Clayton (Negosyatè) Danvers

Clayton "Clay" Danvers

Ithaeur Bone Shadow

Lodge of Death

Member of Los Pobladores

Primal Urge 2

A History Before The People
Clayton Danvers was born on November 24, 1981 in Knoxville, TN. On that night an amateur astrologist reported seeing a double crescent moon in the sky. While he concluded that he was seeing a refraction of light causing the double moon to appear, this phenomena would be what shaped young Clayton’s life.

From an early age, Clayton reported to his family that he felt “other presences” in his life. His mother would express concern, but his father would beam with pride and simply respond, “The blood is strong in him.” Shortly after his fifth birthday, Clayton caught his father and mother in an emotional argument. All he could ever remember hearing clearly during this argument was his father, at the top of his lungs, yelling at his mother; “It’s not possible, Jamie. You have changed, as much as we care for each other, you have to leave.”

Clayton never saw his mother again. She left for parts unknown, and from that day forward Clayton was raised by his father. When Clayton would again feel presences, his father would encourage him to try to see them. Try to make them out, pierce the veil and see what will never remain hidden to him. Clayton, wishing to please his father would try, over and over. Whenever he felt a presence he would strain to see someone or something.

Despite the eerie presence of entities, being the child of a single father, and barely being able to concentrate through the overwhelming feeling of being different; Clayton was able to excel in school. He enjoyed history, and had a particular affection for tribes, specifically the tribes that revered animals and animal deities.

His father continued to encourage him when he felt presences, and shortly after his graduation he finally was able to see a presence. After the party thrown to celebrate his graduation, Clayton and his father went for a weekend trip in the Appalachian Mountains. One evening when they were hunting, Clayton’s father began to discuss some of the tribes in the area. He told his son of a secretive tribe that still existed today, they venerated beings known as Father Wolf and Mother Moon. He explained that members of this tribe were not aware of their membership until a fateful night when they heard the whispers of Mother Moon, and it would change their life forever.

A Double Crescent Moon (First Change)
Clayton listened, and discussed this tribe with his father enthusiastically. Suddenly he felt a chill, and his mind felt like it was pressing on the outside of his brain. “Dad, I feel it again, some…presence is here with us.”

His father straightened in his seat and looked around. He seemed to smell the air, and nodded. “I feel it too,” he responded looking up to the sky, “how strange, there is a double crescent in the sky tonight. Clayton, you need to try to see it. Look at the world as if there were no curtain. Try to push your eyes, and see what you feel.”

Clayton narrowed his eyes, and looked into the woods. For a fleeting moment he saw a motion in the woods. “I see something, but I think it’s just an animal. A deer mayb…” Clayton’s words were cut off by a howl in the night sky, and he saw her. A woman in a white cloak against the snow; who looked to be from centuries ago walked among the trees, and when she turned her eyes upon Clayton, they gleamed and shimmered a brilliant yellow in the night, and she ran.

Clayton described the scene, and his father jumped from his seat. “Take the lead Clayton, we have to follow her!”

Clayton was never one to argue with his father in these matters, and he leaped from his chair, running with his father close behind. They began to gain on the woman, and as they approached her, she turned upon them again.

Clayton’s father shouted, “No, Clayton stop, she’s no goo..” His words, however, were cut off as the woman sprung forth great spider legs from her body and leaped upon Clayton’s father. There was another howl, but this one was closer, and seemed to cause the spider woman to raise her head and look around; a hesitation that allowed Jeremy Danvers to finally reveal his secret to his beloved son. The man beneath the spider began to grow in size, long fur grew from his body, his nose lengthened and formed a snout, and large fangs dropped from his jaws. He bit into the monstrous Azul, causing her to hiss in pain and bury her own bite into his father.

Mental clarity torn apart by fear for his father’s life, Clayton attacked the Azul with a fallen branch, but was thrown into a tree. It was here, with another howl, closer still; the pain of being thrown into a tree; and the light of a double crescent moon that Clayton Danvers experienced his first change. Pain, rage, and essence flowed through Clayton’s body. His small frame was nearly doubled in size as Father Wolf, Mother Moon, and man became one. His body became gauru, and he pounced upon the spiderwoman with a ferocity he was only capable of his this form.



The battle raged for nearly fifteen minutes before a howl erupted from the trees. Clayton and his father were joined by four wolves, which changed from the urhan form they were in to gauru, and the pack attacked. The Azul was a powerful one, and it took all six wolves to take her down. Once the spinner fell, the pack had to deal with a newly changed wolf.

