Product Review

Paperback - 158 pages

Sir Burnham Carrington felt strangely uneasy. He rode on the back of an elephant, with two Hindu guides at his side. The basket-like space was uncomfortable at times, but it was a small price to pay for travelling relatively safely through the jungle. The guides seemed a little frightened, too. There is nothing to be afraid of, Sir Burnham thought to himself. Two other great hunters like himself were riding this bizarre elephant convoy. He had requested this.

The guides had told him that the great white tiger was marauding close to one of the villages. And he was heading towards it, to see the mighty beast, and to find a prey that was worthy of his great hunting skills. The other two hunters had joined him to satisfy their own curiosity. But he would let none other claim the beast’s head. They arrived at the desolate village.

Signs of a bloody battle stained the huts’ walls with the usual dark red, dismembered body pieces lay scattered across the field. Some huts had been literally torn apart, all of their inhabitants missing. The tiger had moved fast. With almost human-like cruelty and surgical precision. The beast was everything Sir Burnham expected. He smiled at the death that had walked, four-legged, among the huts. That head would adorn the spot above his fireplace, back at his Cornish countryside estate. He didn’t know, yet, that his head, not the beast’s would adorn a wall, and that he’d never leave the Indian jungles again...

Bastet is the first of the Changing Breeds Books, a series of nine volumes that detail each of the Changing Breeds, also known as Bête and Fera. These beings are men and animals, physical and spirit, just like the mighty Garou werewolves. In ancient times, there were many Changing Breeds, some of which are now extinct. All of them had a task set by Gaia, but the Garou waged a terrible war upon them, the War of Rage.

This war, which happened some 10,000 years ago, killed off entire species of Changing Breeds, and left the surviving with bitter scars and silent hatred. The Garou, the protectors and warriors of Gaia, out of their own pride, led this genocidal war and were never punished for it. Now, the Apocalypse is at hand, and the Garou have finally learned about their mistake, but it’s too little too late.

The Bastet are the powerful were-felines. Just like the Garou, they are divided into tribes, all of which claim different species of felines, from the housecats of the Ceilican, to the lions of the Simba. Their task is to be the eyes of Gaia, those who learn the secrets, and, in lands unpolluted by the presence of the psychotic Garou, they also protect the land.

This book details their history, their connection with the cat-cult in ancient Egypt, and their secret war on the Setite vampires. In the past, they were strong and numerous. Now, one of the tribes (the Ceilican) is presumed dead, and another (the Bubasti) is too weak to withstand a heavy blow. But the cats’ burning hearts have devised schemes of vengeance, some of them even consider using the Cahlash (the Wyrm) as a tool. When those who own the most important secrets plot, the world begins to shake.

This book covers everything about the Bastet. Each of the Bastet tribes is dealt with separately, and as neatly as each werewolf tribe in the core-book, and the reader finds out the difference between them and Werewolves, and even amongst themselves.

There are new Abilities, new Merits & Flaws, new Rites and new Gifts… and a disturbing bit of knowledge… beside the Gifts, the were-cats can use human magic! Discover about their magic weaknesses (Java) and their spiritual companions, called Jamak. The reader will also discover the nature of their secret Den-Realms, places they control, where land and Bastet become one being, a really disturbing notion. With secrets like this, it’s logical that they don’t want to share.

Another secret is revealed within the pages of Bastet: the were-cats used to host, among the tribes, a different kind of Changing Breed, the were-hyenas, known as Ajaba. This folk used to help the sickly to die, but they have been hunted down and all but destroyed by the Simba, and their mad King Blacktooth (in more recent books, we learn that this nice guy has been put down for good, thank Gaia) who rages across Africa in his unique war of rage: he and his buddies, against everyone else.

Who will you kill for all of these secrets? Fortunately, you don’t have to kill anybody in order to obtain them, as the Bastet would. This book is a must-have for the serious Werewolf Storyteller, and is a good read for any feline fan just like me. Are you allowed to play Garfield as a character? I don’t think so… but who’s to say?

I must depart now… One of my contacts has told me about a secret book containing the lore of the night-folk commonly known as vampires. If this book really exists, I shall find out. It might give us a great advantage in our shadow war against the children of the monster some call Set or Sutekh.

Reviewed by Matías Timm