Becoming Garou
成为狼人
Humans have their own society and their own legends.
人类有他们自己的社会和传说。
They also tell stories about the shapechangers of legend, monsters who prey on the weak.
他们的床边故事里也有变形者，捕食弱者的怪兽。
Wolfmen in late-night movies typically curse their victims with lycanthropy, infecting them during epic rampages.
午夜电影里的狼人以传染变狼狂症而闻名，被狼人咬到的人都会变成疯狂的狼人。
The werewolves of the modern world have created a separate set of myths, epics and legends.
现代社会逐渐有了一整套关于狼人的神话、史诗和传说。
In each such legend, lycanthropy is less a curse than a blessing; a legacy passed from parent to child.
其实，变狼狂与其说是诅咒不如说是祝福：自双亲予子女的遗赠。
In modern terms, werewolf blood is inherited.
在现代，狼人之血是血亲继承的。
If one of a child's parents is a werewolf, a chance exists that he will be one as well.
只要孩子的单亲是狼人，他就有机会变成另一个。
Sadly, this chance has diminished steadily over the last thousand years.
可悲的是，这个概率在最近的千年之间越来越低了。
The blood's power is not dominant, and a Garou's child really has only a one-in-10 chance of becoming a "full-blooded" werewolf.
狼人之血不再有绝对的优势，Garou之子大约只有1/10的概率成为“纯血”的狼人。
Fortunately, the blessing isn't limited to human children.
幸好，祝福不仅仅赐予人类的孩子。
Many Garou prefer to breed with wolves, leaving their cubs to be raised by lupine mates in the wilderness.
很多狼人更愿意和狼混血，让自己的孩子随着荒野的群狼成长。
For thousands of years, werewolves bred with both humans and wolves in relatively equal proportions.
漫漫数千年，狼人几乎均等地与人类和狼混血。
Unfortunately, as the number of wolves has decreased drastically in the world, Garou blood has become dangerously impure.
不幸地是，随着野狼数目的急剧下降，狼人的血脉已经在不纯净的边缘。
One in three werewolves bred with wolves as recently as a thousand years ago, but now the ratio is closer to one-in-15.
在最近一千年，只有1/3的狼人是狼混血所生，而现在这个比例下降到1/15。
Legendary ancestors once found it relatively easy to balance their feral instincts against their human wisdom, but no longer.
对神话中的先祖们来说保持野性本能和人类聪慧的平衡很简单，但是现在不是了。
Kinfolk
亲属
Most of a Garou's cubs and children never become fullblooded werewolves. 绝大多数Garou的幼仔和孩子不再是纯血的狼人。
Instead, they are "carriers" for the blood of the Garou, which can survive in their families for generations.
那些可以一代代流传下来的家系成了Garou血脉的携带者。
Half-blooded children are known as Kinfolk.
混血儿被称为亲属。
Although werewolves don't defend these relations as staunchly as they did millennia ago, a wise Garou keeps an eye on his kin.
即使狼人们不再像漫漫数千年间那么样坚定地保护他们的亲属，一个明智的狼人还是会好好关照自己的血亲。
Some do so by commanding spirits, commonly called Kin-Fetches, to watch over their children.
有些照顾通过指挥灵魂——一般称为血亲幽魂，去看护他们的孩子。
While the spirits pledge to observe all of a werewolf s children carefully, many of them lose their way over the span of years and abandon their charges.
即使灵魂发誓小心照看狼人的孩子，漫长的岁月中他们也会迷失忘记自己的责任。
Kinfolk "half-breeds" are markedly different from the rest of mankind.
“半血统”的亲属与其他人类有显著的区别。
They may have strange and terrifying dreams, wander alone in hopeless reverie for hours at a time or have trouble relating to people around them.
他们总会有奇怪而恐怖的梦境；在绝望的幻觉中孤独地徘徊或者烦扰到周围的人们。
An inexplicable longing consumes them.
一种无法言寓的渴望吸引着他们。
The lucky ones learn about their werewolf relations, and even help them from time to time.
一些幸运儿了解到了他们和狼人的亲情，甚至经常帮助狼人。
Most just remain quietly unaware of the secret world around them.
而大多数人没有察觉到那个无处不在的神秘世界。
Cubs
幼仔
A child of a werewolf has about a 10-percent chance that he himself will be born a "full-blooded" Garou — not good odds.
狼人的孩子有1/10的可能是有“完整血统”的Garou——这可不是什么好消息。
Some werewolves manage to divine their children's true nature at birth.
有些狼人会设法使他的孩子降生在真正的自然之中。
Those without the proper resources to do so don't discover which if any of their cubs are Garou until the young ones reach adolescence.
在他们达到青春期之前，还没有任何办法可以分辨他们是否可以变成狼人。
Although the Garou mark their pure-blooded cubs at birth, werewolves all too commonly leave their offspring to be raised by their mates, sometimes as an effort to draw enemies away from their children.
虽然狼人会标记他们纯血的幼仔，但是他们总是会因为各种原因而离开幼仔把幼仔丢给配偶抚养长大，比如他们得从妻儿身边赶走敌人。
A cub's true nature remains dormant throughout her childhood, manifesting only as dreams and visions.
幼仔的本性在幼年时潜藏在心底，只以梦境或者幻觉的方式出现。
Between the ages of 10 and 16 (if human) or betweenqne and two years (for a wolf), hazy memories and "unnatural" urges begin to surface.
人类幼仔到10～16岁而狼幼仔到2岁的时候，那模糊的记忆和超凡的欲望开始逐渐显现。
A troubled wolf may be driven from the pack of her unpredictable behavior, or an adolescent may be ostracized or even institutionalized.
