【背景资料】关于狼人的传说

蟾蜍

Half human. Half beast.
半人。半兽。
Predators that stalk the deepest woods and the darkest urban alleyways.
潜伏在广袤森林的最深处或影界通道的最暗角落的掠食者。
Monsters that creep up on their prey like ghosts, then explode into a fury of claws and fangs.
靠着鬼怪之类的猎物悄悄生活的怪物，当他们被激怒的时候，你会看到他们的利齿和锐爪。
Beasts that howl under the full moon and kill those that cross the boundaries of their territory.
在满月之下嚎叫的野兽，会杀死每一个胆敢进入他们领土的家伙。
Werewolves.
狼人。
In some ways, werewolves embody the oldest human fear — the fear of the wolf at the door, the awful thought that for all our tools and fire, we are still prey in the eyes of Mother Nature.
从某些方面来说，狼人表达了远古人类的恐惧——对门外的狼的恐惧，对我们所有的工具和火的可怕念头，在自然母亲眼里我们始终是猎物。
We struggle to control every detail of our environment to our exacting specifications, and that makes us all the more afraid, deep down, of being stranded in a hostile place under the control of something larger and stronger than us: something with fangs and a taste for meat.
我们努力控制环境的每一个细节，企图使环境符合我们苛刻的要求，然而要控制那些比我们更大更强壮有着利齿喜欢吃肉的家伙，这给我们的内心深处带来了更深的恐惧，
But there's more to it than that.
但是除了恐惧之外更有些其他东西。
Humans have always feared, even hated wild animals, particularly those that are stronger than us on some level.
人类总在恐惧，甚至害怕那些在某些方面比我们强的野生动物。
But we have always envied their strength at the same time.
但是同时我们还总在嫉妒他们的能力。
In the earliest times, prehistoric humans wore animal skins and bones and prayed to somehow become as swift or keeneyed or strong as the animals with which they shared the world.
在远古时期，史前的人类穿戴着兽皮和兽骨，祈祷能变得像动物一样敏捷或者锐目或者强壮。
Even today, people wear clothing, jewelry, even tattoos depicting animals they respect in a sort of unconscious desire to borrow those animals' power.
即使是今天，人们仍然通过穿着、首饰甚至纹身描述动物的形态，潜意识里他们仍然渴望得到动物的力量。
And we tell stories of humans who can take animal form (or vice versa).
我们讲述那些可以变成动物形态的人（或者反之亦然）的故事。
We always have, from the Americas to Europe to Africa to Asia.
我们一直存在，从美洲到欧洲、非洲、亚洲。
And the king of these stories is the story of the werewolf.
而最重头的故事是狼人的故事。
The werewolf represents everything we fear in Nature — and everything we'd like to be.
狼人身上有我们所有的恐惧——也有我们所有的渴望。
Deep down inside, we're afraid of wolves, yet we want desperately to wear the wolves' skins and to be like them.
内心深处，我们害怕狼，所以我们拼命的想要穿狼皮使我们看上去像他们。
This is your chance to do just that.
现在你达到目的的机会来了。
Werewolf:
狼人：
The Apocalypse is a storytelling game from White Wolf Publishing that allows you to step into the shoes — or pawprints — of a werewolf of legend.
末日怒吼是白狼出版的一个storytelling game，在这个游戏中你可以追随狼人传说的足迹——或者说爪印。
The rules in this book allow you and a group of friends to assume the roles of a pack of werewolves, hunting and fighting as one.
根据这本书里的规则，你和你的朋友们可以扮演一组狼人去打猎去战斗。
Together, you tell the story of these werewolves and their struggle, whether they triumph at great cost or die in a blaze of glory.
总的来说，你将要讲述一个关于狼人和他们的奋斗的故事，他们会在巨大的付出后获得成功或者死在荣耀的光辉里。
In a storytelling game, the players use the game's rules to create characters to serve as alter egos of a sort.
在讲故事游戏中，玩家根据规则建立起人物个性的每一面。
They then take those characters through dramas and adventures called stories (a game term that means pretty much the same thing as the word's common use).
然后，他们使用这些人物进行幻想和冒险，我们叫这些幻想和冒险为“story”（一个游戏的术语，意思十分接近这个词平时的用法）。
Each of the players describes his character's actions and speaks as the character would speak, thus guiding the character through the plot established by the group.
