BY RICHARD DANSKY
PUBLISHED BY WHITE WOLF
104 PAGES
$15

"Why the hell does no one ever listen to us?"

That's an odd statement coming from a character in a game about doomed fanatical engines of destruction. It's a voice of common sense, from someone who looks before he leaps and sees the pragmatic realities in any situation. He's a Corax, otherwise known as a wereraven, and he's the narrator of White Wolf's decidedly unique sourcebook of the same name.

Werewolf: the Apocalypse has skirted the line of playability ever since its inception. It took the concept of lycanthropy in a fresh and invigorating direction, but also made playing one a difficult prospect. For all their power, and with the threat of annihilation looming larger every day, the Garou insist on squabbling amongst themselves like old ladies. They cling to philosophic ideals and unreachable challenges, while a real and terrifying enemy prepares to swallow them whole. In a setting which screams for levelheaded reasoning, you're offered a plethora of foaming fanatics who can't see past the end of their own snouts. It makes role-playing them difficult at best and monumentally depressing at worst.

The Corax sourcebook arrives as a balm for that wound, offering a loose-knit race of lycanthropes who understand the bigger picture. Using the narrative voice of a crotchety old werebird, author Richard Dansky deftly deconstructs the tragic failings of the werewolves and the other shapeshifting denizens of the World of Darkness. Gaia created the Corax to be her eyes and ears, to gather information and spread it as far as they could. They live to uncover mysteries, and what they uncover, they tell as many people as possible. As a result, they've seen and know about every little secret in the World of Darkness, and are note than happy to tell anyone else when something wicked their way comes. The problem is, not everyone is willing to listen.

The sourcebook runs the usual gambit of stars and info for Werewolf players interested in something new. The Coraxes' history and mythology are laid bare, their society discussed, and their strengths and weaknesses covered in great detail. The book also contains rules for creating wereraven PCs, including new gifts and abilities, new merits, and a host of new skills like Flight and Raven-Fu (okay, I made that one up, but there are rules for plucking people's eyes out, which is Raven-Fu enough for me). Dansky also gives an indepth discussion of how to role-play Corax, and conveys in clear terms how wereravens look at the world. No one's going to mistake these guys for Garou, that's for sure.

All of this is part and parcel for Werewolf's sourcebooks. What makes this book unique, however, is how different the Corax are from other lycanthropes. The Corax are not combat monsters. Raven-Fu notwithstanding, they lack the sheer bone-crunching mass of the Garous or Bastet. They're also pragmatic in the extreme; seeing as much as they do gives them a great deal of insight into the world, and they know when discretion becomes the better part of valor. They will not sacrifice their lives for some philosophical abstract like their werewolf cousins, nor will they blindly attack those who might otherwise be a great help.

In short, they're smart. They know what they're doing and they're clever enough not to get killed doing it, which makes them ideal commentators on the fatal inadequacies of their fellow shapeshifters. And perhaps because of that, they've got a little more hope for the World of Darkness than most. Could they see something that no one else does? Only time will tell.

In any case, their attitude and outlook is a refreshing change from the doom-laden j ihads of other lycanthropes. Existential questioning is all well and good, but it's nice to have someone finally point out how pig-headed werewolves can be - and provide evidence to back it up. Corax provides a fascinating new perspective on the Werewolf setting and reminds the reader that there really is a point under all that hopeless bloodshed. In light of White Wolf's characteristic gloom and doom, that's the best news any gamer can hope to hear.