Adoni Starfire
Overview
Adoni Starfire is an Aranda aboriginal elder of the Sept of the Waking Dream in Australia. For all that he's a hairless metis, he's gained widespread recognition as a gifted Shaman whose knowledge of the Umbra and the Dreamtime probably exceeds any werewolf living. Adoni often insists, to those who question him, that he lives within altjranga ngambakala, which sometimes can mean the Dreamtime but also refers to "one's own eternity." He likes to explain the Dreamtime as part of the mythic age, where eternal heroes who are part of the land never die. It's simultaneously a body of rules for living in the present and future, with connections to people, places and things of the past. Adoni makes constant connections between the past, present and future in his stories, and switches tenses in ways that usually make no sense to non-aborigines. Among Shamans, he is revered for his accomplished Rite of Invitation to the Ancestors, a moving ceremony that welcomes an ancestor to return in the body of a living werewolf host.
Adoni grew up in the sept, but no outsiders know much about his parentage or origins. In human form, he's small, dark-skinned bald man with large brown eyes; as a wolf, he's got leathery skin with no hair. His advanced age is apparent in all his forms; for a human, he's old, but for a werewolf, he's practically ancient. Adoni has no interest whatsoever i the Jindabyne Council and believes they ae generally clueless about the needs of the Australian Garou. Though he mourns deeply the loss of the Bunyip, he thinks it's best to honor them and let their spirits rest rather than try to force their return. Still, he has been intrigued by the rebirth of Nglyayod, the Rainbow Serpent, totem of the Bunyip, and is eager to see it strengthen and grow. If the Jindabyne Council wants to do something about helping the spirit, Adoni believes they should quit all their organizing talk and go help the totem now, before any more days pass.
The Shaman is not unfriendly, but he is cautious about trusting others. His only strong friendship outside of those in his sept is with the eccentric Child of Gaia, Innana, Voice of the Goddess. He respects her insights and often talks with her about what she has seen. Innana has shared with him what she believes to be the possible end of the Children of Gaia, based upon a series of dreams and visions. And recently, she told her friend of a terrible nightmare. In her dream, she felt her body being devoured by thylacines that bore sigils of the Bunyip, yet the creatures also bore visible taints of Grandfather Spider. Neither Innan nor Adoni have any idea what the Child of Gaia geneticist Cernounos has actually accomplished with "re-creating" the thylacine. If Adoni should ever discover the truth, her would likely not hesitate to slay the tainted creatures and see some sort of punishment or censure imposed on Cernounos.
References
- WTA: Tribebook: Uktena, p. 96-97