每一个玩家都要描述他的角色的行为和言语就像他就是那个角色，从而引导角色进行原来安排好的剧情。
To keep track of all this activity, one person acts as the Storyteller — a role more like that of a movie director than an
author.
有一个人保证玩家的所有行为都不离开故事的轨迹，他叫做Storyteller——他更像电影导演而不是作者。
The Storyteller describes the setting of each scene, roleplays the actions and speeches of the various people the players' characters encounter and generally guides the story's plot.
Storyteller要描述每一个场景，扮演出玩家角色遇到的每一个人物的每一个动作每一句话，通常他还要引导这个story的情节发展。
However, the Storyteller's control isn't absolute.
不过不管怎么说，Storyteller的控制不能太绝对。
Since the players control their characters, each scene in a story is the product of the entire group cooperating to tell the story in a way they enjoy.
玩家们控制着他们的角色，story中的每一个场景为了玩家能用他们喜爱的方式享受剧情而同心协力。
What's more, the rules in this book provide a common ground to gauge the characters' chances of success impartially.
还有更多的，书中的规则提供公正的评判角色做事成功与否的判断方法。
The players generally try to help their characters accomplish their goals, while the Storyteller provides opposition and obstacles (in the form of the possibility of failure) to add tension.
玩家总试图帮助他们的角色完成目标，而Storyteller通过提供对手和障碍（用可能导致角色失败的形式）来增加玩家的紧张感。
The ultimate goal, of course, is for everyone to have a good time.
当然，追逐最终的目标，这个过程会给每一个人带来快乐。
Whether the characters succeed or fail is irrelevant.
而角色成功或者失败反倒没那么重要了。
The only thing that matters is that everyone is happy to have played a part when the story ends.
唯一重要的事情是当story结束的时候，每个人都为在story中扮演了一个重要的部分而开心不已。
For that reason, the rules in this book are useful only as a means to provide a framework for the story.
正因为如此，这本书中的规则只是提供了story的框架。
If the rules conflict with the story, the story wins every time.
如果规则和story起了冲突，那么，story是永远的赢家。

The legend

The werewolves of the World of Darkness aren't quite what one would expect from the movies.
黑暗世界中的狼人与我们平时在电影中见到的不太一样。
Humanity has managed to grasp the concept of the werewolf only partially.
人类只了解了狼人的一小部分。
The European legends of shapeshifting witches and the Native American tales of animals that take on human form are equally
full of misconceptions.
欧洲传说中变形自己的女巫和美洲土著故事里能变成人形的动物，所有这些都同样的充满了误解。
The following are a few of the most commonly accepted "facts" about werewolves — and just how true or false they are in the world of Werewolf.
下列是一些众所周知的狼人情况——和他们是不是真的。
Werewolves are mindless beasts in wolf form. False.
当变身成狼的时候，狼人是没脑子的野兽。错。
Werewolves retain their intelligence, which is equal to that of any human, in any form they take (and werewolves have five forms from which to choose).
不管什么形态（狼人可以选择五种形态），狼人保留了与任何一个人类近似的智慧。
Their reputation for savagery stems from their Rage, which is a supernatural fury more intense than any anger a human can feel.
他们在野生物种中的名声来自于Rage，Rage是一种超自然的狂怒，远比任何人类的愤怒强烈。
Werewolves can channel their Rage to perform incredible feats of strength and speed.
狼人能引导他们的Rage以达到令人难以置信的力量和速度。
However, the stronger a werewolf s Rage is, the more likely he is to lose control in times of great stress, flying into a berserk fit of violence called frenzy.
不管怎么说，一个狼人他的Rage越强，他看上去就越像在沉重压力下失去了理智，进入了狂暴状态中。
It is virtually impossible to reason with a werewolf in this state.
事实上这个状态的狼人无可理谕。
All he can think of is fight or flight.
他知道的只有战斗或者逃跑。
It is this savagery that has given rise to the legends of brutal, uncontrollable man-beasts.
正是这种野性造成了那些关于残忍的歇斯底里的半人半兽的传说。
A werewolf changes form when the moon is full. Mostly false.
当月圆的时候，狼人会变身。基本上错了。
Werewolves can change forms whenever they want, day or night.
无论是白天还是晚上只要愿意，狼人随时可以变身。
However, they have deep spiritual ties to the moon, and they revere the mighty moon-spirit Luna as one of their greatest totems.
然而，他们与月亮有很深的精神联系，他们尊敬强大的月之精灵露娜，把露娜作为他们最强大的图腾之一。
A werewolf s Rage is tied to the moon's phases, growing stronger as the moon grows brighter.
