TRIBAL BACK GROUND
Its been two decades since the fall of the hyena kings court and in those years the Tribe has gained several footholds. Those Ajaba who remained behind in the lands of India and Arabia, few though they were, provided a basis of Kinfolk from which to breed and a base of operations. These Eastern siblings had escaped the night of slaughter, but they still had to hide from the Bagheera, allies of Black tooth and those who sought to claim our empty thrones. In Egypt the Ajaba gathered its few remaining Eldars and the distant relatives of Adjua Ka gather in readiness for the day the Tribe retakes its place. The Bubastis know we are there and they, cowards that they are, bargain their silence away and betray their rivals among the Simba. When the time is right the secrets we know of the Bubastis will become a part of our armoury against the Lions. Black Tooth and the Endless Storm are gone, but the loathing the Lions and the Leopards have for us still burns in their hearts. It is matched by our own incendiary hatred for the rest of the Cat Folk.
We are the daughters of Rain, but sorrow is far from the only emotion we bring. We laugh loudest of the cats and we know humour even in our darkest night. Who else, after all, is so associated with the Great Trickster after the Spiders if it isn't us? In most African cycles the trickster is an underdog figure, smaller in stature and strength than his opponents (thus gaining the audience's sympathy) but much cleverer and always well in control of the situation. He is ruthless, greedy, and a glutton and often outwits his opponent through a calculating suaveness combined with sheer lack of scruples. The very nature of the Ajaba! The Hyena often appears as both Trickster and, along with lion, or elephant, as his victim. The laughing call of the Hyena and its underhand tactics made it a perfect avatar for the Tricksters spirit and the dark sense of humour typical of this character is more than evident in the Ajaba tribe. When the debt is paid in full, the Ajaba will laugh the final laugh while drinking blood out of a cup fashioned from the last Skull of the Simba.
TRIBAL HOME
Hyena roam from Africa to Asia, throughout Turkey, the Middle East and Arabia. The spotted, or laughing, hyena (Crocuta crocuta) ranges through much of Africa south of the Sahara. The striped hyena occurs in the drier parts of southwestern Asia, but is absent from the East and in northern and eastern Africa. The brown hyena, is found in southern Africa, and the Aardwolf lives on the open, grassy plains of southern and eastern Africa. There are two geographically separate populations of Aardwolf, one centred in South Africa and the other extending from central Tanzania northward to southern Egypt. In Egypt, Hyenas were tamed and across the East they have been used as hunting animals.
In 1994 cave paintings and engravings believed to be 17,000-20,000 years old (Later estimated to be more likely some 30,000 years old.) were discovered near the town of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in southern France. Archaeologists reported that the drawings rivaled in importance the prehistoric art previously found in Spain and France. The newly discovered art treasures included the first known Paleolithic depiction of a Hyena, and records the fact that these animals ranged across Europe. In South America fossil finds indicate the existence of a Marsupial Hyena called the Borhyaenidae occurring from the Late Paleocene Epoch into the Pliocene (from about 63.5 to 5 million years ago). While not all Borhyaenids were hyenoid, Thylacosmilus was a Pliocene-aged marsupial counterpart of the sabre-toothed tiger and many other forms were wolflike and foxlike, these Hyena variety had large skulls and heavy crushing teeth.
ORGANIZATION
Kilimanjaro consists of three principal extinct volcanoes: Kibo (centre), Mawensi (east), and Shira (west). The impact of these great peaks has had a deep and resounding effect on the Ajaba. The tribe in the modern age has adopted the three names of the volcanoes to describe the three philosophies or camps within the tribe.
The Kibo are those who have remained in, or returned to, Africa. Excluded from the great mountain herself, the Kibo can only sit at the edge of the ward and weep, hardening their hearts against the tears they will soon bring to the Bastet. They have begun to re-establish their links to the spirits of the land and to reaffirm their place in the food chain, ensuring that the Ajaba and Africa remain tied together on every level.
The Shira are those who have filtered out into the world, by far the largest demographic of Ajaba. They continue to breed with as wide a range of partners as possible, sending their Metis back to Africa as messengers and warriors for hire. The tactics begun in the wake of Black Tooth's pogrom have become a way of life for the Shira. This Camp has adapted to the urban lifestyles of their exiles and can now survive quite well in the cities so hated by other Killi.
Finally the Mawensi are the Ajaba of India and Arabia, those who managed to retain a degree of stability due to their distance from, the slaughter. Their numbers are smaller than the African Ajaba, they always were on the periphery, and they have managed to avoid the confrontations with Bagheera and Khan that might have ended in a repeat of the Kilimanjaro massacre. They follow a more aesthetic philosophy and have a better relationship with the Spirit world than their African siblings. It was the Mawensi who brokered the deals with the Demons, Spirits and other atrocities for the fleeing Ajaba over the last two decades.
