The Circus

When you think of a circus, you may think of the usual group of jugglers, clowns, acrobats and entertainers gathered together to enchant your afternoon for a denar or two. However, this circus is a bit different. You'll already notice when you see their tent, black as the night that they perform in. This circus does not do matinées anymore, and if you're a cub, your parents are not likely to allow you to go near the place.

History

In the very beginning, the Circus was only a ragtag band of wolf entertainers who decided to perform together on the streets of Harrowgate. They were not very successful, and desperately sought a way to earn a bit of money in order to survive. One day they were found and recruited by the heaven-sent Volrath, who, using new-fangled wolf pack derivative methods turned the hapless band into a well functioning organization.

Some particularly bright circus members were also trained in additional arts of a nature more useful to the Volrath. They formed a core group within the Circus, who were to perform surveillance, information and intelligence gathering, and outright spying. Wherever the Circus travelled, these wolves would be with them, eyes, ears and noses always alert.

So, the Circus set out into Calabria. In the beginning, the circus wolves were moderately successful, but after a series of bad judgements and disastrous performances with several accidental deaths, they were soon at the brink of ruin.

Enter an offer that they couldn't refuse.

Representatives from an unknown group approached the Circus with an offer of financial backing and the instatement of Zambiro, a new manager to replace the just-deceased one. The group, which would later turn out to be the Army of Purity, kept good on their promise after the Circus accepted their offer, and things seemed to be heading in the right direction.

It started as a small side act, to add a little spice to the circus act. A cross-breed of fox, otter and Sanguine know what was added to a couple of numbers as a shock effect. Noone seemed to know where it came from, but the success was immediate and became the talk of the towns after every performance. The act was expanded, and suddenly the circus artists were finding themselves with new tasks. They were no longer acrobats and jugglers. Instead, they were keepers of a rapidly growing menagerie. Those amongst the circus people who felt any pride in their previous line of work were unhappy, but then again, double the pay is good enough to buy enough booze to forget such things.

Zambiro seemed to have plenty of good contacts for the new circus. He organized performances every night, and he knew where to acquire new "freaks" for the show. He figured out which palms to grease when legal problems arose. But he did more than that. Zambiro could give a presentation that made the most blasé casual visitor shiver with raised hackles but still stare in rapt fascination. He played on the emotions of people, subtly inducing a deep hate against un-pure breeds and breeding. The unfortunate half-breeds that he had acquired via his contacts with the Army of Purity became the very icons of sickly sin.

After success had stabilized, another element was introduced to the act, actually against Zambiro's will, but at the insistence of his backers. Carefully selected members of the audience were invited to a "fight" in the arena, representing the righteous struggle of the virtuous against the wicked spawns of sin. The brave volunteers were carefully and silently instructed to leave the property of the Circus subdued but unharmed, to ensure the continuity of the show. Zambiro himself also seemed to strongly take a dislike to the actual harming of his freaks.

Nevertheless, the popularity of the show practically exploded, and the Circus could take any price for entrance. People queued to pay ten denarii. Zambiro, rather disillusioned, had to watch several of his freaks die, and started negotiating with his contacts in the Army for the acquisition of new ones, all while seeming seriously depressed. Conspiring with some of his fellow circus employees, though, he conceived the idea of another show.

The second show was everything that the Army of Purity hated. In acts of forbidden carnal temptations and raw uninhibited pleasure, Zambiro led a very select audience to experience lusts and passions vehemently detested by society at large. The show was a much smaller affair than the regular show, and only available to a select few, very well-paying customers. If the Army of Purity would find out about this, there would likely be all kinds of hell, but Zambiro is very shrewd about it.

Meanwhile, the Volrath are getting worried about their Circus. There hasn't been any report from their key people in the Circus for several months now, and likely, they'll soon send out Kerrel to investigate. But that's another story...

So if a circus comes to town, make sure that you get a ticket for the show, and if against all odds you manage to acquire one of the black tickets, you're definitely in for an experience that you will never forget, for as long as you live. Of course, your life expectancy is another question...

Affiliations

The Volrath were the original founders of the Circus, and have quite a bit of interest in getting the Circus back on track.

The Army of Purity have hijacked the circus for their own propaganda purposes, and while it outwardly seems to fill this purposes, the question remains: Are they still in control? Nevertheless, the Army of Purity is controlling the flow of freaks to the circus.

Members

Zambiro is the current, charismatic and dramatically very proficient manager of the Circus. He always delivers a show, whatever the cause, and you are sure to get your money's worth when you get a ticket to his Circus show.

Enemies

The Church of S'Allumer have furiously tried to shut the Circus down after they heard about the cruelties going on there, but they have found themselves checked at every instance when trying to go through legal channels. When they preached openly against it in sermons and speeches, they found themselves with diminishing parishes and high officials hinting that "there might be time for a change" in quite meaningful ways.

Twelve Paws are very much against the racist extremism displayed in the circus shows and are working through various political means to get this horrible establishment abolished. However, such things take time, and the Circus is moving around from town to town, which makes them very difficult to get at, legally.