Everything

In order to eliminate the most powerful of targets, the Wani teach the greatest Kali assassins to assume the Mahanaga form, a battle-shape even more terrible than Azhi Dahaka. The Mahanaga’s hood becomes wider, its natural armor harder and its scales take on the appearance of highly burnished cop­ per, gold, and obsidian.

System: The character must be in war form. The player spends one point of Gnosis and Rage and rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). Rage or Willpower may be spent on a one-for-one basis to raise the Mah­ anaga’s Strength, Stamina, and Dexterity by up to four points each for the rest of the scene.

Existing as they do outside of the Pact, Nagah are limited to rites which call upon spirits that directly serve the Wani. Being less social creatures than Garou, Nagah make use of few social rites; their intimacy with their nestmates is generally already so intense that rites could do nothing to cement it further.

Forked Tongue

Level One, Mystic The ritemaster enacts the rite while licking an item representative of the target — a photograph, or a sample of hair, skin, or blood. If successful the victim cannot help but lie about even the most trivial things. Nagah use this rite to help distance their intended victims from their social supporters.

System: If this rite is successful, the victim must suc­ ceed on a Willpower roll (difficulty equal to the Gnosis of the ritemaster) in order to tell a single truth. Every other word out of her mouth is a falsehood, no matter how innocuous or simple the truth. The rite’s effects last a day per success rolled when enacting the rite.

Rite of Bearing

Level One, Mystic When a Nagah becomes pregnant, she instinctively knows whether or not her child will be a wereserpent. If the father is also Nagah and her child is not ahi, then she must use the Rite of Bearing to determine which form she will take for the pregnancy, and thus whether she will birth a human child or a clutch of snake eggs. Nagah egg clutches tend to be smaller than is the norm for cobras, and for Nagah human births often produce

twins. If this rite isn’t performed within a week of con­ ception, her inchoate pregnancy is reabsorbed back into her body and terminated.

The Nagah’s nestmates are the ones that actually perform this ritual, invoking Lunes and river-spirits to bless the new life growing within her while she chants a mantra that lists all the strengths of the breed form she has chosen. Once the words no longer make sense, the Nagah slips into a river while taking the form in which she intends to remain for the duration of her pregnancy.

System: Those enacting the rite must roll Charisma + Rituals, difficulty 6 (7 if only one nestmate performs the ritual, 8 if the mother must perform it alone).

Nagah who take human or cobra mates bear children according to their breed form as usual, but may also use this rite within a week of conception to change their Kinfolk children’s nature as if the father were also Nagah. The difficulty, however, rises by one in addition to any other modifiers.

Naming the Target

Level Three, Mystic A nest performs this rite when it is ready to conduct an assassination. When their last mission has been concluded with the Votive for the Dead (see below), they gather in a dark room or near a river, join hands or coils, and chant a mantra to invoke the Wani. If the rite succeeds, the Wani grant flashes of insight about the nest’s next target, as well as some clues to the nature of the target’s offenses against Gaia, his current location, and other facts relevant to the hunt.

System: The ritemaster rolls Perception + Rituals (difficulty 7). The more successes rolled, the more in­ formation is gained about the target and the nature of his transgressions.

Votive for the Dead

Level Four, Death After completing an assassination, the nest must ritually review why the victim’s death was justified, reaf­ firming their actions. The ritualist chants the victim’s crimes against Gaia, gradually repeating them until they become a simple mantra. This rite must be performed before the nest can begin another hunt or enact the Naming the Target rite.

System: The ritemaster must score at least one suc­ cess; failure necessitates that the nest spend at least a week in meditative insight, reviewing their mission in greater detail, which is likely to slow the nest’s advance­ ment in rank.

NAGAH

Poisoned Chalice

Level Three, Gnosis 7 Some Nagah like to put their target at ease in a social situation before killing him, a setting accommo­ dated by this fetish. Despite the name, in modern times most Poisoned Chalices take the form of decanters or punch bowls. When activated, the Chalice turns any liquid placed into it a deadly poison without altering the taste, look or scent of the drink. The Nagah activating the fetish and her nestmates are immune to the poison. The spirit of a pufferfish must be bound into this fetish.

