A/N: this chapter is s pure exposition dump, but it was fun to write, especially contrasting the Pure and Forsaken worldviews on the same concepts.
--
Tenko had quickly proven adept at taking on Dalu, Urhan, and Urshu form. Unfortunately, every time he tried to take on Garu he was reminded of that first night and panicked, either losing the form or losing control once he took the form. As he was enduring the experience of hot brands on his flesh as atonement for his last failure, the very same man punishing him with those brands offered words of comfort.
"Tenko, you're doing fine. I think you'll be ready to take the Oath of the Pure and join a Tribe soon. All have trials to prove your worthiness, but first you must take on their oath. The Fire-Touched have one; tell no lies, and allow no lies in your presence. The Ivory Claws have several, but the general gist is to keep yourself clean, not in the literal sense but in your behavior and level of refinement. The Predator-Kings have three, but all of them involve avoiding the ways of mankind in favor the superior survival-of-the-fittest nature of the wild. It is absolutely necessary that you undergo these trials and oaths."
/
"All five Tribes have one Oath added to the Oath of the Moon, based on their own Bans. What they, as creatures more Spirit than us, cannot do by their nature we strive not to do. On top of that, there is an initiation to prove whether you're worthy. But you have time, and it's not actually necessary to choose a Tribe. The path of the Ghost-Wolf has its downsides, to be sure, but it's not an invalid one.
The Blood Talons, such as myself, will not offer a surrender that we would not accept. It is an insult to both your enemy and yourself to demand that they give up before they are beaten. Bone-Shadows must pay each spirit in kind. When a spirit does wrong, it must be punished, while when it does right, it must be rewarded. While this seems like general behavior, the Bone-Shadows treat it as a law. Hunters-In-Darkness must keep their territory sacred. When you value something, when you claim as it yours, you have taken on a responsibility to it. To violate that and change your mind is to violate what the Hunters-In-Darkness view as the rightful natural order. Iron Masters must honor their territory in all things. When they claim a land, it is theirs, not only to preserve but to improve upon. And finally, the Storm Lords must not show weakness nor allow others to tend to their weakness. They are to be the leaders, or the ones who learn to wield power for the benefit of others, and they themselves cannot embrace, or even let others know about, a lack of it."
"It sounds like Hunters-In-Darkness and Iron Masters are the same in their outlook," Izuku noted.
"Not at all," Mighty Wolf responded. "Hunters-In-Darkness believe in preserving the natural world, and keeping things from degrading, while Iron Masters believe in improving the natural world. Hunters-In-Darkness embrace the natural, while Iron Masters embrace the technical."
Deciding to lean into stereotypes, he also noted, "and while Hunters-In-Darkness tend to emphasize being stealthy and using trickery, the Iron Masters emphasize being innovative and finding new ways to do things. But we can goin into detail about the Tribal philosophies later."
" For now, we need to talk about Essence. It's what fuels your spirit half, what fuels all spirits, and you need to learn how to ingest it. You get some whenever your Auspice moon is in the sky, but most of it comes from the loci, places where the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world is weak." Mighty Wolf knew of another way, but debated whether or not he should tell Izuku about it. It's not like the kid would ever use it anyways.
/
"You'll have to ingest Essence to keep your wolf nature functioning. You can harvest it from loci, where the spirit world is doing its best to take back the physical world from the filthy humans, or, in times of desperation, you can get it by consuming human flesh. Normal wolf flesh works too, but that's only as a last resort. Beyond how utterly disgusting it is, it has…effects on your soul."
Tenko looked down on himself, disturbed. "Yeah, you mentioned that. Degeneration, I think you called it. What is up that?"
