Ooo, background. Most of this stuff is just to clue you in a little and you don't need to memorise it straight away or anything. I just thought that some pre-information might stir up some ideas for characters...
Werewolf is shamanistic ecoterrorism for dnd munchkins :) Well, not really, but in some ways. Its about corruption, both spiritual and physical. Werewolves are protectors of the Great Mother, Gaia. They have a very tribal/shamanistic culture still.
Garou (werewolves) see the universe as being the Realm, basically the body, mind and spirit of Gaia. There are three major forces/spirits that make up reality. They are the Wyld (change, nature, chaos), the Weaver (stability, civilisation) and the Wyrm (balance)... except that millenia ago the Weaver achieved sentience and went mad, trying to make everything permanent. The wyrm came along and tried to maintain balance and was woven into the Weaver's web. So it went bonkers too.
Now the Weaver tries to make everything static while the Wyrm is looking for the trivial solution to the equation of balance - if everything is destroyed then there is a balance of sorts - and has become the Great Corrupter (the bad guy).
The Garou now (mostly) work for the Wyld, trying to protect the last natural pieces of Gaia against the encroachment of the humans in the Realm and the minions of the Wyrm and Weaver in the Umbra.
Cosmological Metaphysics.
Before the Weaver went mad, there was only the Realm. As the Weaver lost it, it split spirit from matter and created a barrier called the Gauntlet. Now there are many realms (small r). The physical world is still called the Realm. The spirit world is called the Umbra. Some of the spirit world corresponds to the real world and it is called the Penumbra. There are strange realms that float in the Umbra. Werewolves can move between the worlds (called stepping sidewise).
This is easiest to do in places where the Gauntlet is low. It is very high in cities, and lower in wilderness areas. It is lowest in places called Caerns.
Caerns.
Around the world there are sacred places to the garou, where spiritual power wells out of the Umbra and into the Realm. They are called caerns, and they are the most valuable things that the garou know of. Septs (groups of Garou) collect around caerns to protect them.
Garou Culture
As stated, Garou culture is very tribal in nature. Their laws are the Litany, a short list of absolute laws which were created in ages past. Their code of conduct revolves around three major tenets - Glory, Honour and Wisdom. Different Garou specialise in different aspects of Renown. Younger and less experienced Garou are expected to pay attention to the suggestions and requests of the eldest, and those posessing the most Renown.
The smallest Garou social unit is the pack. Most packs have a leader and they speak for, and are responsible for the actions of their pack. Most packs are part of a Sept, which defends a caern, and they are expected to obey the sept elders. Garou are also part of a tribe and are expected to obey tribal elders as well. In Australia, the tribes each have one representative on the Jindabyne Council, which in theory directs all the Garou in Australia.