狼人的Rage与月相紧密相关，月亮越亮Rage也就越强。
Therefore, a werewolf is at her greatest risk of frenzy when the moon is full, and more werewolf attacks tend to occur under the full moon.
因此，当月圆的时候狼人极有攻击性，大多数的狼人攻击事件发生在满月的时候。
If a werewolf bites a person, that person becomes a werewolf. False.
当一个人被狼人咬伤，他会变成狼人。错。
Werewolves are born, not "infected."
狼人是生出来的，不是“感染”而来的。
Most werewolves are born of human or wolf stock, and they don't know their true heritage until they reach adolescence and
undergo their First Change.
大多数的狼人出生自纯人或者纯狼，他们不会知道自己真正的身份直到他们到了青春期并且经历了第一次蜕变。
Even so, some tribes have been historically known to keep track of their young cubs from afar, then staging a mock "wolf attack" just before the children are due for their First Change.
虽然如此，一些部族根据传统的知识能在远方保持对他们幼兽的联系，能慢慢通过模拟“狼袭”来使他们的幼兽们在第一次蜕变前就了解他们该了解的。
Although this practice has fallen out of favor in modern times, it was in no small way responsible for the rumors of the supernatural disease lycanthropy.
虽然在现代，这种传统已经很少了，但是对于变狼狂，这是个好解释。
Werewolves are witches who take wolf form by dressing in wolf skins. False.
狼人是披着狼皮变成狼的女巫。错。
Either you're born a werewolf, or you aren't.
要么你出生就是狼人，要么你永远没有机会。
Wizards and witches exist in the World of Darkness, and some of them can shapeshift into animal form, but none of them are true Garou with all the according powers.
法师和女巫在黑暗世界中都存在，他们中的确实有一些人能把自己变成动物的样子，但是决不可能拥有真正狼人的那种力量。
Werewolves can be killed only by silver. Partially true.
狼人只能被银器杀死。一部分正确。
For all their supernatural power, werewolves aren't immortal.
尽管他们有很多超自然的力量，但狼人不是不朽的。
They grow old, and they can be killed.
他们会衰老，他们也会被杀死。
However, werewolves are remarkably resistant to injury and disease.
当然，狼人很明显的对伤害和疾病有很好的抵抗力。
Furthermore, they heal with incredible speed, even to the point of regenerating damaged internal organs.
此外，他们能以令人难以置信的速度自愈，甚至重新再生一个被损坏的器官。
A gunshot wound that would kill an ordinary human can be nothing more than an inconvenience to a werewolf.
一个可以杀死普通人的枪伤对于狼人来说只是带来点麻烦。
But werewolves cannot heal all wounds with equal ease.
但是，狼人并不能对所有的伤害都那样等闲视之。
With its spiritual ties to the moon, silver can burn werewolves more severely than fire could.
由于与月亮的精神联系，银可以严重灼伤狼人，对狼人来说银甚至比火更炙热。
A wound from a silver weapon can be fatal, and although werewolves can heal such terrible damage, doing so takes them a long time.
银制武器造成的伤口可能是致命的，即使狼人能够自愈也需要很长时间。
Therefore, a silver bullet might not be the instant kill depicted so often in the movies, but it's an enemy's best chance at taking a werewolf down.
因此，虽然银子弹不能像电影中那样瞬间杀死狼人，但是仍然是把狼人打倒的很好手段。
Werewolves can be detected by odd features such as pointed ears or index and middle fingers of the same length. Almost entirely false.
狼人很容易发现，他们总有些古怪的特征比如尖耳朵或者食指和中指一样长。几乎全错。
Werewolves are indistinguishable from humans in their Homid, or human form.
当狼人变成人形的时候完全无法把他们从人类中区分出来。
However, there are a few werewolves whose parents are both werewolves rather than humans or wolves.
无论如何，总有一些狼人尤其是双亲都是狼人的狼人。
These metis are always deformed in some fashion.
这些杂种总在在某个方面有点残疾。
Their deformities are usually evident in human form, although they are much more debilitating than cosmetic oddities
like pointed ears.
他们的残疾在变成人形时经常很明显，比如尖耳朵，当然这比起人类刻意化妆造成的古怪实在不算什么。
Werewolves, unlike wolves, are loners. False.
狼人和狼不同，狼人是孤独的。错。
Werewolves have a powerful pack mentality, and they feel distinctly uncomfortable without the presence of packmates or tribemates.