"It's both the natural state of someone who can't accept what they are and a curse amplified by the Bitch-Mother. If you do things at clear odds with your werewolf nature, or reject your human nature entirely, then your mind will start to fade. You'll start to become like a spirit, thinking in terms of influence and arbitrary bans on your behavior. A little degeneration is natural, even to be sought; it means that you're willing to do what has to be done. When you suffer from too much, you can go about resolving it the long way by understanding yourself or take the sacred act of Penance, burning away your weakness and mistakes through suffering and self-inflicted pain. But we'll go over that in bit; for now, you should see the Spirit World, and eat Essence in the normal way."
"So, what are spirits anyway? I mean, I've heard the word, but how do they work?"
"Spirits are the rightful rulers of the world, born of the spiritual energy that surrounds it. They form, then feed upon the weakest of them as nature demands, then grow and eventually embrace a concept, like an idea, an object, an animal, you name it, and then develop power based on how the world understands the concept. The Forsaken try to keep 'balance' between the spirits and the humans, ignoring that humanity has already tipped the balance so far in their favor that most of the world doesn't even know spirits exist. Even when spirits gift them with power, they call them 'quirks' and come up with nonsensical explanations for their origins. It's important to learn to embrace the spirits, to work with the ones who are helpful to our cause, and even to praise them in ways that the ignorant might call worship. Many will gladly grant you power, though at a steep cost. Remember their grandeur, but be careful with them."
/
Mighty Wolf showed Izuku an old, abandoned shrine that he knew as some old religious building that was turned into a tourist trap a long time ago. It was somewhat of a pillar in his local community. Now, he felt something odd as he looked upon. It was like something was buzzing in his ears, something demanding him to eat and seek power there…
"This is a loci. The significance humans put on the place, or once did, attracted the energies of the spirits until it started creating Essence, the substance upon which spirits feed. The energy gathered here attracts spirits who want its Essence, weakens the barrier separating the Spirit World and the physical world so that, on occasion, free spirits can show up in our world without Riding a human, and gives us Uratha the power to fuel our Gifts and other strange abilities."
"Riding a human?" Izuku managed to sputter out. He actually had about a thousand questions, but somehow that was the one that won out and made it into the world.
Mighty Wolf nodded. "I already told you, spirits are the real source of quirks. In the olden days, spirits would try to take over human bodies, altering their personalities and mutating them in various supernatural ways, creating monsters that we referred to the Ridden. During the time you call the Dawn of Quirks and we call the Locus Rendering, billions of spirits flooded the world for reasons I still don't know, but, instead of claiming territory or turning humans into their puppets as would be expected, they simply bonded with humans, resting inside of them and granting them Influences and sometimes enforcing their Bans in the human's behavior. Before you ask, Influences are the general terms for the ability of spirits to alter the world around them and Bans are like rules that are encoded into a spirit; all spirits have them, like 'never hurt an animal' or 'never pass by a window without tapping the wall three times' or anything of that nature, and they're physically incapable of breaking them."
Izuku was absorbed in Mighty Wolf's explanation, and was in fact planning to ask that, but he was mostly distracted by the idea that this was really the cause of all quirks. It…actually explained a lot. How quirks could have such a variety, how they fit into themes that couldn't possibly follow any natural law, and this idea of Bans seemed to explain away some of the more bizarre weaknesses and limitations he had seen. But then something bothered him.
"You say that they should be turning people into puppets or monsters. Are spirits evil? Should we be scared of the fact that they are inside of all of us?"
Mighty Wolf sighed. "Short answer, no, they're not evil. The thing is, they aren't human, not even partly human like you and me, and they don't think like humans. Their idea of right and wrong, or what's reasonable, or even fun and amusing, is their own, and it's completely alien to how you or any of your peers would think. To a Storm-Spirit, knocking down a building is a necessary part of growing up and showing how strong it is. To a War-Spirit, fermenting conflict is its calling. To a Rat-Spirit, reality itself is something to be gnawed on and chewed through. Their normal behavior can be dangerous to us, and it is part of your duty as an Uratha to make sure that they do not cause undue harm while doing so." He sighed once more. "Of course, they may seem like enemies more often than friends to you, as for all of their strange behavior and ideas, one thing they have in common with humans is that they don't like being told what to do."