System: The Nagah fills the Chalice and activates the fetish. The Chalice may make one of two kinds of poison. Its simplest use is to convert the liquid into a poison that affects everyone but the Nagah’s nest. The second use requires a few drops of blood from the in­ tended victim. If these are mixed with the drink before it is converted it can make a poison that only affects the target. The poison deals two levels of aggravated damage per turn for five turns.

STEREOTYPES

Ten Steps offers his opinions: • Garou: You build your empires on the bones of dead shapeshifters. Each of your tribes are weak in their own way. And yet, you are simple creatures, the Storms of the Apocalypse, and you play your role.

“Yes, we killed them. Another casualty of our past. I wonder what the world would be like had we not been so stupid.” — Jono Steel-Trap-Mind

• Ratkin: You are entirely repugnant, awful, scurrilous creatures. And yet you remain well within the role the Mother gave you. We watch when you enjoy your work, in case you do so too much.

“Dancers and mystics? What use were they? They died when the Garou got too big for them­ selves, and good riddance to them.” — Kray Meren

• Rokea: You forget that others swim, down deeper than even you go. We know what you do to one another when you think nobody else can see.

“Weak and useless. How would a dancer help me survive?” — Bleeds-Night

The Nuwisha may appear to be little more than aim­ less tricksters, but hiding behind that façade is a clear and direct purpose handed down from Coyote himself. While some use their talent for violent slapstick to educate the other Changing Breeds, others use deadly tricks and pranks to strike at the Wyrm.

The history of the Nuwisha is the history of trickery. This was true long before the War of Rage and it remains equally so today — though a canny observer must question the “truth” of any claims made regarding Coyote’s favored children.

Since the earliest days, the Nuwisha have played the role of cosmic jester among the Changing Breeds, pointing out folly and uncovering weaknesses in the other shapeshifters through clever tricks. Some outsiders claim that the werecoyotes’ constant tricks and attempts to play Devil’s Advocate drove the Garou to such Rage that they took it out on all of the Changing Breeds, sparking the War of Rage. Whether this is true or not, when the War began, the Nuwisha fled to the Umbra rather than staying to fight and die at a werewolf’s claws.

Although most of their Breed do not accept the blame for having instigated the War of Rage, the werecoyotes proudly take credit for ending it. Then again, the same Nuwisha claim to understand the Triat better than any­ one else, that Coyote is the real face of the Wyld, and that he created the entire universe as a cosmic joke. No one — including the Nuwisha themselves — can pare back these lies to find the unvarnished truth, if such a thing even exists. Since their exodus, only a hundred Nuwisha can remain in the physical world at any one time, making any facts even harder for outsiders to find.

For the longest time, the Nuwisha stayed close to their animal Kin, dwelling entirely in North America. Some avoided the Three Brothers, the tribes of Garou native to the continent. Others infiltrated packs, masquerading as scrawny werewolves in order to prank Gaia’s warriors out of their hubris. Still others used the Garou as violent punch-lines to a vicious series of jokes, turning them against Wyrmspawn without target or tool knowing of the Nuwisha’s involvement.

The second War of Rage — when European Garou turned on native werewolves and Changing Breeds alike — changed that. Werewolf fighting werewolf threatened to bring about an endless war. The Nuwisha did what they could to redirect the violent urges on both sides against the Wyrm, but the inter-tribal battles raged on and on. . Only when the behemoth Bane called theStorm Eater, threatened to destroy North America was the joint peril enough to finally unite the Garou and end the War between them. Most Nuwisha are far too canny to actually claim their ancestors had involvement in unleashing Storm Eater on the world… but it wouldn’t have been the first time a Nuwisha prank risked grave consequences for the purposes of bringing about a lesson they felt needed to be learned.

In modern times, most Nuwisha still consider North America home, many travel the world looking for the chance to bestow “learning opportunities” on others, before joining the Umbral Danse. While some work openly with the Uktena and Wendigo, most prefer not to reveal their true nature until it’s too late for their victims to avoid the lessons being taught. Most shapeshifters will never know that the strange outsider asking lots of questions — or leaving just before the explosion — was one of Coyote’s children.

Calling the Nuwisha “tricksters” often makes people imagine them setting up pratfalls, whoopee cushions or similar juvenile pranks that might at worst cause a few bruises. Werecoyotes occasionally use such tricks to teach people they like a gentle lesson, but most Nuwisha pranks are not remotely funny — at least not to those targeted by them — and many are quite deadly.