狼人有很强的团队心理，当身边没有队友或者族人他们会清楚地觉得不安。
To be cast out of one's pack and sentenced to walk alone is a horrible punishment for a werewolf.
被赶出队伍或者被判放逐是狼人很可怕的惩罚。

The truth

In the World of Darkness, werewolves have walked among humanity for as long as humans have existed.
自从黑暗世界中有了人类，狼人就一直存在于他们中间。
They can blend into human civilization, but rarely for long.
他们可以混迹于人类市民中间，但是混迹很长时间的很少见。
They're predators at heart, and people can sense as much on an instinctive level.
他们的本质是掠食者，而人们可以由本能隐约的感觉到。
At heart, a werewolf is a creature of both human and wolf nature, but it is neither fully.
实质上，狼人是自然混合了人和狼的造物，但这样的说明还不够充分。
They refer to themselves by a name from their own tongue — the Garou.
他们更愿意用自己的方式称呼自己——Garou。
Werewolves cannot breed among themselves to preserve their lineage; their blood is too potent, and the result is too much
like inbreeding.
狼人无法通过自身繁殖来保存血统；他们的血脉太强劲了，如果互相交配造成的结果就会像近亲繁殖那样。
To continue their bloodlines, werewolves must mate with humans or wolves.
为了延续他们的血统，狼人必须于人或者狼交配。
However, the chance that any children or cubs that result from such a pairing will breed true is small.
尽管如此，保有狼人部分的孩子或者说幼兽能出生的机会仍然很小。
In most cases, the spirit half of the werewolf isn't passed on.
在大多数情况下，狼人的那一半灵魂无法传递给下一代。
Werewolves born to human or wolf families are indistinguishable from their mortal siblings.
出生自人类或者狼的狼人无法同他其他平凡的兄弟姐妹区分开来。
There is no detectable "Garou gene," and DNA-testing does not reveal anything amiss.
“狼人基因”是无法被检验出来的，DNA测试对此也无可奈何。
Newborn werewolves simply appear to be normal humans or wolves in almost every respect.
新生的狼人在任何方面看来表现都与普通的人或狼一样。
Only a very few are even told by their parents that werewolves exist at all.
只有很少的幼崽被双亲告知这个世界上确实存在狼人。
However, young werewolves are prone to strange dreams and fits of temper that alienate them from their relatives or friends.
然而，年幼的狼人经常会做很奇怪的梦，而且会突然暴发的脾气会使他们疏远自己的亲属或者朋友。
Finally, some time after adolescence, a young werewolf undergoes his First Change.
最终，在青春期后的某一天，年幼的狼人将要经历他的第一次蜕变。
This event is often brought on by stress or trauma, leading the confused young werewolf to lash out at whatever is hurting him.
这样的事往往是压力或者外伤引导的，这将会导致困惑的幼狼人猛力殴打那个伤害他的家伙。
It's then that the werewolf's Garou relatives arrive to collect him.
然后，这个幼狼人的狼人亲属会来领走他。
Once among his own kind, he is initiated into his Garou tribe and taught the purpose and traditions of his people.
回到他的族人中间后，他会被正是介绍加入他的狼人部族并且了解族人的目标和传统。
From that point forward, the young werewolf lives a life of constant danger.
从此以后，幼狼人将在永恒的危险中生活。
Should he persevere, though, he can become a legend among his Garou kin.
如果他持之以恒，那么他将成为传奇人物。
Garou society is older at its core than any human culture.
狼人社会的核心远比任何人类文明古老。
Many of its traditions date back to a time before agriculture, before the first humans settled Australia, and even before history as we know it.
他们的很多传统形成的时间远在农业社会之前，那时候人类还没有踏足过澳洲，甚至还没有成文的历史。
They have managed this amazing longevity while keeping their true nature a secret from humanity by two means: oral tradition and faith.
他们能在对人类保守秘密的同时继承这令人惊异的漫长历史资料靠的是两种方法：口头传授的传统和信仰。
To the Garou, the past is a living thing.
对于狼人来说，逝去的岁月还活生生地在上演。
They keep tales of their ancestors alive, retelling them at gatherings to inspire the latest generation to strive for similarly heroic deeds.
他们从祖先那里继承活生生的故事，在加入了了自己一代人同样英勇的奋斗事迹后再讲给下一代听。
The laws laid down millennia ago are learned and recounted by each generation until every werewolf knows them by heart.