"I want to do it, I want to face this challenge," Izuku shouted determinedly.
"Good, because you don't really have a choice. Ignoring your heritage and trying to pass yourself off as human, even just to yourself, will eventually lead to Degeneration."
"What is that, exactly?"
"It's supposedly what happens when you fail to accept either your wolf or your human half. You become aggressive, violent, unable to care about anything but your closest friends, and eventually not even them. Too much for too long, and you become all but a spirit, developing a Ban and unable to think in terms that humans would understand. Those with no Degeneration are held as the wisest and most respected among the Forsaken, at least, but most suffer a small amount. There's no shortcut to dealing with it, just understanding that you must embrace your wolf instincts and duties without abandoning your human mores and ideals. There are rumors that you can also fix it by torturing yourself, but I wouldn't encourage that even if I thought it was true. Now, how about I show you the Spirit World?"
/
Tenko obeyed the instructions, as nonsensical as they seemed. Dig deep down, feel your 'primal urge,' and then 'step sideways' without moving your feet. It should have had him screaming in frustration at how vague and worthless the instruction manual turned out to be, but instead he felt that there was some instinctive truth there, something that he understood on a fundamental level if not an intellectual one.
After roughly 30 seconds of feeling himself, embracing the animal within and visualizing himself stepping out of reality, he found the world around him shifting. The buildings warped, taking on architecturally impossible dimensions, some of them developing faces and talking to one another. Many of them vanished entirely.
One nearby street was being consumed by an enormous rat. When Tenko looked at it, it turned around and screeched at him, its eyes boring into his own with an intelligence a rat shouldn't have; it somehow formed the facial expression of a used-car salesman or shifty politician, and even rubbed its hands together like it was proud of some trick it was planning to pull.
Before it could do whatever it was planning, the light from a nearby lamppost (or at least it was one in the physical world) transformed into a mass of electricity that leapt down and devoured the rat like it was some living creature consuming its prey.
Observing the strange phenomenon, Tenko realized that that was in fact more-or-less what happened; an Electricity-Spirit had just killed and absorbed a Rat-Spirit, presumably due to some internal conflict that he would never understand. His mentor, who had followed him without him even realizing it, looked on the scene in approval.
"Just as in the natural world, strong spirits rule over and kill weak spirits, as it should be for all beings." The Electricity-Spirit looked towards the pair, sparking in some sort of apparent greeting. "The spirits respect the Pure, for they know that we wish to restore Pangaea, when they ruled over existence. This does not mean that they are reliable allies, and certainly aren't slaves. You still have to earn their respect to gain their Gifts."
He pointed to the red brands that had appeared on him once he entered the Spirit World. "This is Renown. It shows you what the spirits think of your deeds. As you grow stronger, you'll need to perform feats to gain it so that the spirits can be persuaded to share their secrets, but for now just being among the Pure should be enough."
He called to the Electricity-Spirit, shouting in the First Tongue. It chattered excitedly, appearing before Tenko and blasting him with a light but notable wind. As his hair flew around his face, and he balled his fists in frustration, the Electricity-Spirt laughed at him, the bastard, and filled his head with images that shouldn't have made sense, that wouldn't make sense when he considered them later, but for now prompted him to lift his hand, hold it forward, and summon a violent wind.
"You've learned a simple Weather Gift, and after only the tiniest bit of instruction. Impressive."
/
Izuku took forever to figure out the workings of how to 'step sideways.' He understood the 'primal urge,' as he certainly felt something within himself that wasn't there before the First Change, but accessing it proved beyond him. Mighty Wolf insisted that it was because he kept thinking too much, trying to analyze and study the concept, when entering the Spirit World was a matter of feeling and instinctive understanding.