Some of the best of these "pranks" are like the slapstick gags in old cartoons, crushing people under heavy objects or leaving the Nuwisha’s victim holding a lit stick of dynamite. Unlike in a cartoon, the victim doesn’t get up sporting a bandage or some torn clothing. A werecoyote’s victims suffer the very real consequences of gravity or explosives, leaving behind a mess of blood and bone — and a Nuwisha with a self-satisfied grin.

NUWISHA

Were­ coyotes do not make mischief just for the fun in seeing

someone crushed be­ neath a heavy object. Coy­ ote teaches through trick­ ery, setting up pranks to highlight his victim’s flaws, and showing limitations in their thinking — as well as possible so­ lutions. Most Nuwisha see themselves as wise but strict teachers. They hope to someday teach the Wyrm a path to becoming whole, or at least less dangerous. In the meantime, they teach other Changing Breeds how to behave — regardless of whether those shapeshifters want to learn the lesson.

While some shapeshifters think the Nuwisha cowards for their methods, Coyote’s children are nothing if not pragmatic. They do not have the raw strength of the Gurahl or Mokole, nor the Garou’s dedication to violence or the Ratkin’s determined insanity. To win their battles, most werecoyotes avoid single combat and direct confrontation because they would often lose. Instead, they rely on what they do best: ambushes, trickery and deception.

Umbral Lessons

The Nuwisha claim to have been the first shapeshifters to learn to traverse the Gauntlet, and to have taught Gaia’s other children this trick. While many stories about the Nuwisha are little more than boasts, many other Breeds do believe this

one, although some (like the Corax) would never admit it. Nuwisha know more about the Umbra and travel through it than any other Breed, with the possible exception

of the wereravens. They know swift routes and shortcuts through the Umbra from anyplace in the world to any other location. They can find hidden paths that link one portion of the spirit world to another, crossing between realms with ease — and luring hostile pursuers into the maw of powerful spirits.

Once she joins the Umbral Dansers, a Nuwisha spends the majority of her life exploring the spirit world’s myster­

ies. Burning with curiosity mirroring that of Raven’s

children, she hunts out secret paths and hidden

lore with equal fervor, passing on

what she knows to other Nuwisha when it will help them most — or

when she remembers that the physical world exists.

Organization doesn’t come naturally to the Nuwi­ sha, and hierarchy is an even more alien concept. While a clever werecoyote with significant Renown has clearly earned the respect of her fellows, they won’t obey her without question — if she’s lucky, other Nuwisha will listen to her suggestions. That’s about it for any Nuwisha rank structure. This fierce individual streak even extends to mentoring young Nuwisha. Werecoyotes give newly changed members of their Breed a few weeks of training in their abilities, stories and traditions before turning the pup loose to fare as they will.

Festival

While fierce individualists, the Nuwisha do gather as a group one time per year, in a highly secret tradition called the Festival. Near the winter solstice, the entire Breed gathers together —and woe be unto outsiders who learn of the gathering and think to infiltrate it.

COYOTE’S RULES FOR LIFE

Let a Fool Die a Fool’s Death. Teach Those Who Need Teaching a Proper Lesson

Always Prank the Wyrm

Be Subtle Respect Luna Think, Then act

Both to accommodate the Umbral Dansers and to ensure the Breed’s privacy, Festival is held in one of the werecoyotes’ most carefully hidden Penumbral hidey-holes, and the Nuwisha keep the gathering’s exact time and location secret from everyone outside of the Breed. Working together, the werecoyotes chase away outsiders who attempt to spy on the Festival, and hunt down and kill anyone who tries to infiltrate it.

The first portion of the Festival is a time for news and planning. Werecoyotes share any dangers or wonders they have discovered, ask for help with schemes and tricks, and tell stories of events that other Nuwisha might care about. Once the tales have been told, the bulk of the Festival is a joyous and drunken celebration. The Festi­ val’s rules prohibit Nuwisha from harming one another, and for the duration werecoyotes suspend any feuds or grudges they may have with their own kind. Instead, it is a time for coming together as a Breed and as a giant, rowdy, bawdy, boastful, and entirely irreverent family.

