be used to bring about unending stasis. But he will remember. He will remember, he will freed, he will sunder the Weaver’s webs and burn them to the ground, giving his solemn statues to the Wyld in exchange for grave deeds.

5. The Serpent That Consumes Itself (Silent Striders)
The Wyrm-terror known as Set, Sutekh, and his brood spread corruption and miasma through a seemingly endless night. He wishes to consume Helios, and bring the world into a darkness profound. He is a god of shadows and pollution, a threat to Gaia certain to bring about the End of Days if left unchecked. The Serpent is a lost child gone mad, and relies on That Which Is Yet To Come to free him. A child born of Strider blood will lose her way, and the Serpent will fall upon her, to slay or be slain.

6. Night Eternal (Shadow Lords)
A city of gateways will rise in a world yet untouched by the Ten Tribes of Europe. A being of shadows and evil seeks this scab, to rend it asunder for the perceived crimes of the leeches within it. It will bring about a night eternal, to be parted only by the rays of Helios’ mighty sun, concentrated into a blade of fire and justice. The rise of this being signifies the End Times for the leeches, and so too must we take it as a sign.

7. Fires of the Sun (Get of Fenris)
In time, the fires of Helios will be seen to be false. He will have been known as a deceiver, a Thief of Names, who struck down Father Sun long ago and stole his place. It is this Thief of Names who cast a curse upon the leeches, and forced pieces of the Wyrm into their souls. He will be known as a Wyrm-thing that has deceived us all, like Loki in your tales, while the true Helios, with his life-giving warmth, has long been sealed beneath the jungles of an unknown land, guarded by werebats. One day, these werebats will be gone, and Helios will be abandoned.

8. The Tower and the Sword (Bone Gnawers)
 Two mighty pillars support the budding bastion of leech society. One, a great white tower, hewn of the ivory carved from ill-gotten prizes, run their cities like a dystopia, benevolent or not. Follow our rules, or disappear forever. The other, a blade rending Gaia, bleeding her blood for their own gain. The sword, a fang of the Wyrm, is unrepentant about its clear and disgusting taint. The tower will crumble, and the sword will rust, and the meek shall inherit the scabs.

9. The Shattering of Arcadia (Fianna)
A monster of Balefire and Death wearing the guise of the fickle Wyld-spirit Elpis will rise deep within the territory of the Shadow Lords, seeking to pull the world to ruin and raise the Wyrm by his own hand. Though he may come close, Arcadia will swallow him. His foul taint will rend the realm across the Hedge into tatters in a blaze of Divine Fire, and the True Fae will learn humility in the final hours.

10. The End of Times (Silver Fangs)
Shattered glass will forge into hardened armor. Sunfire will rain on the damned and the maddened. The Light of the leeches will mend the wounds of Gaia herself, and the solemn statues will stand guard against the Wyrm. The Serpent Who Consumes Itself will rise from the grave, and the Eternal Night will be parted. Helios will take his throne again alongside Luna, as was always intended, and the rusted sword and the crumbled tower will weep as their heirarchy turns on its head. The shards of Arcadia will bleed their godhood away, and the Apocalypse will be upon us.

It is worrying, given what I know now, that you are requesting these transcripts. Some tales suggest that there are missing pieces to the Prophecies of Shadow, though I don’t know if that’s true, or what pieces are missing. Perhaps the Stargazers, or the Wendigo and Uktena, were also given pieces? What of the Croatan? The lost Bunyip? The Fera? … Perhaps even the White Howlers?

Whatever you do with this information is your business. I wish you well and hope this message finds you.

Sincerely,
Talons-of-Falcon, Claws-of-the-Eclipse, Mantle-of-Helios, Rolling Thunder