Clayton was aware of his surroundings, and oddly at peace. Clarity struck him clear as a bell that this is what his father had always been preparing him for. Unfortunately for Clayton, while the change did not ravage his mind as it so often can, it did not come in time to save his father. Jeremy’s injuries from the battle were too severe, and even with the innate natural healing of the wolf, he succumbed and passed away, there in the woods.

A young woman Clayton felt a connection to, stepped forward, and knelt beside the body of his father. “Jeremy, you silly bastard, I believe in our laws. You did not have to separate from the pack to prepare Clayton.” She leaned forward and kissed his forehead before standing and speaking to the other three softly, “We should bury him. He was pack.”

In the moonlight, Clayton saw the face, and finally recognized it. “M…mom?”

“Yes.” Was the only response Clay received from the woman.

“It’s not possible, you left us. Gone forever he said.” Clay stepped towards the woman, who laid a hand to his cheek gently.

“It is the law of our The People that we cannot breed together. Your father and I met, and fell in love long before I became of The People. Once the change came, I could no longer be with your father. We both understood.”

“But you fought, you were so angry. All I remember is dad saying you changed, and you had to go, it was…"

“Forbidden.” His mother finished for him. She nodded, “our fight was not about staying together. It was about who would have you. He wanted to keep you and teach you while I returned to the pack. I wanted us all to return to the pack, but he would not have it. As usual your father’s forceful personality won out, and I returned to the pack. It is terrible; he should not have died like this.”

“How do we? I mean, we can’t bury him like this.” Clayton responded.

“We must, he was Uratha, we will return him to our territory and bury him there, as one of us. He never left us entirely and I’m sure if he had survived, you would have both returned to the pack.”

Clayton was lost, “I don’t understand.”

“You will, son. Return with us and we will teach you everything you need to know.”

Clayton learned his first rite the night his father died, a simple Funeral Rite to honor his father, give the pack an opportunity to say goodbye, and usher him into the afterlife. He performed the ritual with the aid of his mother, the pack shaman.

The Bone Shadow Tribe
Clayton continued to learn from the pack, in time he learned to easily pierce the veil, entering the Shadow Realm. With the guidance of his mother, Clay learned the duties of a shaman within the tribe, he learned ritual casting, and how to hone his gifts given to him by Mother Wolf.

In time, Clayton was approached to journey into the Shadow Realm, and bring back the spirit of the azul that killed his father so it could be questioned. The Alpha suspected it, the azul, had been the first of many; a scout to test the borders and defenses of the pack. The Alpha wanted to know their plan and there was only one way to discover the information.

It was not, in the strictest sense, a typical initiation into the Bone Shadow tribe, but the elders of that tribe held a moot, and decided that, should Clayton be successful, he be initiated into the tribe.

The Alpha granted Clay two companions for the journey, and Clay stunned the wolves when he chose his parents. His mother, was easy to provide as she was a member of the pack. The initial impossibility of taking his father was set aside when Clay admitted he had been having visions of his father, who promised to protect his son through his first journey into the Shadow Realm.

Clay and Jamie found a Loci, and Clay was able to power it, piercing the veil and serving as a pathfinder for his mother. Once across, they began their search for Jeremy. When they were able to find him, Jamie appeared uneasy around him which was a cause for concern with Clay. When Jamie assured Clay they were ok, the trio pressed forward.

Searching for nearly ten hours, they finally discovered the azul in a way they never expected. The spirit of a tree which resided near the place where the azul met his death had consumed the spirit of the azul, and was now a destructive spider-tree. Attempting to avoid a fight that could cost them more than their life, Clayton began to negotiate with the new spirit. In the end, the spirit agreed to reveal what it knew to the Alpha for the price of essence from a shaman. They returned to the pack with the spirit, and Clay served as a pathfinder to the Alpha to allow him to speak to the spirit.

Once the spirit had completed his end of the bargain; Jamie offered her essence to the spirit. It betrayed the Uratha, however, and drained the shaman dry of her essence, stealing her life and consuming her spirit.

Clayton was devastated, brought to his knees in the wake of his loss, the spirit of his father consoled him in the first tongue.

"Now, Clayton Danvers, you understand that to be a Bone Shadow can have irreversible consequences. I came to you to test your resolve, your inner strength, and you have proven worthy. I am truly sorry for your loss, but I hope it will shape you as a hirfathra hissu, I return you to your Alpha. Return to your tribe and take your mother's place. You have been committed to the pact with Kamidus. I, the Death Wolf, name you; Negosyatè, negotiator of spirits. You are a Bone Shadow."

