Editing Nature of the Beast

This is the wiki for a game of Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition.

An oil company plans to build a pipeline through an uninhabited, pristine wilderness region. Protesters arrive to stop the pipeline. The oil company has security guards and support from the police and politicians. The protesters have young werewolves among them. But how far are you able - and willing - to rely on being a powerful and next to unkillable monster, when you are not facing Wyrm-corrupted abominations but ordinary people, and other werewolves who disagree with you about methods.

==Player Characters==

To be added

==Background==

"''Gather around, cubs, and let me tell you stories of heroism and adventure''"

During the 1980s and 1990s, '''Black Gold Oil Company''' was an implacable enemy of the Garou and Gaia. The Wyrm-corrupted board of directors wielded the company like a weapon to corrupt and defile everywhere they operated. All over North America. And all over, heroes rose to oppose them. Many songs have been sung and stories told of the battles of the era, but one name rises above the others.

Stories tell of the renowned warrior '''Dancing Flame'''. He had made it his personal mission to bring down Black Gold, and he pursued them all over the continent. Wherever warriors of Gaia were hard pressed, Dancing Flame would appear to turn the tide. And he did not fight Black Gold with just fang and claw. With his allies, he fought them in the stock market, in the courts, and in the media. Exposing their crimes and corruption.

It took close to two decades, but ultimately Black Gold was in ruins. Their armies of abominations slain, their assets taken away or destroyed, their reputation in the gutter, and their influence gone. In the final battle, Dancing Flame and his allies took on the corrupt board of directors. And destroyed them. Black Gold filed for bankruptcy, and the battle was won.

And what happened to Dancing Flame? In some stories, he lives in a remote farm with his kin, enjoying his well earned retirement. In others, he went on to fight other battles, somewhere in the jungles of South America or Asia. But those are just stories. The truth is that no one knows what happened to Dancing Flame afterwards. The only thing that is certain is that he is not around anymore.

And that is unfortunate, for Black Gold is back under a different name.

The remaining assets of the company were bought in bankruptcy auction by an European investor, '''Augustus Wittger'''. He started rebranding and rebuilding, and what used to be Black Gold became '''Prospect Oil''', with a corporate motto of "''We look to the future''". Under Wittger's direction, Prospect Oil started branding itself as an ethical company. Hiring minorities, paying the workers above the minimum necessary, having zero tolerance policies on bigotry and harassment. Yet their core business remained. Where many energy companies started migrating to green energy, Prospect Oil remains focused on fossil fuels.

Prospect was among the first companies to get into shale oil business. The oil shale deposits in the United States are the largest in the world, with the Green River Formation in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah among the richest oil shale deposits in the world.

'''Wyoming'''. The least populous state in US despite being the 10th largest by area, with the second-lowest population density after Alaska. Almost half of the land in Wyoming is owned by the federal government, generally protected for public uses. Including the '''Bridger–Teton National Forest'''. The forest consists of 3.4 million acres (14,000 square kilometers), making it the third largest National Forest outside Alaska.

And it sits right between the Prospect Oil shale oil extraction site at the headwaters of the Green River and their refinery and distribution hub in Casper. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture.

Within the area is a region called '''Moonrise Woods'''. It is an area of primeval forest - a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. Unique enough to set it apart from the rest of the national forest. Through a proxy company supposedly focused on ecological studies, Prospect pushed through a ruling that Moonrise Woods should be classified as a separate region of its own. As a result of this ruling, Moonrise Woods is no longer a part of a national forest. And therefore currently not protected. Prospect wasted no time in obtaining permission to build an oil pipeline through it. The work crews and machines are already gathering in a small town of '''Firdale'''.

Firdale has less than 2 000 inhabitants. Already struggling, the recent Corona pandemic struck the town's traditional farming and forestry industries hard. Unemployment is high and the number of people living under poverty line is on the rise. Many people in town welcome the pipeline, seeing it as a source of employment that will revitalize their town.

Yet Prospect's pipeline faces opposition too. Outraged by the legal shenanigans, out of town protesters have set up camp at the edge of Moonrise Woods, determined to keep Prospect away. More activists are gathering from all over the country. Among them are several young werewolves. The threat to Moonrise Woods would be bad enough, but the Garou are also aware of the oil company's past, even if to the young generation that past is known only through stories. Nevertheless, while there is no indication that Prospect is anything else than a ruthless oil company, no better or worse than the rest, there is still the possibility that something worse than typical corporate exploitation is going on.