"Let me just make another go at my notebook, maybe I'm missing something…"
"No," Mighty Wolf shouted. "As I keep telling you, you can't just intellectualize this. Or, if you must think, think on your desire to be a Hero. Think on what you did on the night of your First Change, how you understood the concept of right and wrong, and acted on it without the slightest bit of thought. Think about how Heroes often run into danger without even realizing that their feet were moving until after the fact. Understand that, and you will understand the Primal Urge. Understand the Primal Urge, and you will understand how to step sideways."
Izuku looked up to the Half-Moon, disturbed by how it affected him. This was wrong, No, this was right. Wrong. Right. Wrong. Right. How could he judge it? He had to see for himself! He was overwhelmed with a desire to see, to judge the Spirit-World with his own eyes…and he did.
Although his legs didn't move, he felt them take a step, propelling him in some direction that he hadn't even known existed until now (in spite of the name, it certainly wasn't 'sideways'), and suddenly found himself on a new Dagobah Beach. The sand was still there, but so were several whirling masses of sand, laughing and playing amongst one another. Where there was garbage in the physical world, there were now enormous flies, bloated and horrific beyond all reckoning, and squelching masses of some greenish mess that made Izuku sick merely by looking at it.
Turning away from it, he found himself face-to-face with some form of blackness. It was cold, and dark, and draining everything around it away. As Izuku stared at it, he began to wonder why he cared about it. He wondered why he cared about anything, after all, the world was going to go on without him, so why shouldn't he merely ignore the world as a whole? Yeah, he should just give up and stay here…Mighty Wolf ripped the thing apart with his claws.
"What was that?" Izuku shouted, his clarity returning.
"An Apathy-Spirit, probably attracted by the neglect that the general populace shows to this beach. You know, your Elodoth instincts might not have simply been going haywire when they made you freak out about the litter; I think the state of this place is negatively affecting the Spirit-World. It surprises me that I never noticed before. Regardless, this is the Spirit-World. Be careful, it's a dangerous place; while you won't run into Maeljin like that very often, spirits in general tend to not like Forsaken, for the reasons I went over earlier. This is generally a risk if you don't have the Renown to convince a spirit to teach you a Gift."
"You keep mentioning Gifts," Izuku noted, "but what are they exactly-" before he could finish the question, the moon spoke to him. Not in words, but in images. It mostly said the same things that it had said to him on his First Change; see the black and the white, see the truth, judge right from wrong. But it also filled him with knowledge, knowledge of how to alter the world the way spirits could.
He learned how to see lies. He understood how Elumin, the spirit of the Half-Moon, judged the world, by reading every tell, every bit of body language, and immediately seeing whether they were being deceived, and understanding every other emotion on top of that. He knew how to see people, in a way he never had before, simply by tapping into his Essence, into the energy that fueled his spiritual form.
It was…natural. There was no way that he could logically defend what was currently happening to him in that way, but it was. He was meant to receive what the spirit of the Half-Moon had just given him. Now, he understood why it was called a Gift.
Though he felt awkward doing so, Izuku stared at Mighty Wolf, embracing the knowledge that had just flooded his brain and using it see whether his mentor was lying to him. He wasn't. Izuku didn't know how he could read the energies that showed themselves, but he saw sincerity, worry, and pride. That last one made him tear up a bit; he didn't think that anyone could be proud of him.
"Izuku, what's wrong?" Mighty Wolf panicked, apparently misinterpreting what his tears meant.
"I just received a Gift from the Moon here, and it let me know what you were really thinking about me. Are you actually proud of me?"
"Well, yeah, you've taken to this better than I could have hoped for. Sure, you almost killed that boy, but that's not uncommon. Hell, the fact that there were no casualties whatsoever puts you above a lot of new werewolves, and thus far you've been quick to grasp everything I've told you. While I can't use Half-Moon Gifts, I think I've heard of this one, and yeah, you can trust what it tells you."
