翻译：努塔瑞

 

The world of Werewolf is not our own, although it resembles our world in many ways.
狼人的世界不是现实，尽管很多地方看起来满像的。
Externally, little differs between the two.
从外表上看，几乎没什么不同。
The established institutions, personalities and attitudes of our world are still there.
一样的世界格局、一样的著名人物、一样的生活态度，都没有变。
Yet, far more sinister events take place behind the scenes.
但是，布景中的世界中有远比现实险恶的事情发生。
Shadows are darker, corruption is more rampant, and despair is commonplace.
阴影更幽深、腐败更猖獗，而绝望则无处不在。
This world is one of extremes.
这是个极端偏激的世界。
Vast expanses of untamed wilderness punish intruders with feral brutality.
广阔无边的无羁荒野用野性的残忍惩罚入侵者。
Labyrinthine cities are bleak and gloomy at their core, hiding conspiracies the mundane world does not dare suspect.
对他们来说，迷宫似的城市荒凉而阴郁，藏着平常人想都想不到的阴谋。
From the streets of major metropolises to the secret places of the wild, horrific creatures stalk unseen, preying on the innocent and the weak.
从大城市灯红酒绿的街道到旷野幽深安静的角落，不为人知的可怖造物正在捕食那些或天真或软弱的家伙。
This is a world where evil breeds: our World of Darkness.
这是个邪恶孳生之地：我们的黑暗世界。
As in any good Gothic horror story, this ominous world hides terrible secrets.
就像所有好看的歌特式恐怖故事，这个不祥的世界里有骇人的秘密。
Menace lurks everywhere, and every agenda hides an ulterior motive.
危机四伏，每一个议程都有深远的目的。
Decaying cities filled with huge, looming edifices cast shadows on the destitute and the damned.
满是巨大的海市蜃楼般大厦的腐朽城市，投下困乏黯淡、令人厌恶的阴影。
Stone gargoyles watch from atop the tallest buildings, bearing mute testimony to crime and suffering in the streets.
在最高的大楼上滴水椽石兽俯视世界，见证着大街上的罪恶和苦难。
Faith is dying here, even while massive churches perform rituals for the desperate.
虔诚的信仰正在消亡，即使那庄严教堂正在进行的盛大典礼也透出绝望的气息。
Even in the suburbs and urban sprawl, fearful people live behind thin walls, numbing themselves by perpetuating empty lives from day to day.
在近郊和市区也不安全，心存恐惧的人们在一成不变的空虚生活中变得麻木不仁。
A few people have the energy to resist this oppressive world, and they do so on a grand scale.
只有少数人有活力可以抵挡这沉郁的世界，而且抵抗得十分积极。
Wherever the rich and powerful exploit their influence, rebellion stirs.
无论有钱有势的家伙怎么施加他们的影响力，反抗的情绪总在蔓延。
A thriving counterculture strikes back at an uncaring society, rebelling with words, music and often violence.
茁壮成长的反主流文化回击原本不理睬他们的社会，这样的回击包括言辞、音乐往往还有暴力。
Hell bent for leather, it lashes out with desperate energy.
他们绝望地猛击这个该死的社会。
Yet all to often, these rebels burn out in a blaze of glory.
不管怎么说，这些叛逆行为来自于荣耀地爆发。
Underground clubs are ready to indulge the most exotic vices of the desperate.
地下组织着实纵容这些绝望带来的无数问题。
Street gangs, vainglorious bands and savvy entrepreneurs incite them into a frenzy of aggression. . . and they profit from the results.
街头帮会、假正经和狡诈的投机客煽动他们让他们去进攻自己的敌人……而他们则等着好处。
Thus, crime is common, apathy is de rigueur, and cynicism is rampant.
从而，罪恶变得没什么大不了，冷漠变成社交需要，而玩世不恭成了每个人的生活态度。
However, this world is not without hope — after all, there is no darkness without light.
无论如何，这个世界不是没有希望的——毕竟，有暗必有光。
Modern heroes, fully aware of the corruption that surrounds them, are ready to fight for their beliefs.
深知腐败在身边蔓延的现代英雄已经准备好为自己的信仰而战。
Their world is dying, yet they are alive, full of fury and the power of the Earth itself.
他们的世界已经崩溃，可是他们仍然活着，带着大地的愤怒和力量活着。
From the depths of the wilderness they come, with sharpened claws and vengeful rage.
他们从荒野深处而来，所有的只有锋锐的利爪和复仇的怒火。
As the natural world dies, they seek and destroy the evils that surround them.
为了自然世界不那样逝去，他们寻觅并摧毁蔓延身边的邪恶。
As monsters, they stalk the night, crushing bones, savaging victims and staining the streets with crimson blood.
就像怪兽，他们在深夜追踪猎物，轰碎敌人，野蛮凶残地对付他们，用他们深红的污血洗净街道。
Yet, despite their brutality, they are the only true guardians of the Earth: mystics in a modern hell, warriors in an unseen battle.
但是，不管他们有多凶残，他们是大地唯一真正的卫士：现代地狱的神秘人物、未知战场的英勇斗士。
Werewolves prowl the Earth in this world, as they have since the dawn of human history.
狼人在这个世界的大地上巡游，就像他们在人类文明刚刚破晓时所做的那样。

