The Caern

History
The Heart of the City Caern was established in 1983. Initially intended to be a Glass-Walker sept, the ritual group performing the Rite of Caern Building came under heavier than expected attack from multiple packs of Black Spiral Dancers. One of the younger packs in the sept, Plenty & Anderson Ltd, had two Shadow Lord members who helped defend the new Caern, and - as the Gaian Garou were about to lose the battle - sent Stormcrows for help. The tide turned with several packs of Shadow Lords arriving to help, but the price they demanded afterwards was opening the Caern to any interested tribe, and an equal voice in running the sept. With only two experienced Glass Walkers (as well as Plenty & Anderson Ltd) surviving, the Glass Walkers had no choice but to agree, and the Heart of the City sept became one of the few truly multitribal septs in a heavily urban environment.

Layout:
The Caern consists of the top three floors of a high-rise office building in Midtown Manhattan. Only the lower of the two floors exist on any blueprints - David Plenty was strongly involved in the design of the building and managed to effectively hide an entire floor from any but the most perceptive observers.

The lowest floor (the 81st of the building) is effectively the Bawn. It is open to the public and serves as the office for the architecture firm Plenty & Anderson Ltd. It is the only floor in the Caern accessible by elevators, and almost all the staff are Garou or Kinfolk. While it is part of the Caern on a spiritual level, nothing on this floor would appear out of the ordinary to a human visitor (and there are many of these - the architecture firm is actually doing business, after all, and customers and business partners can often be seen here. Two sets of stairs lead up to the second floor. Several spirits of boredom and disinterest have been bound into the doors to these stairs, working with the "staff only" signs to discourage any visitors from heading up.

The second floor, the 82nd of the building, is the top floor according to any and all official documents. It is usually off-limits to normal humans, but set up to pass as normal on even a fairly thorough investigation - just in case one of the septs enemies manages to target the company with a police investigation or the like. Most of the floor consists of office buildings, but there is also a security room that allows access to security cameras and various security systems in the building. All doors and walls on this floor are reinforced and can be closed and locked remotely if the Caern is attacked. This floor also has several rooms that have retractable bunk beds built into the walls and several communal washrooms - this is the closest thing to living quarters that can be found here, normally only used for visiting Garou or when there is heightened risk of an attack (in which case most of the local Garou temporarily move in to assist with the defense of the Caern if required). Most official caern business not involving Rites or spirits is conducted on this floor.

The access to the top floor is through a server room that serves as the final line of defense. It has several wall panels packed with a mixture of magnesium, gold and silver dust, as well as small packs of explosives. In the event of an attack by supernatural foes, these can be set off. The silver and gold dust makes it difficult for almost any shapechangers to breath and forces them into their breed form. The magnesium dust is ignited moments later by bound fire elementals, creating an inferno that will kill or at least severely wound almost any supernatural attackers. Behind a hidden door in this room, the stairs to the top floor can be found.

The top floor is strictly off-limits to anyone except sept members or visiting Garou (and very rarely others that are clearly Gaian and have a trusted Garou vouching for them - to date, this has been limited to two Corax and one delegation of Hengeyokai consisting of a Kitsune, a Hakken and a Tengu.) Anyone setting foot on the stairs to this floor that is not supposed ot be there will be treated as an invasion, sending the Caern into lockdown and meeting the presumed attacker with any and all force available.

On this floor, the memorial hall, the assembly area , the Heart of the Caern and multiple shrines can be found, and there are usually several Garou present while not working or on patrol. Most of the floor is open plan and with the views over the surrounding city gives a sense of space that makes it popular with the few Lupus making their home here or visiting.