Everything

Mnetics are mostly the same as other Mokolé and follow usual character creation rules. Mnetics may learn the Steal Mnesis and Corrupt Mnesis powers normally restricted to Innocents (W20 Changing Breeds, p.142), who delight in the partnership with the fallen reptiles and sometimes act as totems.

A Mnetic may alter her own memories at will through a Mnesis quest, taking several hours. She may attempt to alter the memories of those she meets with a Manipulation + Mnesis roll. The difficulty depends on how many people share the memory — difficulty 5 for memories known only to the victim, difficulty 6 if known by less than 10 people, difficulty 7 for 10 to 100 people, and difficulty 8 for more than 100. The Mnetic can reduce the difficulty by 1 by touching the victim while attempting the alteration.

The Mnetic may attempt to quickly alter the Mnesis of members of her clutch, stream, or Mokolé she can physically touch. The player makes a Manipulation + Mnesis roll (difficulty 7 for clutch, 8 for stream), resisted by the victim’s Perception + Mnesis (difficulty 7). Each success for the Mnetic allows one minor alteration.

With more time and extended Mnesis quests, the Mnetic may more slowly alter her stream’s Mnesis. She makes an extended Manipulation + Mnesis roll (difficulty 6) per night of Mnesis quest. Every 10 successes allow her to make a minor alteration to the collected pool of memory, such as changing the name of a storied hero. Alternatively, she can save those successes to attempt to gain 50 successes, to make a major Mnesis alteration, such as having an ancient human civilization existing alongside the dinosaurs. The Storyteller is the final arbiter of what constitutes a minor or major modification. Rolling a botch at any time during this extended roll leaves a memory stain that everyone sharing that Mnesis can find — some may have the skill and clarity to follow the stain back to the Mnetic.

that a fallen No-Sun Mokolé called Deep Purple Dark was the dark inspiration behind the children’s television show. Each of these witnesses swore that they had seen poorly-

copied, smuggled tapes of ‘Braney’ performing depraved acts of torture and violation, and pointed to ‘innocent’ events within the children’s show that they said were hidden references to the filth. ‘Braney’ never existed, but Deep Purple Dark did. The Mnetics wanted to see how far and for how long they could twist perceptions. When they grew bored of their game, they made sure various hunters suddenly knew how to find Deep Purple Dark and bring him to ‘justice’. Deep Purple Dark’s full confession before his execution helped reassure the Mokolé that they had the right person. The Mnetics clutch is now pondering who their next victim will be, and how far they’ll push it this time.

Secret, precious memories are the most vulnerable to the Mnetics and are those considered most interesting. Memories that everyone recalls are harder to change or eliminate because of their distribution through the Mnesis. Those held by only a few — or ideally just one person — are targeted by Mnetics for surgical strikes.

The Bitter-Grins — also called the Nokhomi — want to see the conclusion of the greatest prank of all. Long ago, the Wyrm looked at the balance between the Triat and saw that its siblings took that balance for granted. With a bitter grin, the Wyrm designed a prank to teach its siblings the value of what they had.

The Wyrm spoke to the Weaver and teased her that the Wyld had greater dominion over Gaia. Though this was untrue and the three forces were balanced, the Weaver listened to the Wyrm and grew jealous of her sibling. Everywhere the Weaver placed order the Wyld crept through, desecrating the fixed structures with teeming life and chaos. What the Weaver did not see was the Wyrm conspiring with the Wyld to subvert the order and break its cohesion. The Wyrm nipped at the structures to make cracks through which the Wyld energies couldn’t help but spring through.

Enraged by what she perceived as inequality, the Weaver desperately covered dynamic Wyld with static forms, with little success. The Wyld kept breaking through. The Weaver lamented to the Wyrm and the Wyrm grinned and enacted the second part of his plan. He empathized with the Weaver but conceded he had to obey his nature and weaken the order she imposed on the world. The Weaver snapped and enacted her plan to ensnare the Wyrm in her webs and defeat the Wyld. Her anguish blinded her to seeing that this was the Wyrm’s plan all along.

Trapped within the Weaver’s webs, the Wyrm was able to alter its nature — something it could not achieve while the Trait was balanced. It whispered to itself in

the darkness and changed, gaining dominion over corruption and decay. With this newfound influence the Wyrm degraded the Weaver’s bonds. Free of its bonds, and able to affect the demeanor of a force gone mad, the Wyrm threw itself into the role, corrupting and perverting everything that it had once balanced.

This is what the Nokhomi know — the Wyrm cannot be defeated because the Wyrm is not really fighting. It is playing a prank on everyone and everything and any action besides complete surrender is pointless. The Weaver is too stubborn and staid in its ways to learn from the prank, and the Wyld is too capricious and fickle to comprehend the lesson offered to it.

The fallen Nuwisha understand the joke better than anyone else, even old Coyote himself. They know that the Wyrm fell victim to its own prank, and that is the funniest joke of all. It did once want to teach its siblings, but its new nature as corruptor twisted its vision. Now the Wyrm drags everything to oblivion because it can’t stop the decay any more than the Weaver can loosen up or the Wyld can settle down.

The Apocalypse can’t be stopped — it’s the punchline of the whole tragic triumvirate, and the fallen werecoyotes weep at how fucking pointless and hilarious they find the whole drama.

Knowing that nothing matters, the Bitter-Grins work towards ever more perverse and destructive pranks against their fellow shapeshifters. The unfallen Nuwisha prank other Changing Breeds so they can understand and learn to overcome their flaws. The Nokhomi only ever try to teach one lesson to their victims — surrender. Only when Gaia’s warriors, eyes, ears, and other pointless functions realize the futility of their purpose and cease their fruitless struggle can the Wyrm strangle his siblings and dismember their rotting corpses. Then the pain can stop and the Bitter-Grin’s laughter will cease.

Until then, the Nokhomi exult in telling the ultimate joke, driving their victims to despair and surrender by destroying their treasures and perverting their loves. Their preferred targets are other Nuwisha and their best prank is aimed at Coyote himself. The Nokhomi believe if they can pervert enough of their brethren the old bastard may open his eyes to the truth and fall with his children. The Bitter-Grins giggle to themselves at night as they think of Coyote turning his wicked talents to the Wyrm’s service. Some Nokhomi think Coyote’s aspect Xochipilli has already fallen, and works from within to corrupt the old dog.