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Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East
NSS - 1 NEW OVERSIZE SOFTCOVER BOOK
191 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1998
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February 6, 2022
As usual with these White Wolf World of Darkness books, this was an up and down.
Looking up Yunnan on google images, I must say it is no wonder they chose that region for the short story at the start. And the term for this war party of beast shifters is sentai... from super sentai? Is there a connection?
And boy, I can think of several who would be immediately offended by the this sentence about the flavor of exoticism. But I don't care.
That the "dragon" in the story is called Raging Floodwater... considered that these reptile shifters are based on chinese dragons, that is a fitting name. This is easy to read also. And the cat street market in Hong Kong exists still, but what are "ivory princes?" Is he referring to the ivory trade? It would fit the environmental theme of the book.
Sadly the Stargazer werewolf insertion just reads like bla bla bla to me. Thankfully the rest of the story was better. And did the Wan Xian set them up though or is that just what Raging Floodwater is telling herself and others to be able to live with what had happened in the past? And apparently the Fifth Age came to be with the arrival of the Westerners´? Yeah right, that storyteller blamed the Wan Xian before and I bet she blames an outside force again.
Now clue how the authors did it, but I think in the section of the countries where the beast courts are, plus India, they nailed a certain type of Chinese arrogance towards the other countries: Japan is the strange place apart that they don't really like (despite saying how many shifters there are), Southeast Asia and India are wrotten, Korea ok and the rest not worth talking about much. That fits modern day Chinese nationalism perfectly. And suuurrrrrreeeeee, it is the Sunset People that seem blind and ignorant and are foolish, and the Garou were not manipulated unlike the Beast courts, yeah yeah. The writers truly understand to make these hengeyokai come across as a society that can't really look at its own flaws and tends to think they are better than everyone else. This here is the 4th in-universe storyteller and they all were the same in that regard. This writing is very court centric and what is stated here about the litanies of the different breeds and how you must swear fealty to the courts makes me wonder how many eastern shifters truly belong in court and whether the courts are the way they are because of member selection and not divine law.
Of course most hengeyokai consider other shen, especially Westerners to be outside the Mother's court and so the mandate of mercy doesn't apply. Classic case of xenophobia. And does Westerner refer to basically everyone? Because based on the territory of the hengeyokai, "West" is the Americas, Africa, Europe and Western Asia.
The mandates sound often like a very strict set of rules for a strict society. But they contain the necessary conflicts to make them seem real.
And so far, this book was going well, but when I read of "well-tended ancient shrines or groves" as strong Wyld areas, I asked myself: How does that make any sense? Well-tended implies cultivation and therefore cannot be Wyld, at most it would be a balance of Wyld and Weaver. And this constant reference to Westerners and in some cases how they think spirit areas off the East are even more incomprehensible (but not the other way around apparently) reeks of stereotyping and laziness. And when I read that the dragon king's seneschal is called Gajyra, I was "well, they have to keep the copyright lawsuit away from them somehow."
And seriously? Whispers that western tought has seeped into the Yang Realm and paralyzed or blinded the great dragons of the mountains of heaven? These dragons must be really weak then. Or I guess western thought is just soooo superior that it can hinder what are basically gods.
For all the nice concepts in the Yang Realm this has, it is arguably a bid based on simplicity, but now they say that Western shapechangers have rarely the ability to travel to the Yin Realm, which they know as the Dark Umbra, but why? What is the difference?
And obviously, wich all these formalities, the amount of titles heaped on one hengeyokai can be scattering.
That Uktena werewolves can be found among the Ainu makes sense. But the book states that there are wolves left in Northern Japan, but since when? Aren't they all extinct? And what they state about "Sunset People", howfew are tolerable and polite, but none will ever fully understand them, most are only interested in stealing their lands or wealth, sounds at once like Chinese nationalism/racism and modern SJW politics/attitudes.
The birth of a metis might be an impressive and auspicious event, but it's not worth reducing the Goblin Spiders' forces in a time of need. No shit, a metis baby eats itself out of its mother. What woman would consent to this? And the book makes it clear that this is done voluntarily and only at the approval of the elders.