FEMALE DOMINATION CULTURE AND KINFOLK In the past, Werehyenas placed great importance in family ties, ancestry and group identity. They ranged in packs of three to six members and kept their kinfolk close. Most hunting parties had human, hyena and shapechanger members, and although the Ajaba had the upper hand, the kinfolk had a say in group activities.
Hyenas, which hunt in packs of up to 30, have a rich repertory of grunts, snorts, and giggles. Conversation and communication is primarily important and the same is true of the Ajaba themselves. From the long and detailed storytelling of the Ajaba at rest to their complex tracking strategy, guided by their sounds, the werehyena are defined by language. Once the prey is taken, other sounds, including their well-known laugh, calls the rest of the pack to join in the feast. Unlike the other Bastet who prefer the solitary life, the Ajaba pack structure is paramount. A handful of Ajaba are a match for any Khan or Simba warrior, and they have no compunctions about going to war mob handed.
Now that the Ajaba can return to Africa, if not their actual Homelands, they have better access to Hyena Kinfolk with whom to breed with. The desperate panic to repopulate the Tribe hasn't lessened, but at last a glimmer of hope has appeared. The Elders who decried the polluting of the bloodline with captives and slaves are now laying down the law about the reintroduction of pure kinfolk DNA.
Powerful females and their packs roam the world searching for wild Hyena packs and the remnants of Human kinfolk, employing all manner of research. Allies are used to search the Ajaba homelands beneath Kilimanjaro and the magical ward is thus circumvented in a small way. Seb-at-Al and his loyal Spirits have allowed them to track down descendants of those Africans taken from the land centuries before, lost kinfolk. Ajaba blood is present throughout African peoples but most noticeably in the East African tribes; the Chaga (Chagga), Pare, Kahe, and Mbugu peoples as well as the Sandawe hunters of northern Tanzania , the Iraqw, Mbugu, Gorowa, Burungi, Bantu, Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Hehe, Nyakyusa, Makonde, Yao, Haya, Gogo, Ha, the Masai, Arusha, Samburu, Baraguyu and the Haya.
ALLIES (TAKUYA) AND ENEMIES
"No wonder we're dangling at the bottom of the food chain!"
- Shenzi, the Lion king
Having abandoned the open plains of Kilimanjaro in favour of the alleys and slums of the cities, the Ajaba have come into contact with a wealth of new associates, the offspring of Rahjah and Asura are common here, but so too are the children of Nala and Calash. One of the strangest bedfellows the Ajaba have made are the Garou of the Bone Gnawer tribe. Ajaba can, if crafty enough, pass as Bone Gnawers, albeit malformed and debased mongrel examples of the line. This at least has afforded the Werehyenas some breathing space in their exile, and has made the nights less lonely. While these Dogs are the lowest rung on the Werewolves social ladder they are no less vigilant in their war against Asura and for the Ajaba who are accepted by them the struggle to maintain their spiritual purity is just that little bit easier.
Desperation and wrath have driven the Ajaba to commit some terrible acts. Before the Kilimanjaro massacre the Ajaba were no more likely to led Asura into their hearts than were any other tribe of Bastet, but in the wake of that act, the Wyrm no longer stood out as the worst philosophy in the war. As they crept through the streets of Rahjahs cities, the Asura wolves and the Ajaba crossed paths. Having already kicked their dominance by the Lion Totem, the Black spiral dancers seemed to be just what the Ajaba needed. Their patron, born of the same father as the Ajaba, offered new tricks with which to kill the Lions and the Ajaba were tempted.
It wasn't long before Ajaba packs began to be spotted with sickly looking Garou in their numbers. Now some of these, it turns out, were simply Bone Gnawers, but other were the Wyrm tainted Dancers and the werehyena they ran with had crossed over to the family of the Dakat and the Asura. From the Black Spiral they learnt the tactics of smash and grab breeding tactics, of rape and of the importance of numbers over purity. They began to raid Zoo's and safari parks for Hyena kinfolk and they even kidnapped scientists and Veterinarians to increase their understanding in animal husbandry, artificial insemination and fertilisation.
By the coming of the new millennium, the Black Spiral Dancers were a common sight in Ajaba packs and the Wyrm had gained itself a new talon with which to spread corruption and unbalanced destruction. The Ajaba who had once been a force of Calash, of the Balanced Wyrm, had fallen from grace and now served Asura.
In the cities the Ajaba also found the Vampires. Creatures of the Urban jungle, the younger leeches and the Ajaba shared a similar outlook on life and alliances sprung up quickly. The Sabbat braves and the Anarch's punks taught the Ajaba how to properly let rip and the usual anti-lupine feelings were forgotten in the wake of these new party animals. More than one arrogant Khan has changed its tune after following Ajaba into the cities of India, and the Bagheera of the forests are also finding their time taken up by battling the Vampires of their homelands.
