Luna's Shadow: The Monuments

The caern-heart of Luna's Shadow is encircled by five monuments, each a marker made of slabs of marble formed with rounded, irregular edges. No two menhirs are shaped in the same way, and when the moon shines, and the moon always shines in the Sept of Luna's Shadow, they cast strange shadows on the earth.

The marble slabs are shaped in roughly 2'x4'x3" blocks and are driven into the ground with the strength of the Crinos form. They are carved with Garou pictographs, and the complexity of the inscriptions is almost that of the Silver Record. It's possible for someone well-versed in the Garou written language to read them, but even then a written translation helps...

The monuments are layed out in a pentagon, with the first marker set directly east of the caern-heart. They form a circle some twenty paces wide, as the half-wolf strides; more than enough room for all but the largest moots.

1. I, Phoenix, first saw her. I, first-born, saw her. The three met in the great darkness. The Wyld, who brought change, who gave life. The Weaver, who brought shape and order. The Wyrm, who circled each one, and marked its end. The three gave their gifts to her, to Gaia, And her sister, Luna, shown with silver fire in the East. Luna, who opened the spirit way. Luna, who brings fiery rage. Luna, who shaped us from wolf and man. Luna, who brings us wisdom. When the Weaver trapped her brother in her web, When the Wyld fled from spider’s madness, She brought to her children these gifts. All that live were born from Gaia, Shaped from the earth, our mother gave them life But our strength But our Rage, Comes from Luna. We are hers.	Monument 1: The first of the five markers is a triangle; a single stubby slab forms the base, and two longer slabs arch over it. The structure is about 3.5 feet tall. As with the Silver Record, the first glyph of this monument is "Phoenix." Other obvious symbols are the glyphs for Rage (which looks like Red Talon), the symbol for Luna’s children looks a lot like "Children of Gaia," The symbol for Luna is, obviously, repeated a great deal.
2. Night follows day. What the Weaver spins will someday fall. As every child grows old, Even peace will die. From Wolf we were made, The Garou. Blood on our claws. Blood on our fangs. When the Wyrm rises, When the Wyrm eats the stars, The Garou will fight. Blood on our claws. This is who we are. But we are not alone.   The Sun claims his children, those who watch. The Mokole’, born of the dragons, Born of water and sun. The children of Snake remember, They remember the first days. They remember. We took their nests, We claimed their rivers. They remember. The Sun claims his children, those who watch. Child of sun and shadow, crow burned black The Corax took the sky by day, Found every secret. Raven hunts beside us, leads us to prey. Raven the teacher shares his wisdom. Raven the war-bringer circles over the dead. And Raven watches.     Who claims the spirit-foxes? Who can bind the east wind?	Monument 2: This monument was originally a stone "T" shape, but when the Lupus Watches the Wasichu tore through it in a spiritual rage, it was left two broken slabs leaning against each other. The words were recarved, but Java left the slabs broken, in memory of the Wendigo. Any significantly versed in pictographic symbols and Bete’ Lore could conceivably find the glyph for "Nagah" embedded in the second monument’s discussion of the Mokole’, but the designer didn’t see the difference between snake and lizard. The blurb about Kitsune is 1) short and 2) located in a "this is another thought entirely" section of the rock slabs. Yes, these songs are highly garou-centric. The Bastet are still the enemies of the Garou, and nobody pretends to understand the Rokea and the Ananasi.
3. Great Bear kept the gate, Bear saw life and death, And knew what was beyond death. Wise Bear kept his secrets, Even to his own death. Where are the Gurahl? Who will heal Gaia? Our claws took Bear first. The last night comes, But Coyote still laughs. In their sacred places in the desert, In the star-paths of the spirit world, The Nuwisha laugh. Fool and teacher, Wisdom and laughter on the wind. The Bastet also watch, The cats keep their secrets Safe in their dens. Strange shapes move beneath the water. Hunger clothed in pain. We are Gaia’s claws on the land, But under the waves, The Rokea are her teeth. Do not seek their lair, For the children of Shark never sleep. Beneath the street Behind the walls There the children of Rat still live. Knife-quick, shadow-dark, silent hunters. Who do they serve? With the form of the Weaver they came, In the name of the Wyrm they fought, But the spirits of the Wyld claim them now. Spider spins her webs. The Ananasi serve who they will, And hide their secrets in the dark of the earth. Our brothers. Our sisters. We are Gaia’s teeth and Gaia’s claws, And Luna’s children fell to us, Blood on our fangs Blood on our claws. Never forget.	Monument 3: These tales are etched on a "table" structure, formed of three slabs together. The table’s legs lean together somewhat, making the structure a bit more stable than it would otherwise be. Whether the "translation" carries the specific word, each of the changing- breed blurbs has the symbol for that species somewhere in it.
4. Luna rises! Luna shines! It is the time for songs! The Garou came to the Sept of the Shining Springs. From the City they came, from the wilderness they came, To find healing after their wars. The sept was strong, but the Wyrm claimed it, Balefire banes claimed the land, The spirit Aqua was driven away, The spirit Turtle was driven away, The Garou were driven away, Into the night. Luna turned in the night, showing her full face many times, And her children wandered in the night, Until they came together again. They came together to build. The Shadow Lord Calm-of-the-Storm, an Elder of his tribe, called the rite. The children of the Wyrm came like a storm, But we fought, and we won. Sleeps-with-Fishes gave his life to protect us. Howls-of-Thunder fell in battle, but Rage guided our claws, and Uktena Falcon Rat Owl Thunder Fought beside us. And that day, we won.	Monument 4: An "H" frame, two slabs leaning against a central support. Among the stranger features of the carvings here is the mark for "Sacred Landfill" as a descriptive of where the Garou met, beside the glyph for "moot." No existing translation of the glyphs mentions this. The listing of totems is orchestrated so that no spirit is more important than another, in a sort of arch.
5. The fire burns, but the light of Luna is greater. We are the Sept of Luna’s Shadow. We are Garou. Luna gave us Wisdom. Luna gave us strength. Luna gave us the Umbral road, Luna gave us our ever-shifting forms. Luna watches over us, The Moon Shadow watches over us, Silent and shining. The moon shines above. The scent of Water on the wind. Fox hides in the grass, see him. He hides well, none can see him, In and out of the moonlight. Luna! For your gifts, For this land, We thank you. Hear our howls. These are the last days. Watch over us In the last night.   The Sept of Luna’s Shadow.     Java	Monument 5: A pyramid of three tablets leaning against each other Everything on this one is modified to be very emphatic, and the glyphs merge into one another into an elaborate flowing design. The final tablet wraps up with the prayer to Luna, and the largest symbol on the tablet is the glyph of "Luna’s Shadow." Java’s seal is the final glyph on the tablet, nearly hidden at the base of the slab.