Hiding in Plain Sight

The Nuwisha are by far the most similar to the Garou of any of the Changing Breeds. Many Nuwisha use their physical resemblance to small, scrawny werewolves to pass themselves off as Garou — a trick that puts them in the right place to educate both the Garou and their enemies. Nothing says “education” like five pissed-off werewolves tearing some sap limb from limb. Sure, the victim won’t feel the benefit of the lesson for long, but his friends might learn as they wonder how they can avoid the same grisly fate.

When they infiltrate Garou packs, werecoyotes can often pass as Ragabash, though with a particularly cruel and unusual sense of humor. Only a werewolf who is exceedingly familiar with the Nuwisha can tell the difference without using supernatural means. Most Nuwisha can’t endure the Garou hierarchy and insistence on social structure for very long, but for as long as they can put up with the werewolves’ attitude, masquerading Nuwisha attend moots, befriend Garou, learn secrets, and occasionally lend their aid, all while maintaining cover as scrawny werewolves. In addition to the practical value of these interactions, many werecoyotes enjoy this deception simply for the thrill of putting one over on the foolish Garou.

The Umbral Dansers

Nobody knows exactly how many Nuwisha exist today. The only chance to take a census would be at a Festival, and that event is far too chaotic for anyone to perform a headcount. Because of ancient pacts sworn to spirits and Coyote himself at the end of the War of Rage, only a hundred werecoyotes can be on Earth at any one time. Thus, the vast majority of the Breed dwell in the Umbra. A werecoyote in the Umbra can only return to the physical world when less than one hundred other Nuwisha are currently there.

Those Nuwisha who live permanently in the spirit world have performed the Rite of Dansing to become Umbral Dansers. The Umbral Dansers care for and study the Umbra, can learn a variety of special Gifts that allow them to better understand and manipulate the spirit realm, as well as having the ability to communicate with other werecoyotes even through the Gauntlet. Umbral Dans­ ers do not share these Gifts with Nuwisha who haven’t performed the Rite of Dansing. Some keep their secrets because they don’t believe that werecoyotes are worthy of Danser secrets before performing the Rite themselves. Others simply believe that the secrets of the Umbra are for the Umbral Dansers alone. Let the Nuwisha on Earth focus their attention there and leave the Umbra to the Dansers.

Umbral Dansers hold the fragile and often contentious fabric of Nuwisha society (such as it is) together, relaying information and requests for help between werecoyotes. They also guide those they approve of to useful places in the Umbra, while leading agents of the Wyrm astray and concealing powerful or sacred places within the spirit world from those who would do them harm. Like all Nuwisha, the Umbral Dansers fight with cunning and guile rather than brute force, but they are first and foremost the guardians of the Umbra and will do whatever it takes to protect it.

Self-Centered Heroes

Nuwisha have nothing against working with others, but the vast majority of werecoyotes won’t put the good of the group before their own needs. In fact, the entire concept is alien to them. Instead, every Nuwisha has his own agenda and goals, reflected in his personal totem — the aspect of Coyote that he chooses to exemplify. This doesn’t mean that Nuwisha aren’t willing to risk death or even sacrifice their life for something they believe in, but they’ll only do so if it is their choice, not because someone else asked or ordered them to. Many Garou say the Nuwisha have no respect for authority, and the werecoyotes agree wholeheartedly.

Although many coyotes never form packs, even when they do, the bonds between members are less strongly tied than those of their lupine cousins. Nuwisha relationships reflect this, with individual werecoyotes preferring to work and live alone rather than cooperating in a pack. Their largely solitary nature, combined with their limited number on Earth at any given time, means that most Nuwisha are more likely to spend time with other Changing Breeds or even Garou as they are with others of their kind. Like their natural animal Kin, however, Nuwisha often form strong bonds with particular individuals. Though werecoyotes can wander off on their own for weeks or months, they always return to friends and companions. A Nuwisha can vanish for months then appear at a friend’s door ready to party, restart a shared project, or fight side-by-side as if they had never been gone.

Nuwisha regenerate and soak damage as werewolves do, but do not suffer aggravated damage or Gnosis loss from silver.

Nuwisha do not normally possess Rage, and cannot frenzy. All Nuwisha begin with 4 Willpower. Nuwisha gain Renown for Glory and Wisdom much like Garou. However, they gain no Renown for Honor and use Humor instead. They base Humor Renown upon originality and ingenuity, as well as how appropriate a prank was for the lesson being taught to the victim. Nuwisha gain rank in the same manner as Ragabash.