Caught Between Worlds
处处碰壁

Werewolves are outsiders, trapped forever between extremes.
狼人是注定的失败者，在两个极端之间被各方妖怪捕猎。
Unlike the monstrous shapechangers of legend, they can change their shapes at will.
不像那些传说中的变形怪物，狼人可以随心所欲的变形。
Assuming the forms of men and women, they walk the streets of the largest cities to protect — or punish — the human race.
呈现男人、女人的样貌时，他们走过繁华城市的大街，去保护或者惩罚人类。
Wearing a lupine skin, they can run as wolves, free as moonlight in the night.
穿上狼皮，他们可以像狼一样奔跑，像夜里的月光一样自由。
They may try to live in both worlds if they prefer, but they will never truly belong in either.
只要愿意，他们可以在两个世界中游走生活，但是他们不属于任何一个。
Some prefer living as humans do, but such a life is frustrating, to say the least.
有些愿意像人一样生活，但是这样的生活充满挫败感。
Over six billion humans populate the Earth.
退一步说，有超过六十亿人类生活在大地上。
Any werewolf can try to live among them, but modern cities are cold and alien places, vast and sterile.
任何的狼人都可以与他们共同生活，但是现代城市是如此的寒冷而怪异、空旷而贫瘠。
Werewolves are aware of sinister things lurking in the shadows, horrible creatures mankind simply does not understand. . . or even recognize.
狼人深知那些潜伏于阴影的恶鬼，知道那些人类不了解甚至不认识的可怖造物。
The presence of the unnatural awakens their most feral instincts.
那些非自然的出现会唤醒他们的野性本能。
No matter how civilized human cities may seem, foul things dwell in the darkness.
不管城市人是否知道，有肮脏的东西居住在黑暗中。
A werewolf may try to escape into the natural world, but that realm has also been dying steadily.
一个狼人会试图逃到自然中去，但是那个世界也正在稳步消亡。
Thanks to ecological devastation, the wilderness is shrinking.
由于生态的毁坏，荒野正在日益缩小。
As the werewolves are keenly aware, the number of wild wolves on the planet is decreasing rapidly.
就像狼人们敏锐地意识到的那样，这个行星上野生狼的数量正在急剧减少。
Hated and feared by average folk, the wolf is a villain in children's stories, a menace to farmers and fair game for hunters.
普通人痛恨并且害怕狼。狼是小孩子枕边故事里的大坏蛋；是对农人生命财产的巨大危险；是允许捕捉的猎物。
Only in Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia can wolves be found in their natural habitat.
只有阿拉斯加、加拿大、斯堪的纳维亚和西伯利亚还有野生环境的狼存在。
There is no place left to hide. 
没有多少地方可以藏了。
Even in the most remote realms, the Earth is bleak.
即使在最偏远的角落，大地的情况也阴冷黯淡。
No matter how or where they live, werewolves struggle to survive.
不管他们住在哪里如何生存，狼人努力奋斗挣扎求生。
Caught between worlds, they must choose between two extremes: hunting in urban hellholes and exploring the constantly changing wilderness.
在两个世界被追捕，他们必须在两个极端中做选择：在地狱般的城市里捕猎或在变化莫测的荒野探巡。