And this is naturally not the only oddity here. The book tells us that the Far East is home to some of the most crowded and squalid places of the planet. The Changing Breeds have always sought balance in the East, but men have destroyed it. Which is almost the complete opposite to what prior storytellers have stated.
That the Kinfolk of the Nezumi rats are usually foreigners and immigrants to Japan (mostly Koreans and mainland Chinese) is an interestingg choice. Did they draw from Japanese racism for this choice? That the metis and rodens Nezumi have troubles assuming human form is a nice element to show the repercussions to drift more towards one form/side. Too bad that they didn't include something like that for the Hakken werewolves, becoming wolves should be very hard for them.
This patronage and civilizing influence of the Zhong Lung over the Samebito (shark men) reminds me of the element of dragons ruling over waterways and the creatures in it that you find in chinese literature. And the zhong lung maiden referring to the samebito as kin has equivalent to the element of fish being kin to dragons that I read in a korean tale. Too bad there isn't much Korean in this. This is a problem in general here, the book draws way too heavily from Chinese and Japanese. I can see why, these were the ones with most of the information available back then, but it is a shame.
Also, the organisation of the Samebito sounds more simiian than lupine, so the reference to werewolves seems inappropriate. Also, while it makes sense to have them have human kin in Oceania, Indonesia and costal Japan and China, chosing Thailand seems odd as it is almost entirely landlocked. Naming Vietnam would make more sense if you ask me.
Reading that the gift Shoulder Cracker is named after chinese Scapulimancy and is used for divination made me think they mean the practice of telling one's fortune by looking at the face shape. But Scapulimancy is something different.
And why are there Zhong Lung in Hawaii? Because of the Japanese immigration to the island? Because this is the first time Hawaii is mentioned (not even the Same-bito mentioned it) and so I wonder. No way is Hawaii part of the "Middle Kingdom" and those Zhong Lung can't be native to Hawaii either. Reading about the gift called dragons milk was also really strange. It requires the Zhong Lung to mix his blood with that of the person he wants to heal. This is really strange. The only time that I've come across dragons associated with milk is from Germany. Never once in an east asian context.
And wow, that arrogance towards Sunset people is really strong with the Zhong Lung, even though its clear that they are in the wrong.
And when they talk about the courts having developed isolated from western spiritual influences, then I must ask: What do they mean by "Western"? Because if its everything west of China, then this can't be true. Best example: Buddhism came from "the West", And many other traits in chinese culture are foreign in origin.
Good to hear that the hengeyokai don't bother with martial arts though. The book says that you can add it if you want but that it will be useless except for the human and near-human forms."
It makes sense that Unicorn appears as a Kirin here. However, why is it that the Okuma are only mentioned as being extinct? Why not some more info on them? And why is Dog as a totem despised when Ox is totally ok to have? Shouldn't the hengeyokai despise oxen more than dogs?
The rest of the book basically functions as the Breed book for the kitsune fox-shifters, who are the youngest of the shifter breeds.
It was interesting that they use a mixed vietnamese girl in San Francisco as the first character here. Especially when you consider how heavily the information so far leaned on japanese and chinese and how uncommon fox spirit tales seem to be in Vietnamese.
This book's version of the Gaia-Man story is interesting and entertaining and someone should have told Gaia that several of her creatures use tools already. Also, they mention some monkeys with "shiny, bony necks" called Golden Bone-Hummers and I wonder whether they are made up or based on something.
And once again, we get told that it was the Wan Xian who tricked the hengeyokai and caused the War of Shame. As if. If you ask me, that is just an excuse, possibly to hide the fact that the Okuma (bearshifters) were exterminated.
I really wonder what "Bai Mianxi" is supposed to mean. This first of the Kitsune is also called the White Faced one, and Bai does mean white... wait.... based on an online dictionary "Mian" does mean face, And so does google. So maybe that is correct, just a bit rough, or maybe a local variation.
The comparisons between the old empires and the PRC are certainly interesting. Makes me want to look up the purges by the Duke of Chin. And did old emperors sent their rivals to rott in Viet Nam?
