What Are Werewolves?

Werewolves are mortals who live convincingly as human but carry a moon-tide gift/curse that allows controlled shapeshift and heightened senses. In Baltimore the Iron Belt recognises three broad lines:

• Trailborn: endurance runners and pathsetters; unmatched scenting and terrain memory; keep packs together and strangers out.
• Steelhide: industrial-adapted bruisers; high pain tolerance, fast knit of cuts and strains; ideal for hold-the-line work.
• Lankin: light-foot scouts and social hands; best at passing, reading rooms, and getting cubs in/out without fuss.

Common traits: keen scent/hearing, night stamina, rapid recovery from ordinary trauma, pack-coordination instincts. Limits & taboos: moon phases pull on mood and control; caustics, certain metals, and blessed irons bite deep; uncontrolled shifts risk exposure; public spectacle is forbidden. Most werewolves pass as human and keep strict boundary etiquette to avoid turf friction.

Overview

The Iron Belt is a park-and-rail pack who prize drills, clean runs, and neighbours left unalarmed. They manage their moons with protocol, bays, and spotters, not bravado. Their politics are simple: keep the Veil intact, keep parks safe, keep cubs out of headlines. Talk of short, unnatural boosts — “gold on the air” — is logged as stories until a clean artefact appears.

Maxim: “Run clean. Leave no trace.”

Leadership & Faces

• Reeve Mara Kincaid (Pack Head) — Runs the moot; gravel laugh; expects drills done right.
• Jax “Rail” Moreno (Yard Warden) — Keys and kit; knows which bolt will rattle next week.
• Doc Juno Park (Med & Aftercare) — Stitches straight; “water first, then soup.”
• Taye Okoro (Drill Lead) — Sprint, silence, leap; cubs adore, adults swear by.
• Nora Vance (Trailkeeper) — Sets scent lines; reads trespass like a book.

PC/NPC hooks: Moot business via Mara; access to the yard through Rail; injuries and recovery with Juno; training under Taye; boundary issues to Nora.

Structure & Runs

Order (pack-simple): Reeve → Wardens (Yard • Med • Drill • Trail) → Runners (Trailborn • Steelhide • Lankin) → Cubs & Guests

Runs

• Moon Runs: controlled full-phase routes with spotters and safe-change bays; no crowds, no cameras.
• Park Patrols: trash, hazards, trespass checks; “volunteer” hours sell the cover.
• Quiet Escorts: chaperoned crossings for guests on the neutral window.

Protocol & Customs

Yard Rules

• Announce at the gate; if you’re not pack, wait at the painted line.
• Gifts that play: tools, boots, tarps, fuel. No incense, no “lucky” silver.
• Phones off or bagged; the yard dislikes cameras.

Boundary Etiquette

• No runs past Free Court salons, Harbour red rooms, Lodge slips, or Glasswright sessions without written invitations.
• Call the Concord for route advice on market streets and festivals.
• Notify Meridian if a chase risks exposure; they prefer a tidy story to a loud one.

Pack Law

1. Drills before pride. You don’t run it until you can run it clean.
2. No street shows. Shifts are yard or wild edge only; never for applause.
3. Protect the young. Cubs and late-bloomers get the safest lanes and the first bowl.
4. Honour neighbours. Boundaries stand; treaties are remembered.

Resources & Fronts

• The Foundry: safe-change bays, moot ring, med bench, tool cages; volunteer signage sells the cover.
• Trail Kit: brushes, powders, decoy tracks, scent lines; “trail curtain” to erase prints.
• Quench Drums: ember discipline; fire stays a story about soup, not headlines.
• Donation Drum: tar, bolts, gloves, and “definitely not” meat pies after drills.

Relations (Boundary-respecting)

• Meridian Commission (Baltimore FO): Practical: the Belt gives early warnings and accepts quiet coordination on exposure risks.
• Crimson Harbour (vampires): Cool civility; no runs near red rooms at feeding hours; disputes go via Seneschal.
• Free Court (fae/spirits): Seasonal courtesy; no drills audible from salons; shared use of park edges by schedule.
• Highland Concord (djinn): Warm; route advice and rescue handovers handled with bread and copper chits.
• Glasswrights (mirror-folk): Minimal overlap; respect “angles nights” and posted pane windows.
• Lodge (water-folk): Mutual aid; the Belt keeps lane noise down, Lodge warns of polluted runnels.

Emerging Rumours (GM Guidance)

• Wrong Strength: Two runners report a brief overperformance then shakes; logged, not acted on.
• Metallic Scent: Nora catches a clean, gold-metal tang on the wind after an alley scuffle; gone by morning.
• Cooler at the Fence: A sealed ampoule case appears by the tool rack—dry, cold, wrong.
• Policy: Verify twice, act once. No “tonic trials”, no experiments, no panic runs.

Known Grounds & Safe Lanes

• The Foundry (Jones Falls): yard and moot; safe-change bays; med bench; kettle.
• Under-Arch Run: gravelled path under the viaduct; marked “no-howls” in mortal hours.
• Runnel Screen: willow-screened wash for paw and blood; Lodge consulted on pollution.

Membership (Sample NPCs)

• Mara Kincaid — Reeve; earns compliance, doesn’t demand it.
• Jax “Rail” Moreno — Yard Warden; kit, keys, safety.
• Doc Juno Park — Med; stitches straight, asks kind.
• Taye Okoro — Drill Lead; turns clumsy into clean.
• Nora Vance — Trailkeeper; every fence-slice tells her a story.

Open Slots: 2–3 Trailborn runners, 1 Steelhide bruiser, 1 Lankin scout, 1 mortal park volunteer who minds their own business.

Hooks & Episode Seeds

• Fence Cut: Clean slice in the chain-link and pawprints that aren’t yours. Parley, track, or drive off?
• Cub on Camera: A jogger’s head-cam caught something fast on a park lane. Retrieve, bribe, or rewrite the story?
• Polluted Runnel: Oily sheen in the wash; Lodge swears it isn’t theirs. Track the source before moonrise.
• Drill vs. Gala: Free Court booked a salon night that overlaps drills. Reschedule, reroute, or negotiate a shared edge?
• Empty Cooler (Again): Another ampoule case at the yard. Bait the dropper or bury the problem?

GM Notes (Backstage)

• Tone: blue-collar kinship; drills, soup, and iron discipline; danger in speed poorly aimed.
• Pressure Dials: Exposure □□ • Rumour Heat □□ • Boundary Friction □□
• Escalation Path: rumours → first clean artefact → route pressure from outsiders → internal vote (close ranks vs. cooperate).
• Fail State: a public shift on camera; parks lost; neighbours hostile.
• Win State: proof gathered quietly; measured stance; moons stay managed and the Belt stays everyone’s favourite quiet neighbour.