Urban Hell
城市地狱
For werewolves, the most dangerous hunting grounds are in the cities, for nothing in them is what it seems.
对于狼人来说，最危险的猎场莫过于城市，在他们看来，没有什么是看上去的那么简单。
Most werewolves openly despise the major metropolises as cancerous tumors on the flesh of the world.
绝大多数狼人把那些巨大的中心城市看成是世界躯体上的癌瘤。
Even the human inhabitants find them bleak.
连人类居民自己都可以发现城市的阴冷。
Smog dims the sunlight, traffic snarls through the streets, and crime boils under the city's skin.
废气弥漫天空黯淡了日光；车龙在街上反复纠结；罪恶在城市繁华的表皮下翻滚沸腾。
Werewolves, with their superhuman senses and occult talents, are aware of far deeper problems than crime and corruption.
狼人靠着他们超人的感观和神秘的天赋了解到远比犯罪和污染更深层的问题。
Hunting in a city requires great caution, for the quarry is often devious and deadly.
在城市中狩猎需要极高的警觉，因为追踪的路途往往曲折而且致命。
Two tribes of werewolves — the Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers — consider the cities to be their natural territory, but other werewolves fear such an unnatural world.
有两个部族的狼人——啃骨者和玻璃行者——把城市当成他们自然的领土，但是其他狼人都害怕这个如此不自然的地方。
A wolf is as out of place in a concrete wasteland as a citizen of the First World would be in the depths of the Amazon or Sahara.
狼不适合呆在在由混凝土构筑的废土中，就像那些第一世界国家的公民不适合住在亚马逊丛林或是撒哈拉大沙漠的深处。
The smells are all wrong, the logic of the streets is twisted, and natural laws warp and mutate.
所有的气味都不对，街道小巷反复缠绕，自然法则统统扭曲变异。
Inpile cities of mankind, werewolves sense strange activity everywhere.
人类建造的城市，狼人觉得处处有诡异的行动。
Shapeshifters are cautious whenever they leave the relative safety of the wilderness.
变形者离开家一般安全的荒野后会加倍小心。

Primal Wilderness
原初荒野
Behind the veneer of civilization, the primal wild waits to reclaim its dominance.
在文明的虚饰后面，原初的荒野正等着，要求归还他原本的统治。
If the cities seem bleak, the alternative is even less comforting.
即使城市看起来已经很阴冷黯淡，改变看起来更加让人不适。
Humans erect cities to shelter themselves from nature's capricious ways.
人类建造城市在反复无常的大自然中庇护自己。
The wild is more than just an expanse of tangled forests, stagnant swamps and windswept plains.
荒野不仅仅是宽广纠结的森林、停滞淤塞的沼泽和暴风肆虐的平原。
Humanity's morality does not always apply there.
人性道德在其中几无作用。
The primal wild is a realm of mysteries, especially to the unprepared.
原初荒野是个神秘的地方，尤其是对没准备好的人来说。
Great lumbering beasts stalk the night, as they have for thousands of years, and only werewolves have the courage to face them.
巨大而笨拙的野兽也夜里狩猎，就像他们数千年来一直的那样，只有狼人有勇气直面他们。
Rural towns exist on the fringe of civilization, filled with sullen, insular and mistrustful citizens.
田园小镇处于文明边缘，满是沉郁、孤立而且狐疑的镇民。
Humans there are filled with superstition and fear. . . and with good reason.
那里的人总是满心迷信和畏惧……这是有道理的。
Memories of a far more primitive world lurk deep within the human subconscious.
远古原初世界的记忆还潜伏在人类的下意识里。
While these fears can never be dredged up entirely, wandering into the untamed wilderness stirs up distant reminders of a lost and terrible age.
虽然这些恐惧不能完整的牵出清晰的记忆，但是在未驯化的旷野漫游
Even the werewolves do not understand all the secrets of the wild.
就算是狼人也不了解荒野的全部秘密。
Strange events take place away from watchful eyes, and nature is often cruel to those who try to steal her secrets.
诡异的事件在远离那些警惕眼睛的地方发生，自然对那些企图偷走她秘密的家伙总是十分残酷的。
The Earth is not always loving and gentle.
大地不是总是文雅可爱的。
Some places are taboo, and fools who seek them out do not return.
有些地方是禁地，去探察的蠢货都没有回来。