And when the Garou were told by the twin Kitsune to bring a living Bunjip to speak on their behalf, they should have told her to bring a living Okuma to speak on theirs. Not to mention that for all their bluster, these arrogant hengeyokai seem to be doing a pretty damn bad job protecting Gaia. And these two foxes are certainly racist, so that answers their questions whether the japanese kitsune are the most racist of their kind.
I can see where the element of a kitsune's birth killing one parent (usually non-Kitsune), comes from. It is from the element in chinese stories where either the fox or the human dies from the relationship they form. Not sure why they decided that human mates are the most likely to die, maybe because in stories humans die more regularly for one reason or another... if they die that is, of course.
And the authors have a somewhat sufficient explanation as to why the kitsune terminology is so thick with Japanese words. It comes down to: mandarin and cantonese are hard for half-human tongues. Granted, they could have chosen some other language, but 1990s, those were barely on the public radar. Also, since they mention Korean, I really wish they would have spent more effort on integrating the Gumiho myths.
These common Kitsune gifts surely fit them very well. Most of these gifts do. Someone did their homework regarding the magical foxes of Japan and China. Too bad Korea isn't in here, who knows what the warrior Kitsune would have in terms of Gifts if you add the blood thirsty Gumiho to the mix.
And if the Kitsune are three thousand years old. Then they must be a really young breed if that is how long they have existed. The other shapeshifters go back at least to the stone age.
Speaking of Korea, this Trung guy is Korean, however, based on the name I would have expected Vietnamese. And what do they mean with shutting up when the first westerners arrived? Japan only shut up after a while, so did China and Korea, the rest never did. Well that is the one big flaw of this book, its Japan and Sino-centrism.
And this book ends with the continuation of the short story at the start. And apparently the girl is called Mei-Fei and is the daughter of this last Kitsune of note and at her rite of passage she saw a silver bowl like he did. Except that I still have no clue what that is about. Does that mean she will face a noticeable live as well? Will she loose her love? Because, as a Kitsune, her chance of survival is higher than that of a human.
Looking up Yunnan on google images, I must say it is no wonder they chose that region for the short story at the start. And the term for this war party of beast shifters is sentai... from super sentai? Is there a connection?
And boy, I can think of several who would be immediately offended by the this sentence about the flavor of exoticism. But I don't care.
That the "dragon" in the story is called Raging Floodwater... considered that these reptile shifters are based on chinese dragons, that is a fitting name. This is easy to read also. And the cat street market in Hong Kong exists still, but what are "ivory princes?" Is he referring to the ivory trade? It would fit the environmental theme of the book.
Sadly the Stargazer werewolf insertion just reads like bla bla bla to me. Thankfully the rest of the story was better. And did the Wan Xian set them up though or is that just what Raging Floodwater is telling herself and others to be able to live with what had happened in the past? And apparently the Fifth Age came to be with the arrival of the Westerners´? Yeah right, that storyteller blamed the Wan Xian before and I bet she blames an outside force again.
Now clue how the authors did it, but I think in the section of the countries where the beast courts are, plus India, they nailed a certain type of Chinese arrogance towards the other countries: Japan is the strange place apart that they don't really like (despite saying how many shifters there are), Southeast Asia and India are wrotten, Korea ok and the rest not worth talking about much. That fits modern day Chinese nationalism perfectly. And suuurrrrrreeeeee, it is the Sunset People that seem blind and ignorant and are foolish, and the Garou were not manipulated unlike the Beast courts, yeah yeah. The writers truly understand to make these hengeyokai come across as a society that can't really look at its own flaws and tends to think they are better than everyone else. This here is the 4th in-universe storyteller and they all were the same in that regard. This writing is very court centric and what is stated here about the litanies of the different breeds and how you must swear fealty to the courts makes me wonder how many eastern shifters truly belong in court and whether the courts are the way they are because of member selection and not divine law.
