Everything

Call to the Lost

Level Two Traveling from the material world into the Umbra and back is not only a werewolf's birthright, but a necessity for maintaining the balance of self that Gaia intended for her defenders. Doing so can be dangerous, though, especially in times such as these. Sometimes things go wrong. A packmate becomes caught in the Gauntlet itself, trapped between worlds. A werewolf is injured and alone in a Realm far from home, unable to return on her own. A comrade suffers the burden of Harano and walks among the spirits for too long, becoming disconnected from the physical

world, forgetting who she is. A pack strays too far from the path given to them by their spirit guide and can't find their way back. In cases like these, this rite can be used to call the wandering soul back to where it belongs.

The ritemaster builds a fire scattered with fragrant herbs, burns incense, smokes a large pipe of tobacco and herbs, or otherwise creates a great amount of strong-smelling smoke. Once the fire is lit, he drums and howls, beating the mother rhythm and calling out long and loud. The searching call echoes out across the Umbra, seeking the wandering one by name. In time, if she doesn't fight the call, the lost soul will arrive at the site of the rite, though she may need the ritemaster's help to cross over the Gauntlet. This rite can also be used to return a Stargazer's mind to her body if she becomes lost while traveling the Astral Umbra; in this case, it must be performed over her body, which is painted with glyphs in a combination of ochre and blood.

System

The difficulty of the roll is equal to the target's Gnosis rating; the stronger her connection to the spirit world, the harder it is to call her away from it. This rite can be performed on either side of the Gauntlet, but if it's done from the physical world, the ritemaster must make the roll to pierce the Gauntlet and let the target through. It takes a number of hours equal to the target's Gnosis rating to com­ plete the rite, so if the character is trying to call back a highly spiritual Garou, he should settle in for a test of endurance. The werewolf being called experiences a series of visions that symbolize the call and the journey, perhaps encountering dream-beings that resemble those performing the ritual.

Call to Arms

Level Two This rite is performed in identical fashion to the Rite of Spirit Awakening. Rather than waking the inactive spirit of an object or plant, though, this version of the rite calls to the spiritual half of a werewolf slumbering under the effects of the lupus Gift: Hibernation (p. 151). It wakes the sleeping Garou prematurely, which prompts a Rage roll at +1 difficulty from the target.

Rite of the Shadow Play

Level Three While most Garou are familiar with the friendly spirits known as Lunes, fewer know their more secretive cousins. This rite calls on the Blood Lunes, spirits of lunar eclipses and the far side of the moon. These elusive Jagglings see all but say little, lurking just beyond sight wherever moonlight shines. A werewolf who coaxes them out properly can draw on their abundance of ancient observations from unseen corners of the world, asking questions about the history of an elusive subject and receiving a cryptic shadow play in answer. Blood Lunes don't usually care about knowledge that's known by many, and they tend to forget it. They only

retain secrets, and so only secrets can be learned from them. This rite doesn't actually summon the Blood Lunes into the material world, if performed there; it only draws them close to the Gauntlet to pass on their hints.

This rite must be performed during the full moon, when its light shines fully on a surface. The Garou must have some physical representation of the subject of her inquiry on hand. This could include a lock of hair or a severed finger, a carved bone resembling a spirit, sand from a particular beach, or even a photograph. She sacrifices a nocturnal animal — usually a bat — then takes awakened psilocybin or peyote. Having done so, she places the token on the ground, lets her shadow fall upon the bright surface, and dances. As she does, her shadow acts out her questions in symbolic gestures. She must repeat these motions until her shadow separates from her and acts out its own story. Other shadows join it, presenting an enigmatic tale that she must interpret for clues that answer the questions. The tale may not even obviously reference the subject of the query, but with the proper interpretation, she can still glean.