发布于数千年之前的法令仍然被大家了解，代代流传下来的故事仍然被讲述直到每一个狼人都牢记于心。
By keeping all their lore alive in an oral tradition, the Garou have retained a sense of continuity that binds each generation to the next.
通过口头讲述他们的知识一直流传下来，因此狼人们一代又一代的保留了对事务的看法。
Secondly, werewolves believe that Gaia — the living spirit of the world itself— created them to defend her and make war
against her enemies.
其次，狼人信仰盖亚——这个世界本身的灵魂——盖亚创造他们来保护自己并且对抗自己的敌人。
They're aided in this belief by several points that seem to support their claim: their obviously supernatural nature, their allies among the spirit world and the fact that they are definitely at war with the forces of spiritual corruption.
支撑他们信仰的是几个他们自己提出的证据：他们显著超越自然的力量，他们精神世界的同盟和他们与精神腐败激战的事实。
Their war has been going on for millennia — not even the wisest Talesinger among the werewolves can recall a story of their race at peace.
他们的战争进行了数千年了——甚至最睿智的说唱者也说不出一个还和平的时候的故事。
According to their traditions, Gaia brought werewolves into being as a response to the rise of their enemy — the Wyrm.
根据传统，盖亚创造狼人是为了回应她的敌人——妖蛆日益强大。
The Garou maintain that their true purpose in life is to fight, kill and die in the service of the Earth Mother.
狼人认为他们活着的真正目的是为大地母亲服务——战斗、杀戮最后死亡。
The Garou's claim to be a race designed for battle is certainly well founded.
狼人作为一个为了战斗而创造的种族实在十分称职。
Werewolves are deadly creatures, perhaps the most lethal overall of any living being in the world.
狼人是致命的造物，可能是世界上最致命的生物。
They possess great strength when they shapeshift, allowing them to tear apart metal and stone with their bare talons.
当他们变身的时候拥有的怪力可以使他们空手撕开金属和石头。
They heal remarkably quickly, making them nearly impossible to kill with mundane weaponry such as knives or small firearms.
他们显著快速的自愈能力使他们几乎不可能被刀子或者轻武器之类的世俗武器杀死。
They possess mystical powers that allow them to travel the spirit world, strike with stealth or monstrous force and even call on the forces of the earth itself.
他们拥有的神秘力量使他们可以在精神世界旅行，与鬼祟或者畸形的力量战斗甚至能召唤出土地本身的力量。
They have all the intelligence and tool-using capability of any human, making some werewolves masters of both high technology and occult power.
他们拥有的所有人类有的智慧和使用工具的能力使一些狼人能同时掌握高端的科技和神秘的力量。
Most importantly, werewolves are pack creatures, which makes them a hundred times stronger.
更重要的是，狼人是社会性造物，这使他们有了千百倍于个人力量。
A pack of werewolves is worth more than 10 times its weight in enemies.
一组狼人有相当他们数量十倍敌人的战斗力。
If they were more numerous, it's possible that the werewolves would have already won the war.
即使敌人更多，狼人也有可能赢得战斗。
But they are too few in number; at the beginning of the 21st century, they are a dying race.
但是他们是在太少了；在21世纪初，他们成了一个垂死的种族。
Their enemies are virtually uncountable, and they range from humans who fight with raw intelligence, cunning and resources to monsters from deep in the earth that can tear apart tanks — to an entire tribe of werewolves that has sided with the enemy.
实际上他们的敌人无可计数，他们把人类分成愚笨的、狡猾的和有智慧的能驱使大地深处的能撕裂坦克的怪物——能使一整个狼人部族站在他们一边的。
Worst of all, the Garou fight amongst themselves.
最糟糕的是狼人们内部纠纷不断。
Rivalries that started centuries ago continue even today as blood feuds that prevent the Garou from achieving the unity that would make them unstoppable.
持续了数个世纪的世仇导致了血腥的仇杀，这使狼人不可能再团结到一起。
Just as their pack mentality brings them together, their Rage drives them apart.
就像他们的组织思想促使他们聚集起来一样，他们的Rage把他们分割开。
Such is the tragedy of Werewolf.
这就是狼人的惨剧。
As you can see, the lot of a werewolf is far from an easy one.
就像你看到的，很多狼人再也不单纯。
But therein lies the appeal of trying on a wolfs skin for a while.
而且还有人声称他们只不过是暂时披着狼皮。