The Spirit World
灵界
Another reality exists beyond what mankind experiences.
真实远在人类的认识之外。
Mystics speak of a spirit world that the vast majority of humans never encounter.
神秘学家说到的灵界是绝大多数人类从没有见识过的。
Visionaries and shamans may gain brief glimpses, parting the veil that obscures it from view, but they can never understand fully what they encounter.
占卜者和萨满也许对其有过一瞥，见到它朦胧的面纱，但是他们不可能完全明白他们遇到了什么。
Werewolves have an animistic view of creation, believing that spirits lurk behind everything around them.
狼人对世界持万物有灵论的观念，相信他们身边的一切背后都藏着灵魂。
Indeed, spirits are everywhere...if you know where to look.
确实，灵魂无处不在……如果你知道哪里可以找到他们的话。
Most werewolves believe that everything of consequence in the physical world has a reflection in the spirit world.
大多数狼人相信现实世界的一切是灵界的映射。
It is as if everything that is truly alive casts a shadow into this separate, thriving dimension.
就好像万事万物确实地在另一个兴旺的世界投下影子。
For this reason, the realm of spirit is known as the Umbra, the "shadow" of creation.
正因为如此，灵魂存在的空间被称为影界——一切造物的影子。
Werewolves are more than mere humans; they are creatures of both flesh and spirit.
狼人不是那些废柴的人类；他们同时具有血肉和灵魂。
Any werewolf can cross over to the other side and enter the spirit world — what their kind calls "stepping sideways" — if she wills it.
所有的狼人都可以到另一边去，进入灵魂世界——他们称为“进到另一边”——只要她愿意。
In a sense, she can escape to another dimension, if only for a short time.
在某种意义上，她可以暂时逃到另一个维度。

[b]Rage and Gnosis
愤怒和灵知[/b]
Two other extremes are crucial to a werewolf's existence: rage and reason.
有一对反义词对狼人至关紧要：愤怒和理智。
Because werewolves are both beasts and men, they must balance instinct carefully with intellect.
因为狼人既是野兽又是人，他们必须巧妙而谨慎地维持平衡。
Packs can spend a lifetime hunting monsters in the physical world, but the violence, confrontation and suffering of the "real world" fills them with uncontrollable and overwhelming anger as they spend more and more time away from the spirit world.
狼人小队会用毕生时间在现实世界追杀怪兽。但是如果他们一日日远离灵魂世界，“真实世界”带来的暴力、对抗和折磨会使他们日益失控，心中充满无法抑制的愤怒。
If they are not careful, they eventually become as feral as the werewolves of legend.
如果他们不够谨慎，最终就会变成狼人传说中那样的野性凶兽。
By contrast, the mystical world encourages contemplation — it is a realm of enigmas and mystery.
于现实世界相比，神秘的影界鼓励沉思——这是个迷一般神秘的世界。
Werewolves who explore the spirit world gain insights into the physical world.
探索灵魂世界的狼人会对现实世界有更深的洞察。
By studying the realms of the Umbra, they learn to understand great secrets, increasing their mystical understanding or Gnosis.
通过了解影界世界，他们探寻那些大秘密、扩大对神秘世界的了解、增进灵知的力量。
However, werewolves who spend too much time away from the physical world lose touch with reality, forgetting responsibilities they have left behind.
不管怎么说，在真实世界稽留太久的狼人会疏远真实，忘记他们留在真实世界的责任。
No place is safe; the werewolf is an outsider no matter where he travels.
没有地方是安全的；无论到哪里狼人都是外人。