Looking around, he scratched his chin in wonder. "Maybe you could pass this off as your quirk. I use my Dalu and Garu form as my official one, and am careful to only use Gifts that aren't visibly different from them, mostly from the lists of Dominance and Strength. You seem to be more suited to tactical fighting, using intellect and trickery to take down your opponents rather than raw strength, so other Gifts might be preferable to you, and just trying to pass it all off as your own quirk might bring too much attention from too many parties. The Herd must not know, after all, and even if they don't suspect anything other werewolves that realize what you are won't be happy about you even creating the opportunity."
Izuku was too caught up in his emotions to properly process what he was trying to say, but it eventually got through to him. "So, this or shapeshifting will be my 'quirk?' But I'm already registered as quirkless, and I have the fingers and everything."
"Change your registration, pass it off as an anomaly; the truth is that mortal scientists know so little about quirks that anomalies like this happen all the time. You'll barely even be studied. More importantly, I wouldn't recommend using shapeshifting as your quirk, unless you want to stick to urshu, the form of the normal wolf. I already explained Lunacy to you, and it took me years of practice before I could take this form in public without inducing it. I would either stick to the Gift you just learned or try to pass off your quick healing as one. That latter would even make the years of thinking you were quirkless make sense; you could just pass it off as never getting injured enough for your quirk to work."
Nodding to himself, he was composed enough to think on a word that Mighty Wolf had tossed out a bit ago. "What's a Maeljin?"
The great Hero blanched, which terrified Izuku. "Listen kid, spirits are born from what we might call, more for lack of a better term than accuracy, magical energy, which, after taking shape, embraces a concept understood by humanity and forms its identity around that concept. That's why, for example, animal-spirits typically have personalities that you would see their kind of animal having in a normal fairy-tale. The thing is, if there are limits to what concepts they can embrace, I don't know them, and that includes concepts like, well, apathy, and hatred, and rape, and sadism. Maeljin is an old term for what one might call 'evil spirits,' since while philosophically you could say they can't really be evil, and are just embracing their nature, these one's in particular have natures that, rather than simply cause problems due to having a completely incompatible thought process and value system to human society, their thought process and value system is to actively make things worse for humanity, as it's their own understanding of the concept they shaped around."
/
Tenko was having way too much fun causing the wind to flow around him. It was unfortunate that he couldn't do more with it yet, but apparently spirits were pretty stingy and expected even their Pure saviors to 'prove themselves' before granting more than the simplest of powers. His master was growing impatient with his fun.
"I will give you another month to settle on a Tribe," he interrupted the pup after several minutes of Tenko knocking things down to amuse himself. "But, having already been approved by the spirits, I think that it's time to speak the Oath of Father Wolf."
/
As much as Izuku wanted to see more of this fascinating new world that he had just been exposed to, Mighty Wolf reminded him several times about how dangerous it was and that they should return to the physical world after one more important task was complete.
"It's time to say the Oath of the Moon."
The two looked directly looked to the moon together before Mighty Wolf said some words in the First Tongue.
Urum da Takus. "The Wolf Must Hunt," he then helpfully translated. "As wolf-spirits, it is our duty to hunt our prey, which for us means the spirits that would break the balance and those who make the world worse. They are our prey; we are not to cower and let others take care of it, and only take a peaceful solution if it's truly the best option available. When violence is necessary to uphold the natural order, it is our duty as Uratha to deal it out."
/
After hearing his mentor speaking in the First Tongue, Tenko tried to think on the lessons he had been given and what his spirit-instincts sort of translated for him. "The Wolf Must Hunt?" He hazarded, then smiled when his mentor congratulated him. Looking at the effigy of Father Wolf they had carved for this purpose, buried underground and far away from the sight of the moon, he asked what that meant. "Exactly what it sounds like. You are a wolf, and you must go out and hunt. Both animal prey and, when absolutely necessary, human. This is not just for food; the most important prey is, in fact, the Forsaken."
/
Imru Nu Fir Imru. "The People do not murder the People." "So, don't kill anyone? That's really good, I was admittedly getting a bit nervous about that whole 'necessary violence' part."