Of course most hengeyokai consider other shen, especially Westerners to be outside the Mother's court and so the mandate of mercy doesn't apply. Classic case of xenophobia. And does Westerner refer to basically everyone? Because based on the territory of the hengeyokai, "West" is the Americas, Africa, Europe and Western Asia.
The mandates sound often like a very strict set of rules for a strict society. But they contain the necessary conflicts to make them seem real.
And so far, this book was going well, but when I read of "well-tended ancient shrines or groves" as strong Wyld areas, I asked myself: How does that make any sense? Well-tended implies cultivation and therefore cannot be Wyld, at most it would be a balance of Wyld and Weaver. And this constant reference to Westerners and in some cases how they think spirit areas off the East are even more incomprehensible (but not the other way around apparently) reeks of stereotyping and laziness. And when I read that the dragon king's seneschal is called Gajyra, I was "well, they have to keep the copyright lawsuit away from them somehow."
And seriously? Whispers that western tought has seeped into the Yang Realm and paralyzed or blinded the great dragons of the mountains of heaven? These dragons must be really weak then. Or I guess western thought is just soooo superior that it can hinder what are basically gods.
For all the nice concepts in the Yang Realm this has, it is arguably a bid based on simplicity, but now they say that Western shapechangers have rarely the ability to travel to the Yin Realm, which they know as the Dark Umbra, but why? What is the difference?
And obviously, wich all these formalities, the amount of titles heaped on one hengeyokai can be scattering.
That Uktena werewolves can be found among the Ainu makes sense. But the book states that there are wolves left in Northern Japan, but since when? Aren't they all extinct? And what they state about "Sunset People", howfew are tolerable and polite, but none will ever fully understand them, most are only interested in stealing their lands or wealth, sounds at once like Chinese nationalism/racism and modern SJW politics/attitudes.
The birth of a metis might be an impressive and auspicious event, but it's not worth reducing the Goblin Spiders' forces in a time of need. No shit, a metis baby eats itself out of its mother. What woman would consent to this? And the book makes it clear that this is done voluntarily and only at the approval of the elders.
And this is naturally not the only oddity here. The book tells us that the Far East is home to some of the most crowded and squalid places of the planet. The Changing Breeds have always sought balance in the East, but men have destroyed it. Which is almost the complete opposite to what prior storytellers have stated.
That the Kinfolk of the Nezumi rats are usually foreigners and immigrants to Japan (mostly Koreans and mainland Chinese) is an interestingg choice. Did they draw from Japanese racism for this choice? That the metis and rodens Nezumi have troubles assuming human form is a nice element to show the repercussions to drift more towards one form/side. Too bad that they didn't include something like that for the Hakken werewolves, becoming wolves should be very hard for them.
This patronage and civilizing influence of the Zhong Lung over the Samebito (shark men) reminds me of the element of dragons ruling over waterways and the creatures in it that you find in chinese literature. And the zhong lung maiden referring to the samebito as kin has equivalent to the element of fish being kin to dragons that I read in a korean tale. Too bad there isn't much Korean in this. This is a problem in general here, the book draws way too heavily from Chinese and Japanese. I can see why, these were the ones with most of the information available back then, but it is a shame.
Also, the organisation of the Samebito sounds more simiian than lupine, so the reference to werewolves seems inappropriate. Also, while it makes sense to have them have human kin in Oceania, Indonesia and costal Japan and China, chosing Thailand seems odd as it is almost entirely landlocked. Naming Vietnam would make more sense if you ask me.
Reading that the gift Shoulder Cracker is named after chinese Scapulimancy and is used for divination made me think they mean the practice of telling one's fortune by looking at the face shape. But Scapulimancy is something different.
And why are there Zhong Lung in Hawaii? Because of the Japanese immigration to the island? Because this is the first time Hawaii is mentioned (not even the Same-bito mentioned it) and so I wonder. No way is Hawaii part of the "Middle Kingdom" and those Zhong Lung can't be native to Hawaii either. Reading about the gift called dragons milk was also really strange. It requires the Zhong Lung to mix his blood with that of the person he wants to heal. This is really strange. The only time that I've come across dragons associated with milk is from Germany. Never once in an east asian context.