Walking Between Worlds
游走在两个世界之间
The world of the werewolves is harsh, yet this harshness provides contrast to great acts of sacrifice and heroism.
狼人世界是严苛的，即使这样的严苛孕育了伟大的牺牲精神和英雄主义。
Quite simply, werewolves fight and die for their beliefs.
一切都很简单，狼人为他们的信仰奋战到死。
Warriors fight horrific abominations with tooth and claw, while mystics hunt evil with supernatural insight.
勇士用他们的牙和爪与可怖的邪兽战斗，同样秘者用超人的洞察力追逐邪恶。
Some wise warriors employ even stranger methods, like street-savvy trickery, political activism and cunning intrigue.
有些聪明的战士甚至用奇怪的方法作战，就像街头诈术、政治手腕和狡猾的诡计。
No matter what tactics they choose, werewolves walk between two worlds: the reality of the violent physical world and the mystery of the enigmatic spirit world.
不管他们用什么战术，狼人在两个世界游走：真实而暴力的现实世界和神秘如谜语的灵魂世界。
Wherever they run — in the cities, in the wilderness, or even in the spirit world—werewolves face the same overwhelming fate.
不管他们奔驰在城市大街还是荒野草丛甚至或者是精神世界——狼人都面对同样无法摆脱的命运。
Their world is dying, and their destiny is ultimately tragic.
他们的世界奄奄一息，而他们的未来注定是悲剧。
In fact, many of their mystics proclaim that these are the Final Days.
事实上，很多秘者宣称现在是就是末日。
The End Times, when all of creation will finally unravel, are here.
所有造物最终粉碎的终结时刻就在眼前。
As the light dies, werewolf heroes are willing to sacrifice everything to hold back the darkness.
当光明泯灭时，狼人英雄愿意牺牲一切抵挡黑暗的侵袭。
We live in the age of the final, ultimate Apocalypse.
我们生活在最终末日决战的时代。

Mythic History
神话时代

That is how the legend ends. This is how it begins.
以上是传奇的终结，下面要说的是传奇的开端。
The world was not always so bleak.
这个世界不是生来就如此凄冷的。
Storytellers speak of a gentler time, when the Earth was governed by simpler laws.
说书人会告诉你当大地由那些清楚简单的自然法规统治的时候，一切是多么优雅温和。
In the springtime of the world, the veil that separated the worlds of flesh and spirit was gossamer-thin.
在世界刚刚萌芽的时候，分隔血肉和灵魂的纱布就像蜘蛛网一样轻薄。
While the sun shone, the natural world came alive with a brilliance and beauty our modern world just cannot equal.
当旭日初升，大自然在瞬间苏醒，那种光辉和美丽现代世界无法望其项背。
Quite simply, magic was alive, and its power was evident everywhere.
一切如此简单，魔法生机勃勃，力量四溢到每个角落。
Once upon a time, long before the dawn of human history, werewolves were the dominant species on the planet.
很久很久以前，远在人类历史之前，狼人统治着这个星球。
According to myth, they first learned the art of shapeshifting from the Earth Mother.
照神话的说法，他们从大地母亲哪里习得变形的能力。
Werewolves still speak with reverence of their goddess, Gaia, who gave them the power of the changing ways.
狼人一直敬拜他们的女神盖亚——赐予他们变形之力的人。
Because they showed such great promise for the mystic arts, they were taught how to walk among the tribes of men and within the deep wilderness with equal impunity.
对神秘技艺有如此的付出，使得他们可以自如地在人类部族和自然荒野之间穿行。
This legacy was to be passed from parent to child, inherited with each passing generation.
这份赠礼由父母传给子女，一代代继承下来。
In return, the werewolves were to watch over Gaia's creation, protecting both their human and lupine cousins.
而狼人则为盖亚照顾她地造物作为补偿，他们要同时保护人和狼。
To pass on this gift, some werewolves mated with humans, walking among them to choose the strongest.
为了使这个奇能可以传衍，有些狼人与人为伍，挑选其中最强壮的交合。
Others preferred to run with the wolves, raising litters of cubs.
另一些则与狼同行，饲养一窝窝的幼仔。
The natural world was beautiful by day, but monsters prowled the Earth at night.
白天的大自然是如此美丽，但是夜里怪兽横行。
The werewolves claimed that they watched over their human herds to protect them from these evils, but in truth, they also treated humans as herds of breeding stock.
狼人认为他们正照看保护这些人类，但是其实他们对待人类就像对待饲养的牲口。
Great warriors would often war over the most esteemed human tribes, leading them on journeys far from their rivals.
伟大的勇士常常为最值得尊重的人类部族而战，带领他们远离敌害。
The result was the Impergium, three thousand years of dominance over the human race.
这就是农耕时代，统治人类的三千年。
Humans were herded like sheep and gathered into primitive flocks, a few of which began to develop the agricultural communes that were the precursors tour modern cities.
人类就像羊群一样原始地聚集在一起，直到其中的很少人为了农作而团结起来结成农社——这是现代城市的雏形。
The separation between civilization and the wilderness began, and the schism widened gradually.
于是完整的大地分割成文明和荒野，而分裂应运而生。
Every village had stories of what would happen to the foolish traveler who ventured into the woods alone at night.
每个村庄城镇都有关于那些愚笨的旅人夜闯森林的故事。