不安的小狼会因为它难以琢磨的行为被逐离，这样的人类少年则会被朋友排斥甚至进管教所。
In some way, others begin to notice that this lost soul is different.
或者说，其他人会开始注意到他们那迷惑的灵魂与众不同。
As life becomes more difficult, the legacy remains dormant until a great trauma forces the First Change.
当他们更趋离凡众的时候，先祖的遗赠随着痛苦的首次变身而来，
The First Change does not wait for a full moon or a curse.
首次变身不需要满月或者诅咒什么的。
When the time is right, flesh and bone rapidly warp the child into a hulking, bipedal, nine-foot monster.
时机一到，肌肉和骨骼就开始扭曲，把一个孩子变成一个九尺高的可怖怪物。
If the cub is fortunate, she is found by others of her own kind; if she isn't, the experience is even more terrifying.
如果那个幼仔足够运气，那么会有个同类能找到她并帮助她；如果不，那么你可以想象这样经历有多恐怖。
Legends of monsters driven insane by the light of the full moon have basis in fact.
那个关于狼人神经质般的怕满月的光线起码来源于真事。
Most cubs are rescued — or kidnapped, depending on your point of view — and educated by other werewolves.
大多数幼仔被救走——或者说被诱拐，用您的看法的话——然后其他狼人会教导他们。
By necessity, the first lesson is controlling shapeshifting voluntarily.
首先要教的就是怎么样控制变形的能力。
Years of teaching follow... or they should, at least.
然后是数年的课程……尽他们所能。
However, time is a luxury these days.
然而，时间是多么宝贵。
Elders offer various bits of tribal lore, although curiously enough, their oral histories differ remarkably from tribe to tribe.
长老们分别保管着各种各样部族知识的片断，然而这样口头传承的历史每个部落都有显著的不同，真是奇怪。
Regardless of age, the "cub" is treated like a child until she decides to accept her destiny and join the community of the Garou.
和年龄无关，“幼仔”这个称呼会使主人被当作孩子一样对待，直到她决定接受自己的命运加入到狼人的社会中。
Coming of age
成年
Every tribe has its own traditions for marking a cub's passage into adulthood.
每个部族都有自己的办法给成年的幼仔留下印记。
The Garou denote a cub's coming of age with a Rite of Passage, a deadly and dangerous quest that tests a werewolf's strength and wisdom to its very limits.
但他们都用成年仪式来标志幼仔的成年，那总是一个无比危险乃至致命的任务，考验狼人力量和智慧的极限。
The rite is more than a transition into adulthood.
这个仪式不仅仅象征着变成成年人。
It also shows elders that a cub is worthy of membership in one of the greatest tribes.
它也告诉长老们，这些幼仔有资格加入最伟大的部族之一。
Until this quest is complete, she does not belong to any of them, for she has not proven herself worthy.
在任务完成之前，她不是狼人的一员，因为她还没有证明自己的价值。
Two choices follow.
有两个可能。
First, a werewolf may approach her chosen tribe alone.
要么，狼人一个人追寻选中的部族。
Once she does, the tribal elders may send her out on a test particularly suited to their kind.
如果她这么干，部族的长老们就会派她去进行一个完全满足她秉性的考验。
Solitary visionquests are based on ancient tribal traditions.
这样孤独的寻梦之旅是部族古老的传统。
Usually, however, the elders send the cub to a place where many werewolves gather.
不过通常，长老会把幼仔送到很多狼人聚集的地方。
There, the child must wait until several cubs are ready to embark on a quest together.
在那里，幼仔得等待有足够多的同伴们准备好，才能一起开始。
In this case, the ritual is also a test of the cubs' ability to work together and resolve their differences.
在那样的情况下，典礼考验的是幼仔们联手合作和解决纠纷的能力
They may later decide to join the same pack.
他们然后会决定要不要加入同一个小组。
In all cases, the elders send spirits to watch over the petitioners, if only to verify the greatness of their deeds.
无论哪个，长老都会派灵观察这些申请者，核实他们的伟绩。
Once these cubs return, they become cliath, they join their respective tribes formally, and they learn their first tribal Gifts.
当这些幼仔归来的时候，他们已经是cliath，正式加入了部族并且学得了第一个奇能。
In recent years, the Garou have found an increasing number of adult humans (or even wolves) who once had the potential to become werewolves, but never did.
最近的岁月里，狼人发现越来越多有潜力的成年人（或者狼）却没有最终成为狼人。
They might have been illegitimate and unrecognized children of Garou wanderers.
他们有的是流浪的狼人的私生子。
The spirits who watched over them might have lost them.
照顾他们的灵有可能遗忘他们。
They might have even been born to two Kinfolk parents far from a sept.
也有的是不同氏族的两个亲属的孩子。
Regardless, they never underwent their First Change and Rite of Passage.
不管怎么说，他们都没有经历过首次变身和成年仪式。
Such poor souls are known as lost cubs.
这些可怜的灵魂被称为迷徒幼仔。
They have repressed their true nature to such a degree that many go insane or die of depression.
他们的本性被如此的压抑，以至于他们往往会发癫或者死于抑郁。
When one survives long enough to undergo the Change late in life, it is a cause for great joy.
当偶尔有幸存者能活下来在晚些时候经历变身，他才会发现那种狂喜的源由。
As the Final Days approach, every werewolf is needed desperately.
末日迫近，每个狼人都如困兽一般。
The forces of darkness are legion, and they grow stronger with each passing day.
黑暗的大军为数众多，而且一天天壮大。