==Moonrise Woods and Firdale==

Firdale started as a settlement of hunters and trappers, and grew into a town due to the forest industry. For over a century, '''The Buckner Lumber Mill''' has been a major employer in town, and the Buckners the most influential family. In the town's golden years, there were also several farms in the surrounding area. But those years are in the past. Small family farms were struggling to compete in modern economy, and this day most of the farmhouses stand empty and abandoned. Corona Pandemic was the final straw for Firdale's farming industry. The local dairy had to close, and the '''Firdale Dairy''' building at the edge of town is now boarded up, visited mainly by just the local teens who use the grounds to hang out.

The lumber mill is also under threat of having to close. The increased transportation costs and difficulties brought on by the pandemic caused loss of business. The mill is barely hanging on due to a few old customers in Wyoming. Many workers have been laid off, but the mill is still operating at a loss according to rumors.

Firdale's economy is currently hanging on the recreational side of its forestry business. Services centered around hunting, fishing, hiking and camping are still making money. But many residents fear that this is not enough to sustain the economy, and if the lumber mill closes, Firdale will wither away.

Many people in town hope that Prospect Oil's planned pipeline will reinvigorate the economy. None more than '''Silas Buckner''', the current head of the family and owner of the lumber mill. He signed a contract to do the clearing and trenching work for the pipeline, cutting and digging a way through Moonrise Woods, with the Prospect workers doing the engineering work to install the pipe. This is against the family tradition, for during all the time Buckners have operated the lumber mill, they have never done any logging in the old forest. But Silas is willing to go against tradition to save the family enterprise. He has invested in new equipment and re-hired workers he had to lay off for the work. This has put him in debt, and the protests threaten to ruin his finances if they keep the work from proceeding.

Buckners are not the only locals who have had a tradition of leaving Moonrise Woods in peace. The town and the forest have lived side by side for generations, and plenty of customs, tales and superstitions center around the forest. So while a large part of the residents welcome the pipeline as a necessary source of revenue, other people are concerned about disturbing the ancient forest.

===Legends of Moonrise Woods===

One of the oldest legends is the '''Guardian Wolves''' of Moonrise Woods. The hunters and trappers in the area adopted a tradition from the native people in the area. Never kill a wolf in the woods, for the spirit of the slain wolf would avenge its death. But if a hunter showed respect and prayed before and after killing an animal, a wolf would guide him back to the camp if he became lost or injured. The legend has persisted to the present day, with modern stories about a wolf scaring off careless campers, but also sighted when people have gotten in trouble but mysteriously survived.

Almost as old but less benign legend tells of the '''Ghost Lights''' in the forest. According to the legend the lights are spirits of people who got lost and died in the woods, and now seek to lure others to the same fate, and make the living join them.

Some people think that the legends were created to warn people from venturing deep in the woods. There are no trails in Moonrise Woods, and getting lost is easy. Dangerous animals can also be encountered there. Not just wolves but bears and mountain lions as well.

The Ghost Lights are not the only ghost story about the woods. The story of '''The Lady in Green''' tells about a local young woman who went for a ride in the forest and never game back. According to the story, she can still be seen at the edge of the forest at night, riding a horse and wearing a green dress. Another story, '''The Lost Prospectors''' tells how a group of gold prospectors made a camp by a stream deeper in the forest to look for gold chips. And then a local man bringing supplies to their camp found it empty. The prospectors had disappeared without a trace, leaving all their gear behind. Whatever happened to them, they supposedly still haunt their old campsite.

Some of the legends involve people from history. In the 1800s, '''Dead Jack the Outlaw''' was active in the region. He was said to suffer from leprosy that had turned his skin dark and deformed, making him wear thick clothes and always wear a red scarf over his face in public, and he got his nickname because what was visible of his skin looked like the skin of a dead man.

Dead Jack's legend makes paints him as a controversial person. On one hand, he was a stone cold killer. Faster on the draw than eye could follow, he killed several men in duels. And one time, a federal marshal with his posse stopped in Firdale on his way to apprehend the outlaw. When they left town to look for Dead Jack was the last time anyone saw them. None of them ever came back.

On the other hand, Jack was said to never draw his gun unless he had to. He would saunter into a bank or stop a stagecoach, and unless someone went for his gun, he would just politely ask for people to hand over the money and valuables. And that was another thing about the outlaw. He did not intimidate people. He was always nice and polite. Even a bit of a trickster. There is a story about how he once turned himself in, only to mysteriously disappear from his cell during the night. Another story tells of the outlaw riding along Firdale's main street, throwing money around on his wake.