Mighty Wolf sighed. He really wasn't in the mood to rehash the hundreds of debates the Forsaken had held about what this actually meant.
"By people, it's normally understood that this means that we don't kill other werewolves, and that seems to be the pattern. Those who killed other Uratha, even with good reasons, including self-defense, suffer from Degeneration in a way that doesn't seem to happen with humans. This is actually where Hero training might do you some good, as learning how to fight and subdue your enemies without killing them might keep your soul safe."
/
Angesha Nu Fir Angesha. "The Pure do not murder the Pure."
Tenko nodded. "We don't kill our allies, that makes sense."
"There's a little more to it than that; you do not kill another follower of Rabid Wolf, Silver Wolf, or Dire Wolf even if they truly deserve it, even if they have become an enemy in all ways except outright joining the Forsaken. The chains of Mother Luna already punish us when we kill the awful Forsaken, so we must be careful of the suffering induced by turning on our own."
/
Si Sehe Mak; Mak Ne Si. "The Low Honor the High; the High Respect the Low."
Mighty Wolf stared down at Izuku, hoping that the boy's modern sensibilities wouldn't cause too many problems with this one.
"The life of an Uratha affects your mindset, and one of those effects is to afford you a certain respect for hierarchy. Because of that, actively fighting against the hierarchy that governs werewolf society causes only problems. When an Uratha is above another Uratha, including yourself, you are to afford that position the greatest respect."
Izuku nodded nervously.
"Still, that does not meant you're a slave. If by some means you manage to reach the top of that hierarchy, you must always remember that this a responsibility to command others, not a privilege. You should only be afforded that respect if you care for those beneath you."
/
Si Sehe Mak.
"Down honors up?" Tenko sputtered out after a few seconds of a confused and futile attempt to translate.
"The Low Honor the High," his mentor corrected him. "Those who lead the Uratha do so through strength of will, and you must understand that at all times. The strongest get the best cut of meat, the most honors for the pack, and the right to command. If you don't like being among the low, stop whining and prove that you're strong enough to be among the High. Understanding this is sacred to functioning within our society."
/
Ni Daha. 'Respect your prey..'
"As I told you earlier, you must hunt. There are those that must be targeted by your violence, but that does not mean you have the right to hurt others in the name of the greater good and call it a day. You must understand them, know why you are hunting them, and only give them what they truly deserve. Never rape or degrade. Never torture unless you think it's necessary to gain information or teach them a lesson. Never hold back your strength with the intention of showing how much greater you are than your opponent."
He quickly course-corrected on that last one. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't hold back for other considerations, like keeping your true power a secret from the world."
Uratha Safal Thil Lu'u. "Werewolves shall cleave to humans."
"Basically, when your mating instincts take control and you start looking for a woman in your life, find a human. Things happen when a werewolf mates with another; some say it's a curse wrought on us to ensure that we keep to our duties, or to remind us of the importance of good breeding. Others say it's because all werewolves are technically siblings, and thus mating is an abomination. Regardless, if you happen to stumble on a female werewolf in your career, don't have sex with her."
Although he was just as curious to why as normal, for once Izuku couldn't bring himself to ask any questions due to the casual way his Hero brought up such an uncomfortable topic. His cheeks were bright red.
"If you do, she'll give birth to what's called an unihar. They're a strange type of spirit, one that always tries to kill its parents and hates the Forsaken in general."
That…only eased his discomfort in that it gave him something else to worry about.
"Oh, and even though you can physically can, it's also understood that you don't mate with normal wolves. As far as I know, that's just a problem because it's disgusting."
/
Tenko's mentor waited for a surprisingly long time before continuing with his explanation of the Oath.