And wow, that arrogance towards Sunset people is really strong with the Zhong Lung, even though its clear that they are in the wrong.
And when they talk about the courts having developed isolated from western spiritual influences, then I must ask: What do they mean by "Western"? Because if its everything west of China, then this can't be true. Best example: Buddhism came from "the West", And many other traits in chinese culture are foreign in origin.
Good to hear that the hengeyokai don't bother with martial arts though. The book says that you can add it if you want but that it will be useless except for the human and near-human forms."
It makes sense that Unicorn appears as a Kirin here. However, why is it that the Okuma are only mentioned as being extinct? Why not some more info on them? And why is Dog as a totem despised when Ox is totally ok to have? Shouldn't the hengeyokai despise oxen more than dogs?
The rest of the book basically functions as the Breed book for the kitsune fox-shifters, who are the youngest of the shifter breeds.
It was interesting that they use a mixed vietnamese girl in San Francisco as the first character here. Especially when you consider how heavily the information so far leaned on japanese and chinese and how uncommon fox spirit tales seem to be in Vietnamese.
This book's version of the Gaia-Man story is interesting and entertaining and someone should have told Gaia that several of her creatures use tools already. Also, they mention some monkeys with "shiny, bony necks" called Golden Bone-Hummers and I wonder whether they are made up or based on something.
And once again, we get told that it was the Wan Xian who tricked the hengeyokai and caused the War of Shame. As if. If you ask me, that is just an excuse, possibly to hide the fact that the Okuma (bearshifters) were exterminated.
I really wonder what "Bai Mianxi" is supposed to mean. This first of the Kitsune is also called the White Faced one, and Bai does mean white... wait.... based on an online dictionary "Mian" does mean face, And so does google. So maybe that is correct, just a bit rough, or maybe a local variation.
The comparisons between the old empires and the PRC are certainly interesting. Makes me want to look up the purges by the Duke of Chin. And did old emperors sent their rivals to rott in Viet Nam?
And when the Garou were told by the twin Kitsune to bring a living Bunjip to speak on their behalf, they should have told her to bring a living Okuma to speak on theirs. Not to mention that for all their bluster, these arrogant hengeyokai seem to be doing a pretty damn bad job protecting Gaia. And these two foxes are certainly racist, so that answers their questions whether the japanese kitsune are the most racist of their kind.
I can see where the element of a kitsune's birth killing one parent (usually non-Kitsune), comes from. It is from the element in chinese stories where either the fox or the human dies from the relationship they form. Not sure why they decided that human mates are the most likely to die, maybe because in stories humans die more regularly for one reason or another... if they die that is, of course.
And the authors have a somewhat sufficient explanation as to why the kitsune terminology is so thick with Japanese words. It comes down to: mandarin and cantonese are hard for half-human tongues. Granted, they could have chosen some other language, but 1990s, those were barely on the public radar. Also, since they mention Korean, I really wish they would have spent more effort on integrating the Gumiho myths.
These common Kitsune gifts surely fit them very well. Most of these gifts do. Someone did their homework regarding the magical foxes of Japan and China. Too bad Korea isn't in here, who knows what the warrior Kitsune would have in terms of Gifts if you add the blood thirsty Gumiho to the mix.
And if the Kitsune are three thousand years old. Then they must be a really young breed if that is how long they have existed. The other shapeshifters go back at least to the stone age.
Speaking of Korea, this Trung guy is Korean, however, based on the name I would have expected Vietnamese. And what do they mean with shutting up when the first westerners arrived? Japan only shut up after a while, so did China and Korea, the rest never did. Well that is the one big flaw of this book, its Japan and Sino-centrism.
And this book ends with the continuation of the short story at the start. And apparently the girl is called Mei-Fei and is the daughter of this last Kitsune of note and at her rite of passage she saw a silver bowl like he did. Except that I still have no clue what that is about. Does that mean she will face a noticeable live as well? Will she loose her love? Because, as a Kitsune, her chance of survival is higher than that of a human.
February 21, 2008
A nice expansion for the Werewolf game.
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