While all Nuwisha are children of Coyote, they also know that there’s more than one way to be a trickster. Every werecoyote takes a personal totem that defines their life and their relation to Coyote. Players can use freebie points to buy the required Totem Background for those that cost more than five dots. Nuwisha who change Totem, whether through choosing a different face of Coyote or because Oghma chooses them during the story, must pay for any required increase in Totem dots with experience points.

Nuwisha use the name of their totem when speaking with other Nuwisha; a werecoyote named Steps-Lightly who follows Raven would be called Raven Steps-Lightly among her own kind and Steps-Lightly by other shape­ shifters. The following nine are the most common aspects of Coyote that Nuwisha take as totems.

Chung Kuel

Background Cost: 6

A spirit of luck, and particularly of bad luck. Nuwisha that follow Chung Kuel fight the Wyrm by causing a host of small and large problems (that all seem like chance) to befall their enemies.

Individual Traits: Chung Kuel’s followers can cast bad luck on targets that deserve to suffer. Once per story (not necessarily at the player’s request), the Storyteller rolls a single die. On a 1, nothing happens. On a 2-9, something minor inconveniences the target of the Chung Kuel’s attention. Rolling a 10 means almost certain disaster for Nuwisha’s focus as chance turns against him. The Storyteller and the Nuwisha’s player should work together to determine the exact results. Followers also add two dice to all Stealth and Subterfuge dice pools.

Ban: Followers can only use their abilities against those who knowingly follow the Wyrm.

Kishijoten

Background Cost: 4

A spirit of gentleness and healing, Kishijoten’s Nu­ wisha use humor to bring comfort to their allies, while

listening and offering quiet advice. Many Nuwisha consider this the most difficult face of Coyote to follow because doing so demands great patience and kindness.

Individual Traits: Followers gain one extra Bruised Health Level and add two dice to Medicine dice pools.

Ban: Followers must always stop to help the injured, but need not aid followers of the Wyrm.

Kokopelli

Background Cost: 4

A spirit of celebration, joy, and fertility, Nuwisha who follow Kokopelli enjoy themselves to their utmost and encourage their fellows and allies to do the same.

Individual Traits: Followers gain a dot of Stamina and add two dice to Performance rolls when playing musical instruments.

Ban: Nuwisha who follow this totem can never strike anyone in anger.

Loki

Background Cost: 7

The Liesmith is a spirit of war who believes the best lessons are written in blood. While most Nuwisha prefer to hang back when others charge into battle, followers of Loki leap to the forefront of combat, taking as much joy in bloodshed and mayhem as a Get of Fenris.

Individual Traits: Loki grants his followers one ad­ ditional Bruised Health Level and an extra dot of any one Physical Attribute, which can increase the Attribute above 5.

Ban: Followers must always accept formal challenges to combat, even from the Wyrm. They must also offer their kills as sacrifices to Loki.

Oghma

Background Cost: 8 (not available during character creation)

A bard and scholar, Nuwisha who follow this face of Coyote carry the memories and stories of their Breed with them, and teach by gently humiliating those who refuse to learn by other means. Nuwisha cannot choose to follow Oghma — he chooses them when he deems them worthy.

Individual Traits: Followers can use an additional 5 points of Willpower every story. When in a formal con­ test to teach another individual humility, they can gain either five temporary dots spread amongst their Mental Attributes or four temporary dots spread amongst their Physical Attributes. The distribution of those dots can change in each contest.

Ban: Followers of Oghma can never strike another in anger.

Ptah

Background Cost: 5

A spirit of wisdom, mysteries, and mystical travel. All Umbral Dansers follow Ptah (save those few chosen by Oghma), and so he is by far the most popular of the faces of Coyote.

Individual Traits: Followers reduce the difficulty of passing through the Gauntlet by 3 (to a minimum of 3). Only Nuwisha who follow Ptah are capable of performing the Rite of Dansing. Followers may use the Gift: Sense Wyrm freely while in the Umbra, and, while there, age at a fraction of their normal rate.

Ban: Ptah asks that his followers defend the stars from all that would cause them harm.