"In many ways, our oath parallels the Oath of the Moon that the Forsaken take. At this point, they take an utterly worthless one, so it's a bit of a tradition to wait in silence to spit on it. Anyway, the next words are Angesha Safal Thil Lu'u. 'The Pure shall cleave to humans.' When a werewolf and a human have sex, they have a chance of making a werewolf, or more likely an otherwise normal human that has the potential to sire werewolves in their own future. When two werewolves have sex, they create dark spirits that seek the deaths of their mothers and, if not treated carefully, their fathers and then all Uratha in general to a lesser extent. There's no need to waste our numbers like that, and it's also a crime by our own laws. Even raping Forsaken women to plague our enemies with these spirits, as has sometimes been done in the past, will require levels of Penance that the most Agony-obsessed Ivory Claw would balk at."
After he was sure Tenko had absorbed this, he continued. "And don't go into Ushu form and screw a normal wolf. That's just wrong."
/
Nu Hu Uzu Eren. "Do not eat the flesh of man or wolf."
Noticing that Izuku looked sick as he translated this one, Mighty Wolf smiled. "Yeah, this is pretty straightforward, and an easy one to follow when all is said and done."
A small part of him still wondered about whether he should be honest about why an Uratha might be tempted to do so, but he figured the knowledge would only disgust and horrify the kid.
/
Nu Hu Uzu Eren.
Tenko made his attempt at a translation. "Do not eat our cousins' meat?"
"Close. 'Do not eat the flesh of our relatives' would be more accurate. In this case, that means humans and mundane wolves. As I told you before, eating freshly killed human or wolf meat can give you a lot of Essence in a short time, but it should only be done when truly desperate, when you can afford Degeneration and already have a plan for Penance. I'm sure you think it's disgusting now, but once you've gotten a taste you'll find it more tempting than you might expect; 'long pork,' as we used to call it, is a rush, getting all of that Essence so easily, and hard to stop once you start. Remember this Oath before continuing if you do."
/
Nu Bath Githul. "The Herd Must Not Know."
"I've given you this statement a few times already, to explain why we have to keep it a secret. And..this is kind of why. It's still part of the Oath of the Moon, even after quirks have made us less unusual, and less prone to being killed by angry mobs of witch-hunters or freaking out the world with our strangeness, we still have to keep humanity from learning the full extent of what we are and what we do."
"It does make sense on some level; this part of the Oath was always to keep werewolves protected from humans more than the other way around, and humanity is only more dangerous than they were before quirks, and probably more importantly than us would be the potential fallout for the Spirit World if people learn that that's where quirks actually come from. We are supposed to protect them from humans as well, after all. Then on top of that we still induce Lunacy when we shapeshift. There are a lot of reasons to think that maybe this one is a bit outdated, but there are plenty of reasons to keep to it, as well, not the least of which is that you'll still suffer Degeneration from violating it."
/
Nu Bath Githul. "The Herd Must Not Know."
"It's a simple enough concept to understand. We keep our existence secret from the ignorant general public because they might try to stop us from restoring the Spirit World's dominance. Humans, for all of their inferiority, can be dangerous, especially since the Dawn of Quirks let them steal spirits' power without them realizing it. Deception, for now, is one our greatest weapons against them."
/
"There is one more vow, but you will only take it after you've chosen a Tribe. I will get you more detailed information on the Tribes when I can. Think on this seriously: although you can change Tribes later, there are penalties. The Five Forsaken Children do not look kindly upon werewolves that don't know themselves. Of course, the path of the Ghost Wolf is still open to you, but that has consequences too."
/
"There are two more, then the Tribal Vows, but those last ones won't be relevant until you choose a Tribe. 'Atone For All Transgressions' and 'Refuse Thy Mother Despite the Costs.' You must seek Penance at all times; doing what needs to be done causes Degeneration, so going through the painful purification of Penance is to be expected at all times. Do not get so caught up in doing the right thing to defeat the Forsaken that you forget this. The second simply reminds you that, although the Forsaken gain a few benefits from their continued slavery to the Bitch-Mother, you must not become tempted by it. Reject your Auspice, reject Mother Luna, and reject all that the Forsaken stand for."