Auweke
Overview
Named after the so-called "big-eyed fish," the moana kali, Auweke was a Gibbous Moon born shortly before the takeover of the Hawai'ian islands by the United States in 1893. Legends say his mother was one of the first wolf-people to come to live among the Kanaka Maoli, the native people of Hawai'i, and that the Kinfolk man who fathered Aiwkere shared the royal blood of King Kamehameha III. Kamehameha III was the ruler who managed to convince the formidable British navy to leave the islands within a mere five months of their arrival in 1843, through means that still remain a mystery. In any case, the line of Auweke's father had been chosen to be Kin sometime after the Great Council welcomed certain other cultures and peoples to join the tribe. The birth of the boy Auweke came at a time when the Kanaka Maoli needed a sense of hope. They feared, as had the People of Turtle Island, that the haole would ruin their lands and lives.
Then, as now, werewolves were few in number in the islands. Auweke grew up in an isolated sept, despising the outsiders who destroyed the land with their sugar cane and pineapple fields. It wasn't about "race" or the color of someone's skin; for many years, the Kanaka Maoli had welcomed people who may have looked different, but still respected the islands in the same manner as they did. What angered Auweke and his septmates was the greed and disregard for the health of the land. By the time the Galliard underwent his First Change and Rite of Passage, the haole were making a fortune from sugar cane, rice, coffee and pineapple crops, with little if any profits and benefits being returned to the Kanaka Maoli. Queen Lili'uokalani had been under hose arrest for almost a year before being released, and the U.S. government were the de facto rulers of the land. Auweke determined that he was going to do something about it.
The first efforts of the Moon Dancer and his packmates were small scale. They burned some scattered plantations and frightened off minor government officials. Then, they made bolder moves, destroying a few small military vessels off the coast of Oahu. At this point, a few werewolves from other tribes, such as the Glass Walkers, interceded. They tried to point out the benefits that had come to the islands and promised that given time, they'd help turn some of the profits back into preserving the land. Maybe they were sincere, but the local werewolves didn't accept the offer. Auweke, his sept and his Kin grew bolder in their efforts and generally scorned the more peaceful avenues of change the Glass Walkers and Children of Gaia advocated.
Auweke's ultimate fate remains a mystery. He'd left his packmates to meet with one of the Wyrmcomer Changers, promising to return with hope of a truce that would clearly mark a change for the better, but he declined to tell anyone the details. Two days later, a sept member found the Moon Dancer's body on the beach at low tide. Three silver-tipped arrows pieced Auweke's flesh, one through each eye, the third through his throat. All efforts by his pack and sept to find out where the meeting was held and what treachery had befallen their brother failed; they could find no clues, either mystical or mundane.
Three generations have passed since Warcher of Water's death, and still, no new information has surfaced. But with the growth of the Hawai'ian independence movement led by the humans, the small werewolf population of the islands hopes they'll finally find the truth. One of Auweke's great-great granddaughters, a Crescent Moon called Kalea, Seeker of Deep Places, is on friendly terms with a few Stargazers who live in Hawai'i. She knows they have resources and contacts well beyond her own and hopes they'll assist her tribe in solving one of its most bitter mysteries.
References
- WTA: Tribebook: Uktena, p. 94-95