System

The player rolls Wits + Enigmas with a diffi­ culty based on the obscurity or specificity of her subject. Well-known or broad subjects such as the Garou Nation, World War I, or the Weaver are difficulty (7 - Rituals). Slightly narrower or more obscure subjects such as a par­ ticular mountain range, the Silver Fangs’ tribal lore, or a

corporate merger are difficulty (8 - Rituals). Coaxing out Blood Lunes who know about very narrow or arcane subjects such as a particular lost tome of wisdom, an individual not widely-known, or an agreement made between two spirits is difficulty (9 - Rituals). For each success on the roll, the werewolf learns one secret about the subject's past, couched in mystery and symbolism. The more successes the player rolls, the easier to interpret these hints should be.

Rite of Spirit Union

Level Five This ancient rite was lost to time for centuries before it was rediscovered recently by a pack that ventured far into the Deep Umbra on a quest to find allies in their fight. Once, long ago, brave Garou heroes ready to risk everything to uphold their sacred duty to Gaia made pacts with spirits to merge with them, creating divine warrior beings with a werewolf's mind and prowess, and a spirit's power and nature. The union represents a serious imbalance, however, and is not sustainable. If the Garou becomes drunk on the power, or his need is so great that he cannot afford to let the spirit go before his task is done, he courts disaster.

The petitioner must fast for one day and one night before the rite begins, readying his body to be filled with spiritual energy. He scribes glyphs on his body with his own claws, symbols of his dedication drawn in blood, and opened flesh

that offers a gateway to the spirit. Then, he must go to the spirit he wishes to petition and make his case. The Rite of Spirit Union doesn't work if the spirit was summoned or commanded with Gifts; it must agree to the union of its own free will. Alternatively, the petitioner can bring along a ritemaster to perform the ritual for him, acting as a medi­ ator. If the Garou (or his ritemaster) persuades the spirit to accede, the pact is made: the spirit agrees to inhabit the body of the petitioner and lend its strength to his cause, and in return the werewolf agrees to take no actions that would go against the spirit's own nature. Once the rite is complete, the two beings merge to become one. The werewolf retains full autonomy, and can only faintly sense the spirit's thoughts and emotions. The merged being takes on the appearance of a fantastical mix between the two.

System

To petition a spirit at all for this rite, the Garou must have a Rank that corresponds to the relative impor­ tance of the spirit. At Rank 1 or 2, he could only merge with Gafflings, while at Rank 3 or 4 he could merge with Jagglings and at Rank 5 he could petition even the Incarnae.

At the time of the rite, the petitioner takes aggravated damage appropriate to the spirit: 1 level for a Gaffling, 3 for a Jaggling, and 5 for an Incarna. The ritemaster’s player makes an extended and resisted roll of Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 7) against the spirit's Gnosis (difficulty equal to the werewolf's Gnosis rating). If the player accumulates successes equal to the spirit's Willpower before the spirit accumulates successes equal to the werewolf's Willpower, the rite is successful and the two beings merge.

The werewolf's player distributes the spirit's Gnosis rating as dots among his Attributes in any combination, though no Attribute can be increased to more than double its Homid-form rating. The Garou gains access to all the spirit's Charms, spending Gnosis in place of Essence where appropriate. The player can spend the spirit's Gnosis, Rage, and Willpower points as though they were the Garou's own. The Storyteller chooses an appropriate Ban, similar to those imposed by totem spirits, by which the werewolf must abide; if he violates the Ban, the spirit immediately rips free of the union, deeply offended, and the werewolf suffers unsoakable dice of aggravated damage equal to the spirit’s Rage. The werewolf can end the union safely at any time by spending one Willpower point and taking a level of lethal damage.

The instability of the union means that the werewolf risks burning himself out from the inside if he keeps it going for too long. For every scene after the first that the rite is in effect, the player rolls Rage, with a cumulative +1 difficulty each time. If the Garou frenzies as a result, then after the frenzy ends, he suffers unsoakable dice of aggravated damage equal to his own Rage and expels the spirit forcibly. If this happens, he's likely to lose Renown and the goodwill of the spirit both.