Clay performed the funeral rites again, and once again they were for a parent. Taking comfort only in the fact that he would never have to perform the rights for a parent again. Clay began to study the spirits, tribal humans that venerated them as gods, and the nature of the Shadow Realm. He took on the full mantle of his deed name, Negosyatè, for his pack.

A Favor for the Alpha, The Pack Splinters
After years of service, learning and growing, the Alpha approached Negosyatè, asking him the favor of serving as his pathfinder once more, and allowing him to cross into the Shadow Realm at the Loci where Jeremy was killed. Negosyatè agreed, but was not allowed to question the Alpha's motives, and his attempts to do so were met with stern admonishment.

Negosyatè performed the sidestep and allowed the Alpha to enter the veil with him. Once they had crossed, he was ordered to return. To tell the pack only that the Alpha had an important task to perform in the spirit world, and that he would return to the pack when it was completed.

Negosyatè returned to the pack, and informed the Alpha's son, Noah, of his father's mission. Now, the pack is working to maintain their territory under Noah, serving as Alpha until the expected return of his father. Clay, Negosyatè to the pack, took a job at UCLA teaching Cultural Anthropology, specializing in tribes that venerate animals and animal-like men as deities. As he serves in this position he is freely available to his pack as the Hirfathra Hissu, though he has begun to feel that his council has been frowned upon lately because he served as the pathfinder the lead the Alpha into shadow.

This feeling has lead Negosyatè to begin testing pups around the city on the fringes of the pack to lead them into the shadow and find his Alpha. Attempting, in his own struggle, to put a band-aid on the quickly splintering pack.

Negosyatè Returns to the Pack
Clayton has resumed his mortal mask of the frail college professor working in the Anthropology department at UCLA. He had somewhat begun to stray from the pack, a slight rift having formed when the spirits claimed the young wolfblood, Noah as the pack's Alpha. However, a recent turn of events has returned Negosyatè to his pack.

Living the double lives of all werewolves once more, he has reaffirmed his oath to the pack, and promised to protect the young, unchanged Alpha with his own life. His shame at the decimation of the pack from hundreds to only seven uratha is difficult for him to disguise at times,but his loyalty to those other six is, at last, unyielding and undying.

Description
Clayton Danvers, is a very lean 5'9" weighing in at only 137lbs. However, his slight frame is not to be mistaken as belonging to a weak man. The near-gaunt appearance is a curse shared among many of the bone shadows. Days, weeks and months in the gauntlet often consume any fat that the werewolf can build. However, Clay can hide his sleight frame in well fitting, often expensive clothing.

Most often, he wears a black suit he uses for his job as a professor of Anthropology at UCLA. On a rare occasion he is known to sport a jean and t-shirt combo, but he very much seems to prefer his professor's suit.

PCs

 * Evan Cord - The vampire is a Dead Wolf, so even the spirits acknowledge the former uragarum as part of the pack. That is what Fuller tells us all. I get a feeling Fuller doesn't trust him, or at least is uncomfortable with him. So far he's done nothing but support the pack in his actions. I don't see any reason not to welcome the help.
 * Kyle Samson - He rubs me the wrong way, in absolutely every way. I was once given the task to teach and council this pack, but this man stubbornly insists upon being resistant and downright hostile to both. He was welcomed into this pack as a fellow, and has appreantly decided to play pretender to Fuller's place as the Beta. I cannot, and will not ever accept him in that honored position for this pack. He is far to willing to sacrifice life, and I have grown to fear that he is a little eager to do so.
 * Fuller Lancaster - The pack Beta, once thought to be next in line to be Alpha. However the spirits chose Noah, a wolfblood. Fuller has accepted their decision and continues his role as the Alpha's guard. I can accept the choice, even if I don't like it, and I know how to work with the boy. I just wish he and Fuller understood me the way Noah's father did.
 * Josh Mackenzie - A newcomer, don't have any reason to distrust him. He apparently gave up a strong music career to study, and I can respect that. For now he's still a pup.
 * Raul Bryant - I don't particularly dislike Raul and his running mate, Rock. The boys tend to step somewhat over the line of legality in some of their work, and it rubs me the wrong way. Come to think of it, it's rubbed the both of them the wrong way recently too.

NPCs

 * Chris Lancaster - Fuller's son by Raina Freeman, she was killed and he was kidnapped by Anshega, presumably on the orders of Fuller's family.


 * Noah Christian - The urugarrum Alpha has gone from simple charge to friend and confidant.  As Alpha, I am sworn to protect him with my own blood, if necessary. So says Mother Luna's dictum.  I miss his father's wisdom, but I do hope it will come to him in time.