Raven

Background Cost: 5

A knowledgeable and watchful spirit, Raven’s follow­ ers are careful observers who spend much time with the Garou, frequently walking among them as one of their own. They council and guide Gaia’s warriors, often without the werewolves knowing where the wisdom truly comes from.

Individual Traits: Followers gain two dots of Enigmas and dot of Subterfuge. The Corax offer welcome and hospitality to Raven’s children.

Ban: Raven asks that his children never carry wealth; they must trust that Raven will provide for them.

Ti Malice

Background Cost: 4

A spirit of lying, theft, and treachery. Many of Ti Malice’s followers go into business to wreck harmful corporations, and ensure that making a living in ways that serve the Wyrm becomes increasingly difficult

Individual Traits: Ti Malice adds two dice to all Manipulation and Enigmas dice pools.

Ban: Followers must show no mercy to the weak, especially in business deals.

Xochipilli

Background Cost: 5

A spirit of chance and especially of risk, Nuwisha who follow this totem take great joy in risking almost certain death and living to tell the tale. Even many werecoyotes consider those who follow Xochipilli to be insane.

Individual Traits: Followers gain three dots of Sur­ vival. Xochipilli also grants five soak dice when performing outrageous and exceedingly dangerous stunts. This special ability only works when the odds are very much against the Nuwisha surviving the encounter. Optionally, Storytellers may simply state the follower survived, but was badly injured by an event that would have obviously killed anyone else.

Ban: Followers can never turn away from a dare, even one that seems suicidal.

The Nuwisha have two breeds, homid and latrani (coyote-born).

• Homid: While growing up, most homid werecoy­ otes were clowns, show-offs, or eccentrics. Instead of trauma and bloodshed, their First Change often involves a sudden understanding of how much more fun they can now have. Thankfully, this is quickly followed by the realization that their fun with comes a responsibility to teach and to make their pranks meaningful.

Beginning Gnosis: 1

Starting Gifts: Persuasion, Master of Fire, Smell of Man • Latrani: Just as coyotes are far more common than wolves in North America, latrani are considerably more common than lupus Garou. Like all of their species, latrani grow up curious and playful. Often their First Change occurs just as the consequences of their curiosity is about to catch up with them.

Beginning Gnosis: 5

Starting Gifts: Hare’s Leap, Heightened Senses, Prey Mind

Due to an ancient trick that Coyote played on Luna, she sees all werecoyotes as though they were Ragabash Garou. As such, they can learn Ragabash Gifts, and increase in rank as though they were Ragabash Garou, with Humor replacing Honor.

Like the Garou, Nuwisha have five forms. • Homid: For a long time, the vast majority of Nuwisha came from Native American stock, but these days Coyote’s blood has spread to every ethnicity. Most Nuwisha tend to look scrawny and rather trail-worn in Homid form.

• Tsitsu: Nuwisha gain several inches in height in their near-man form, along with ten to twenty pounds of muscle. This form is considerably less hairy than a Garou’s Glabro form, and werecoyotes in this form look fairly human and have little difficulty speaking.

• Manabozho: In this form, Nuwisha stand almost eight feet tall and gain two and a half times their Ho­ mid mass. They can still speak human languages in Manabozho, but in a voice that is deep and gravelly. This form inflicts reduced Delirium as though the victim’s Willpower were two points higher.

• Sendeh: Resembling the nearly extinct red wolf, the Sendeh form is larger than a coyote (and stronger than the Latrani form), but smaller than a grey wolf. Nuwisha can­

Form Statistics

Tsitsu Manabozho Sendeh Latrani

Str: +1 Str: +2 Str: +2 Dex: +1 Dex: +3 Dex: +3 Dex: +3 Sta: +2 Sta: +3 Sta: +3 Sta: +3 Man: –1 Man: –2 Man: –3 Man: –3 App: +0 App: 0

not speak in this form but they can mimic other sounds, including laughter, screams, and the cries of other animals.

• Latrani: The Latrani form appears to be an ordi­ nary coyote, and is the natural form of the latrani breed.

Homid Nuwisha can learn homid Garou Gifts, and latrani Nuwisha can learn lupus Gifts. Any Nuwisha can learn Ragabash Gifts. Players choose three Gifts when making Nuwisha: one breed Gift, and two general Nuwisha Gifts from the list below. Gifts listed as Umbral Danse are only available to Umbral Dansers and will not be taught to those outside of that group.