There are several different stories about Dead Jack's final fate. One says that he finally succumbed to his disease. In another, he finally met someone faster than him in a duel. Yet another story says that it was all a disguise, and he was secretly an upstanding Firdale citizen all along. And many stories mention Dead Jack's Treasure, that he supposedly hid somewhere in Moonrise Woods. In the ghost story version, he still guards it.

The famous outlaw features in local merchandise sold to tourists. And out of town, close to the nearest highway is an establishment named after him. Dead Jack's Roadhouse. It has a reputation of a rough and even dangerous place, mainly because it is the hangout of a biker gang, MC Highwaymen.

Perhaps the ghastliest story is of the '''Homicidal Hermit of Moonrise Woods'''. Oliver Roberts, a World War II veteran, came back from the war a changed man. He built himself a new house at the edge of the woods and lived there as a recluse for several years. Then he was connected to several disappearances elsewhere in the county, the state troopers raided his house, and found several bodies buried in the basement. Roberts admitted to kidnapping and murdering people and claimed that "The Serpent in the Woods" told him to do it. His house was later burned down. This day, you can still find the foundations if you know where to look.

==Non Player Characters==

===Silas Buckner, the entrepreneur===

"''Do you know what would happen were I to drive this harvester through your protest line?''"

Balding, overweight, in his 50s. Buckner is known for his short temper and a habit of throwing his weight around. The family has traditionally had plenty of influence in Firdale, and although their fortunes have been on the wane, Silas sees the pipeline as an opportunity to restore them. He still has plenty of influence in the town hall, and a large number of big, angry loggers willing to do what he says.

===Otis James, the Mayor===

"''Everything is under control!''"

Mayor James used to have it easy. In the overwhelmingly Republican town he has not had a serious challenger for his position. All he had to do to keep it was maintain the status quo. Then came the pandemic and Firdale's financial difficulties. With bedrocks of the town's economy under threat on his watch, Mayor James needs to find new solutions. Something he has never been good at, focusing as he has been on keeping things running as they always have. To him, Prospect Oil pipeline is a salvation not just for Firdale's economy but for his career as well.

In his 60s but fit for his age, Mayor James likes to project an air of an authoritative person in control of the situation. Some talk around town says that if Buckner told him to jump out of the window, James would not even stop to open it first.

===Rory Coleman, the Sheriff===

"''I am too old for this shit!''"

Sheriff Coleman has kept the peace in Firdale for a long time. He is known as a calm and patient person who prefers to handle situations with words, but is capable of manhandling any drunken lumberjack if it comes to that. Now, two years from retirement, the gray haired, pipe smoking sheriff finds himself having to deal with the largest protests in his career.

===Wiley Griffin, the Prospect Manager===

"''I want these people gone. I do not care what it takes.''"

Dark Haired, well dressed and slick, Griffin is an ambitious career climber who , in his mid twenties, has already elbowed his way to a managerial position. He aims to ultimately be in the board of directors, and got himself appointed to manage the pipeline project, seeing it as a stepping stone to further prestigious appointments. In public, he makes an effort to appear reasonable and diplomatic about the protests, but according to the rumors Griffin has a reputation of being absolutely ruthless when dealing with what he sees as obstacles to his ambitions.

===The Protest Leaders===

====Roberto Ferrera====

"''Let's all calm down.''"

Past 50 but with no hint of gray in his dark hair, Ferrera is a veteran of numerous protests. He is also a dedicated pacifist who abhors any kind of violence and believes in dialogue and nonviolent action.

====Denice Rose====

"''this scene is pure clickbait!''"

A black woman in her 30s, Rose has her own YouTube channel and is highly active in social media. She is here to raise awareness. Some people say that she is raising awareness of herself as much as of the protests and the situation. It is true that she seems to enjoy attention, but she also seems genuinely concerned about the pipeline and its impact.

====Destiny Knight====

"''Burn the rules!''"

Definitely the most radical of the unofficial leadership of the protests, and the one of them who is a local. It would be a serious understatement to call her a nonconformist. In the overwhelmingly Republican and religious town, she is openly Democrat, openly atheist and openly gay, with a doubled Venus symbol prominently pictured on the back of the vest she wears. Recently graduated from Firdale High School, she looks like a punk rocker with hair dyed electric blue. Destiny is a consternation to her "pillars of the community" parents. Her mother is a doctor and her father a clerk in the town hall.