The War of Rage
愤怒之战
Of the many tribes of werewolves in the world, each has its own interpretation of why the mythical age of the Impergium
came to an end.
这个世界上有很多狼人部落，对神秘的农耕时代为什么会终结他们都各有各的说法。
However, they are not the only shapechangers in existence.
幸好，他们不是唯一存在的变形者。
Others are aware of the occult world, telling their own myths and legends.
其他知道玄奇世界的生物告诉狼人他们所知的秘密和传说。
The werewolves know that Gaia blessed many other races of shapeshifters as well, giving each of them a sacred duty to perform.
狼人知道盖亚也同样祝福了不少其他的种族成为变形者，各交给他们一个神秘的任务。
In the Western world, these fabulous creatures are known as the Fera. 在西方，这些神话中的造物被统称为Fera。
In a thousand different forms, the Fera stalked the night.
Fera藏在无数不同的形体中，在夜色掩护下追猎。
Wise in the ways of magic, secretive werecats hoarded mysteries and mystical knowledge.
靠着对魔法的博学，猫人秘密的保存神秘的知识。
Strong in the power of healing, steadfast werebears guarded many of the world's most sacred places.
靠着治疗之力带来的强壮，熊人坚定地守护着世界大多数圣地。
Relying on cunning and guile, wererats kept down the population of humans when they became to numerous.
靠着狡猾的诡计，鼠人控制人类的人口使之不会过多。
The Fera were cousins to ravens, spiders, lizards, coyotes and more.
乌鸦、蜘蛛、蜥蜴、郊狼还有其他种种Fera，他们都是兄弟。
Among the dozens of species of shapeshifters, each of the Fera attended to its sacred tasks.
按打计算的变形者各自履行自己的神圣职责。
Yet, according to their own legends, the werewolves were the greatest of these children, and they called themselves the
Garou.
然而，不管是照谁的传说，狼人都是这些盖亚之子中最强大的，他们自称为Garou。
They held their pledge to protect humanity as the most sacred duty of all.
他们发誓守护人类，将此视为自己最神圣的任务。
With their power came great pride.
傲慢自力量而生。
First, the most powerful Garou attempted to dominate all other tribes of werewolves, insisting on the formation of a great society throughout the world.
首先，最强有力的狼人要求统治其他各狼人部族，坚持要建立一个遍及全世界的伟大社会。
When this goal met with even partial success, the most esteemed werewolves then demanded that they should rule over all of the other shapechangers as well.
当这个目的几乎成功的时候，那个最受尊敬的狼人进一步要求统治其他所有的变形者。
In the legends of most shapechangers, the Fera refused, and a vicious era of genocidal warfare followed.
在大多数变形者的传说里，Fera们拒绝了，而造成种族灭绝的战争——堕落时代随之到来。
Since the other shapechangers would not bow before Gaia's greatest children, the werewolves began to destroy them.
既然其他变形者拒绝对盖亚最伟大的孩子弯腰，那么狼人就摧毁他们。
Asserting their dominance, the Garou claimed that the others were a threat to the safety of humanity, and they set outo eradicate entire species of shapeshifters.
为了证明他们的强大，狼人宣称其他变形者的存在是对人类安全的威胁，然后他们着手根除其他变形者。
As blood flowed freely, the werewolves demonstrated that they would reign unopposed as Gaia's favored children and the dominant lifeform on Earth, from then on.
鲜血如大河流淌，从那时起，狼人证明了自己的无可匹敌，他们是盖亚最宠爱的孩子，他们是大地上最优秀的族群。

