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23:56, 30th April 2024 (GMT+0)

Azazel Echo-of-Reproach

On the childhood of the Metis Shadow Lord named Azazel

Janek Naked-Truth and Danica Shackles of Justice were once bright young Philodox, rising stars in their respective families. Unfortunately their families were both old bloodlines who had a longstanding feud which was threatening to boil over into outright conflict. The family elders, recognizing the potential waste and loss of life should such a thing come to pass, sent their best and brightest to a ‘peace summit’ with the task to find an amenable resolution.

Janek and Danica, each accompanied by a trio of kinfolk, met for several days of talks. While they were unable to reach an accord regarding the dispute, the talks were not entirely fruitless. Something about the fiery Rage, and intense arguments presented by their counterparts sparked a foolish passion in the two Philodox.

Had the two garou listened to their better judgment and suppressed the feelings, many years of anguish could have been avoided for both of them. Unfortunately, they failed to do so and spent the last night of the summit together breaking the Litany. All told they broke the Litany at least a dozen times over the course of seven separate trysts. It is fitting that they received the appropriate punishment.

Danica Shackles-of-Justice realized there was a problem only a week after their last meeting. It did not take her long to formulate a plan. She found an excuse to visit a distant relation at a caern far away. It was just a matter of making an exit without either attracting attention or giving herself away to her erstwhile mate.

Janek however had an inkling that something was wrong after Danica missed a planned rendezvous. With questions whispered in the right ears, Janek was able to learn of her intended sabbatical, and he confronted her in secret on the night before she was to leave. Subtle threats were exchanged and it became apparent that neither were willing to let the other shirk responsibility for the metis, not when it might be used as leverage in the future.

They assumed there would be a significant loss of face, a dimming of their stars for a time, and that they would eventually be able to put it all behind them. It was not to be however, as others learned the secret and outed them to the family elders. What might have been a renown hit and some proverbial egg on their faces in another tribe became much like a living nightmare. The elders of both families arranged to punish their errant children by sentencing them to care for the metis cub together. As a child of both bloodlines, it would serve as an excuse for peace.

Danica gave birth to an albino male cub bearing traits of both bloodlines under the light of a Full Moon, adding to their shame for they could not even hide the cub from Luna’s full face. He was named “Azazel,” which was suggested by a old Galliard who claimed it had some reference to a demon, but knew that it really meant “scapegoat.”

Young Azazel had an odd childhood for a metis of the Shadow Lords. Ordinarily, he could have expected poor treatment and ostracism from everyone around him, but this was not always the case. Certain relatives from either parent’s family would stop by on occasion. They treated him kindly as a continued gesture to shame the parents. The anger associated with that shame would later be taken out on the boy.

On several occasions, one or both of the parents tried to dispose of their shameful offspring by abandoning him in the wilderness. In most cases, the plan was discovered and they were compelled to retrieve him. The last such time would prove to be quite different. There had been reports of kinfolk disappearing in an area and, since all of the victims were kin, Janek and Danica assumed the veil would be safe if they surreptitiously left him in the area to be taken, hoping to never see him again. Of the many errors in judgment they had committed in the time since meeting one another, this was one of the gravest. For them.

Azazel had spent time alone in the forest for much of his life, between being shunned and abandoned, he was often alone. He was trying to find his way home, as usual, when he was attacked from behind and lost consciousness. He awoke in a strange building, in a silver-looking cage to see other, similar cages around. Most of these contained people; the missing kinfolk. When the captors returned and began speaking of what was to be done with him, strange feelings began to course through his mind. He would ordinarily have felt anger at being excluded, but this was quite different.

White hot anger flowed through him, at the disgrace, the disrespect, and the inhuman treatment of his distant cousins. Hearing encouraging shouts from long-dead ancestors, and experiencing his Rage for the first time, Azazel frenzied. Though it wounded him, he burst out of the cage, sending pieces of it flying, and set upon his captors. It was not long before his foes had been slaughtered, their hot blood staining his stark, white coat. As his senses returned, he experienced another new sensation: being appreciated as he heard the captive kinfolk thanking him for their rescue.

Caught once again, and sent after their unwanted cub in shame, Janek and Danica returned to the forest to find him, but he found them first, leading about a dozen kin out of the underbrush while carrying one who had been found comatose. Their shock must have been palpable.

While he had earned the gratitude of a few kin and those closest to them, he was then faced with a greater challenge: life under the care and guidance of a Shadow Lord den mother and competing with other cubs for even the tiniest shred of approval. It was a difficult time but, for a young garou whose first decade had been an unceasing parade of difficult times, the challenge was well met. A discerning elder named him Echo-of-Reproach for his actions during the Rite of Passage. It was clear to them, that the shame of his parents had not ruined the boy, but rather forged him into a warrior of Gaia.

Knowing that the circumstances of his birth would haunt him for the whole of his life, Azazel recognized that his best option would be proving himself worthy of respect. Such a thing would require a great task, and one worthy of the scion of two Shadow Lord bloodlines.

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Name: Azazel Echo-of-Reproach
Breed: Metis
Tribe: Shadow Lords
Auspice: Ahroun