Werewolf secret society

[PlatinaD]

I recently stared running a game and one of the player's character concept has me unsure how to fit it in a Dresden Game. His character is a werewolf that works for in his words "the Pack Leader of the US". Now I'm not opposed to the idea as such, but given the variety of werecreatures that exist in the Dresden Files, I don't believe a controlling hierarchy for all such creatures could exist. I do believe however that the mentality of wolves might lend itself to something of a secret society. So I've decided to incorporate this into the campaign. But my question is what aims might a group like this have beyond simply protecting each other and their hunting grounds?

[blackstaff67]

"Pack Leader of his Region/stomping grounds" might be a better fit.  Regarding reasons for existence, also keeping the secret of shifters secret and perhaps restraining/hunting down/winnowing those that are too destructive or threaten to expose them to humanity. 

Failing that, you (or he) may have to figure out a reason why/how shifters came into existence.  Probably the result of a divine curse...

[Jabberwocky]

First, the existence reasons might change with time. Originally in the Stone Age it might have been mating (it can be even today), then during the Antiquity and Middle Ages the protection from persecution, and now e.g. environmentalism or other common interest. Second, I would consider the fact that nigh every organisation can be "hijacked" by its influential members/leaders to support their personal agenda instead of the original ideas (think of the church, states, etc.) And third, think of possible conflicting interests inside such a group originating from different background of its members. If your game takes place in the US I would spend some time contemplating the wolf and werewolf/shapeshifter concepts of the Indians and the white colonists (and maybe other ethnicities). Did both concepts really exist? How did such groups meet? Did they fight? Did they merge? What is the status quo today? This can give you a couple of ideas how the organisation might look like today.

[Haru]

There might be others like Tara, wolfweres who go around teaching young people to be guardians between worlds. They set up packs all around the world, wherever they can find suitable people. They keep loose contact to each other, but they will get together every now and again if there is danger. The leader in such a case would probably either be the guy who called for help, or it would be the strongest/oldest/most experienced. If need be, they fight for the role of alpha, but there might also be situations where the role of leader will not be questioned.

I could see a secret group like that strife for balance more than anything, taking care that the supernatural and the mundane don't hurt each other. Maybe those wolfweres are the descendants of early shapeshifting shamans that mated with real wolfs, and they took on their legacy. Or the wolfs just started the whole thing for themselves.

[g33k]

I think "pack leader of the U.S." is a notion from a different Urban Fantasy 'verse, not Dresden (Patricia Briggs' "Mercy Thompson" springs to mind, and I expect there are others (what about WW/WoD "Werewolf" RPG? ) ) .  IMHO it works rather poorly with DF, because a "pack" seems to only be interested in the "territory" they can reasonably reach in their wolf-form in a relatively-short timespan (i.e. a rather "naturalistic" / instinctive wolf-view).  I think a DF werewolf (of the kind the Alpha's are) would think it wierd, possibly ludicrous, to claim "pack territory" that's a week's journey away, let alone something only viably reached by aircraft...  Each pack would see itself as entirely autonomous.

That said, I am very much against telling my players that something they want is BadWrongFun, so I'd look for a way to make it work.  Others have already given some good suggestions.  I'll add a notion...

Werewolves *ARE* intelligent, planning beings, and I can see that they may have found some need, at some point, for a very-large "multi-pack" association (maybe the U.S. Civil War?)  -- and such an association may still exist, at some level.  So far as I recall, we've never seen any hint of it in WoJ or DF canon, nor DFRPG sources (hint/pointer anyone?), so let's say it's somehow "inactive."  It may be entirely theoretical, having been inactive for a century or more, with a titular "head werewolf" (the Alpha for the pack whose Alpha was the leader *last* time the "Pack USA" was active).  Some pack Elders still recall the stories from that time, however.

Now there is *something* causing (some) werewolves to think that the Time Has Come to reactivate the UberPack.  There may be mystics, prophetic dreams, Shamanic dream-quests, etc...  Others think it's a bullshit move by power-hungry idjits (or cowardly weaklings seeking "protection") who have let their human weaknesses invade their wolf-selves, and long for nothing more than to rip the throat out of anyone who suggests such a thing...

Even amongst those who think the UberPack needs to come back, nobody can really agree *WHAT* the looming problem is... NOR do they all agree that the same pack's Alpha is just automatically the new UberAlpha, etc...

[PlatinaD]

Thank you all. These are some great ideas I would not have thought of on my own.

[g33k]

... "the Pack Leader of the US" ...
... I don't believe a controlling hierarchy for all such creatures could exist ...
... I do believe ... something of a secret society ...
... So I've decided to incorporate this into the campaign ...

Something that has occurred to me:  I'd sit down and discuss your players vision, and your own.  It sounds like they may be coming from sufficiently-different assumptions that an explicit conversation/negotiation is called for.

Speaking for myself:  I play DFRPG because it's set in the Dresdenverse.  I don't really want to incorporate *every* other modern-urban-fantasy element until it's a generic pastiche.  So while I'd be very willing to look at this "Pack of the US" concept, even work to fit it in... it's sufficiently un-Dresden (to me) that I'd be a bit worried about a genuinely incompatible / irreconcilable vision.

... given the variety of werecreatures that exist in the Dresden Files, I don't believe a controlling hierarchy for all such creatures could exist ...

+1

I wouldn't expect such an authority to govern *ALL* were's.  Each pack/pride/etc (social animals) might concievably have its own "uber-authority," but creatures that naturally run as individuals (or mated-pairs) would presumably have NO hierarchical power-structure (at most, a set of traditions/protocols about "The Right Way to Act" when individuals happen to bump into one another (but not much "enforcement power" if individuals "behave badly/untraditionally").

But IMHO even a "werewolf UberPack" wouldn't govern all "werewolves" (remember, there are multiple kinds of critter that the mortals lump under the "werewolf" moniker, some of which are exceedingly rare and VERY individualistic), only the naturalistic/pack kind that the Alpha's are.
 
FWIW and all that...

[Katarn]

If you're talking about practicality, I agree it's unlikely to get a STRUCTURED national society; too many werewolves, which aren't always the most agreeable of folks, over such a widespread scope, likely wouldn't work.

Some sort of confederacy might work.  Say a group like the Alphas were friends in the 70s, and went their separate ways and moved to different parts of the country.  Each could have their own cell, with slightly different beliefs and values.  When some event or threat arises, these packs bond together loosely as allies against this threat or event.

[HumAnnoyd]

In our Emerald City game The Pack is a werewolf biker gang and one of the more powerful supernatural groups in the region.   We never really considered making them part of any national or international group.  It was mostly just a local group that was tied together through an old Native American ritual that would bind a human's soul to a wolf spirit.