Concord
谐约
Little did the werewolves suspect that they, in turn, would be challenged for dominance. . . this time, by the very humans
they claimed to protect.
狼人那时没有怀疑过谁敢挑战他们的统治，直到他们誓死保护人类开口。
Horrified by the violence that surrounded them, humans no longer trusted their supernatural guardians.
身边的暴力令人类惊悸无比，他们不再相信他们的神奇卫士。
They decided to defend themselves from what seemed to be the most dangerous creatures of all: the Garou.
他们决定自己保护自己，尤其要抵抗那最危险的造物：Garou。
The werewolves were thrown into disarray.
狼人陷入一片混乱。
Some argued to discipline rebellious villages, punishing them for their disobedience.
有些吵着要去教训那些胆敢反抗的村子，让他们知道不服从是要吃苦头的。
Others pledged peace, claiming that Gaia had entrusted them with keeping humans from harm.
而另一些则发誓不会伤害人类，因为盖亚当年委狼人的重任是让人类别受伤害，
Some especially feral werewolves — lupine Garou who preferred the primal wilderness and the wolves that ran there — argued for the immediate extermination of the human race, considering their obligation fulfilled.
有些特别凶暴的狼人——只爱纯洁的荒野和狼群的狼血统Garou——要求彻底杀光人类，这样他们的任务也算完成了。
The werewolves argued and fought among themselves until they reached a compromise known as the Concord.
狼人们吵作一团大打出手，直到他们得到一个折中的办法，这就是谐约。
Both wolves and men would have to live together in the same world, but clearly humanity no longer wanted to be dominated by the Garou.
狼和人要在地球上共同生活，但是很明显Garou再也无法控制人类。
The werewolves agreed to maintain their own society separate from the world of men.
狼人同意离开人类世界独自生活。
The result was the Western Concordiat, a civilization thriving deep within the wilderness.
结果就产生了西方谐约，从此文明在荒野中深深扎根茁壮成长。
The age of the Impergium came to an end, and human history began.
农耕时代走向衰落，人类的历史开始了。
The werewolves faded into the shadows, becoming mere legends.
狼人的影子渐渐黯淡，慢慢进入传说。
Since thend of the Impergium, werewolves have never regained their primal dominance.
即使在农耕时代，狼人也没有恢复他们最初的统治地位。
They have remained a myth, a reminder of a distant past mankind dares not remember... and with good reason.
他们保留了一个神话故事——关于远古的人类竟敢不记得……还有一个好理由。
Under the right circumstances, the very sight of a Garou is enough to conjure primal memories of fear and bloodshed.
在这样的情况下，对狼人的记忆只是原初人类对恐惧和流血的自行想象。
Thus, the werewolves have stayed hidden throughout human history.
因而，在漫长的人类历史中狼人可以始终隐匿。
The demarcation between the cities and the wilderness remains, separating two very different worlds.
城市和残存的荒野对峙，分成两个完全不同的世界。
Because legends of werewolves remain, men see them as through a glass darkly, never realizing what they truly are, but instead fearing what they once were.
因为狼人的传说还残存，人类对狼人就像梦里看花水中望月，总是模模糊糊认不清楚，但是过去的恐惧一直在人类心里。
The Garou still see themselves as heroes, but to the humans, they will always be monsters.
狼人始终以英雄自视，但在人类眼中他们一直是怪兽。
Perhaps the truth lies somewhere between.
也许真实在这两者之间的某处。

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。