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The Song of Steel is a camp consisting of those Wendigo who have followed
their kinfolk to the cities. They take their name from their profession, the trade in
which urban native Americans excel; high steel. Considered insane by many –
including their tribal elders – these Garou – usually young men – work alongside their
kin on the highest bridges and buildings, unburdened by safety gear. Their lives are a
precarious dance, a single wrong step threatening to send them plummeting to a doom
not even the toughest Garou can hope to cheat.
The Wendigo of the Song of Steel claim that their hazardous trade brings them
closer to the wind spirits than any chant or rite. They have developed their own form
of industrial shamanism, and the Wendigo elders frown on this development even
more than their decision to live among the towers of the white man. The Singers claim
that they have found hitherto unknown spirits and Totems in the winds of the towers,
but this only drives them further from their roots and their elders’ approval.
A few Wendigo of this camp have taken white lovers, and they are widely
considered decadent and fallen from grace. For the most part though, few active
members of the Song of Steel have any kind of serious relationships, mostly because
of the stresses placed on a partner by the extreme danger of their jobs. It is generally
felt that the Singers are simply carried away by youthful exuberance, and hoped that
in time they will calm down and either return to their homes or take native wives in
the city. Often, this is what happens, but there is a hard core of older and more
committed Singers, often those who have taken Steel Wind or a City Father as their
totem.

Gifts
The Song of Steel have learned a number of Gifts not commonly available to
the Wendigo Tribe from the spirits they encounter in the heights. They are cautious in
dealing with these spirits, and always, always keep their deals with them to the letter,
as their chosen occupation renders them unusually vulnerable to even minor
interference form the spirits.
Singers can not learn the Level One Gift Camouflage, they sacrifice that ability
by dwelling so exclusively in the city, but may instead learn the Stargazer Gift:
Balance. In addition they may learn the Lupus Gift Eye of the Eagle (Level Two), and
the following extra Gifts:

Catspring (Level One)

The Singer can leap astonishing distances from a standing start, and always
lands precisely where he wants to. This Gift is taught by a Cat-Spirit.
System: The Singer may add his Athletics score to his Strength for standing as
well as running jumps. He always lands precisely, even on the narrowest beams.
Cable Runner (Level Two)
As the Level Two Kahn Gift, Ricepaper Walk.
Sing the Steel (Level Two)
Song of Steel Medicine Workers say that high steel workers are the midwives of
buildings, and that this Gift calls upon the debt owed them by the structures which
they create. The Gift is taught by a Steel Elemental, a Building-Spirit, City Father or
servant of Steel Wind,
System: This Gift has a similar effect to the Level Two Wendigo Gift, Speak to
the Wind-Spirits (which the Singer may also learn), but allows the Singer to contact
and question the spirits within the steel skeleton of a building. It works only for
buildings which have a steel framework (iron reinforcement in concrete does not
count), but allows the Wendigo to gain often detailed information on goings-on within
the building.
Spirit of the Bird (Level Three)
As the Level Two Uktena Gift, but Singers must wait an extra Rank to learn this
Gift. In fact, few do learn it in the end, as those who reach Rank Three without
returning to their homes or at least coming down from the steel are either too crazed
or too confident to wish for a safety net.

Totems
In addition to Gifts, the Song of Steel have found Totems in the city. Some
serve the City Father of their adopted home, but often these are considered too
representative of the ‘White Spirit’ of the city’s pioneer founders. Favoured over
these are Building-Spirits – equally varied entities representing particularly well-
loved buildings and structures – and the fickle but powerful Steel Wind.

Building-Spirits (Cost varies)

The spirits of buildings only awaken if the building they inhabit is particularly
well-loved, or is the scene of great spiritual activity. Memorials and buildings of
national importance often have spirits, but as with City Fathers those in the US are
often considered just too damn white. Singers favour the patronage of skyscrapers and
other high buildings, especially those constructed by Indian workers. In fact, the Song
of Steel have a rite for ensuring that the spirits of the buildings they work on are
awake and strong, and favourably inclined towards them.
The benefits and bans of having a Building-Spirit as your Totem depend on the
activities carried out within the building. If the building is a bank, it will give
financial acumen, while an office might grant dots in Bureaucracy or a museum a
specialist Knowledge. On the down side, all will ask that their Children not damage
buildings, even Pentex buildings, and will impose other strictures, such as never
stealing anything (bank) or keeping incredibly detailed records (an office).

Steel Wind (Cost 6)

Steel Wind is a powerful Wind-Spirit. He draws his strength from the strong
winds which whip around the high places where the Wendigo and their kinfolk work
the high steel. He is a fickle and treacherous ally, but an implacable foe. He is not to
be trusted, but certainly not to be angered. His Children are among the most dedicated
of the Singers, and most of those over thirty follow him.
Blessings: Steel Wind grants his Children an extra die on all rolls relating to
physical balance, and two extra dots of Athletics. He teaches every one of his
Children the Gift Balance, but asks that they not learn the Gift Spirit of the Bird.
Children of Steel Wind also gain an extra die to Melee and Brawl when fighting in
high, precipitous conditions, and subtract two Health Levels from all falling damage
(a dubious Gift, given the heights Singers work at).
 Bans: Steel Wind is treacherous, and occasionally he may withdraw a blessing
unexpectedly. In particular, he has been known to remove the use of the Gift Balance
at critical moments, forcing his Children to rely on their own unaided wits for a turn
or two. In addition to forbidding the learning of Spirit of the Bird, Steel Wind will
actually strip the Gift from any of his Children who possess it. If any Garou ever
abandons Steel Wind, or repeatedly relies on safety equipment, Steel Wind will grow
angry, and the unfortunate Garou will find himself buffeted constantly by powerful
winds while at any great height above the ground.

Rites
Blessing the Building (Level Three Mystic)
Use of this rite allows a Medicine Worker to instil a latent sentience on a
building which they have helped to construct. It must be conducted at night, at the
highest point of the building’s steel frame. The Medicine Worker and his assistants
climb to the top of the frame, and share tobacco. Then the Medicine Worker performs
a short chant and gives the building a name. The rite culminates in a madcap dance, in
which the rite leader and his assistants chase one another around the frame of the
building and race to the ground.
System: The rite leader makes the usual roll, adding one die for every Gnosis
point spent by himself or any of his assistants. The larger the building, the more
successes needed to awaken its spirit, typically one success plus another success for
every five stories of the building.
The building does not awaken at once, but after its completion and occupation
its spirit rapidly becomes aware and active. As a result of the rite, the Building-Spirit
will be friendly to the Wendigo, and the atmosphere of the building will be conducive
to good work, adding one die to all rolls relating to its function. It may rebel however,
if used for purposes which too closely serve the Wyrm, subtracting one die from all
activities and generally causing depression and illness. If the rite is botched, the
building will display sick-building syndrome, and make all who try to live or work
within it feel run-down and depressed. It may well also develop dry-rot or mould with
unusual rapidity.